News - 23 Gennaio The US at a Crossroad. Will it Cross its Rubicon, or Choose Democracy? We’ve known for a long time that our nation is, and has been, divided in two camps. One that protects its liberal democratic republic, and the other, at various times denominated “All-American,” “extreme right conservative” and even “White supremacist,” that is discontented and is inclined to see a differently managed country. With the advent of […]
News - 20 Gennaio Trump’s Departure: Gone but Sadly, Not Likely to Be Soon Forgotten The armed criminal supporters--the “pied pipers of Trumpism"-- that stormed the Capitol in what can only be considered an attempted coup d’état, have not only changed the way that the long-established Inauguration ceremony can take place today, they have undermined the security of America and democracy tomorrow and all the days to follow. The nation is divided and nothing makes this clearer than the number of votes that Biden and Trump each received. With 85 to 74 million, the nation is almost equally divided in half. Newly sworn in President Joe Biden talks of universal love, unity and empathy, but I think that the ship of brotherly love in America sailed a while ago.
News - 29 Novembre 2020 Trump’s Refusal to Concede Defeat: History Repeats Itself, Sometimes as a Farce The virus of “democratic backsliding” - recently denounced at the U.N. General Assembly during the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of International IDEA, a highly regarded multilateral institution created by Sweden in support of free elections - is not sparing even the United States, long believed to be the gold standard of democracy.
U.N. - 7 Luglio 2020 The Global Monitor of Covid-19’s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights At the beginning of the pandemic, some policy analysts assumed that democracies would have performed better than autocracies in coping with the crisis. It has soon become apparent that state capacities and the quality of leadership played a more important role than the type of political regime. In fact, democracy aspects do not seem to affect fatality rates significantly. International IDEA analyzed whether basic welfare standards, civil society participation and personal integrity rights, for example, are important factors for limiting mortality during the first stages of the pandemic. On 7 July International IDEA will launch a Global Monitor of COVID-19’s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights co-funded by the European Union.
U.N. - 28 Giugno 2020 The COVID-19 Crisis Threatens Democracy: An IDEA to Defend it States and citizens should address the flaws the virus has brought glaringly to the surface and rebuild the social contract. Priorities of the post-COVID-19 recovery include reducing of inequalities, fighting authoritarian temptations and building democratic institutions that deliver sustainable development for our common future.
News - 16 Marzo 2020 Coronavirus and Democracy: Conte is Dangerous, Italy is Under Martial Law Read below the answer of Stefano Vaccara
U.N. - 15 Dicembre 2019 UN Human Rights Day: “Is Democracy Catching the Flu?” Is world democracy, after years of slow but promising progress, catching an insidious form of institutional influenza? The 74-year old United Nations, on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, felt that the moment was right for a clinical check-up on the health of democracy across 158 countries out its 193 member states.
English - 31 Luglio 2019 Humanity at the Crossroad of Morality: Anti-diversity and the Spread of Populism Up to recently, it was possible to imagine a world without national borders. Now the toxic rhetoric of wannabe dictators, white supremacists and hate-mongers in power may tip us over the edge into the kind of dystopia that features the breakdown of democracy, civil war, concentration camps and genocide.
Arts - 15 Giugno 2019 Leonard Cohen’s Prophecy: Democracy is Leaving the USA And what are we doing as a nation to abort this home-spun tragedy? Mandates have been set by a Council of Conservative Citizens passing legislation eliminating our basic rights….
News - 19 Maggio 2019 Nadia Urbinati: Populism? It’s not Fascism, and also Democracies Are “Elastic” Professor Urbinati recently contributed to the political debate with two important volumes: Utopia Europa, published by Castelvecchi, and Me, the People. How Populism Transforms Democracy for Harvard University Press (coming soon). We met her in her office at the prestigious university in New York City to test the “political thermometer” on the health of our democracy and the challenges posed by populism, a few days before the European elections and about a year and a half before the highly awaited US presidential elections: "We have the internet, we have a solid democracy that has guaranteed 70 years of rule. Fascism will not return, it would be absurd, but there is a transformation of representative democracies because representation is no longer handled by the parties, but directly by the leaders ".