Russia votes on Sunday to elect another tame parliament for Vladimir Putin, although his party looks like having a reduced majority.
Western Australia does (mostly) the right thing
The announcement of a reform plan for Western Australia's upper house is a major step forward for democracy, although dispensing with preferential voting should also have been considered.
A recall in California
California's governor looks like surviving an attempt to recall him, but the vote casts a light both on some of the state's quirks and on the mania that's taken hold of the Republican Party.
Election preview: Norway
If the polls are right, Norway's Labour Party is set to return to government after eight years in opposition.
A coup in Guinea
Last weekend's coup in Guinea is a lesson in why democratic backsliding should be taken more seriously.
Problems in the Balkans
There's a new political crisis in Romania to accompany the existing long-running one in neighboring Bulgaria.
Déjà vu in Victoria
Victoria's Liberal Party dumps its leader and reaches back into its past – a place of dark memories.
Japan loses a prime minister
Despite staging a successful Olympics, Japan's prime minister decides that his party will be better placed with a new leader for the upcoming election.
Texas vs civilisation
A US supreme court decision raises the prospect of giving the fundamentalists in the Republican Party what they say they want – possibly at a large political cost.
Taliban in Central America
Afghanistan isn't the only place where an anti-American autocracy has picked up where it left off. Nicaragua has already been there.
The World is Not Enough 