Think Democratic! The Swiss "Denknetz"
"We must think together to develop political expertise!” This is the core commitment of the Swiss think tank Denknetz, which organised the Reclaim Democracy conference from February 2-4, 2017 in Basel.
Will “We The People“ Survive No. 45?
In at least one respect, the new US administration under President Trump has been very well prepared: within seconds of taking the oath the official White House webpage changed radically— with one interesting exception, writes Bruno Kaufmann, editor-in-chief of people2power.
Liberals and centre-right demand EU convention
Alongside the elections of Antonio Tajani as new President of the European Parliament on 17 January 2017, the Parliament’s centre-right and liberal groups decided to start a “reflection on the future of Europe”. A new EU Convention to prepare a new EU Treaty could be an outcome...
Why "Post-Truth" is a convenient lie
The German Association for Language named “postfaktisch” its word of the year for 2016, following the Oxford Dictionaries, which chose “post-truth” as its word of 2016 internationally. The problem is that all this usage hasn’t made “post-truth” any more helpful, or accurate, in...
On with the Struggle!
2016 was a challenging year for Democracy International and for all the people who are striving for more democracy and more co-determination in the world. Challenging because (direct) democracy was attacked and criticised and the attempt was made to dump it onto the political...
Italy rejects constitutional reform
On Sunday, 4 December 2016, Italian voters decided by referendum not to change the Italian constitution to reform the appointment and powers of the Parliament as well as the partition of State and Regions and administrative entities.
On Sunday, 4 December 2016,...
Why We All Need to Leave the Country After This Election
Now that the election is over, are you leaving the country? If not, you ought to reconsider.
I’m not kidding. Yes, a handful of our fellow Californians—prominent citizens from Samuel L. Jackson and Bryan Cranston to Miley Cyrus and Barbra Streisand—proclaimed themselves so...
Follow live: Global Forum in San Sebastian
From 16 to 19 November 2016, 200 people from across the world will come together in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain, to address the questions if direct democracy is in retreat or on the rise. The gathering forms the sixth Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy that aims at...
Democracy in Iceland: Balancing the Volcano
On Saturday, 29 October 2016, parliamentary elections were held in Iceland: The Independence Party emerged as the largest in the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, winning exactly one third of the 63 available seats. The Progressive Party, which had won most seats in 2013, lost...
“The refugee vote is a misuse of political communication”
On Sunday, 2 October, Hungary’s eight million eligible citizens were to decide in a plebiscite whether Hungary should accept the European Union’s quota system for asylum seekers.
Ahead of this vote, Democracy International has interviewed Zoltán Pozsár-Szentmiklósy, an Assistant...