It’s not just in the United States. The counterrevolution to populism is happening all over the world, and it’s turning the old left-right political axis on its head. In country after country, the rise of anti-immigrant parties or movements is forcing many supporters of traditional center-right parties to recalibrate. Culturally […] Read more »
When More Democracy Isn’t More Democratic
… There is the ideal of rule by the people. And there is the more complicated reality, in which institutions and representatives balance majority opinion against considerations like universal rights and the common good. Unable to reconcile those contradictory demands, once solid-seeming democracies are breaking down. Faith in a system […] Read more »
The Lobbyists Blocking Nancy Pelosi and Her New Majority
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the idealistic class of 64 Democratic House freshmen are armed with a reform agenda. This includes H.R. 1, a 571-page bill that addresses voting rights, corruption, gerrymandering and campaign finance reform as well as the creation of a Select Committee on the Climate Crisis — a […] Read more »
White right? How demographics is changing US politics
Monica Duffy Toft, Tufts University When Donald Trump was campaigning to become the U.S. president, much of the discussion about his growing popularity focused on so-called “angry white males,” who had been struggling through years of declining economic opportunities. Their frustration led some of them to adopt and espouse white […] Read more »
After a Rocky 2018, Populism Is Down but Far From Out in the West
President Trump’s push for a border wall hints at a problem that populist leaders are facing across the Western world. After a year of setbacks, populist leaders and parties are trying to rejuvenate their fortunes by revitalizing the sense of crisis on which they thrive. But as with Mr. Trump’s […] Read more »
What the Fall of the Roman Republic Can Teach Us About America
MORTAL REPUBLIC How Rome Fell Into TyrannyBy Edward J. Watts … Since the founding fathers explicitly modeled the United States on the Roman Republic, a study that investigates the circumstances of its demise promises to hold considerable relevance for our own times. As Watts puts the point, the principal purpose […] Read more »