President Trump has complained about seeing too many German cars on Fifth Avenue, and threatened heavy tariffs on the companies that produce them. There is a good chance, though, that those Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs were not only made in the United States, but made by workers who voted for Mr. […] Read more »
The Road To Unfreedom
Yale history professor Timothy Snyder speaks with Robert Siegel about the rise of authoritarianism. On Point, WBUR Read more »
The divided public heart
What drives political change – culture or economics? The surge of the Right in the United States and Europe in the past two years has renewed debate on this important question. On one side, the cultural determinists attribute Donald Trump, Brexit and the rise of European populist movements to nativism, […] Read more »
Centrists Are the Most Hostile to Democracy, Not Extremists
The warning signs are flashing red: Democracy is under threat. Across Europe and North America, candidates are more authoritarian, party systems are more volatile, and citizens are more hostile to the norms and institutions of liberal democracy. These trends have prompted a major debate between those who view political discontent […] Read more »
In Brexit, Economic Reality Competes With Nostalgia for Bygone Days
There aren’t a lot of fishermen left in this town in North East England, once home to one of the largest fleet of trawlers in Britain. But nostalgia for the fishing industry permeates the place. So the result seemed inevitable when 70 percent of residents voted to leave the European […] Read more »
American Public Opinion and the Holocaust
Americans rarely agree as overwhelmingly as they did in November 1938. Just two weeks after Nazi Germany coordinated a brutal nationwide attack against Jews within its own borders — an event known as “Kristallnacht” — Gallup asked Americans: “Do you approve or disapprove of the Nazi treatment of Jews in […] Read more »