AGE OF ANGER A History of the Present By Pankaj Mishra Across the world, a spirit of anarchy is in bloom — an aimless desire to smash the liberal order, with only the distant, inchoate hope that a better world will emerge from the wreckage. That spirit apparently motivated many […] Read more »
Public Opinion and the US-Japan Alliance
Japan holds a central role in the US alliance structure in the Asia-Pacific. But that does not mean the relationship has always been smooth. At times in the past, political winds have blown against the partnership. Today, the US-Japan relationship is again sailing into a stormy sea. It faces significant […] Read more »
What It Takes to Truly Be ‘One of Us’
The tide of people moving across the world, be they immigrants or refugees, has sparked concern in Australia, Europe and the United States. In particular, the ethnic, linguistic and cultural background of migrants has triggered intense debates over the benefits and the costs of growing diversity and the risk of […] Read more »
Parties of the Left, Wake Up!
Center-left parties in America and Europe are struggling. They are struggling for three reasons: First, they have failed to offer a credible response to the period of prolonged income stagnation and growing inequality; second, they have become part of the political-business-elite accommodation that the public views as corrupt; and third, […] Read more »
President Obama Leaves Office with High Worldwide Approval Ratings – But Global Expectations for Trump Are More Pessimistic
… Obama leaves his office with high worldwide approval ratings – nearly all countries rate him positively, with an average of 76% saying he has been a good president of the USA. … Russia stands out as the only country with an overwhelming negative opinion (87% think he was a […] Read more »
How the mantra of centrism gave populism its big break
For just under a quarter of a century, British politics has been dominated by what might be called, paradoxically, a “theology of centrism” – the belief that most people were more concerned with what works than ideology, and that politics should principally be the art of improving the delivery of […] Read more »