In a special series of online pieces for Griffith Review, political scientist Anne Tiernan highlights the causes of the malaise engulfing contemporary democracy and explores what we can do to save it.

Read the essays here:

Power, populism and principles: The existential threat to Australian democracy

Consequences: The fallout from flouting the rules

Connection: Collaboration and the power of ‘we’

Character: Doing the right thing

Watch Anne Tiernan discuss the Five Things to Care About series – consequences, connection, collaboration, compact and character – and having the courage to imagine that things don’t need to be the way they are.