Democracy

A writing project is bringing me back to Machiavelli again, particularly the Prince and the Discourses, and this passage from the Discourses made me think of the Ukraine, and possible futures for Russia: For the degree of corruption to which the kings [of Rome] had sunk was such that, if

Will Davies writes about a discussion he ran at the current Internet and Society conference. Top line – pure capitalism and pure democracy can’t mix, even if compromise is messy.

An article in the New Republic yesterday describes the “orange envy” of Russian liberals, seeing their Ukrainian counterparts protesting on the streets.

Manifesto for the reputation society on firstmonday.dk. Random question: Are reputation systems democratic?

An outstanding, thoughtful, right essay from Nicole-Anne Boyer at WorldChanging.

The NCDD has an overview here.

Apologies for mounting a personal hobby-horse again. The websites Voter Fraud Clearinghouse (Democratic-leaning), and HobbsOnline (Republican-leaning) contain a wide selection of reportage on alleged voting fraud. If even half the stories are true, it says a lot about the perversion of democratic governance that partisan office-holding covers in the US.

The Center for Responsive Politics has a fascinating table showing a selection of ambassadors appointed by President Bush, and their campaign contributions to the Republicans, the Democrats, and the President personally.

David Neiwert is four sixths of the way through his series of pieces on fascism and the conservative movement. A longer exposition on a similar topic can be found at his “Rush, Newspeak and Fascism“. Both are worth reading, but I am not entirely convinced. Mr Neiwert has built up

Do-wire points out the new Active Citizenship Centre – a nascent research organisation into civic renewal and participation.