Stephan Kyburz 🏛 Rules of the Game

NEW BOOK 📕 critically analyzing the ethical rules applicable to EU institutions. Its basic premise is that what matters today is not only what public institutions do and who does it but also how it gets done.

Read the introductory chapter papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

We may be at a turning point.
More than ever...
1) Ideas Matter
2) Organization Matters
3) Narrative Matters
www.newamerica.org/the-thread/l...

1/4. On the White House’s theory, if they abduct you, get you on a helicopter, get to international waters, shoot you in the head, and drop your corpse into the ocean, that is legal, because it is the conduct of foreign affairs.

Election Reform in America: A Path Forward Out of Political Discontent Lee Drutman outlines how this winter of discontent for U.S. politics could spring seeds of renewal—if we mobilize voters and reform our elections.

"History moves in cycles, and we might soon see not just a reactive resistance to a destructive government but also reforms that could revitalize our democratic institutions, both locally and nationally."
www.newamerica.org/the-thread/l...

I thought the election-reform issue would be dead for a while, but apparently it’s not.

Here’s what I’ve written on it.

Federal: protectdemocracy.org/work/toward-... (open lists plus fusion)

State/local: manhattan.institute/article/refo... (lists)

Oops! Turns out low referendum turnout isn’t about lazy voters… 😅 It’s parties slacking on mobilization!
🏛️ Study shows direct democracy needs hype too.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

New Paper --> Would Le Pen's misuse of EU taxpayers' money and the Huawei scandal have been prevented with a more solid EU public integrity system?

After 5 years of work an analysis of this new entity that I contributed to design but hasn't seen the light of the day

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The Supreme Court appears determined to blow up its one good Voting Rights Act decision Apparently, we can’t even trust these justices to follow their own very recent precedents.

Meanwhile, this also happened yesterday ->

Roberts and Kavanaugh appear eager to blow up four decades of voting rights law
www.vox.com/scotus/40559...

DeSantis and His Allies Go to War Against Direct Democracy In a blatant power grab, the Florida governor and some legislators seek to remove one of the only remaining checks on their authority.

For 60 years, Floridians have used citizen initiatives to enact popular policies, like raising the minimum wage hikes and legalizing medical marijuana. New state bills seek to take that power away.

The Argentine government is waging a fierce campaign of intimidation and persecution against social protest—oscillating between the echoes of dictatorship and the chilling reality of an Orwellian surveillance state. Any good news? Yes, it won’t work.

On why it’s important to consider these separately.

Enhancing Representation in Massachusetts: The Case for Preferential and Proportional Electoral Systems Alternative electoral systems—such as ranking systems or list-based proportional systems—could enhance representation in the state.

Interesting report using simulation to model the effects of vote leakage, ranking truncation, and candidature on minority representation under various PR systems for state legislative elections. www.newamerica.org/political-re...

14 Citizens’ assemblies and direct democracy 14 Citizens’ assemblies and direct democracy was published in De Gruyter Handbook of Citizens’ Assemblies on page 183.

👁️‍🗨️ Deliberative and direct democracy should not be seen as opposing forces but as complementary, offering a promising way to address the so-called ‘crisis’ of representative democracy, argues @nenadstojanovic.bsky.social
You can read the full chapter here: www.degruyter.com/document/doi...

The rule of law, development, and democracy in Latin America need to be recognized in the realities of political economy instead of merely being produced by structural and institutional factors. #NewBook ed. Behrend & Whitehead
My chapter: National referendums on natural resources
OA rb.gy/qw31yu

Studying institutions for citizen participation (IPs) is neither micropolitics nor a 'minor matter' for idealistic academics. Analyzing the IPs in a given country expands our understanding of democracy, which is severely lacking in these times. This book does so for 🇲🇽 & 🇧🇷

Of course it’s a coup Miss the obvious, lose your republic

Of course it’s a coup. Miss the obvious, lose your republic.
open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

Restricting the Freedom to Vote The SAVE Act would be one of the worst voting laws in congressional history.

Congress is preparing to vote on the SAVE Act, which has the potential to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.

Building on the seminal insights of Albert O. Hirschman, the Centre's research activities explore everyday practices of democratic participation and the changing forms of civic engagement that produce new configurations of "voice" and "exit". rb.gy/tm10v

A fascinating book by Matt Ryan on why citizen participation succeeds or fails. The big question for political action, beyond the scope of this research is:
what do we do when politicians' commitment is absent?

@adrianbua.bsky.social @sbussu.bsky.social @ricardgoma.bsky.social @brunoleipold.com

The broligarchs have a vision for the new Trump term. It’s darker than you think. The real reason Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos are supporting Trump.

If the oligarchs are indeed inspired by science fiction, if anything it shows they read very little of it beyond their youth, and had very little diversity in their sci-fi media diet

www.vox.com/future-perfe...

When Should the Majority Rule? – Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt on Countermajoritarian Institutions and the Question of Democratic Resilience | Review of Democracy In this conversation, Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt examine the various types of countermajoritarian institutions and reflect on which are democracy-enhancing and which can potentially subvert democracy. Levitsky and Ziblatt show the connections between the strong countermajoritarian features of the U.S. political system and its ongoing democratic backsliding. They also consider how the trade-offs between countermajoritarianism and democratic stability have played out across the globe.

Listen to our authors Steven Levitsky and @dziblatt.bsky.social explore the various types of countermajoritarian institutions and reflect on which are democracy-enhancing and which can potentially subvert democracy on the latest @revdem2020.bsky.social podcast episode!

revdem.ceu.edu/2025/...

🏛️ Rules of the Game | Episode 46 📜

More Equitable Democracy with Colin Cole @colinjcole.bsky.social

We discuss the important work of the U.S. organization More Equitable Democracy to advance racial equity by transforming electoral systems.

Spotify: spoti.fi/40BI3NX
Apple: apple.co/3CmmkA1

How did American democracy become a broken game without winners? And what should we do about it? Support for democracy in America has fallen to alarming lows, even as voters desperately seek change. Proportional representation could re-energize our democracy

I actually believe we can get big transformative electoral reform here in the can-do United States...
leedrutman.substack.com/p/how-did-am...

Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America by Lee Drutman @leedrutman.bsky.social, 2020

academic.oup.com/book/36918

More Parties or No Parties by Jack Santucci, @jacksantucci.bsky.social, 2022

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein, 2017

wwnorton.com/books/the-co...

Rethinking US Election Law – Unskewing the System by Steven Mulroy, 2020

www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/ret...

Book recommendations:

The Tyranny of the Majority by Lani Guinier

www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tyrann...

Find all references and a full transcript on the Rules of the Game website:

rulesofthegame.blog/more-equitab...