Theme : democracy
- Why politicians should always do their homework... On Saturday I attended an excellent mayoral hustings, hosted by the LGBT organisation Stonewall. The three main candidates, along with Sian Berry of the Green Party and Left List candidate Lindsay German gave short presentations and fielded questions ranging from corruption, buses, the Pride festival, the rights of older LGBT people, extremism, Section 28, and providing better transport for disabled people in London.... from : nicolahughes 21st April 2008
- EDI in Brussels We just got back from the launch of the Everyday Democracy Index (EDI) at The Centre in Brussels. It was a chance to test our ideas with a group drawn from Member States, NGOs, index experts and journalists. Margot Wallstrom, the Vice President of the European Commission, in charge of institutional relations and communication, was there to respond. from : kirstenbound 9th April 2008
- Book Review: 'Provoking Democracy: Why we Need the Arts' I've just written a review of Caroline Levine's book, Provoking Democracy: Why we Need the Arts. Overall, it encourages constructive discussion of the relationship between the arts and democracy that goes beyond territorialism and, even if it does leave questions unanswered, that is part of its value, flagging up areas to which policy-makers and cultural professionals must pay greater attention. from : samjones 28th March 2008
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Launch of the Everyday Democracy Index
Yesterday evening Demos was jam-packed for the launch of the Everyday Democracy Index. Paul Skidmore unveiled the first exciting set of results, with an engaging response from Professor Timothy Garton Ash.
Rather than relying solely on traditional democratic indicators like electoral turnout, the EDI also measures how good countries are at empowering their citizens in everyday spheres of life like neighbourhoods and communities, workplaces, public services and even the family.
from : kirstenbound 1st February 2008 - The Commonwealth Gets Teeth The Commonwealth Heads of Government, currently meeting in Uganda, have for once made a good decision. They have (temporarily) booted Pakistan out of the Commonwealth because of the terrible political situation there.So what? You might say. Isn't the Commonwealth just an anacronistic waste of time? Well, for the UK it might not compete with our membership of the G8 or our permanent seat on the UN Security Council. But for many member states of the Commonwealth and their leaders, membership... from : rachelbriggs 23rd November 2007
- How far will Cameron draw the political parallels? While attention has been focused on The Royal Academy in Stockholm the past couple of days for the Nobel prizes, David Cameron should note that there are some even more interesting things going on over in the Riksdag. from : dompotter 19th October 2007
- Everyday Democracy Today During a conversation in the office the other day, we were discussing the place of Everyday Democracy in the current political climate. If there's any doubt as to it's present day relevance, here's Barack Obama a few months ago, explaining his decision to run for the Democratic nomination. He outlines his belief in the need for a new American politics, and that political renewal can only be achieved through the values of everyday democracy. It would be really interesting to hear what other... from : faizalfarook 16th October 2007
- Ipsos MORI - British Confidence Index September 2007 Ipsos MORI - British Confidence Index September 2007 from : petebradwell 17th September 2007
- Talk Us Into It at the Festival of Ideas Last year, we published Talk Us Into It, which examined the role of conversation in the public realm. I'll be talking about it at the Sedbergh Festival of Ideas at the end of this month from : samjones 6th July 2007
- Nanodialogues Depending who you ask, nanotechnology might be the Next Big Thing, the Next Asbestos or the Next GM. But before its impacts have been felt, nanotechnology has become a test case for a new sort of governance. It is an opportunity to reimagine the relationship between science and democracy. from : markfuller 28th June 2007