During campaigns, politicians, including presidential candidates, often make extravagant promises to woo voters to their side to win elections. Most politicians build their platforms and personal brands on a few emotional issues that are most likely to resonate with the…
Continue reading Why, in US Politics, You Need to Pay Attention to the Rest of the Process
Last October, the Lebanese parliament elected a new president ending a two-and-a-half-year power vacuum that had crippled the functioning of the government. Just over six months later, Lebanon was drifting into yet another political crisis that could leave the country…
Continue reading At Long Last… The Lebanese Prepare for Parliamentary Elections
A prerequisite for democracy is the freedom of speech and expression. Even though this is widely acknowledged, we sometimes forget the whole picture. The representation of all groups in a society is not only important for the conversation climate and…
Continue reading The Lack of Young People’s Representation Is a Problem For Democracy
The role of Africa Liberal Youth (ALY) Africa has been perceived to be the least Liberal continent in terms of ideologies. This perception has been fuelled by the presence and the continuous stay in power of some leaders, who may…
Like the latest organic, sustainable nutritional supplements and shakes, the word populism is trendy. It is hip yet, no one knows exactly what it means. Populism is undoubtedly the most used word of the past year − apart perhaps from…
Citizens always expect the best from their leaders. They hope that their leaders will provide them with food, security, health and other basic necessities. However, if they fail to deliver, public sentiment will gradually start to change, which could result…
Continue reading Corruption and mismanagement: a threat to democracy in South Asia
Ukraine, the largest country in Europe, gained its independency from the USSR in 1991. It is undebatable that the country is still going through a difficult transition period from a Soviet republic to independent and powerful state, following significant changes…
Continue reading How Ukrainians Today Are Developing a Democratic Mindset
My route to the CYPA was a little different from most, both practically and ideologically. Firstly, coming from the UK meant a marathon journey, hopping from Newcastle to Amsterdam, onwards to Beijing and then finally to the destination, and as…
Continue reading How the Determination of Asian Liberals Inspired Me
I recently attended the Youth Political Academy in Hong Kong organised by the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) during which Mr Sin Chung-Kai, former vice-chairperson of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, shared his thoughts on the Umbrella…
Global and Vocal – this is how it all started, more than one year ago, when I decided to run for the bureau of the International Federation of Liberal Youth. Since my first IFLRY event in 2010, I had never…
