By Seevali Abeysekera* LONDON | 25 April 2025 (IDN) — Before the American presidential election in 2020, I published an article, ”America — the end is nigh”, whose last sentences were: ”A civil war and disintegration of America is thus a real possibility. History has shown us that great empires eventually collapse due to their […]
The End of Democracy?
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS | 24 April 2025 (IDN) — The Trump administration is rapidly destroying American democracy. In previous contributions, based on the writings of Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, we have already warned about this. Recently, professors Jennifer McCoy (of Georgia State University), Rachel Beatty Riedl and Kenneth Roberts (of Cornell […]
This Hair on Fire Moment
By James E. Jennings* ATLANTA, Georgia | 29 June 2024 (IDN) — Patriot hero Paul Revere risked his life to warn American colonists in 1775 that British troops were coming to impose the monarchy and take away their liberties. A month earlier Patrick Henry roused patriots in the Virginia Assembly when he shouted, “Give me […]
India: Is the World’s Largest Democracy A “Mockery”?
By Kalinga Seneviratne SINGAPORE | 28 December 2023 (IDN) — India’s national Parliament—known as Lok Sabha (Lower House of the People)—has become a “mockery of democracy,” says the main opposition party Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge following a splurge of expulsions of their members from the chambers before important criminal law reform bills were debated and […]
Outgoing President Weah Leaves an Unflawed Legacy
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA | 2 December 2023 (IDN) — Liberia and Sierra Leone have a common historical legacy and often tend to imitate each other in war and peace. But events in the last two weeks suggest that while Liberia may […]
Is the US Democracy Worth Emulating?
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 15 November 2023 (IDN) — It should take a long time before America can again strut the world stage and lecture us all about the values of democracy and human rights, poking its finger in the eye of every authoritarian or dictatorial government it has the desire to show […]
Nigeria: Minimizing the Regular Cycle of Bitter Election Combats
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA | 4 November 2023 (IDN) — Former vice president and presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, said on 30 October that Nigeria was the bigger loser in the Supreme Court decision on 26 October […]
Polarisation as a Challenge to Democracy
By Wolfgang Merkel* This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. BERLIN. 22 August 2023 (IDN) — It is above all social conflicts that shape politics, its disputes and its effects on democracy. The effects can be positive or negative, depending on the degree of conflict and […]
Democracy à la Google, Facebook & YouTube: Some Reflections
Viewpoint by Lucas Malaspina* ROME (IDN) – When Mark Zuckerberg decided to offer emerging nations Internet.org, anger was not long in exploding. As Daniel Leisegang writes in ‘Facebook is saving the world’, this project which emerged in 2013 was a humanitarian masquerade: to allow Internet access to a huge number of Third World citizens who […]
Court Rules in Favour of Dutch Human Rights Advocate
By Reinhardt Jacobsen
AMSTERDAM (IDN) – A Court in Amsterdam struck down Meseret Bahlbi lawsuit against Mirjam van Reisen, Dutch professor and human rights advocate. The judge found that she was not guilty of libel and slander and that the youth party of the Eritrean regime can be seen as a means of collecting intelligence abroad. The decision comes as a huge relief not only for the Dutch professor, but also for the Eritrean diaspora across Europe.