Democracy now

Closed curtains at the palace April 2011
James Gray looks at attempts to let the Freedom of Information Act shine a light on the royals

Royal toast April 2011
Donald Morrison takes a look at alternative approaches to the royal wedding

Heading the state April 2011
Andrew Blick explores the constitutional role of the monarch - and how we could ditch it

AV: Yes or no? April 2011
Hilary Wainwright and Kevin Blowe debate the alternative vote

The party isn’t over May 2009
'When the bad combine, the good must associate,' wrote the arch-individualist Edmund Burke. David Beetham considers the continuing need for a political party of the left

A new zeitgeist on rights May 2009
The Convention on Modern Liberty inspired a huge surge of energy around civil liberties, says Stuart Weir. Human rights campaigners could be on the verge of a historic breakthrough