University protest clampdown

Australia’s major universities have imposed new restrictions on campus protests after a raft of anti-Israel demonstrations , so what does this mean for students, staff and democracy?

Protests surge in China

30 years after thousands of pro-democracy students were massacred in Tiananmen Square, nationwide popular protests against China’s harsh COVID lockdowns may spill over into renewed rage against the Communist Party and Xi Jinping’s brutal dictatorship itself.

Who was protesting in Melbourne?

While union leaders and government officials have blamed the Melbourne protests on the ‘far right’, the truth is far more complicated.

Public health v personal liberty

The COVID restrictions governments have put in place to contain the pandemic may safeguard our health but they could also corrode public trust and even the stability of liberal democracies.

Dangerous fieldwork in the social sciences

A UNSW criminologist and an international relations expert walk into a bar … and years later their discussions over drinks turn into a book.

The protests can show the power of democracy

At a time when authoritarian China is brutalising protesters in Hong Hong, the US must not create a mirror image of repression in how it handles the volatile situation in its cities.