I was taking a Sporcle quiz the other day (something I do often) on all of TIME Magazine’s Persons of the Year throughout its history. Beyond the predictable leaders like FDR, Hitler, Stalin and Churchill, giants of the World War II era, there was another leader in their midst: 1937, Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of the Republic of China on and ... Read More
James Fallows makes a lot of good points in his long Atlantic article, “How American Can Rise Again.” I’ll highlight just one. Let’s call it “the pathos of helplessness”: The full details are beyond us here, but the crucial point is that in principle, the United States itself has the power to correct what is wrong in each case. Take ... Read More
The militarizing of Mexico’s police forces adds a new facet to the war against drugs In Mexico, the war against drug cartels has become more than a question of eradicating illicit substances or capturing criminals; with over 13,000 dead in the last three years, the fight now concerns the future of the country. Earlier this year, a U.S. Joint Forces ... Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court may be about to render the most important business decision of the decidedly pro-business Roberts era, but one might not know it from the details of the case. The plaintiff is a small conservative advocacy group, not a major corporation; the focal point is a corporate-funded anti-Hillary Clinton documentary that was banned by the FEC, as ... Read More
George Will worked himself into quite a lather today about a law review article by some visiting assistant law professor at Duke that argues that the principle of free speech might be subordinated to governmental interests in combating corruption and the distorting influences of wealth on the political process. No surprises here: Will is a leading opponent of campaign finance ... Read More
Chicago’s ‘machine’ in the 21st century “Machine politics in Chicago started in 1871 as a partnership between saloonkeepers, brothel owners, and politicians,” Richard Simpson, former Chicago alderman and current head of the political science department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, explained to the HPR. The Chicago machine became one of many urban juggernauts dotting the American political landscape ... Read More
Socialism, populism, and the future of Venezuelan democracy In February, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez celebrated victory in a constitutional referendum that abolished presidential term limits, winning him the right to seek reelection indefinitely. As leader of the United Socialist Party, Chávez has dominated Venezuelan politics since his first election in 1998. Armed with his unique brand of leftist political ideology ... Read More
How Obama is riding out the Democratic storm of scandals From Tom Daschle’s taxes, to Charlie Rangel’s apartments, to Rod Blagojevich’s hair, scandals have recently shaken the Democratic Party. Yet polls show that President Obama and the Democratic brand remain relatively untarnished by this long train of embarrassments. His widespread pre-existing popularity has certainly helped Obama limit the fallout from ... Read More
How globalization is a game-changer for nuclear security “Unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013,” the Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism reported in December 2008. ... Read More
Conflict in the Congo and the changing nature of violence For over ten years, an unrelenting war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has created the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. Over 5.4 million people have died since the conflict began, and millions more have suffered the depredations of the lawless Eastern Kivu region, including the systematic ... Read More
When identity binds and borders divide Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the relative peace of Iraqi Kurdistan has been a notable, if often overlooked, exception to the violent insurgency, sectarian feuding, and pervasive lawlessness that has racked Iraq. Yet this achievement has also made the area of one of America’s most significant long-term security concerns in the ... Read More
A new history of the disputed election of 1876
