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Citizen engagement processes in democracies are regularly criticized for only involving ‘the usual suspects’: people from broadly similar, usually socio-economically advantaged, backgrounds. This means parliaments are less likely...

At the end of September 2025, Madagascar entered a period of political turmoil that led to a political transition. The events began with the arrest of three city councillors on 19 September 2025, in front of the Senate building in...

Parliaments are both spaces and places. As spaces, they are collections of rooms, halls, offices and grounds that are used for particular purposes. As places, they mean something to the people they represent – but they don’t mean...

Zimbabwe is, in principle, a constitutional democracy grounded in a progressive 2013 Constitution endorsed across the political spectrum. In practice, however, constitutional non‑compliance is widespread, civic space remains...

Deliberative methods are increasingly a source of inspiration for those who seek to redress the global trend of deepening dissatisfaction in democracy. Such methods offer parliaments the opportunity to engage citizens in rigorous...

Public consultation is essential to ensuring that parliaments’ decisions meet the needs of the societies they represent. In democracies, citizens have the right to a say on decisions that affect them. On a more instrumental level...

In 2025, Tanzania’s enabling environment for civil society continued to narrow across multiple dimensions, with fundamental freedoms increasingly constrained by arbitrary arrests, politically motivated prosecutions, and electoral...

Parliaments are fundamental to democracy, but it is often difficult to understand how they work. Parliaments have a responsibility to provide opportunities for citizens across different groups in society to learn about what their...