Democracy

By Ahmet Alioglu | – ( Middle East Monitor) – One of the leading assistants of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, and a founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), resigned last week from the government’s high advisory council citing disagreements and discontent over judicial practices. Bulent Arinc called for a comprehensive reassessment […]

Bill of Rights

How did Conservatives successfully smear “Liberal” (Respect for Liberty and Rights of Others) as Mule Word?

Bahman Fozouni

Sacramento (Special to Informed Comment) – The 2020 elections are over, but once again it proved that Liberal-bashing remains a favorite pastime of the Republican party and conservative politicians. Verbal assault on “liberal” politicians and the media, “liberalism,” and the root-word “liberal” by the political right (and occasionally by the hard left) has remained a […]

African-Americans

What President-Elect Biden and all Americans owe the Black Voters who Saved our Democracy

OtherWords

By Tracey L. Rogers | – ( Otherwoods.org) – Black voters waited in 10-hour lines to show up for Joe Biden. Now Biden needs to return the favor. During a pandemic that has killed Black people at disproportionate rates, we still managed to save our democracy by getting out the vote in what may have […]

Corruption

What Trump’s claim of a ‘stolen election’ means for activists today

Waging Nonviolence

By George Lakey | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – I’m encountering a great deal of alarm among progressive activists regarding continued Republican claims of a stolen election. Do these anti-democratic efforts mean a coup attempt is under way? Despite being among the first to write about the possibilities of a coup, I have to […]

Democracy

America’s not-so-Model Elections: So much for Exceptionalism

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Following weeks of speculation and worry about the possibility of violence and/or crasing technical systems the United States executed a largely flawless presidential election. At least that was how the major media portrayed the events of early November. Once again American exceptionalism provided the opportunity to sing […]

Banking

How the concentration of property rights within corporations has led to a rejection of democracy and a rise in inequality

British Policy and Politics

By Jean-Philippe Robé | – Jean-Philippe Robé discusses how multinational enterprises morphed into political organisations with global reach and power, but without the corresponding responsibilities. He argues that the concentration of property rights within corporations has led to the rejection of democracy as an ineffective system of government and to the rise in inequality. ( […]

Donald Trump

Trump 2024? Presidential comebacks have mixed success

The Conversation

By Robert Speel | – American author F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “there are no second acts in American lives.” Yet it’s already assumed Donald Trump will go on to a next act in one form or another. Will he start his own media company? Serve as a GOP kingmaker? There are even rumblings […]

censorship

Pompeo’s touting of “Second Trump Administration” craters State Department’s Credibility on Democracy Promotion

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Nicole Gaouette, Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood at CNN report that secretary of state Mike Pompeo insisted there would be a smooth transition to a second Trump term. The statement, which appears to have been sardonic rather than in earnest, disgusted a lot of people, especially ambassadors. If it was […]

Democracy

Pollsters are Missing Winners, but so Much else

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Once again Donald J Trump delivered another electoral surprise. It was not the re-election win he had been hoping for but it was a nail biting down to the wire event that far exceeded the pollsters and most pundits’ predictions. Nor was the president’s relative success confined […]