A collaboration with The New School & the European Democracy Institute
 
Category: <span>Issues</span>

Issue: Issues

Issues gathers thematic collections of essays, reflections, interviews, and reports exploring contemporary challenges to democracy, human rights, political culture, and public life from diverse international perspectives.

Category: Issues

Issues gathers thematic collections of essays, reflections, interviews, and reports exploring contemporary challenges to democracy, human rights, political culture, and public life from diverse international perspectives.

Digital Christian “Small Acts of Resistance”

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Jess Fisher is a graphic designer and liturgical artist. She served for a time as Digital Minister at the Washington D.C. Presbyterian Church of the Pilgrims, which introduces its website with the title “Where all are pilgrims, but none is a stranger.” The church, under the leadership of Rev. Erin Counihan, has joined with the Washington Interfaith Staff Community in organizing “Faithful Witness Wednesdays,” weekly vigils at the Capitol “call[ing] on Congress to …

Small Acts of Legal Resistance

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  May 15, 2025 While the Trump administration has initiated dangerous Executive Orders and policy changes at a dizzying pace, it has been countered at every step by litigation. And while the administration has succeeded in cowing some top law firms from challenging its edicts, there remain many attorneys, and legal organizations, that are uncowed and unbowed, and who have been steadfastly committed to using every legal means …

A Nine Year Old’s Democratic Resistance: Korry Skipper – Miller at the Attorneys General’s Rule of Law Road Show

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Early this month, on May 8th, I went to a “community impact hearing” called by Letitia James, the New York Attorney General. At Westchester Community College, just down the road from my home, James, along with Attorneys General of California, Rob Bonta, Illinois, Kwame Raoul, Minnesota Keith Ellison, and New Jersey, Matt Platken, as well as my Congressman, George Latimer, gave impassioned speeches criticizing the authoritarian actions of …

Voice Comes: A Declaration of the State of Affairs

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Note: This statement, written by Daeun Kim on December 7, was then circulated at Indiana University, Bloomington as an open letter under the heading “Students and Researchers for President Yoon’s Impeachment.”  The statement was quickly signed by 38 supporters, and it represents the sentiments of those signatories, and does not represent the official stance of Indiana University Bloomington or the Korean Student Association (KSA). The statement can be …

Introduction: South Korean Students Respond to the Crisis of Their Democracy

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Photo: ‘Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea signing resolution approving the Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol,’ 14 December 2024. 대한민국 국회, KOGL Type 1 , via Wikimedia Commons. Source. On the evening of Tuesday, December 3, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked his country and the world by declaring martial law. In a televised address, he declared that the Democratic Party, which holds a majority of seats in the …

What is Democracy? The Fragile and Vulnerable System That Requires Everyday Practice

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Today, I want to talk about the word democracy—a term we think we know and even believe in, but we don’t always take a moment to consider what it truly implies and what it should mean to us.  In its simplest terms, democracy can be defined as “rule by the people.” But when we look at this definition, it is quite vague.  If you were to build a …

We Have Hope. And Our Democracy Calls for Hope

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In confrontation with the democratic crisis in South Korea, I would like to talk about two forms of politics: the politics of cynicism and the politics of hope. The politics of cynicism tries to make people believe that active participation of ordinary citizens are useless, meaningless, and not effective in democratic societies. It argues that politics is work for a few elites – politicians, representatives and the so-called …

Point of No Return: Georgia’s Democratic Uprising

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Photo credit: Badri Okujava. Introduction: A Nation at the Edge Georgia stands at a pivotal moment in its modern history. Since late October this year, protests against the government’s suppression of the opposition, election rigging, and suspension of the country’s EU membership talks have evolved into nationwide outrage resisting the authoritarian regime imposed by the Georgian Dream (GD) party. Unlike previous demonstrations, such as those opposing the Russian-style …

Confronting Trump and Trumpism: 10 Observations after “The Morning After” / moving “Beyond Alarm”

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Photo: “President Donald J. Trump, joined by the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and Acting Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper, watches an aircraft flyover during his remarks at the Salute to America event Thursday, July 4, 2019, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks).” The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. I am …

Why We Should Be Alarmed

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Photo: “Supporters of former President of the United States Donald Trump at an Arizona for Trump rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.,” Aug. 2024. Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons As the evidence that Donald J. Trump poses a mortal threat to constitutional democracy in America became stronger the political and electoral power against him became weaker. …