Become a Patron! Putin's Revenge of Power As Vladimir Putin rampages his army through Ukraine, observers do not sense the cold calculation of strategic analysis. Instead, it’s impossible to interpret his behavior as anything less than revenge. He wants revenge from the West for the breakup of the Soviet Union. He wants revenge from Ukraine... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! Bob Shrum Bob Shrum is the Director of the USC Center for the Political Future and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics. He is also the cohost of the podcast The Bully Pulpit, a member of The Democracy Group network of podcasts. The USC Center for the Political Future brings together people from... Continue Reading →
Democracy Books This Week Like everyone else my mind remains fixated on the War in Ukraine. Unfortunately, it will take months, maybe years, before anyone writes an account of the war. However, a few books published this week touch on subjects or themes relevant to the war. Andrew Imbrie and Ben Buchanan offer a prophecy... Continue Reading →
Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili and Ilia Murtazashvili are associate professors at the University of Pittsburgh and the authors of the recent book Land, the State, and War: Property Institutions and Political Order in Afghanistan. Jen is also the founding director and Ilia is an associate director of the Center for Governance and Markets. Become a... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! Non-Western Democracy? “If we see seeking consent as a basic ingredient of democracy, then we can say that democracy itself occurs naturally among humans, even if it is far from inevitable," writes David Stasavage in The Decline and Rise of Democracy. He makes a simple point with profound implications. It raises the... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! Ashley Nickels The latest interview on Patreon features Ashley Nickels from the Growing Democracy podcast. Ashley cohosts Growing Democracy with Casey Boyd-Swan, Shemariah J. Arki, and Anuj Gurung. Their podcast features activists, office holders, and scholars from Northeast Ohio. But it's more than a regional podcast, because many of the episodes translate to people... Continue Reading →
Democracy Books This Week Michael Kazin's What it Took to Win headlines this week's list of democracy books. However, other titles feature topics on Latin America, American federalism, psychology, and populist communication. It's a fascinating collection of books with something to interest many different readers. What I like best about many of the titles is they involve... Continue Reading →
Sarah Repucci is the Vice President of Research and Analysis at Freedom House. She coauthored (along with Amy Slipowitz) Freedom in the World 2022: The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule. Become a Patron! You can't protect basic human rights if you don't have democracy. If you're going to protect basic human rights, you need to... Continue Reading →
