By Justin Kempf A Famine in Somalia I am well aware the United Nations describes the catastrophe in Somalia as a drought rather than a famine. While the semantics might have legal implications, they do not bring much comfort to the families who suffer immeasurable loss. Last year alone 43,000 people died from hunger in... Continue Reading →
Josh Chin is the Deputy Bureau Chief for China at the Wall Street Journal and the coauthor with Liza Lin of the book Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control. Become a Patron! Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. It's hard to believe what was happening... Continue Reading →
By Camilo González The Breakdown of the State and Democracy Haiti is going through an accelerated collapse of the state, but also of its democracy. The Haitian State is one of the most fragile states in the world. Its Human Development Index has worsened for two consecutive years. Constantly besieged by climate disasters -the last... Continue Reading →
By Christopher Blair An Emerging Trend International borders are hardening around the world. Since 2001, more than 60 new borders have been fortified. Walls and fences are the most prominent manifestation of this trend. As of 2020, nearly 40% of all countries had walled their international borders to some extent. Media and scholarly attention have... Continue Reading →
By Justin Kempf Democracy Regressed Back to 1986? The recent report from the Varieties of Democracy made a stir with some of its headline findings. Perhaps the most controversial is their finding that global democracy has regressed back to the same level as 1986 for the average citizen. It raised many eyebrows, because this sets... Continue Reading →
By Kevin Frazier The Politics of the Judiciary What question should voters answer when evaluating whether to retain a justice on their state’s court of last resort? Some voters may ask whether the justice’s individual decisions align with their own policy preferences. Other voters—in fact, likely a majority of voters—will simply ask whether the justice... Continue Reading →
Staffan Lindberg is the Director of the V-Dem Institute, one of the five principal investigators of the Varieties of Democracy Project, and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. He is also a coeditor of the book Why Democracies Develop and Decline along with Michael Coppedge, Amanda B. Edgell, and Carl Henrik Knutsen. ... Continue Reading →
By Pablo Argote Another Chilean Constitutional Process Begins On Monday, March 6th, a group of experts named by the political parties met in "Salon de los Presidentes", a solemn room located in the facilities of the Chilean Congress in Santiago. The purpose of this meeting was nothing less than to initiate the third attempt to... Continue Reading →
By C. William Walldorf, Jr. A Boon or A Bust? Is the war in Ukraine a boon or bust for U.S. power? Despite Ukraine’s remarkable success, NATO’s increased unity, and Russia’s poor military performance, the answer to that question is more complicated than some might think. Especially in a war’s early stages, assessing the impact... Continue Reading →
By Justin Kempf What Exactly is Artificial Intelligence Throughout this podcast I have talked to writers about technology about its effects on democracy. Recently the background readings have started to touch on artificial intelligence more and more. For me it raises a lot of questions, because artificial intelligence is never as intelligent as advertised. Even... Continue Reading →
