Library of democratic content

Our curated library is packed full of knowledge, know-how and best practices in the fields of democracy and culture.

Read the latest on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other critical world events in our library of democratic content.  Gathered from trusted international sources, the curated library brings you a rich resource of articles, opinion pieces and more on democracy and culture to keep you updated.

 

 

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Common Ground

Common Ground "sits awkwardly but intentionally, between a seemingly distant past and a rather uncertain future. This moment softly echoes Robert Schuman’s appeal of May 9, 1950: ‘Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity." (European Cultural Foundation, 2020).

11 October 2020
European Cultural Foundation,
Report

What We Can Learn From the Rise and Fall of ‘Political Blackness’

“In Britain, this capacious usage of “Black” scanted the enormous differences among the nation’s nonwhite minorities. But that was exactly its point, and its power...using “Black” as an umbrella term, he felt, would weaken such illusions: It would helpfully emphasize the “immense diversity and differentiation of the historical and cultural experience of black subjects” (Kwame Anthony Appiah, 2020).

6 October 2020
Kwame Anthony Appiah
NYT

The Shrinking Space for Media Freedom in Southeast Europe

“The report examines the impact of the coronavirus crisis on press independence in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Albania” by assessing “domestic politics and societal developments, foreign authoritarian media interference, technology and social media” (Filipova, 2020).

11 September 2020
Dr. Rumena Filipova
Center for the Study of Democracy
Report

Shifts in Support for Authoritarianism and Democracy in the Western Balkans

"The countries of the Western Balkans have experienced more than a decade of democratic backsliding. Analysis of survey results revealed that these trends were accompanied also by substantial changes in citizens’ political attitudes. The support for a strong political leader has noticeably increased, while support for democracy has suffered a substantial decline" (Lavrič and Bieber, 2020).

11 June 2020
Miran Lavrič & Florian Bieber
Problems of Post-Communism
Paper

The Athenian Plague, A Cautionary Tale

“The plague reminds us that the legacy of the eternal “wonder” of Athens contains within it a cautionary tale: the failure of democratic society to cope with a lethal epidemic. The model of how democracy began is also a study in how it can founder and fall” (Gary Bass, 2020).

10 June 2020
Gary Bass
The New Yorker

What Does Art Have to Do with the Coronavirus?

“When art is meaningful and substantive, viewers can become enlightened, inspired and empowered. And this can lead to change, which we urgently need” (Judy Chicago, 2020).

28 May 2020
Judy Chicago
NYT

Has Covid19 Killed Globalisation?

"Even before the pandemic, globalisation was in trouble… As economies reopen, activity will recover, but don’t expect a quick return to a carefree world of unfettered movement and free trade. The pandemic will politicise travel and migration and entrench a bias towards self-reliance. This inward-looking lurch will enfeeble the recovery, leave the economy vulnerable and spread geopolitical instability." (The Economist, 2020)

14 May 2020
unsigned
The Economist

No Return to the ‘Old Dispensation’

“The history of greed, venality, stupidity, cruelty and violence is long because that part of human nature is ineradicable. As the 20th century demonstrated, it is better to bet on a liberal society’s capacity to temper these flaws and iniquities than on a utopia’s false promise to eradicate them. Those promises end being written in blood” (Roger Cohen, 2020).

7 May 2020
Roger Cohen
NYT

There Is An Antidote to Our Fear. It’s Called Leadership

“If the coronavirus crisis is analogous to a war — and I believe that it is — Mr. Trump’s initial Easter forecast bears a chilling resemblance to the hollow promises made at the onset of other conflicts, such as our Civil War and World War I, in which the troops would “be home by Christmas” (Elliot Ackerman, 2020).

1 April 2020
Elliot Ackerman
NYT

A Silent Spring Is Saying Something

“Every one of the unprecedented, vastly consequential, health and economic measures that state, local and federal officials have taken up to now...reflects an unarticulated ethical position about...how do we maximize the common good in the least heartless way” (Thomas L. Friedman, 2020).

27 March 2020
Roger Cohen
NYT
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