Democracy Archives

Politics

A Leftist Defence of Monarchy

Among people of my generation and political proclivity, monarchism is generally viewed as a reactionary position. Many of my peers find the Royal Family a deeply embarrassing institution: an expensive,…

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The United States Capitol Building in Washington DC on a cloudy summer day.

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6 min

Features

Never Kevins and the Assault on Democracy

The American political system has recently weathered yet another storm. Since the 2022 midterm elections gave Republicans only a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, infighting within the Grand…

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7 min

History

Was Athenian Democracy Dependent on Imperialism?

“The paradox of ancient Greek democracy is that the freedom and rights of citizens depended on the subjugation and exploitation of others,” declares the University of New Brunswick classicist Matthew…

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9 min

“Can We Cope with the Complexity of Reality?” by Rolf Jucker. Review.

The title of Rolf Jucker’s newest book poses a question worth asking: we face climate change, population increases, religious and political extremism, a faltering faith in democratic institutions, and an…

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7 min

Politics

Robert Reich’s “The System: How We Rigged It, How We Fix It”

Robert Reich, a lifelong Democrat, served in the Carter, Ford, Clinton and Obama administrations, and his views have moved progressively leftwards over time: he endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in…

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8 min

Politics

Is Liberalism Worth Saving?

Often, a political ideology can be justified on the basis of its principles, despite its many failings in practice. This is how Francis Fukuyama and Patrick Deneen’s interpretations of liberalism…

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7 min

Politics

The Electoral College and the Fallibility of the Majority

In the wake of the 2020 US election, there have been renewed calls to eliminate the electoral college and replace it with a national popular vote.

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6 min

Politics

Why More Civics Education Won’t Fix US Democracy

Since the Capitol riot of 6 January, calls for increased civic education have resurfaced. Arne Duncan, a former US secretary of education has recently suggested that “just as Sputnik prompted…

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9 min

Politics

Separating Trumpism from Trump

It is difficult to find fault with Matt McManus’ denunciation of Trump in his recent article “The Downfall of a Would-Be Authoritarian.” As McManus rightly points out, the right-wing mob…

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5 min

Politics

Why Do American Politicians Suck?

All artwork in this piece is by the author. I sometimes do a little word-association on the first day of my introductory American government classes at Rhodes College. The first…

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8 min

Politics

What Can We Learn from the Trump Years?

Trump is the embodiment of American excess: pure anti-intellectualism, self-congratulation and wealth. His obsessive need to see more of himself in the world has committed him to imprinting his name…

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8 min

Politics

Liberalism and Legal Rights

Defining liberalism is tricky. For some, as Maurice Cranston puts it, “by definition a liberal is a man who believes in liberty.” But plenty of other political ideologies have stressed…

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8 min

Jurgen Habermas on the Democratic Project of Modernity

Freedom may never be conceived merely negatively, as the absence of compulsion. Freedom conceived intersubjectively distinguishes itself from the arbitrary freedom of the isolated individual. No one is free until…

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10 min

Politics

American Democracy After Trump

In the last four years, America has experienced the early stages of democratic backsliding. Like the authoritarians in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, India and other countries that used to be democracies,…

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6 min

Politics

Liberalism and the Threats It Faces

Liberal democracy is under threat. Over the last decade, a democratic recession has swept across the world, as once liberal democracies like Turkey, Poland, Hungary, India and the Philippines flirt…

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12 min

Politics

Why More Democracy Is the Last Thing We Need

The masses are respectable hands at fighting, but miserable hands at judging.—G. W. F. Hegel misquoting Goethe Remember Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There…

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6 min

“Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends” by Anne Applebaum

In 1927, Julien Benda published La Trahison des Clercs (The Treason of the Intellectuals), the short book that would become his most famous work. Benda was infuriated with intellectuals who…

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Democracy

A Leftist Defence of Monarchy

Never Kevins and the Assault on Democracy

Was Athenian Democracy Dependent on Imperialism?

“Can We Cope with the Complexity of Reality?” by Rolf Jucker. Review.

Robert Reich’s “The System: How We Rigged It, How We Fix It”

Is Liberalism Worth Saving?

The Electoral College and the Fallibility of the Majority

Why More Civics Education Won’t Fix US Democracy

Separating Trumpism from Trump

Why Do American Politicians Suck?

What Can We Learn from the Trump Years?

Liberalism and Legal Rights

Jurgen Habermas on the Democratic Project of Modernity

American Democracy After Trump

Liberalism and the Threats It Faces

Why More Democracy Is the Last Thing We Need

“Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends” by Anne Applebaum

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