A Letter from the Virgin Islands: Where a U.S. Territory Can’t Get Its Own Constitution

A Self-Serving Legislature Drives the Plot in a Story of Democratic Failure

What are the obstacles and opportunities facing democracy today? Zócalo is publishing a series of letters to highlight how the world’s democratic ideals are faring in practice. From the Virgin Islands: democracy expert J.H. Snider reports on why the U.S. territory does not have a constitution of its own, despite its citizens’ wishes.

This series is presented in tandem with tonight’s Zócalo event in Mexico City—“Are Elected Presidents Bad for Democracy?,” presented in partnership with Democracy International and Metropolitan Autonomous University for the Global Forum for Modern Direct Democracy 2023.

If you’re …

by J.H. Snider | March 2, 2023

A Letter From Santiago, Where Chileans Are Seeking a New Constitution

Hopes Are High for Transforming the Country’s Democracy, but the Risks May Be Even Higher

by David Altman | April 5, 2021

Chile is raising hopes and winning praise worldwide as it elects delegates to a new convention with the goal of replacing the current constitution, a 1980 product of Augusto Pinochet’s …

In Liechtenstein, Power to the People—And the Prince

For Nearly a Century, the Small European Nation Has Fused Monarchy and Direct Democracy Into a Government That Works

by Wilfried Marxer | September 25, 2020

Liechtenstein, the nation of 38,500 in the heart of Europe, has for nearly a century deftly governed itself by combining two seemingly contradictory elements: direct democracy and monarchy. Rather than …

Could The Politician‘s #Calexit Fantasy Bring Real Change?

The Golden State Should Write a Fairer, More Equal American Constitution for the 21st Century

by Joe Mathews | July 7, 2020

“Go to my website or use the hashtag #LetsGetTheCalOuttaHere,” shouts Gwyneth Paltrow in the Netflix series The Politician. Running for governor on a promise to lead California’s secession from the …

Why Mexico City Is the Capital of California’s Future

The New Constitution of Mexico’s Capital Inspires Badly Needed Democracy and Local Sovereignty

by Joe Mathews | February 25, 2020

For more than two decades of the 19th century, Mexico City was California’s national capital.

I wish it could be again.

Over the past two years, I’ve visited Mexico City regularly …

Why America Keeps Battling to Live Up to the 14th Amendment

From Its Post-Civil War Origins to Today’s Immigration Debates, the Constitutional Guarantee of Equal Protection and ‘Birthright Citizenship’ Has Been Bitterly Contested

By Reed Johnson | August 1, 2018

The first clause of the 14th Amendment is a scant 28 words long. Yet when the amendment was adopted on July 9, 1868, it advanced the crucial task of turning …

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