The Latest Breaking News from Democracy

Why the politics of cancellation never works

Cancellation, elimination, subtraction, removal, invalidation — these synonyms describe a core, pervasive principle in our current political moment.

The Conversation · Oct 1, 2025

Lisa Murkowski warns “the strength of our democracy” is at risk after Comey indictment

Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska known for breaking with her party at times, has questioned whether the Justice Department is acting

The Fashion Central · Oct 1, 2025

Helen Zille: will competence, courage and a dose of arrogance be enough to get her elected as Johannesburg’s mayor?

Love her or loathe her, it is hard to deny that Helen Zille is one of the most remarkable politicians South Africa’s democracy has yet seen. Remarkable because she has served in so many high-profile public roles – as mayor of Cape Town, premier of the Western Cape province, leader…

The Conversation · Sep 29, 2025

Civil society helps uphold democracy and provides built-in resistance to authoritarianism

The New York Times reports that a senior Department of Justice official recently “instructed more than a half dozen U.S. attorneys’ offices to draft plans to investigate” the Open Society Foundations – philanthropies funded by the billionaire George Soros.

The Conversation · Sep 26, 2025

France accused of restricting protests and eroding democracy

France’s human rights record is under fire, with a new report warning that freedoms once taken for granted are being steadily chipped away.

Radio France Internationale · Sep 25, 2025

One Battle After Another: this insane movie about leftwing radicals and rightwing institutions is a powerful exploration of US today

The recent death of Robert Redford was a reminder of just how much All the President’s Men unsettled old certainties about American democracy. An exposé of the Watergate scandal of 1972 (when members of the campaign to re-elect Richard Nixon were caught planting secret recording devices at the Democratic National…

The Conversation · Sep 24, 2025

A US fascism expert warns: Australia is not immune and undoing the damage is ‘very, very hard’

The US’s slide towards authoritarianism is part of a global trend, says professor and fascism expert Jason Stanley

The Guardian - AU · Sep 24, 2025

I was elected mayor of Istanbul, but I write this from jail: Turkish democracy is under grave threat

If our nation slides deeper into autocracy, the consequences will reverberate far beyond Turkey’s borders, says Istanbul’s suspended mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu

The Guardian - UK · Sep 24, 2025

Viktor Orbán faces toughest challenge in years – but can Hungary’s strongman be unseated?

Orbánism offered Trump and the international populist right a blueprint, but its leader is under pressure at home from economic woes, falling support and Péter Magyar’s rise

The Guardian - UK · Sep 24, 2025

'Nobody can tell me whether I'm wanted or not,' publicist Michel Friedman says

Following his controversial disinvite from an event in East Germany, publicist Michel Friedman is now going on the offensive. In an interview with Euronews, he criticises the decision as a "dangerous signal" and the debate about his fee and expenses as an "anti-Semitic stereotype."

Euronews · Sep 24, 2025