Robert French, the former chief justice of the High Court, says ‘The Voice is a big idea, but not a complicated one.’ That may be true, but how do we really know? Currently, the parliament is considering a bill to improve the process of informing the Australian public about referenda questions. The bill contemplates suspending...Continue reading
Art O’Leary was minding his own business and enjoying his role as a senior civil servant in Ireland’s parliament when the prime minister phoned to offer him a unique job. The self-described middle-aged man with a suit and a comb-over couldn’t have known that he was about to become a social revolutionary. The newly elected...Continue reading
Saxon Connor is a Christchurch surgeon. The views expressed in this column are personal and do not represent those of his employers. OPINION: There is now widespread disruption to the provision of hospital-based healthcare across Aotearoa. The underlying cause is not simply the increased demand from the COVID-19 and influenza. As a nation we have accepted...Continue reading
As far as referenda go, I think there’s general agreement on this: to ask Australians to consider, at the same referendum, two questions — one on Indigenous voice, and the other on a republic — is too big an ask. Nevertheless, we could do what the Irish did in 2012. Ireland held a Citizens’ Constitutional...
U.S. President Joe Biden is set to host a virtual summit this week for leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector to discuss the renewal of democracy. We can expect to see plenty of worthy yet predictable issues discussed: the threat of foreign agents interfering in elections, online disinformation, political polarization, and the...Continue reading
With so many independents running, there’s a suggestion that Australia is on the precipice of a tectonic shift in politics. If only. These aspiring independents are launching their campaigns replete with catchy slogans, brightly coloured posters and t-shirts, and all the razzamatazz of politics-as-usual. “They’re not calling them parties at the moment, but that’s not...Continue reading
By some metrics, American democracy is in great shape. Despite a pandemic, and a switch to mass mail-in voting, the 2020 presidential election witnessed the highest voter turnout in U.S. history with 158 million people casting ballots. That’s about 66% of the voting-eligible population, the highest percentage since 1900 when 74% voted. Of course, many factors may have...Continue reading
Whichever party wins office in this presidential race, the US is likely to persist as a conflict-ridden country. But it’s not alone. America is simply a bald-faced illustration of how elections generate animated and antagonistic political campaigns — resulting in a fractured body politic. Electoral regulations go some way to ensure the integrity of the...Continue reading
Cathleen O’Grady in Science Magazine, Oct. 29, 2020 , 1:45 PM Until recently, Sue Peachey, an apartment building manager in Bath, U.K., didn’t think much about climate change. “I did my recycling,” she says. “I just wasn’t aware of how serious it was.” She never imagined the U.K. Parliament asking for her advice on climate...Continue reading
Last week, The Economist UK strongly and clearly endorsed that the use of juries of citizens warrants the attention of anyone seeking to do democracy better. At the core of their reasoning is a practical reality: real-world policy issues which would normally get mired in ‘politics-as-usual’ have been freed up and seen elected leaders from...Continue reading