COMMENT | IAN BURUMA | Compared to other Western democracies, the United States is still a profoundly religious country. Around 24% of Americans identify as evangelical Christians. Five US Supreme Court justices are conservative Catholics (the only other conservative on the bench, Neil Gorsuch, was raised and educated as a Catholic but is …
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After watching business take over the US government, the only alternative is to abandon any pretense of democracy COMMENT | KATHRINA PISTOR | For decades, we have been told that government-operated businesses are bad for the economy. A staple of the “Washington Consensus” that emerged in the 1980s was that “private …
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Ancient philosopher Plato may have an answer to why only those skilled in statecraft should rule the unskilled COMMENT | MATTHEW DUNCOMBE | The Republic, the best-known work of ancient Greek philosopher Plato, authored around 375BC, has shaped western political thought. Greece is now known as the “cradle of democracy”. Not …
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How America’s pursuit of global primacy undermines democracy at home and international law abroad THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | I argued in this column last week that America’s pursuit of global primacy (hegemony) is increasingly becoming a liability to Europe’s security and economic prosperity. Germany is the biggest loser in …
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Philosophers have understood how demagogues come to power in free and fair elections, only to overthrow democracy and establish tyrannical rule COMMENT | JASON STANLEY | Like others, since late Tuesday night (November 5), my phone has been blaring with text messages asking how this could have happened (as some of …
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Our civil society needs to challenge those in power or who seek it to ensure good governance and accountability FROM THE ARCHIVES -2006 | Dr. Joe Oloka-Onyango | Most government officials react negatively to critical statements made by civil society actors and academics. They accuse us of being armchair politicians, meaning …
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A progressive tax system would redistributes incomes to the poor while preserving incentives for the rich COMMENT | KAUSHIK BASU | While there are many ways to measure economic inequality, key metrics consistently show that disparities are getting worse. According to a recent United Nations report, 71% of the world’s population …
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In a functioning democracy, the Government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed COMMENT | PETER NYANZI | Public debate is raging over whether or not the government should allow public demonstrations against the marauding monster of corruption in Uganda to go on. Well, it’s not my intention …
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As democracies wrestle with problems they once seemed to manage, authoritarians watch with satisfaction COMMENT | CHRIS PATTEN | The most compelling argument for liberal democracy is that it empowers citizens to choose their own leaders, effectively placing the country’s present and future in voters’ hands. The system is underpinned by …
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Global analysis by the Chicago Center on Democracy reveals the more unequal, the greater the risk COMMENT | SUSAN STOKES | With November’s election in the United States fast approaching, Democrats continue to debate whether to campaign on the economy or the future of democracy. In fact, our research at the …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price