🗳️ Can South Sudan’s next elections bring stability, or deepen the crisis?
Our new brief examines how targeted constitutional and governance reforms could help address persistent instability and support a more sustainable political transition in the country: buff.ly/k8Ga3mT
Huge -- the High Court has struck down a big loophole for the major parties in Victoria's donation laws.
The "nominated entities" loophole let the major parties receive uncapped donations from their fundraising vehicles, while everyone else was strictly limited.
What are the accountability arrangements for the secretary general, within NATO? To whom is he answerable; and when does his term expire?
What on earth is Rutte up to?
People’s Panel for Digital ID The Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones, has announced the first nationwide citizens’ assembly to have been commissioned by the UK government. Called the ‘People’s Panel for Digital ID’, it will form part of a consultation into plans for introducing a digital ID system. Those plans were set out in a green paper published in March. The government said it ‘intends to introduce a national digital ID’ that will satisfy three ‘core principles’: that the system is ‘useful’, ‘inclusive’, and ‘trusted’. It added that the purpose of the consultation was to seek feedback on ‘how to build a system that is useful for everyone’. The consultation began on 10 March with an eight-week ‘open engagement’ process. This comprises an online survey and support for ‘local conversations and events across the UK’, including ‘roadshows, roundtables, as well as resources to help communities run their own discussions in ways that work for them’. The People’s Panel will be convened in May, after the initial consultation has ended, and will itself conclude by 21 June. It will be made up of ‘a broadly representative group of 100–120...
The UK’s government has announced its first ever citizens' assembly.
The People's Panel for Digital ID will take place in May and June and be made up of 100 to 120 people from across the UK.
Read more in Monitor 92 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo....
And so the solution we should work towards is….?
Not to mention Myanmar…
This is hands down one of the most important and timely articles published in our field this decade. I wish I had written it — but it certainly wouldn’t have been as good.
It’s a conversation-changing piece. Let’s change the conversation!
Thanks for directing me to it. Very helpful and informative. What a complicated set of issues for a referendum!
The second series is still worth watching. But much too much commentary at the expense of piano. Lacks a lot of the magic of the first series and the UK version.
Yes, international law can be a bargaining chip in protection of democracy. But international relations regularly undermine democracy through often covert leverage of various kinds. The latter in insidious and needs to be brought under democratic control in the states involved.
Yesterday, there was a debate on treaty scrutiny in Westminster in the Lords. I am very grateful to constitutional expert @lordnortonlouth.bsky.social for highlighting my proposed Private Members’ Bill: the Treaty Ratification (Parliamentary Consent) Bill. It could not have found a better advocate.
An intellectual giant has died. It is impossible to discuss constitutional democracy without discussing Habermas' reflections on it. We will continue to do so for a long time
www.jstor.org/stable/3072601
An epoch of German philosophy has ended. Even though world famous Habermas still took the time to answer questions of young aspiring academics. An example to live up to. RIP www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...
On Monday 16 March there will be a debate in the House of Lords (Grand Committee) entitled Treaty Scrutiny in Westminster: Addressing the Accountability Gap.
There have been repeated calls for reform of the current system of scrutiny (under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010).
Shout out to the wonderful Pat Turner, whose retirement has just been announced, after decades of distinguished service, to the great benefit of First Nations peoples. I am privileged to have been able to work with her from time to time as a colleague and friend. www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article...
These are excellent proposals, which would be extremely useful in Australia also, given the state and extent of public procurement practices. They deserve to be widely disseminated.
AEC disclosures show more than $138 million in political funding in 2024–25 had no declared source under the current rules.
When dark money & big donors shape our politics, public trust suffers. Australians deserve govts that are not fundraising from industries that profit when policy is weakened.
Kudos to Margaret Sheil for offering Meanjin such an appropriate home.
"The evolution of the White House into a palace, and of court politics at the heart of a modern mass-media democracy, is of enormous interest to the historian, not least because it illustrates the only facet of early-modern politics not understood by the Founding Fathers."- forthcoming J.G.A. Pocock
It’s a little bit late in the day, but today of all days, you might want to read Truth Be Told. Yoorrook Justice Commission’s report, which includes the history of colonial Victoria from a First Nations perspective for the very first time. www.yoorrook.org.au/reports-and-...
Importantly, also, it is not constituted, empowered or conceived to deliver peace in Gaza and the West Bank, or anywhere else. Performative and self-indulgent.
This is a very important thread. The whole "it's a new UN" narrative is profoundly flawed. The Board of Peace has no actual power beyond the power of its individual members. So at most it is a new type of alliance between some of the worst human beings on earth -- deeply problematic but nothing new.
Checks and balances of some kind are common, whether so described or not. The claims for ‘exceptionalism’ may be an even more productive subject of historical inquiry.
Well done to @amyremeikis.bsky.social being the only live blog still going when the laws were passed.
It is worth a read for those wondering what happened in the Senate last night
live.thepoint.com.au#b1d36e9e3b
A new(?) type of threat to judicial independence, becoming increasingly common and blatant.
Looks like a worthy tribute! Is there a list of authors?
I’m co-organising Workshop #63, Constructing and Reimagining Constitutional Narratives through Pop Culture, at the iacl World Congress 2026 (Bogotá), with Jonathan Hafetz and Mara Malagodi. CFP deadline: 23 Jan @cccwarwick.bsky.social @maramalagodi.bsky.social wccl2026.com/en/call-for-...
Yes. Although what was the US impact in/on the Venice Commission in any event?
