Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

Keywords: Democracy

  • INTERNATIONAL

    On reading electoral entrails

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 18 July 2024

    In the wake of recent elections in Britain and France, global democracies are seeing voters reject established parties amidst a deepening cycle of disillusionment. But can a return to honesty and integrity in politics break this downward spiral? 

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    An American crisis

    • Warwick McFadyen
    • 15 July 2024

    Following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, politicians, including the US President were quick to condemn the shooting, all saying it had no place in American society or democracy. Tell that to children killed by gunfire. Every day, guns take young lives in the US. Gun violence was recently declared a national health crisis in the United States. 

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Uncertainty in a time of conviction

    • David Halliday
    • 15 July 2024

    Why do we often find ourselves locked into courses of action that seem destined for failure? Despite calls for Biden to step aside following his shaky debate performance, the President stands firm in his re-election bid. Is it time we valued the courage to change course as much as we value the courage of one’s convictions?

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Old men for an old order

    • Ken Haley
    • 11 July 2024

    Whatever the outcome in the United States elections, the most powerful countries are ruled by elderly men. This fundamental and ominous failure of a new generation to supplant its elders bodes ill for the future.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Building constitutional bridges: In conversation with Frank Brennan

    • David Halliday
    • 28 June 2024

    It's been eight months since the Voice referendum, and people are starting to grapple with what its defeat means for Australia. There are few voices in Australia as qualified to conduct a postmortem of the outcome of the Voice referendum campaign as Frank Brennan. We examine what lessons can be learned and crucually, whether there’s reason for hope for Indigenous constitutional recognition.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    What does it mean to be complicit?

    • Warwick McFadyen
    • 27 June 2024

    To be complicit, must you share the same intent? If one says nothing, does nothing, does this signify complicity? Is there then such a thing as an innocent bystander? 

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    The problem with CEO pay rises

    • Joe Zabar
    • 25 June 2024

    For decades, unchecked corporate power and policy failures have driven up Australia's cost of living, leaving many Australians struggling. As corporate interests dominate, CEO pay increases dramatically while wages stagnate, and inflation rises. This influence of corporate Australia has eroded economic safeguards, dismantling the guardrails that once protected the common good.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Uncle George’s war

    • Juliette Hughes
    • 21 June 2024

    Most soldiers don’t like to talk about what they’ve been through, the things they’ve had to see; the things they’ve had to do. Uncle George was more willing to talk as he got older and more willing to be coaxed by a crowd of adoring nieces. But there were some things he'd never say. And the war never went away from him.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Pandering with pandas: Australia-China relations turn warm and fuzzy

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 19 June 2024

    In a significant thaw in Sino-Australian relations, Premier Li Qiang's visit to Canberra brought strategic agreements on education, climate change, and trade, and the promise of new pandas for Adelaide Zoo. Prime Minister Albanese emphasised cooperation and dialogue over confrontation, contrasting with the hawkish rhetoric of domestic critics.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Commemorate or forget: Do we care enough about D-Day?

    • Geraldine Doogue
    • 18 June 2024

    I wonder how many Australians were captivated, as was I, by the 80th anniversary D-Day celebrations? They seemed epochal to me: a reminder of something remarkable and a pointer to something possible, namely new resolve to maintain peace in Europe. Not too many Australians, as it turned out, were similarly mesmerised. 

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    When safetyism leads

    • Julie Szego
    • 07 June 2024

    In response to campus protests, universities erred on the side of free speech when every other day, the prevailing ethos is one of ‘safetyism’, namely suppressing speech or inquiry if an identity group frames it as ‘harmful’ to them. Universities should strive to be uncomfortable and ‘unsafe’ for all, with no identity immune from robust scrutiny.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    The Punisher

    • Barry Gittins
    • 24 May 2024

    In the latest Quarterly Essay profile of Peter Dutton, author Lech Blaine may well describe his work as character delineation, rather than character assassination. But we seem to be at an impasse in Australian market of ideas, and scorn gives greater bang for the buck than dialogue.

    READ MORE