Liberalism is a dirty word for the majority of South Africans. This goes back to early colonialism. Liberals opposed apartheid but not the close relationship between capitalism and apartheid.
Articles on Political theory
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Almost 1000 years after their ruler demanded every detail of serfs’ lives, the digital age and mass surveillance are creating a new and undemocratic imbalance between citizens and those with power over them.
Behind the uproar over Johnny Depp’s dogs lies a serious and evolving idea: our animal companions have an important place in our lives that entitles them to rights akin to a sort of citizenship.
The British Conservative government’s re-election is the latest and perhaps most startling electoral triumph for Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby. So how did he do it?
The concept of the greater good has made a comeback in Europe in an era of budget austerity, but in Australia too few of us are alive to its meaning – and to its vulnerability.
Labour, UKIP and the Greens all gained much bigger swings than the Conservatives, but were election losers. The first-past-the-post system let the Tories pick up a swag of seats with a 0.8% swing.
The UK is poised for another minority government, this time possibly with a hung parliament. Australia’s long experience of such arrangements offers lessons in how to manage minority government.
This week the “mother of parliaments” faces a general election in the UK. The ‘first past the post’ electoral system means we can’t predict the result with certainty, nor expect it to match the vote.
Voters in the UK are again looking beyond the traditional two-party system and look set to put paid to a famous proposition of political science.
Even as the challenges of climate change grow ever more obvious, what remains largely unacknowledged is the crisis in liberal democratic politics that is preventing an effective response.
The crisis of public confidence in politics is not limited to Australia, but public disengagement, retail politics and lack of vision are crippling our ability to tackle long-term and wicked problems.
The Anthropocene, as an epoch of human-driven planetary change, poses huge environmental and political problems. But it could also force us to develop proper ecological and democratic accountability.
Corruption can directly contribute to the growth of the very forces the world’s security agencies are desperately trying to contain and combat.
This question goes to the heart of how we can ensure that our society is a just one.
Even by recent standards, the last few weeks have seen new levels of dysfunction, volatility and even chaos within federal and state governments. As the voters of Queensland demonstrated, there is little…
The “new politics” of 21st-century Australia is much clearer after the extraordinary result in the Queensland election on January 31. Australia’s new politics consists of three elements that they will…
The distinction between the global and the local is collapsing under the pressure of climate change, economic restructuring, global migration and jihadism on the one hand and the populist and information…
The recent losses of first-term governments in Queensland and Victoria suggests that some of the assumed verities of political process are being challenged. These results and the rapid shifting legitimacy…
Three things about the present era are especially striking. First, problems persist. For those fortunate enough to have grown up in post-war Australia in particular, this is a somewhat surprising reality…
How does one come to understand China? Many wish to do so, especially in light of China’s growing global influence. For some, language is the key that opens the door. With Chinese language, one is able…
Top contributors
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Assistant researcher, University of Sydney
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Lecturer and Teacher, Department of Politics and International Relations, Cardiff University
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Senior Lecturer in Democracy Studies, University of Canberra
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Adjunct Professor, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney
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Professor of Politics, University of Bristol
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Professor of Politics, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Lecturer, Public Policy and Political Communications, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Lecturer, Department of Languages and Linguistics, La Trobe University
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Lecturer in Public Sector Management, University of Canberra
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Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory, London School of Economics and Political Science
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Professor of Comparative Political Science and Democracy Research at the Humboldt University Berlin; Associate of the Sydney Democracy Network, University of Sydney; Director of Research Unit Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
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Lecturer in Politics, University of Sheffield
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Emeritus Packey J. Dee Professor in Philosophy and Political Science, University of Notre Dame