Electoral Registration: Time for Change

Electoral registration is the key building block for the administration of elections. It is the gateway to voting: people cannot vote at elections in the UK if their name is not on the register. In recent times there has been much debate in media and Westminster circles about current arrangements for electoral registration and the related issue of the future of postal voting.
This article presents new research published by the Electoral Commission in September 2005 investigating non-registration and its causes. It reviews the case for reform, considers the current policy debate and outlines some of the challenges involved in maximising registration rates. It summarises the Commission's policy recommendations and the reasoning behind them, focusing in particular on the suggested move from the current household-based system of registration to a system of individual registration     

European Writers on Their Meetings with Stalin

The Constitution of the Russian Federation states that citizens are to exercise their rights of local self-government by means of referendums, elections, and other forms of direct expression of their will through electoral and other local self-government bodies. The Law on General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation of 28 August 1995, adopted as an extension of constitutional norms, defines the following: the role of local self-government in establishing democracy; the legal, economic, and financial foundations of local self-government; and the general principles of its organization.     

End the War on Terror and Talk to the Taliban

President Barack Obama pledged in his first TV interview—with the Arab satellite channel Al Arabiya—that America under his watch would listen with respect and not dictate to the world. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has further announced that this country will no longer just throw around its military might but will pursue a smart power approach by tempering the use of hard weaponry with the soft power of persuasion and cultural attraction. Or, as Madame Secretary's husband Bill has put it, America will now lead through the power of example instead of the example of power.
The first exceedingly complex test of Obama's smart power strategy will be how to end George W. Bush's misguided war on terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan, keeping al-Qaida at bay without being swallowed by the quagmire of tribal politics. An array of experts from New Delhi to Paris offers their views in this section.