Arrest and release of Somaliland poet puts spotlight on regional troubles
Jul 09, 2018 14:20 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law Politics
Poets, writers and bloggers have recently been on the receiving end of political crackdowns in the self-declared independent state of Somaliland. Surges often occur around elections, and most recently due to assertive...
The Murri Book Club and the politics of reading for Indigenous Australians
Jul 09, 2018 14:04 pm UTC| Politics
Although the 2018 Closing the Gap report on Indigenous disadvantage highlighted the importance of literacy for Indigenous Australians, progress remains slow. But, while reading is widely considered an unmitigated good and...

Brexiteers outmanoeuvred at Chequers as Theresa May corrals her cabinet to agree Brexit plan
Jul 09, 2018 09:35 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
On his first visit to the prime ministers country retreat at Chequers, the Liberal Democrat minister David Laws was reminded of the setting for an Agatha Christie film, where most of the guests would be murdered. Six years...

Is Indonesia retreating from democracy?
Jul 09, 2018 08:11 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
This is an edited extract from Tim Lindseys essay Retreat from Democracy, which appears in Australian Foreign Affairs #3, published 9 July. For much of the past 20 years, Indonesia has been held up as a model of...

Mexico's election was a victory for democracy itself
Jul 05, 2018 13:34 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, has won a landslide victory in Mexicos presidential elections. He now stands poised to form the countrys first left-wing government for generations, and...

Nationalism and piety dominate Turkey's election
Jun 24, 2018 04:28 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Turkey goes to the polls to vote for president and parliament on Sunday. As a scholar of the history and politics of the Middle East, I believe the most striking feature of the campaign is the ideological uniformity...
Jun 24, 2018 02:14 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Michelle Grattan discusses the week in politics with University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President Academic Professor Nicholas Klomp, including, the governments income tax package success, the Liberals...