Author: Damien J du Preez

First published in Democracy Delivered – Issue 3, a monthly newsletter published by the Centre for Research on Democracy.  The Arab League has voted to welcome Syria back into its ranks after a 12-year suspension. In doing so, they have helped legitimise a violent authoritarian regime. On Sunday the 7th of May, Syria was readmitted…

First published in Democracy Delivered – Issue 2, a monthly newsletter published by the Centre for Research on Democracy.  Erdoğan’s 20 years of strongman rule are being threatened by a united opposition, economic dysfunction, and the aftermath of an earthquake which left 48 000 dead and millions more homeless. But will he go?  On the…

First published in issue 1 of Democracy Delivered, the Centre for Research on Democracy’s monthly newsletter on democratic trends and developments.  How is democracy doing, globally? According to the V-Dem Institute’s new Democracy Report, the number of democracies in the world – and the influence they exert – is on the decline. A more democratic…

Meaningful efforts to mitigate climate change may very well cripple South Africa’s tourism industry. Nevertheless, South Africa desperately needs these sorts of mitigation policies.

Much like a war of attrition, catastrophic climate change promises not a single large-scale disaster that might plausibly be overcome or repelled. Rather, it will manifest as a steadily growing tide of countless small, interconnected, compounding disasters.

With hope in vanishingly short supply, an entire generation of climate activists may simply collapse into either a state of total ambivalence or a paralytic case of climate despair.