Democracy and the Uterus

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Bodily Autonomy

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 ...
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Two Hearty Cheers for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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

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 ...
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Two Hearty Cheers for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Populism Through Uprooted Truths

The role of the pro-government media in Turkey, Part III

In two previous posts on the political scene in Turkey (I and II), I explained and discussed the success of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Erdogan through their adoption of a type of post-truth politics that has enabled them to remain in power since 2002. Building upon ...
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Populism Through Uprooted Truths

CFP: Remaking American Political History

June 6-7, 2019 Purdue University West Lafayette, IN

American political history is thriving. Over the past two decades, an interdisciplinary examination of American political history has produced scholarship that explores the expansive spheres in which Americans engage in politics and relate to one another and the state. Now is the time to build on momentum in the field ...
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CFP: Remaking American Political History

Damon Linker is Wrong About Liberals

Here’s why

Damon Linker is a respected writer, columnist for The Week, and editor (University of Pennsylvania Press). He is also a Facebook friend of mine. I enjoy his columns, and often exchange comments with him. He has offered strong and admirable criticisms of Trump, and of the ways the Republican party and ...
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Damon Linker is Wrong About Liberals

Populism Through Uprooted Truths

The resiliency of Erdogan and the AKP, Part II

In part one of this paper, I elaborated the conditions for Erdoğan’s and the Justice and Development Party (AKP)’s successes in Turkey. I adopted Arendt’s discussion of the degradation of factual truth into opinion in modern societies and defined post-truth politics as based on a floating political space where the ...
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Populism Through Uprooted Truths

Populism Through Uprooted Truths

The resiliency of Erdogan and the AKP

This is an attempt to tell and explain the “success” story of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its founder Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the current President of the Republic of Turkey. They came to power in 2002, following economic and political crises in the previous decade. The party and ...
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Populism Through Uprooted Truths

Bannon at Booth

A conflict between principle and strategy?

Bannon, surely, needs no introduction, nor need we long belabor the reasons why the decision to invite him to speak at the University of Chicago proved controversial. Still, let’s note that in a letter of protest signed by over 100 members of the University of Chicago faculty, the rationale for objecting to ...
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Bannon at Booth

From Casting Director to Failed Coup

Unseating the Turkish military

The most recent period of competitive democratic politics in Turkey was bookended by two coups: those of 1980 and 2016. If the first heralded the re-organization of politics under the supervision of the military, the second instigated the transition to a civilian autocracy. The significance of the failed coup of ...
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From Casting Director to Failed Coup

A Revolution in the Polling Booths?

The new constitutional order in Orbán’s “illiberal” Hungary

In line with these ambitions, Orbán was also quick to announce that he considered the new parliament to be “a constitutional assembly,” tasked with setting the solid foundations for the new system in the form of a new constitution, The Fundamental Law, coming into force on January 1, 2012. This ...
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A Revolution in the Polling Booths?

The Current Situation in Catalonia

Part two on Catalonia’s constitutional crisis

This piece is part of a two-part series. Part One is meant to contextualize Pradel’s essay. The Election on December 21st, 2017 The Catalonian independence movement won what appears like a clear victory on December 21. All the same, Ciudadanos (Citizens Party), a liberal pro-unity party that calls themselves “post-nationalist” won the majority ...
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The Current Situation in Catalonia

America’s Hunger Games

The normalization of mass shootings will only stop when a majority of citizens start acting

In the dystopian novels of Suzanne Collins, the Capitol organizes annual Hunger Games, in which twenty-four youth – one boy and one girl from each peripheral district, which resemble colonies – are forced to fight to the death. The children, who are selected by lottery and mostly poor, are trained, ...
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America’s Hunger Games