This is an exceptional moment for democracy. In the year of elections, read Margaret Atwood, Mary Beard, Lea Ypi, Elif Shafak and more on what democracy means - and why it matters. In 2024, nearly half the world will take part in a national election, with billions heading to the polls. It''s a thrilling, unprecedented opportunity for change - yet democracy is also under threat. Women are at the forefront of the fight for democratic rights, as well as being the most vulnerable when those rights disappear. Here, eleven extraordinary women - leaders, philosophers, historians, writers and activists - explore democracy''s power to uplift our societies. Between its ancient origins and its modern challenges, they chare a vision for a better future - one we can build together.

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Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in more than 45 countries, is the author of more than 50 works of fiction, poetry, critical essays and graphic novels, including The Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Eye and The MaddAddam Trilogy. Her latest novel, The Testaments, is a co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. She is the recipient of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize and the PEN Centre USA Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. Her latest collection is Old Babes in the Wood. Mary Beard is one of the most original and best-known classicists working today. She is Professor of Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, and the Classics editor of the TLS. She is a fellow of the British Academy and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her books include the Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town (2008) and the best-selling SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015). Her popular TLS blog has been collected in the books It's a Don's Life and All in a Don's Day. Her latest book is Women & Power: A Manifesto (2017).Erica Benner is a political philosopher and historian of ideas. She has taught at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and is the author of, among others, Really Existing Nationalisms, Be Like the Fox, and Adventures in Democracy. She currently teaches at the Hertie School for Governance in Berlin, LSE Ideas in London and for academic programmes in Sweden and China.Kaja Kallas has been the Prime Minister of Estonia since 2021, the first woman to serve in the role. The leader of Estonia's Reform Party since 2018, she was a member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2018. Before entering politics, she was a lawyer specialising in European competition law.Aditi Mittal is a comedian, writer and actor. She has produced two stand-up specials for Netflix, 'Things They Wouldn't Let Me Say' and 'Girl Meets Mic', and her third special, 'Mother of Invention' is available on Amazon Prime. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, the UK Melbourne Comedy Festival and at the Soho Theatre in London.Dr Vjosa Osmani Sadriu is the sixth President of the Republic of Kosovo. In the 2021 elections, she became the most voted for politician in the history of elections in Kosovo. Prior to that, she was a five-time Member of Parliament and she served as the first woman Speaker of Parliament. With a steadfast commitment to strengthening democracy and the rule of law, her presidency is marked by her proactive approach in enhancing Kosovo's international standing. During her tenure as President, she's committed to advancing human rights and gender equality, with a particular focus in advancing the role of women in peace and security processes. As an advocate for sustainable development, she actively promotes impactful green energy solutions and climate action measures.Adela Raz served as Afghanistan's last Ambassador to the United States, and notably, she was the first woman to hold the position of Permanent Representative/Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations. She has been a prominent advocate for women's leadership and a staunch supporter of multilateralism, democracy, and human rights. She was the first woman to serve as a Deputy Foreign Minister in Afghanistan. Currently, she is the Director of Afghanistan Policy Lab at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs, and a visiting fellow at Hudson Institute.Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and storyteller. She has published 20 books, and her work has been translated into 57 languages; her novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021. A Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature, Shafak holds a PhD in political science, and has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK. In 2020 Shafak was awarded the Halldór Laxness International Literature Prize for her contribution to 'the renewal of the art of storytelling', and in 2021 she was chosen among the BBC's 100 most inspiring and influential women.Lola Shoneyin has published three collections of poems and a children's book. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives is her debut novel. In 2014 she was named on the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40. Shoneyin is the director of Ake Arts and Book Festival. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.Yuan Yang is the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Earley and Woodley constituency. She was the FT's Europe-China correspondent and the deputy chief of the FT's Beijing bureau. She is the founder of Rethinking Economics, a campaign which promotes a more relevant economics curriculum that reflects the real world in schools. Sam's story, and those of three other Chinese women, are the subject of Yuan Yang's forthcoming book, Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China. Lea Ypi is Professor in Political Theory at the London School of Economics, and an Honorary Professor in Philosophy at the Australian National University. Her latest book, Free, a memoir exploring freedom and her childhood in post-soviet Albania, was the winner of the Ondaatje Prize, a Sunday Times Book of the Year and has been translated into thirty languages.

Klappentext
In collaboration with the Financial Times: powerful, urgent reflections on the value of democracy from eleven women writers and thought-leaders