Pianissimo:
Brussels’ Silence on Italy’s Democratic Decline
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, once heralded as a danger to EU cohesion, has become Brussels’ favored bridge-builder.
Democracy
Democratic decline in the U.S. and Europe is weakening the transatlantic relationship and undermining its influence around the world. America and its European allies need to recalibrate their values and practices at home in order to serve as beacons to aspiring democracies abroad. But disruptions to our democratic traditions keep emerging: from new technologies changing the way we communicate and work to pandemics and economic shocks. Our work analyzes how these disruptions are playing out, and it will be up to civil society, lawmakers, and the people to prepare our democracies for the future.
How to Fix Democracy
Host Andrew Keen interviews prominent thinkers, writers, politicians, technologists, and business leaders who enlighten and challenge us as we seek the answers to How to Fix Democracy.
City Solutions Series
The commitment to liberal democracy is a core value of the transatlantic community. And while democracy has always faced external threats, a second front has emerged in recent years, challenging its fundamental principles from within. On every continent, local and national governments are experimenting with new methods of tackling the threats to public confidence and democratic governance by addressing a range of common challenges. The drivers of democratic backsliding are now clear, so this project focuses on uncovering solutions, then amplifies these best practices for a transatlantic audience searching for innovative approaches to reverse democratic decline.
Graphic Images: Autocrats and the Use of Power
In this fourth and final installment of our Disrupting Democracy series, "Graphic Images: Autocrats and the Use of Power," we will look at how three authoritarian regimes undermine the prospects for democracy and stability in their respective regions. Drawing from the more than 15 years of data from the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, this publication reimagines country and regional level data into infographics that shine a light on three distinct cases: Russia, Iran and China.
Disrupting Democracy Vol. II
In 2018, for our second instalment of the Disrupting Democracy project we turned our attention to elections. From the rise of Five Star and Lega in Italy to U.S. Democrats’ success winning the U.S. House of Representatives, and from to Morena and Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s victory in Mexico to a cultural and linguistic divide in Latvia, Disrupting Democracy Vol. II: Election Series recorded how technology was put to work to make a difference at the ballot box.
Disrupting Democracy Vol. I
Beginning January 2017, the Bertelsmann Foundation embarked on a journey to explore how digital innovation impacts democracies and societies around the world in a series called "Disrupting Democracy." In volume one, we focused on key challenges that have emerged as a result of technological disruption from the rival capitals of Washington and Havana, the bustling streets of New Delhi, the dynamic tech startups in Tel Aviv, and the efficient order of Berlin.
Updates
The Third Way
New Caledonia and French Strategy in the Indo-Pacific
In May 2024, tensions in New Caledonia reached a breaking point.
Macron’s Millennial Minister: Winning Over the Next Generation
French President Emmanuel Macron had to shake things up. His government was unable to secure parliamentary majorities for two hot-button issues, pension reform and immigration, each a major setback. “La Macronie”, as the French have nicknamed his political brand, now finds itself at a difficult...
Pictures Worth a Thousand Policies: Campaign Imagery from Bavaria’s State Election
On October 8, 2023, Bavaria hosted its state election. Ranked second in gross regional product and population, Bavaria has always had a sizable influence on German politics, with many seeing this year’s state election as a bellwether for what to expect at the national level in 2025.
On the Fringe
28% of French citizens chose not to vote in the second, and final, round of the April 2022 French presidential election. This was the highest rate of abstention in over 50 years and the second highest rate in the history of the Fifth Republic.
Two’s Company, Three’s a Crowd, and Four’s a Misfortune: Germany’s Next Coalition
An August 2023 ARD-Deutschlandtrend survey found that 79% of Germans are dissatisfied with the governing coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and Free Democrats (FDP), including a majority of SPD and FDP voters and 48% of Greens. In-fighting over climate, budget, and defense have worn down...
Dialogue with Professor Carol Anderson
New York Times best-selling author and professor of African American studies at Emory University
On September 7, 2022, the Bertelsmann Foundation, Humanity in Action and Emory University hosted the premiere of the Foundation’s new documentary, “I, Too”, at the Carter Center in Atlanta. The film, which features New York Times best-selling author and renowned African American studies scholar...
What's a City Worth?
Cities hold riches of memory, but they are also wonders of forgetting.This paradox is key to their magic, the endless possibility they promise to those who seek it and to the democracies they push to evolve.
What's Past is Prologue
Teaching History to Strengthen Democracy
In the heart of Wilmington, North Carolina, sits a neo-classical building with imposing columns and a whitewashed façade. Thalian Hall doubles these days as a performing arts center and city hall. But the building is the November 1898 site of the only successful coup d’etat in American history.