How Compromise Shapes Life in Putin’s Russia

Compromise and Ambition Where do we draw the line between politics and the other parts of our life? It’s funny how anybody focused on politics distinguishes only between the political and everything else. The compartmentalization does not extend into economic, religious, and other social aspects of the world. For the political thinker the line is... Continue Reading →

Democratic Resilience and Other Democracy Books this Week

Introduction This week features books on polarization, American history, corruption, privatization, and philosophy. A few books like Democratic Resilience and Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin offer more academic reads, while American Kleptocracy and The Privatization of Everything look to reach a broader audience. Finally, Diana Schaub's His Greatest Speeches will appeal to history buffs and scholars alike. In the meantime, don't miss the... Continue Reading →

Why the Armies of Arabia Remain Weak Institutions

Armies of Arabia Early in the book, Armies of Arabia, Zoltan Barany writes, “Perhaps the most important and conspicuous attribute that all Arab armies in republics and monarchies share is their remarkable ineffectiveness on the battlefield.” This is where most of us need to start. Barany seeks to understand why the Gulf monarchies field ineffective... Continue Reading →

Party Systems in 50 Different Democracies

Thomas Piketty is best known for the publication of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. It changed how the intellectual community thought about the problem of inequality. Despite the fact it may not have changed many opinions, it is one of the most influential books on economics in the past quarter century. It provided a language... Continue Reading →

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