Australia is on the eve of receiving one of its most anticipated budget announcements.
Wayne Swan and the team within the Treasury have put together a pillar from which the Labor Party will draw strength…
Accusations against Peter Slipper have prompted him to step aside as speaker.
AAP Image/Penny Bradfield
Speaker of the House of Representatives Peter Slipper has stepped aside following allegations of sexual harassment and the misuse of cab-charge vouchers.
Slipper’s former adviser James Ashby accused the…
Aung San Suu Kyi has called her party's landslide victory in Burma's recent elections, a "triumph of the people."
EPA/Barbara Walton
The by-elections held throughout Burma/Myanmar on 1 April initially look to have produced a stunning result for the National League for Democracy (NLD) and its leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
It was stunning…
After vote rigging in Russia's elections, Putin's authority has been called into question.
EPA/Alexey Nikolsky/Ria Novosti/Government Press Service Pool
The Russian presidential elections, held on 4 March, gave a solid electoral win to the President-elect Vladimir Putin. But much of the Western press saw it as a tainted victory. With allegations of election…
Wayne Swan outlined his economic vision for Australia at the National Press Club today.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Australians are in a unique place today – we are witnessing our democracy being called to account.
The nature of Australian democracy is being debated by on the one hand, its Treasurer and on the other…
Burma's military junta has held on to power through violence and intimidation for 50 years.
EPA/Rungroj Yongrit
Today marks the 50th anniversary of military control over the Burmese state, marking half a century of the Junta’s tight, often brutal grip on power. But within the last year, there have been shifts towards…
Unimpressive: should our polticians be educated before they represent us?
AAP
If the current leadership tussle in the labor party has demonstrated anything, it’s that politics in Australia is not the most impressive affair.
And if we needed any further confirmation, we need only…
Mussolini made the trains run on time. But having a strong leader is risky.
Flickr/Galaxy FM
“If I Ruled The World” was a tune made famous decades ago by English comedian and singer Harry Secombe who sang of making every day the first day of spring as well as other miraculous improvements. It…
Mass social movements, like the one in East Germany in 1989-91, don't usually start out with clear goals.
AAP
Those who call for the Occupy movement to have a coherent set of demands at its birth ignore the history of social and protest movements.
Often, the coherence to the programs of protest movements is only…
The first free elections borne from the Arab Spring were held in Tunisia. Over 90% of registered adults voted.
EPA/Zacarias Garcia
It has been a tumultuous week in the life and times of democracy in the Mediterranean. Seven days punctuated by joyous hope and its ugly opposite, sullen despair.
The promising news came from Tunisia…
Julia Gillard spoke to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa about allegations of human rights abuses at a pre-CHOGM summit.
AAP Image/Reuters/Daniel Munoz
CHOGM As the meeting between Commonwealth Heads of Government kicks off in Perth, a row is brewing over the idea for a new Commissioner on democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Holly Cullen from…
It's wrong to assume that China makes no effort to reform its political system because its culture does not support such change.
Flickr/Katherina
The skepticism of contemporary China’s multilayered and painful efforts to achieve legal and political reform makes many wonder if democracy can really grow in the Chinese soil. This is such a haunting…
Unhappy with politics in this country? You're not the only one.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Australians are more dissatisfied with the way democracy works now than they were after the Rudd government was elected, a poll has found.
According to the ANU poll of 2001 people, there has been a 13…
Barack Obama's life may be fascinating, but he isn't as powerful as we think.
AFP/Saul Loeb
Sarah Palin’s voice, both in sound and content, still has the power to stop me dead in my tracks with fear and bewilderment. Her game of will she/won’t she run for the US Presidency has ended, but not…
15-M started in Spain, but it has sparked protests around the globe.
EPA/Jesus Diges
This weekend Spain will see the return of its “revolution”. Those involved in the 15-M movement will once again take to the streets en masse to demand urgent reforms. Under the motto “united for a global…
The planet is struggling to survive democracy, but the only alternative is to improve it.
Truthout.org/Flickr
The carbon tax bills passed by the Australian House of Representatives on October 12 were a small vindication of climate science. But we should be concerned about the corpses of science, reason and expertise…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott are not doing Australian politics any favours.
AAP
Imagine a country in which politics is not a struggle among ambitious individuals for power, but the community’s way of resolving conflicts and advancing its common interests.
Voters are well-educated…
The ballot paper was an Australian innovation.
AAP
One hundred and fifty years ago, the South Australian House of Assembly handed down the report of its first committee into the running of elections.
Its main purpose was to find the causes of two troubling…
The State premiers and Prime Minister, Julia Gillard meet at the Council of Australian Governments (AAP/Alan Porritt)
There is an old joke in Canada, one that every university student is told early in the Introduction to Politics class. It goes like this: three students – one British, one French, and a Canadian – are…
Too much regulation of third parties like GetUp! will hurt democracy
Paul Miller AAP
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: In the latest instalment of The Conversation’s week-long series on how the media influences the way our representatives develop policy, Andrew Norton says there’s no need to regulate…
Cate Blanchett is among the celebrities pressed into service to persuade us on political issues.
AAP/WWF
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: This afternoon, Andrew Hughes examines which recent political adverts have been a success, as part of The Conversation’s week-long series on how the media influences the way our…
Kevin Rudd used to manage his brand well, but was toppled after an advertising campaign against him.
AAP/YouTube
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: Today, Andrew Hughes looks at how voters have become consumers of political marketing, as part of The Conversation’s week-long series on how the media influences the way our representatives…
Defence policy in Australia will have undergone radical change by 2050.
AAP
AUSTRALIA 2050 – So let’s imagine it’s the midpoint of the 21st century and Australia is enjoying its third decade as a recognised innovator in democracy.
Australia routinely initiates global conversations…
Embattled Labor MP Craig Thomson may lose his seat, but this doesn't necessarily mean Labor will lose government
AAP
The Gillard Government relies on a wafer thin majority in the House of Representatives in order to pass legislation.
The Coalition opposition has already said it will not provide “pairs” for government…
Rob Oakeshott MP tells Professor John Warhurst why he decided to free himself from party constraints.
AAP
For the latest in our In Conversation series, Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University, John Warhurst spoke with the Independent member for the NSW seat of Lyne, Rob…
Can social media temper growing public antipathy towards political parties?
Mandel Ngan/AFP
On Tuesday, the ACT government held Australia’s first virtual community cabinet using Twitter. Four ministers faced a barrage of tweets in an hour long question and answer session held with the electorate…
Many Greeks are ashamed by what has happened to their country.
EPA/Orestis Panagiotou
Athens is no longer considered by scholars as the birthplace of democracy but all of a sudden it has become the epicentre of a powerful political earthquake rocking the foundations of every democracy in…
Brown talking up the Green's role in the new Senate AAP/Alan Porritt
One hundred and ten years after Federation, the Senate today helps to ensure that the Australian Parliament more closely reflects the will of the people. But despite assurances by Bob Brown in his speech…
Politicians would do well to ask the people for their views on climate change.
AAP/Greg Wood
The conduct of the Australian climate change debate was probably not what John Maynard Keynes had in mind when he proclaimed “words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the…
Ancient Athens practically invented Western culture, but xenophobia led to the collapse of the Empire.
Flickr/SantiMB
Those debating Australia’s future, and its immigration policy would do well to consider a lesson from the past. Anybody can establish a successful state, the real difficulty is maintaining its success…
Revolutions encourage people to see the world through different eyes
AFP/STR
The lives of millions of people in the Arab-speaking world are changing. Often for the first time, women and men have jumped, danced, kissed strangers and sung in the streets. There is talk of dignity…
