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Perspectives on Democracy

The year 2024 is the biggest election year in history, with over half of world’s population going to the polls. At the same time, democracy around the world is facing a variety of serious challenges and threats, ranging from populism and polarisation to direct military offensive. This series aims to shine a light on democracy from different historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives, with an eye firmly on its future. By doing so, we hope to contribute to democratic thinking and practice in this crucial moment.

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Striking a Balance: Reconciling Democratic Citizenship and Epistemic Agency

Pick any recent op-ed lamenting the demise of contemporary democracy and you will most likely read claims about how a toxic combination of widespread...
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Historical Models and Representative Democracy

Can classical forms of republicanism provide instructive models for modern democratic thought and practice? Many philosophers have been skeptical. In Federalist 10 (1787), James...
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Are Elections Enough? Democracy and Collective Power

The association of democracy with elections is relatively recent. In ancient Athens, three things distinguished democracy from other regimes: all citizens having a right...
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Time is Political

One of the ultimate measures of worth, in human life, is time. And yet, theories of justice, in their debates about “currencies” of justice,...
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The Republican Moment: Reviving Freedom and Democracy in an Authoritarian Age

Across the globe, authoritarianism is in the ascendancy. As Freedom House have reported, over the last two decades many repressive regimes across the world...
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Kant and Democracy: Problems and Possibilities

Year 2024 was a historic year for democracy. It is estimated that over 4 billion people—that is, roughly half of humanity—voted in national elections...
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Towards a Democratic Economy

A strange cognitive dissonance is pervading our social life: we regard it as our inalienable right to govern ourselves democratically in one social sphere,...
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One Step Back, Two Steps Elsewhere: Exploring the Past to Envision Democratic Futures

It is difficult to write the words "democracy is in crisis" without a sense of reluctance. In many ways, it feels like a trivial...
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Executive Orders, Offices, and Laws: Democratic Conundrums in Ancient Greece and Modern America

An executive order is issued by the new ruler of a country. A woman defies the order in the name of higher laws. How...
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Democracy and Future Generations: A Philosophical Minefield

Democracy and future generations have a thorny relationship. On the one hand, democratic countries provide better for the well-being of future generations than autocracies...