Conversations on democracy
A fortnightly column in the Slovenian daily Večer since April 2018: 188 columns to the end of 2025 and newer pieces since, every one of them in English and in the Slovenian original. Alongside them, speeches from his years as Director for Democracy at the Council of Europe, in the original language, mostly English.
Speech · RAND Corporation, Washington, DC, 4 May 2023
Democracy at Risk?
We live in times in which everyone is an expert on geopolitics and global security. How Rand corporation manages to stay in business in these conditions, is beyond me. But congratulations and thank you for the invitation. We also live in times in which our attention is dominated by geopolitical tensions and war. Again, everyone and his brother know exactly why President Putin and the Russian…
Every column, year by year
The columns are also gathered in three collections, so you can explore them by theme as well as by date. Remembering Democracy deals with the challenges democracy faces today, from populism to the erosion of democratic institutions. Hold My Beer, Says History looks at history and how it echoes in the politics of today. Hang the Doggy focuses on politics and society in Slovenia.
Latest
- The Premeditated Dumbing-Down of the State
Say what you like, but in my view our retroactively never-convicted Speaker of the National Assembly deserves a doctorate. OK, an honorary one, so that there won’t be trouble with paying for it…
- Three Days on a Desert Island Without Snuff
A friend and colleague of my father’s, a legendary Dnevnik photojournalist, when asked in the 1970s what it had been like in the Partisans, replied that it had been very hard. For wine there was only refosco,…
- The French Presidential Race After the Local Elections
Arcis-sur-Aube, a small rural town of fewer than three thousand inhabitants, a good two hours’ drive east of Paris, was until recently known mainly as the site of the battle in which, in March 1814, Austrian,…
- The World Rests on the Young
In Spain’s Asturias, time runs more slowly. Even if you want to have a glass or two in company, you will need a few hours if you stick to local customs. In Asturias they drink cider. But not just any old way,…
- Artificially Intelligent Traditional Values
If you have been wandering around our corners of the world’s social media lately, you have probably come across artificially intelligent graphic depictions of love for traditional values.
- The Persecution of the Differently Differently Differently Minded
“The differently minded” was the label adopted years ago by the pioneers of the Slovenian fight against wokeness. The nom de guerre of brave souls who began to raise their voices against the tyranny and…
Speeches
- Five Ingredients of Democracy
I'd like to start by congratulating and thanking the young artist for beautiful music. One of the things we believe in, in our work on democracy, is that there's no democracy without…
- Libraries, Culture and Democracy
You already introduced me with my function, and I think I probably have one of the most pretentious titles in the European institutional architecture: Director for Democracy. It started off…
- Older Than Turtles
Thank you very much, Ida, and good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Council of Europe Youth Center in Budapest, the wildest place in town, where all sorts of cool and important things are…
- Closing Conference of the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education
Dear Minister, dear participants, There is only one thing better than a very, very well prepared and interesting conference, and that is a very, very well prepared and interesting…
Essays
- Le 2 novembre 1995 French
Le 2 novembre 1995, j'étais assis dans un bureau au 6ème étage du Palais de l'Europe. C'était mon premier jour au Conseil de l'Europe et je fixais le clavier devant moi. Chaque touche était marquée d'une tache…
- Les six cercles de l'enfer de Nace French
Pančevo, Novi Sad, Grgur, Ugljan, Bileća, Povšetova - six cercles d'enfer pour le journaliste, alors âgée de vingt-deux ans, jeune communiste, qui croyait au paradis d'une société plus juste. Quelques jours…