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Young people in Wales back votes at 16 – and political education

As the Welsh Assembly publish their major report on votes at 16 today, the young people of Wales have spoken. And it is a clear message – young people want a vote. With 10,375 young people...

Posted 15 Jul 2015

Time for a constitutional convention for the EU

The standoff between the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB), and Greece is a crisis born at least partly from a problem with democracy. In the EU as at any other level we hope...

Posted 10 Jul 2015

With Proportional Representation small parties get the influence they deserve

For those used to one party getting a majority of the seats (without a majority of votes) the idea that a smaller parties often get to be in government under PR can be confusing. Of...

Posted 23 Jun 2015

A new Borgen-ing? Proportional representation and the Danish election

Yesterday saw Danes go to the polls. Popularised by the TV show Borgen, Danish politics is fascinating in all sorts of ways, but most of all, we can learn much from its model of democracy....

Posted 19 Jun 2015

Implementing the Donaldson Review in Wales

Following the announcement by Education minister Huw Lewis that the Donaldson Review would be implemented in full, our education adviser Rhodri Griffiths examines the Donaldson Review on Education in Wales and asks: ‘how can young people become informed...

Posted 16 Jun 2015

Magna Carta and the case for a Constitutional Convention

The fractious reality of Britain’s contemporary political scene demands that a new approach be taken to constitutional issues. The myriad debates over the nature and extent of devolution, Britain’s relationship with the European Union, the...

Posted 15 Jun 2015

What is the Scotland Bill?

The Scotland Bill was no surprise when it was announced in the Queens Speech. In the lead up to the Scottish independence referendum vote last September and following a particular cliff-edge poll, unionist parties became very...

Posted 12 Jun 2015

Crossing the threshold – the Turkish election

There was a fair deal of shock in Turkey last weekend as the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority, which it has enjoyed since 2002. The AKP’s dominance has been legendary since...

Posted 11 Jun 2015

With all due respect, Minister… AV is not PR

This week our colleagues at Unlock Democracy received the official government response to the 500,000-strong petitions for electoral reform, handed in to 10 Downing Street just a week after the General Election. It seems that John Penrose,...

Posted 10 Jun 2015

Did Proportional Representation put the Nazis in power?

Probably the first time many of us heard of Proportional Representation (PR) was in a school classroom studying the Second World War. For some people this may have been the last time they heard about other voting...

Posted 05 Jun 2015