Global Challenges to Democracy
The US in 2024: An Election That Worked and a Democracy That Doesn't
Policy Brief No.206 - December, 2024 • By Heidi and Guy Burgess
This policy brief examines the divisive, hyper-polarized, us-or-them way politics is viewed in the United States. One test of a democracy is whether or not the voters get to choose their leaders. While, at this most basic level, the 2024 US presidential election was a success, it's easy to understand why both sides view contemporary politics as a battle that they absolutely, positively, must win. The only way out of this highly destructive confrontation is some kind of compromise that, more than elections, is the cornerstone of the democratic ideal. This policy brief concludes with three principles upon which such a compromise could be built.
Global Challenges to Democracy
Massively Parallel Problem Solving and Democracy Building
Report No.200 - September, 2024 • By Heidi and Guy Burgess
This report introduces “massively parallel problem solving and democracy building”, the notion that the “solution” to failing democracy comes in the form of hundreds of thousands of different people and organizations, each working on their own little “thing,” which together add up to a massive societal response to all the various challenges democracy faces. Scholars, conflict resolution practitioners, politicians, and grassroots citizens all seem to agree: democracy is in trouble in many places around the world including the U.S. which is the focus of this report. However, the forces of resilience and adaptive change are here in more abundance than is often recognized. Rather than being a hypothetical theoretical idea, massively parallel problem solving is already happening on the ground – on a surprisingly large scale.
Global Challenges to Democracy
Narendra Modi’s War on Civil Society on the Cusp
Policy Brief No.191 - May, 2024 • By Debasish Roy Chowdhury
This Policy Brief draws attention to thousands of civil society organizations which have died in the attack launched by India’s right-wing government that sees them as an internal threat to the state. The fate of many more, like India’s tottering democracy itself, hangs on the result of the ongoing election.
Global Challenges to Democracy
Capturing and Decapturing Democracies: Notes from India
Policy Brief No.190 - May, 2024 • By Debasish Roy Chowdhury
This Policy Brief addresses the question: How can right-wing populism be electorally reversed, and is democracy automatically restored when it is? A southern state in Modi’s India has important lessons as the world’s biggest election plays out.
Global Challenges to Democracy
The Many Wars of Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim
Policy Brief No.184 - February, 2024 • By Debasish Roy Chowdhury
This Policy Brief examines the rise to power of Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim – a story of political perseverance and hope with few parallels – and how he has fared in handling the Southeast Asian country's many challenges in his first year in office. A rare intellectual-politician, his career has careened from street protests to the centre of power, back to street protests, incarceration, custodial torture, repression, then slow progression back to high politics, and eventually the apex of political power. Becoming the fifth prime minister in as many years in 2022, stability has been his priority, complicating his dual task of revving up the economy and battling the ever-lengthening shadow of Islamist conservatism over Malaysia. Anwar’s report card after a year is hence a mixed bag of some hits and many misses amid abounding constraints.