Minorities in a Democratic Setup
With the rise of populism and nationalism worldwide, the protection of minorities in a democratic setting is an ongoing discussion among opinion-makers and social engineers. Some believe minorities are losing…
Democracy
Bourgeois Democracy and Emancipation of Labour
Liberals and their conservative Churchillian allies continue to celebrate bourgeois democracy and its electoral rituals as a great equaliser, claiming it ensures representation for all, regardless of background. However, the…
What are Threats to Indian Democracy and How to Ward Them Off?
Indian democracy, one of the largest and most vibrant in the world, faces several challenges that could undermine its stability and inclusiveness. Below are some key threats and potential ways…
Time out for democracy?
It did not come as a big surprise when the V Dem Institute Report 2024 branded India as one of the ‘worst autocratisers’ in the world in recent years. Experiences…
Civitas: School For Democracy
Civitas is an ancient Roman concept which recognizes that a political entity and its citizens are not simply a collection of individuals governed by the rule of law and taken…
How to Analyze Good Politics and Bad Politics? The Dynamics of Policy Making in a Democracy
Politics is Collective Dynamism Politics is the art or science of effective government. Politics come to include all that concerns with or is involved in guiding and influencing government policy.…
Parliamentary Farces
I do not understand why my countrymen are not outraged and disgusted at the current goings-on in our parliament.Elsewhere people would,I am sure,revolt in indignation if things came to such…
Regime Change in Washington DC
Follow the logic. It is straightforward and reality based. 1 ) If you are reading this knowing it’s about promoting peace, you are a decent, kind, admirable person. 2) I…
The Fall and Rise of American Democracy
BOSTON – It should not have come as such a surprise that US voters were largely unmoved by the Democrats’ warnings that Donald Trump poses a grave threat to American…
Democracy Needs Workers
WARSAW – Donald Trump shocked the world in 2016 when he was elected US president, winning swing states in America’s Rust Belt, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, that have traditionally…
An Emerging Third Option: Reclaiming Democracy from Dark Money & Dark Tech
Seven Observations On 2024 and What’s Next In 2024, over 2 billion of us voted in national elections. So what have we learned so far this year, in general and…
Panchvarshiya Loktantra: The Five-Yearly Democracy of the Third World
Democracy is not just voting; it's sustained citizen participation to ensure justice and accountability- Amartya Sen In many Third World countries, democracy has an odd five-year cycle. Election seasons provide…
Limited Political Choices in Capitalist Democracies
The advanced capitalist countries—including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, and several Western European nations—have failed to offer their citizens a genuine range of choices in terms of…
Government And Citizens Finding Angles Of Incidence
Here is an AI-generated Podcast based on the article When light strikes an object the angle of the reflected ray formed at the intersection is the angle of incidence. The…
One Nation One Election: Some conceptual and political fallacies
The theoretically odd experiment of democracy in India often demands a conceptual universe of its own in order to make sense of its proper functioning. The building blocks of this…
‘No’ To EVM , Paper Ballot Only: After all, EVMs are operated and supervised by vulnerable and biased human beings
Democracy at Risk!: Can We Trust Our Electronic Voting Machines? It is a book (2010, 246 pages) by G. V. L. Narasimha Rao, a senior central leader of BJP and…
Elections Sans Electoral Alternatives and Democratic Stagnation in France, UK and USA
Free and fair elections are considered to be the festivals of democracy, where the electorates have the opportunity to choose their leaders from a pool of alternative candidates listed on…
Tragedy of Hoi Polloi and Farce of Western Democratic Values
The reality of Western democracy is structured in such a way that it effectively excludes the majority of people from meaningful participation in decision-making processes. While citizens do vote and…
Making Our Democracy Work for Us
Ever since the results of the elections came out in India, many of my friends and I have celebrated in a subdued way. Nobody stuffed laddus in anybody's mouth, we…
Electoral Democracy and Hereditary Politics of Inheritance
Democracy is not only a product of the struggles of the working classes, but its survival against all odds also depends on the unwavering commitment of the working people. Historically,…
Not All Children are Equal to the Mother of Democracy!
I had a dream on the night before the parliamentary election in Gujarat, May 6, 2024. In the dream, I saw a Dalit woman being warmly welcomed into an affluent…
Though with a very strong inception, why the democracy in India has failed to mature the way it should have been?
The foundations of the idea of Indian democracy which came into existence as the Republic of India on January 26, 1950, after a long fought battle of freedom, were quite…
To Save Democracy, Check Deceptocracy
The progress of democracy has been one of the noblest chapters of the history of humanity. When true democracy progresses, this also leads to steadily increasing possibilities for equality and…
How Elite Infighting Made the Magna Carta
Although the Magna Carta typically is depicted as the birth of England’s fight to create democracy, the 13th-century struggle was to establish what would become the House of Lords, not…
The Will of the People in Global Decline
by Thomas Klikauer and Danny Antonelli While many of us believe that we live in a democracy – representing the United Nation’s “will of the people”, the “general will”, and…
Rethinking Democracy: A Blessing or Curse (Panauti) for the Nation?
In the midst of the ongoing democratic fervor across five states, the nation finds itself engulfed in the familiar chaos of rallies, meetings, speeches, and political crossfire. Dignity, decency, and…
Emerging ‘(dis) Order’ of International and National Governance: Some Reflections
The canvas of the theme of the Seminar is too vast and the sub themes of it are too many. It becomes difficult for me to select issues to reflect…
I, the Citizen, (Not) the Sovereign
by Sandeep Pandey and Vishwas Bhamburkar The preamble to the Constitution begins with “We, the People”. Thus, the idea that the citizens are the sovereigns, should have been the…
A Government Without Ministers (GWM) is the need of the hour
An open letter to Mallikarjun Kharge jee and Rahul Gandhi jee: Dear Sirs, This process can be started with states, particularly from Karnataka, as they and you are mulling over…
This is NO Democracy!!
I just love it when all the media political pundits and talk show hosts ( News Talk?) throw out that word Democracy. You don't have to go to a ranch…
Illiberal Democracy and Anti-modernization waves in south-Asia
Background Democracy, a form of people’s rule, requires great responsibility and commitment from the citizen and state. Democracy is an inclusive practice cemented on modern liberal ideals that brings peace…
What Youth-Led Movements Teach Us About Democracy
Youth-led mass mobilisations in recent years have challenged the argument that young people have no interest in politics or democratic processes. Young people displayed a commitment to change and modelled…
India’s Democracy in a Nutshell
The election of a Pradhan in a small village in UP The following account is almost verbatim from what was related to us in a close-group discussion[1]. Given the sensitivity…
Downward Social Mobility and Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism’s Popular Base Inexorably linked to self-identity molded by the social environment, political identity, shaped by social class and the hegemonic culture, largely determines the individual’s participation in the political…
Recent Threatening Trends to Democracy
Democracy is all about access to resources, rights, participation in decisions, freedom and the ability to pursue choice. Democracy the world over has been under threat, in recent times. In…
Why There Are So Many Policy Failures Despite the Existence of Democracy and Batteries of Experts
The incidence and frequency of major policy failures has been increasing in some of the major countries of the world , including the USA, UK, Brazil, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India…
Post-Trump World: Is Democracy Dying in America As Well?
We know it’s fashionable to hypothesize that democracy is “dying” in the post-Cold War world. It’s true not only for some of the postcolonial democracies in the Third World, and…
Too Much Democracy, Mr. Kant, Or Too Little ?
So now we finally know why the Modi govt. has messed up the Farm Bills issue big time: it has advisors like Mr. Kant who no doubt firmly…
Democracy is a Function of Capitalism
An Overview of Systems of Government. H.L. Mencken said the typical American voter was a boob and the system was booboisie. In order to understand the submission “ Democracy is…
Too Much Democracy?
Too Much of Democracy has derailed our economic 'growth' says CEO of Niti Ayog, who once professed that ATMs will cease away in the coming years. A 'devotee' of Narendra…
Revolution To Revulsion: The Evolution Of Homo Democratius
“What is the robbing of the bank compared to the founding of a bank”...BERTOLT BRECHT November 2020 witnessed America affirming that it isn’t just its name that embodies unity but…
Democracy and the Corporation
“The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the…
Platform Democracy in India
We are living in the age of digital era when consumption of politics and political activities are become inevitable because we are all carrying a platform in shape of smartphones…
Dangers for Democracy without Opposition
As people battle with the deadly Coronavirus, the world is sleep walking into an authoritarian future to keep capitalism alive with the help of brute force. The parliamentary and presidential…
Democracy Is Important But Is It Working?
If you think that democracy is about 'government of the people by the people and for the people', you are dead wrong, not these days. The way democracy has evolved…
Need to Oust Professional Society
In his book The Rise of Professional Society England since 1880, Harold Perkin wrote: "The 20th century has seen the dissolution of the concept of absolute property. It has been…
The Illusions of Bourgeois Democracy
Democracy is a product of struggles and sacrifices of the working classes. The October revolution, French revolution in Europe and anti-colonial struggles in Africa, Asia and Americas shaped democracy. The…
Towards True and Total Democracy: via changes in the electoral system, structure and functioning of Panchayat Raj
0. Preface: Main thrust of this paper lies in justification of Proportional Representation (PR) for all segments of the society at all levels in all spheres of power on the…
Is Democracy Consistent With Islam?
Some people are under the impression that democracy and Islam are incompatible. But I don’t see any contradiction between democracy and Islam, as such. Though, I admit, that there is…
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