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Orbán's reach for unlimited power

On Monday 3o March, the Hungarian parliament approved sweeping emergency powers for the government, in its response to the Coronavirus. With no end in sight, no checks and balances and vague legal terminology, the Coronavirus-...

Article photo: Grand débat national organisé à Reims - G.Garitan (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

The 2019 Grand Débat National in France: A Participatory Experiment with Limited Legitimacy

Everyone remembers the Yellow Vests movement. Few remember the Grand Débat National. Yet, together they make up this singular political moment, between October 2018 and March 2019, France went through. If holding citizens’...

New in the Community: Ollin

In 'New in the Community' we introduce one of the members of our International Democracy Community in more...

Orly airport Photo courtesy of Naotake Murayama (CC BY 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Unlikely allies: how the ever-divided French Left and Right triggered a...

In April last year, civil demands to stop the privatization of one of France’s public ‘’crown jewels’’, the...

Rafael Pineiro, board member of Democracy International, leaves a polling station in Kansas during the 2014 US midterm elections, with several ballot measures.

Long Life, Low Taxes and a Cleaner Environment: The Policy Effect of...

There has been no shortage of criticisms of direct democracy in general citizen-referendums in particular....

The European Pubic Sphere in Vienna

Behind citizen’s powerlessness: nostalgia, resentment and hope

With our eyes now turning towards Brussels and the upcoming launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe...

The ruins of the Panguna mine (Photo courtesy of Madlemurs (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)

Papua New Guinea

Inching towards Independence: a bumpy road ahead for Bougainville

In last November’s referendum, with a turnout of 87,4 per cent, a staggering 97,7 per cent of Bougainvillean...

A world caught between protest and ballot

Never before have so many people around the globe taken part in popular votes as in 2019. Yet never before...

Copyright: Diego Correa (CC BY 2.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Constitution building in Chile: a long way to go

Since October, Chile has seen tremendous social uprising across the country. What started as a protest about...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Constituida_la_Red_de_Foros_Locales_%2804%29.jpg Diario de Madrid [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)]

Spain: a national democratic deficit and local hope for better times

The Spanish Social-democratic Workers’ Party (PSOE) has won the national elections on Sunday November, 10 (...

"More democracy is possible"

Over the past months, our partner organisation Mehr Demokratie has organised citizens' councils on the...

30 years of Peaceful Revolution

30 years ago, citizen-led movements across Germany brought about a change that up until then had been...