The Australian High Court strikes a blow for federalism, but same-sex marriage in the ACT is a casualty.
Category: Australia
Liberals, Greens and a two-party system
Liberal voters tend to treat Labor rather than the Greens as the main enemy. That's different to what their leaders think – or is it?
Uneasy times in Thailand
Anti-government protests continue in Thailand, where an elected government faces an opposition that seems to be giving up on parliamentary democracy.
Australia and the history wars, Armenian edition
Turkey, as always, resents any official reference to the Armenian genocide. This time it's Australia in the firing line.
One cheer for the ACT
Supporters of marriage equality can celebrate progress in New Jersey, but they should be more sceptical about yesterday's vote in the ACT.
Germany coalition update
European coalitions work quite differently from Australian ones.
When in doubt, vote no?
Irish voters decide to keep their Senate after all. Meanwhile, British politicians are arguing about giving their voters the opportunity to decide whether to keep EU membership.
On getting rid of a Senate
Ireland's voters may decide tomorrow to abolish their Senate. Could it happen in Australia as well?
If you’re not sick of elections yet …
Germany votes in two weeks time on the fate of Angela Merkel's government. The result will depend in part on a quirk of the country's otherwise very democratic electoral system – a system which, incidentally, would have produced a rather different result last weekend in Australia.
Please don’t feed the beast
Unnecessary military spending is a cancer on democracy, but it takes a case like Egypt to show the real damage that it can do.
The World is Not Enough 