Informing and engaging citizens
Does protest really work in cosy democracies?
Does protest work? And is it more effective when it takes places in countries ruled by repressive regimes, or those with democratically elected governments? Steve Crawshaw (Amnesty International) argues that if we think nothing will change, as people often do in democracies, that lack of belief becomes self-fulfilling. Similar PostsBook Review | A Duty to Resist: […]
Was Democracy for Realists too pessimistic and US-centric? A call for contributions
When Democracy for Realists was published in 2016, it challenged decades of work by political scientists – arguing that voters make largely unconscious and un-thought through choices based on social and group identities. Hanna Wass, Antje Schwennicke, Pedro Magalhães and Mark Franklin plan to respond with an edited volume that will take a less US-centric […]
Book review | The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World, by Michael Ignatieff
In The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World, Michael Ignatieff aims to take ethics out of the seminar room by examining the role of ‘ordinary virtues’ such as trust, forgiveness and reconciliation in local contexts and settings. While the book travels the globe to underscore both the fragility and strength of community-based networks of solidarity as part of Ignatieff’s […]
Words and deeds: electoral success for Greens in the US leads to less environmental sabotage
Does extremism necessarily beget violence? Benjamin Farrer (Knox College) and Graig R. Klein (New Jersey City University) compare the electoral success of the US Green Party with rates of environmental sabotage. They found that when Greens won seats at local and state level, sabotage declined. Voters also appeared to punish candidates for violence carried out […]
The plumage and the bird: we need to reappraise what is ‘essential’ and what is ‘superfluous’ in political life
Political theories have often included frameworks that minimise the importance of some aspects of human flourishing and prioritise others. In his new book, Rodney Barker takes issue with these distinctions, arguing for the fundamental importance of cultural choices and display in understanding human conduct. Similar Posts
Disgusted by Donald Trump? Turning away from the spectacle isn’t an option
Almost nine months into the Trump presidency, it may be harder than ever to make sense of what is happening. How do we fully understand what seems to be a hybrid of Lewis Carroll and Stephen King imaginaries – of the Mad Hatter and Pennywise the Clown? Ron Pruessen considers his own frustrations and speculates about what […]
Book review | Guilty Men – the Brexit Edition, by Tim Oliver
Brexit is as big and dangerous a mistake as that of appeasement in the 1930s. So argues Cato the Younger in his book Guilty Men: Brexit Edition, reviewed here by Tim Oliver. Taking up the pen of his great grandfather, whose 1940 book of the same name destroyed the reputations of those responsible for appeasement, Cato the Younger is no […]
Neighbourhood Forums: six years old, and less powerful than they thought they might be
Created by the Localism Act in 2011, Neighbourhood Development Plans were hailed as a way to give local people more say in planning issues. But some of the conflicts that have ensued between Neighbourhood Forums and local councils show how difficult it is to shift power downwards, writes John Sturzaker (University of Liverpool). Cases in […]
The EU is extraordinarily complex. But do we want to simplify it?
The EU’s institutional architecture is often regarded as being too complex for citizens to properly engage with, and both Jean-Claude Juncker and Emmanuel Macron have recently proposed some form of simplification – such as merging the President of the European Commission with the President of the European Council, or shrinking the Commission. Dimiter Toshkov argues that while […]
Referendum campaigns end up convincing voters that their preferred party is right
When people are deciding how to vote in a referendum, do they take their cue from party loyalty or by listening to the debate and making up their own minds? When Céline Colombo (University of Zurich) and Hanspeter Kriesi (European University Institute) analysed two Swiss referendums, they found that voters do pay attention to the arguments. But during […]
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