How equal are we, Part I? Democracy, capitalism and ageism in the age of Corona virus
In the pull between democracy and capitalism, which we discussed at the Graduate Center in Spring 2015, tensions are rising and two camps are forming. Laid bare is the tension between the democratic drive towards inclusion and the capitalist tendency towards class stratification and hierarchy. There are different ways this [...]
The executive branch and the power to reschedule elections
As President Trump ramped up war rhetoric this week on the subject of Covid-19, voices on both sides of the political spectrum began speculating about the November 2020 general elections and the president's power to cancel or postpone them. The consensus is that the President lacks the authority to cancel [...]
Crises, the state of exception and the survival of democracy
The Covid-19 outbreak and the ensuing global pandemic has already had far-reaching changes for hundreds of millions of people around the world. Governments have resorted to extraordinary measures. In Italy, the whole country is on lockdown. In Germany, all “non-essential” establishments have been closed by a coordinated action of state [...]
Covid-19 painfully underlines ideological divisions as election campaign continues
This week, Covid-19 dominated news and social media around the world. The severity of the crisis -- as well as the reliability and quality of reporting -- varies greatly across media sources and from country to country. Wading through complex and contradictory masses of information is difficult and unsettling, even [...]
Democracy continues its decline around the world – few glimmers of hope in new “Freedom in the World” report
Civil rights and liberties continued to decline around the world, according to the new annual country-by-country report published on Wednesday by Freedom House. This constitutes the 14th consecutive year of declining democracy in the world. Almost twice as many countries experienced a decline in their democracy scores when compared to [...]
New CUNY scholarship on the electoral support of secular parties in Tunisia
What drives the electoral support of secular parties in Middle Eastern Countries in the aftermath of the Arab spring? While much research has been devoted to explaining the strength of Islamist parties in post-Arab spring countries, little is known about secular parties and their sources of support. In a new [...]