By Alex Prior, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/the-butterfly-effect-representation-as-fractal-politics/ What does a coastline have in common with effective rhetoric? Each component resembles something bigger, and bigger, and bigger. And what can this sort of fractal pattern show us about politics? …

By Toralf Stark, Norma Osterberg-Kaufmann, and Christoph Mohamad-Klotzbach, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/how-to-get-to-the-core-of-democracy/ Toralf Stark, Norma Osterberg-Kaufmann and Christoph Mohamad-Klotzbach elaborate on their proposal for a global concept of democracy. …

By John Capps, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/the-open-texture-of-democracy/ Democracy comes in lots of different flavours. How do we make sense of this? Is having all these meanings a feature or a bug? …

By Erica Dorn and Federico Vaz, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/democracy-by-design-and-on-the-move/ Democracy today is a colonial artefact tied to violent borders. Moreover, it produces an increasing number of non-citizens, unable to participate in democracy where they live. …

By Ramon Van Der Does, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/the-best-use-of-our-limited-resources-in-service-of-democracy/ Jean-Paul Gagnon views the construction of a taxonomy of democracy as a key way to address challenges to democracy. …

By Petr Špecián, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/science-of-democracy-and-the-owl-of-minerva/ The project of collecting democracy’s words has a quietist undertone. Petr Špecián argues that it provides a desirable counterweight to the activist urge to rethink and redesign the political order. Especially so in today’s challenging times Jean-Paul Gagnon is bound for…

By Marta Wojciechowska, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/for-a-more-critical-study-of-democracy/ Jean-Paul Gagnon’s project involves the collection, labelling, and organisation of published words on democracy. He intends it to help democratic scientists to counter authoritarianism. But, argues Marta Wojciechowska, the project’s method may overlook issues of power involved in creating and publishing…

By Andreas Avgousti, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/a-democratic-database-and-the-reimagining-of-democracy/ Andreas Avgousti asserts that collecting democracy’s words gives us a window into the democratic imagination. He reads Jean-Paul Gagnon’s expanding database as an illustration of democratic virtues Democracy’s spellbinding power Motivated by a sense of moral urgency at the ebbing fate of democracies worldwide…

By Antonin Lacelle-Webster, originally published by The Loop, https://theloop.ecpr.eu/recovering-democratic-possibilities-in-complex-political-systems/ Jean-Paul Gagnon’s ambitious project expands our democratic imaginaries. While inspiring, Antonin Lacelle-Webster contends that making sense of democracy requires more than a lexicon. …