Democracy Archives - Page 53 of 56

Democracy

The Legitimacy of the Supreme Court?

The system is working and that is the problem

October 8, 2018 • by Ajay Singh Chaudhary

We Americans are “constitutional fetishists” in the apt phrase of the lesser-known mid-20th century critical theorist of law and economy, Franz Neumann. We tend to think that a particular order of state institutions -- for example, our current incarnation of the separation-of-powers -- embodies the essence of democracy instead of looking ...

Democracy

Defending “Open” Democracy

What would an open democracy based on different forms of non-electoral yet democratic representation look like?

October 5, 2018 • by Hélène Landemore

Democracy is in trouble, or so we are told. In this essay I argue that the crisis of democracy as we know it -- which has come to be symbolized by Trump or Brexit -- is a sign of its vitality as a normative ideal. People the Western world over ...

Democracy

Let’s Keep Democracy

But let’s look for better alternatives

October 5, 2018 • by Jason Brennan

The BMW 3-series is wonderful, often the best in its class, but it nevertheless has significant flaws. BMW’s engineers acknowledge its shortcomings and continually attempt to improve it. Consumers love the car, but also recognize in a given year that competitors may be better, and often buy the competitors instead. ...

Democracy

Can the Global Anticorruption Movement Survive Populism?

Where could this increased demand for new non-corrupt ruling elites on the part of voters, who care primarily for their self-interest rather than abstract principles, take us?

October 4, 2018 • by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi

On April 6, 2018, the former South Korean president Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison for abuse of power and corruption. The same day, South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma was charged with corruption, racketeering, fraud and money laundering linked to a 1990s arms deal, after he ...

Democracy

Why Do Authoritarian Leaders Appeal Today?

The age of the strongman

October 4, 2018 • by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Ours is the age of the strongman. In Hungary, Russia, and many other places, authoritarian leaders attempt, with varying degrees of success, to undermine the rule of law, purge state bureaucracies of non-loyalists, make public office a vehicle for private profit, use propaganda to spread their versions of reality, and ...

Feature

Brett Kavanaugh Unhinged? Unlikely

Reflections on his testimony and on the need to resist his candidacy

September 29, 2018 • by Peter Dreier

Some reporters, bloggers, and pundits think that during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Judge Brett Kavanaugh just “lost it” and became "unhinged." I disagree. I have no doubt that he was angry and emotional, but his belligerent and partisan comments were also very strategic and calculated. He was not out ...

Democracy

Censorship or Right Wing Infighting or Both?

Hungary in 2018

September 27, 2018 • by Ivan Szelenyi

The editor (Tamás Demeter, a distinguished and conservative philosopher) and his editorial group were fired. As far as I can tell the last time an issue of a journal was destroyed to prevent its circulation was in 1984. Do we see the return of the past; is this a case ...

Democracy

The Powerlessness of the Powerful

Living in post – truth, seeking alternatives, examining Nicolae Ceausescu and Donald Trump

September 14, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

This was most dramatically revealed in the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu on December 21, 1989. As this video documents. A mass rally in support of the leader morphed into a demonstration against the regime, apparently in a flash, though this was not as spontaneous as it appeared at first. In private, ...

North America

Right on Ron

Remembering the former California Congressman

July 31, 2018 • by John Lawrence

Ron Dellums was elected to Congress during my first few months in Berkeley, where I was studying for a Ph.D. in American History. For someone who had grown up very involved in electoral politics, and then had his commitment soured by the horror of Vietnam, Dellums provided an extraordinary transition ...

Democracy

Revolution, Democracy, and Restoration Revisited

In Poland and beyond

July 11, 2018 • by Elzbieta Matynia

To be sure, the time is out of joint, and we feel as lost as Hamlet does when he bursts out: Oh, that ever I was born to set it right! Indeed, things appear not as they ought to, and one wonders how to set them right. Although this is a view from afar, painted ...

Democracy

Democracy and the Uterus

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Bodily Autonomy

July 6, 2018 • by Maria Bucur

I was born out of a policy that forbade women to have control over their bodies until they raised 4 children. Under communist Romania, starting in 1967 and until 1989, many babies were born because women were refused control over their sexuality and abortion was made illegal. Most women wanted ...

North America

Two Hearty Cheers for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The congressional primary win is a bright spot for democrats amongst the slew of recent political losses

June 27, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

This morning as I drank my coffee I watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on TV, listened to her speak, and read with pleasure the numerous reports of her primary victory over incumbent and party boss Joe Crowley in New York City’s 14th Congressional District. I was exultant. And I am exultant still. So much ...