Democracy Archives - Page 45 of 56

Saying No to a Stupid War

Americans must say no to war, using every tool at our command

January 7, 2020 • by Jeremy Varon

These crude axioms drive the euphoria felt by a vocal portion of the American public at the killing of Iranian Quds commander Qassem Soleimani. That Trump ordered the strike adds to its luster. To members of his cult the murder proves Trump a master of manly resolve, besting his feckless predecessors. He has set and ...

Middle East & North Africa

The Slaying of Qassem Soleimani

This assassination by the United States exceeds its immediate implications for war

January 7, 2020 • by Hussein Banai

Although he has long been on the radar of policymakers around the world, Soleimani’s profile had only recently come to public attention in the West, owing largely to his instrumental role in expanding the Islamic Republic’s sphere of influence in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. He was particularly known, and ...

North America

A Vote for Sanders is a Vote to Restore the Commonwealth

Government is essential to defending truth and dignity — and that requires changing minds

January 7, 2020 • by Bernard Avishai

This past year, though, I spent much of my time torturing myself with choice. My YouTube account would show me flitting -- admiringly, on the advice of pundits, and for all the obvious reasons -- from Pete Buttigieg, to Elizabeth Warren, to Kamala Harris, then back to Warren, then, for ...

A Vote for Sanders is a Vote to Restore the Commonwealth

Latin America & Caribbean

Democratic Degradation and the Bolivian Coup

A response to Andrew Arato’s reflections on Bolivia

December 30, 2019 • by Leonardo Avritzer

In his recent article “Coup, Revolution or Negotiated Regime Change: The Case of Bolivia,” Andrew Arato responds positively to the latest political developments in La Paz. In disagreement with his Latin American students, he expresses the following caution: “I hesitate to concede the point [there was a coup] to begin ...

Democratic Degradation and the Bolivian Coup

Latin America & Caribbean

Authoritarian Coup or Deposed Authoritarian Leader

A response to Andrew Arato’s reflections on Bolivia

December 27, 2019 • by Enrique Peruzzotti

In the past, coups were coups; they were all-or-nothing events where there could be no disagreement over what occurred. Coups consisted of the unlawful removal of an elected government by a (non-elected) segment of the state apparatus (usually the military) and the temporary suspension of the constitutional order in a ...

Authoritarian Coup or Deposed Authoritarian Leader

North America

Blue Dreaming at the Warren Debate Watch Party

A Letter from Hillsborough

December 24, 2019 • by Dorothy Potter Snyder

I told her I wanted to find out what Warren supporters in my small town are feeling about the Senator's chances of winning the nomination and the general election. I always posit that in North Carolina, the swingiest of the swing states, if you take the temperature here in little Hillsborough, you can find ...

Blue Dreaming at the Warren Debate Watch Party

Latin America & Caribbean

Reflections on Bolivia’s Coup d’État

December 24, 2019 • by Nicolás Figueroa García-Herreros

Clearly his hesitant rejection of attempts to frame these events as a coup derives from the very complexity of the situation. After all, what some people see as a coup, others can plausibly describe as a revolution. From Arato’s perspective, Morales not only broke the principle of legality when he ...

Democracy

30 Years Ago, A Moment of Joy and Hope

December 13, 2019 • by Adam Michnik

*** I clearly remember that November evening. In my country, Poland, events of great importance were taking place. Poland’s first non-Communist government had already been operating for three months. The prime minister was Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a broad-minded catholic intellectual and long-standing advisor to Lech Wałęsa. Just at that time, a delegation from the Federal Republic ...

North America

Why I Don’t Like the Leading Democratic Candidates to be President of the United States

And why I would support anyone of them

December 11, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

“I am devastated. All of my public commitments are under attack. I thought there was progress during my lifetime. Democracy and the positive developments of democratic culture, free speech and expression, social justice and the fight against racism, sexism, class exploitation, xenophobia, and much more, all seemed to advance, even ...

Why I Don’t Like the Leading Democratic Candidates to be President of the United States

North America

With Impeachment, Messaging is Everything.

And the Democrats seem behind the curve.

December 9, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Strategic communication. Trump’s White House has eliminated press briefings, viciously attacked the press and indeed all independent media sources, and organized a cynical and relentless campaign of disinformation via Twitter, Facebook, Fox News, Breitbart, YouTube, the One America News Network, and a range of other media. Trump in office -- with the ...

With Impeachment, Messaging is Everything.

North America

Obama’s Strategy for the Primaries and the Convention

Supporting Buttigieg ensures that Warren will win the nomination – and then lose it

December 7, 2019 • by Eli Zaretsky

What will – what can -- Obama do? As we learned recently he and his surrogates will support Buttigieg. This strategy launched today with endorsements from Reggie Love, Austin Goolsbee and Linda Douglass—three top Obama aides. The following is a speculation based on the best evidence we have. Obviously Buttigieg will not get the nomination. ...

Obama’s Strategy for the Primaries and the Convention

Europe & Central Asia

Romania in 2020

Fighting Corruption Just Got Harder because of Trump

December 6, 2019 • by Maria Bucur

The big unknown for Romania moving into 2020 is its relationship with the United States. Though Romanians have become more anti-American in the last few years, they are still the second most pro-American post-socialist state in Europe (Poland is in first place). Since 1990, the U.S. ambassador has played a ...