When Democratic Decline Comes Through the Post Room, Not the Barricades, Recognition and Reaction are Vital

When people imagine a democracy being undermined, they often picture something dramatic—soldiers in the streets, a leader refusing to leave office, or a sudden suspension of elections. But democracy rarely collapses in a single dramatic moment. More often, it is worn down slowly, through legal changes, administrative pressure, and the reshaping of public perception.
The Brennan Center for Justice, a respected non-partisan institute based at New York University School of Law, has documented this process in the United States since the last Presidential election with unusual clarity. Its Timeline of the Trump Administration's Efforts to Undermine Elections traces a series of actions—rule changes, personnel pressure, centralisation, and the rewarding of those who cast doubt on elections—that together show how democratic norms can be bent long before they break.

Read more...

The Geopolitical impact today of Lincoln's 1862 Template for Indian Dispossession
By Joseph E Fallon
(with additional material by Robin Ashby)

Introduction

In the annals of history, the American Civil War is often remembered for its seismic confrontation over slavery — but its lesser-examined social template for Indigenous policy has left a long shadow on global governance norms.
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln and his administration sanctioned a pattern of territorial coercion, legal dispossession, and forced relocation of Native American populations in the Minnesota and elsewhere. Though couched in the language of "civilisation" and "security," the policies established a precedent of state power to redraw human boundaries in pursuit of strategic aims. The furore over Greenland raises similar concerns.

Read more...