opening democracy: all articles

Democracy today is threatened by dogmas, violence and unaccountable power. Can it resist, sustain itself, and deepen its range and quality across the world? openDemocracy’s debate on this question features major thinkers responding to Anthony Barnett & Isabel Hilton’s opening essay.
Wednesday 11th January

The levels of democracy

The realities of globalisation, multiple identities and crises of legitimacy put democracy above and below the nation-state on the political agenda, says John Palmer.
Monday 12th December

The fundamentals of democracy: a response to John Palmer

The argument for supranational European governance strikes at the root of democracy, says Roger Scruton.
Friday 2nd December

The 'nation'-state is not enough: a reply to Gisela Stuart

The suggestion that democracy must remain restricted to nation-states - because they alone can sustain a popular demos essential to underpin any democratic politics - is a counsel of despair, says John Palmer. An increasingly interdependent world with powerful transnational institutions must build transnational democracy, and what is being attempted through the European Union may have eventual application at the global level.
Friday 18th November

Democracy, Iraq and the middle east

Iraq had a vibrant civil society and rich layers of secular political argument in the pre-Saddam era. These key ingredients must be reclaimed if democracy is to take root in the middle east, says Sami Zubaida.
Tuesday 15th November

The body of democracy

A contract of trust between citizens and politicians on a defined national community – we can elect you, we can remove you – is fundamental to a democracy, says the German-born British Labour MP Gisela Stuart.
Wednesday 9th November

Democracy and its enemies: a response to Barnett & Hilton

Anthony Barnett & Isabel Hilton’s depiction of democracy is too indulgent of the Islamist threat and too in thrall to leftwing pieties to be convincing, says Thomas Cushman.
Monday 7th November

Mobilising global democracy

An enormous effort to revivify democracy across the world is needed – and the inspiration to pursue it can be found in centuries-long experience of cross-cultural encounters, says Fred Dallmayr.
Thursday 3rd November

Democracy in the Arab world: the Islamic foundation

A detailed examination of Islamic thinking and practice shows that the alleged conflict between Islam and democracy is an illusion, says Mishal Al Sulami.
Wednesday 26th October

Democratic failure: festering lilies smell worse than weeds

“We must keep firmly in mind that democracies can fail.” The barriers to democratic progress in the world today are far deeper than Anthony Barnett & Isabel Hilton allow, while Roger Scruton’s depiction of “the west and the rest” is equally flawed, argues Anatol Lieven.
Wednesday 19th October

Getting democracy into focus

The very potency of democracy as word and idea creates an impulse to extend it beyond plausible limits, and this is at the root of the flaws in Anthony Barnett & Isabel Hilton’s article. John Dunn, professor of political theory at the University of Cambridge, continues openDemocracy’s debate.
Wednesday 12th October

Democracy or theocracy? A response to Barnett & Hilton

In its silence about Islam and its hostility to the United States, Anthony Barnett & Isabel Hilton’s definition of the threats to democracy fails to convince Roger Scruton.
Tuesday 11th October

Democracy and openDemocracy

Terrorism, fundamentalism, and neo-liberal globalisation each pose a challenge to democracy. openDemocracy intends to play a key role defending and deepening democracy, explain Anthony Barnett and Isabel Hilton.
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