democracy

UPDATED: The first Estonian journalist leaves a major newspaper over her views

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Vilja Kiisler, a journalist at Postimees, one of the largest newspapers in Estonia, has decided to leave her post due to differences with the paper’s editor-in-chief over what she expressed in an opinion article. Kiisler announced on 22 April on Facebook that she would be leaving Postimees after she wrote an op-ed in the newspaper […]

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The Estonian Opinion Festival to include a number of English-language panels

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Estonians are gathering in Paide for the sixth time for a real grass-roots democracy building event; the Opinion Festival – also called “a rock festival of words” – unites Estonians, but not only: the festival also features number of English-language panels. This year’s Opinion Festival will treat participants to 12 English-language discussions (there will be 160

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Estonia’s democracy score declines slightly in 2017

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According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2017, Estonia’s democracy score was in a slight decline in the past year, having dropped from 7.85 to 7.79. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks 167 countries on a scale of 0 to 10 based on 60 indicators across five broad categories: electoral process and pluralism; functioning of

Estonia’s democracy score declines slightly in 2017 Read More »

EU’s silence over Spanish brutal force in Catalonia undermines Europe’s credibility

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The European Union’s unwillingness to condemn the violence by the Spanish police during the Catalonian referendum undermines the very set of values the union is based upon. On 1 October, the world was shocked to discover that excessive use of police force against peaceful citizens is not just confined to countries ruled by dictators. Instead,

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The Estonian Opinion Festival in 2015.

Grass-root democracy: What is the power of democracy festivals?

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Estonians are gathering in Paide for the fifth time for a real grass-root democracy building event – the Opinion Festival that has also been called “a rock festival of words” unites Estonians, but not only – this time it also brings together organisers of similar festivals in the region. Something strange is happening here in

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The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Estonia as a borderline “flawed democracy”

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The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2016 has ranked Estonia as a borderline “flawed democracy” with the score of 7.85 out of 10; a “full democracy” ranking begins from the score of 8.0. In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, 167 countries scored on a scale of 0 to 10 based on 60 indicators across

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Frans Jorna. Photo by Henri Pook.

Lessons from exporting Estonia’s digital democracy

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Daniel Vaarik had a chat with Frans Jorna from the Saxion University in the Netherlands, who is currently working on applying Estonia’s system for local democracy procedures called Volis. For years Estonia has been experimenting with tools for digital democracy. Internet voting was introduced already in 2005 and today at least one in five voters

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Maive Rute: Estonia – an unhappy overachiever in democracy?

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Measuring and comparing people’s quality of life and life satisfaction has given many outstanding economists serious headaches. It is generally agreed that the usual way of comparing GDP per capita does not really capture the many aspects that contribute to human satisfaction and happiness in life. One way to explore this phenomenon is to ask

Maive Rute: Estonia – an unhappy overachiever in democracy? Read More »

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