On 7 May 2026, voters across England went to the polls to elect more than 5,000 local councillors and six directly elected mayors. [A note for American readers: think of these as something like county and city government races, spread across a dizzying patchwork of metropolitan boroughs, unitary authorities, county councils, and district councils — … Continue reading Democracy is Alive and Well in Britain
trust
Distrust in the US
Distrust in the US: Collapsing Foundations of the Trump Administration Trust in the United States has been sinking – collapsing. The foundations of this distrust are two interrelated aspects of the Trump administration: the decline in Presidential authority and the failure of checks and balances, broadly defined. By checks and balances I mean more than … Continue reading Distrust in the US
Stand with the BBC
As an American living in the UK and a strong supporter of the BBC, let me simply urge the BBC not to be intimidated by anyone or allow criticism of mistakes it made to undermine your morale and visionary mission. You are the gold standard of broadcast news – not just public service broadcasting. Your … Continue reading Stand with the BBC
The Ukraine Public Support their President
I have been studying Ukraine for 3 years. In August 2024, in a study conducted through the Portulans Institute in Washington DC, my research team surveyed a random sample of people in Ukraine, before the Kursk incursion. Our survey focused on how the public gets access to trusted information in wartime. We surveyed just over … Continue reading The Ukraine Public Support their President
Media Literacy and Access to Trusted Information during the War in Ukraine
A Internationally Collaborative Study UNESCO and the government of Japan are supporting a new project on media literacy and access to information about politics in Ukraine. The project, entitled 'Access to Information and Media Literacy about Politics and Elections: A Collaborative Study of Ukraine', seeks to enhance understanding of how the Ukrainian public accesses information … Continue reading Media Literacy and Access to Trusted Information during the War in Ukraine
Time is Running Out for the US
Fulfill American Assurances in Funding Ukraine Vladimir Putin is exploiting American electioneering to advance his war on Ukraine. The surge of hundreds of missiles and glide bombs per week, recently taking out power stations in major cities, including Kyiv, has been devastating. These heightened attacks are largely enabled by the lack of funding promised for … Continue reading Time is Running Out for the US
Democracy versus Autocracy: Personal Reflections
The debate over whether democratic nations will decline while more autocratic nations will rise over time, and why, often lacks empirical evidence. The Ukraine-Russia War might provide some sobering evidence. The most obvious has been the inability of the US and several other allies of Ukraine to be capable of sustaining their levels of support. … Continue reading Democracy versus Autocracy: Personal Reflections
Deliver Me from Partygate!
At a time when the British public should be laser-focused on Ukraine, recovering from the pandemic, and dealing with inflation and the rising costs of living, they are being led by the press and politicians to be mired in a never ending so-called ‘partygate scandal’. Partygate is a good issue for galvanising the public because … Continue reading Deliver Me from Partygate!
The 2016 US Presidential Election and the Institution of the Presidency
One of the classic works on the governance of England is Walter Bagehot’s (1867) The English Constitution. He observed that through the evolution of its unwritten Constitution entailed two critical but separate components, the ‘dignified’ and the ‘efficient’. The former exercised symbolic power and was represented by the monarch, who did not have effective power … Continue reading The 2016 US Presidential Election and the Institution of the Presidency
The Internet Trust Bubble Amid Rising Concern over Personal Data: WEF Report
The World Economic Forum has released a set of complementary reports, including one written by an OII team, entitled ‘The Internet Trust Bubble: Global Values, Beliefs and Practices’, by William H. Dutton, Ginette Law, Gillian Bolsover, and Soumitra Dutta. Our report is a follow up to our earlier WEF study entitled ‘The New Internet World’. … Continue reading The Internet Trust Bubble Amid Rising Concern over Personal Data: WEF Report