Australia is one of the world’s leading democracies, but we’re not immune from the pressures causing backsliding overseas.
Articles on Liberal democracy
Displaying 1 - 20 of 31 articles
A new report assessing democratic values across more than 200 countries has found 6 billion people live in autocracies. Here’s where Australia sits.
Philosopher Jason Stanley and historian Timothy Snynder have sought to explain authoritarian impulses and politics in the United States and elsewhere and how to resist these.
After the bust-up between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, Keir Starmer emerged as a possible peacemaker. But he’ll have his work cut out.
Catholic Integralists believe that religious values – specifically Christian ones – should guide government policies. They oppose liberalism, which they view as valuing individualism and liberty.
Never has the future of South Africa’s politics been more uncertain, but the one certainty is that the ANC’s standing as a liberation movement is dead.
The German population was transformed under Nazism into a “bystander society” – even before the conditions of wartime normalised acts of excessive violence.
ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill assumes Māori have been granted special privileges. But it can equally be argued the Treaty prevents the undemocratic concentration of power in the hands of a few.
Western democracies can best help the world by doing more to live up to their highest ideals and approaching their relations with the rest of the world with humility borne from historical awareness.
When everything is seen as political – indictments, Supreme Court decisions, scientific findings – a democracy may be on its way to fascism.
Raymond W. Baker says the estimated hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden wealth a decade ago has skyrocketed to trillions today.
Liberal democracy has been a failure for First Nations people – a Voice to Parliament must add more weight to the scales.
David Seymour says misinterpretation of the Treaty risks creating an ‘ethno-state’. But ‘Critical Tiriti Analysis’ aims to enhance democracy by ensuring a Māori voice at the heart of policy making.
The turn towards neofascism is a natural result of so-called western liberal democracy.
Many countries, including South Africa, use regulations to control smoking in public so that they do not harm non-smokers. Likewise, getting vaccinated is for the common good of society.
Some people may be spiteful to pull others down, while others act this way to get ahead.
Automated text messages if your phone detects you’re a long way from home, or discounted home internet, are just a few possible technology solutions to make New Zealanders “stay home to save lives”.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s rival, Benny Gantz, has improved his chances of becoming prime minister of Israel.
Western aid has resulted in an Anglo-American culture of journalism education which has proved impractical to implement in African countries with illiberal political regimes.
Liberal democracy is in trouble, and the seeds of its demise can be found in the property rights so cherished by so-called liberals generations ago.
Top contributors
-
Adjunct Professor, Stout Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington and Auckland University of Technology, Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University
-
Research Associate, Dept of Anthropology & Development Studies and Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, University of Johannesburg
-
Reader in International Journalism, City St George's, University of London
-
Associate Professor of Classics & Ancient History, University of New Brunswick
-
Lecturer in Politics, University of East Anglia
-
Associate Professor, School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University
-
Lecturer, Public Policy and Political Communications, The University of Melbourne
-
Dean, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, University of Calgary
-
Lecturer and Teacher, Department of Politics and International Relations, Cardiff University
-
Honorary Enterprise Professor in the School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne
-
Tony Walker AM is a Friend of The Conversation.
Director, La Trobe University
-
Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
-
Assistant researcher, University of Sydney
-
Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
-
Professor of Practice in Diplomacy, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University