Stories

Member Story
Shadows of the Past: How Soviet Inferiority Narratives Hinder Democracy in Moldova and Ukraine
Post-Soviet countries like Ukraine and Moldova are deeply influenced by inferiority narratives — pervasive beliefs of national inadequacy rooted in Soviet-era legacies. This article examines how these narratives shape...
IDC Theme of the Month
From Backsliding to Breakthrough: Civil Society as Democracy's Last Line of Defence
Democracy does not vanish overnight; instead, it erodes step by step. Authoritarianism grows in the cracks, but so does civic resistance. Around the world, civil society is proving that when democratic institutions weaken,...
Global
Postponed: The 2020 Global Forum is now the 2021 Global Forum
The Covid-19 crisis has deeply affected public life all around the world, the Global Forum on Modern Direct...
France
French local elections in democratic limbo
While timely and necessary, the measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 have had an enormous impact not only...
Austria
What the Austrian lockdown teaches us about our basic civil rights
While timely and necessary, the measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 have had an enormous impact not only...
Photo: Jeff Hitchcock (CC BY 2.0) https://creativecommons.org
European Union
European Citizens' Initiative: Collecting signatures under a lockdown
While timely and necessary, the measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 have had an enormous impact not only...
Germany
Do we have to worry about democracy?
The first shockwave is over. The personal contact ban in Germany has been in place for two weeks now and is...
Hungary
Orbán's reach for unlimited power
On Monday 3o March, the Hungarian parliament approved sweeping emergency powers for the government, in its...
Mexico
New in the Community: Ollin
In 'New in the Community' we introduce one of the members of our International Democracy Community in more...
France
The 2019 Grand Débat National in France: A Participatory Experiment with...
Everyone remembers the Yellow Vests movement. Few remember the Grand Débat National. Yet, together they make...
France
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.
Global
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....