Mexico: An Overview Tomorrow’s podcast features a conversation with Guillermo Trejo and Sandra Ley about the politics of criminal violence in Mexico. Their research transcends Mexican politics to provide insights about democratization and criminal governance. But it helps to have a basic overview of Mexico’s political system. This is not an outline designed for serious... Continue Reading →
The Human Rights Regime This week’s podcast focuses on China and the international human rights regime with Rana Siu Inboden. The poor state of human rights in China is widely known. The tragedy at Tiananmen is just one of many chapters in a long story of disrespect for human rights. When I was younger, people... Continue Reading →
Personalism in Politics Timothy Frye in his recent book, Weak Strongman, describes Russia as a personalist autocracy. He distinguishes it from other forms of autocracy such as military dictatorships or single party states. Moreover, he emphasizes how different autocracies behave differently from one another. It can be a bit cliché to say institutions matter, but they... Continue Reading →
An Introduction to Russia Over the next two weeks the Democracy Paradox will explore the politics of Russia. A lot of conversations focus on Russia’s foreign policy. But like most countries, Russia’s domestic politics influences its relations with the world. As Kathryn Stoner succinctly puts it, “The regime still fears the potential instability that comes... Continue Reading →
The War on Terror The War in Afghanistan came to a close last week. Its legacy is complicated. Many who opposed the invasion of Iraq supported the invasion of Afghanistan. Its mission was more closely identified with the War on Terror. Nonetheless, its purpose lost focus over twenty years as it became known as America’s... Continue Reading →
What is Isolationism? In an increasingly interconnected world it is difficult for any community or nation to truly isolate itself from others. Of course, a few indigenous tribes remain in remote corners of the world. Perhaps they are the last truly isolated peoples left in the world. But even these communities have occasional contact with... Continue Reading →
Neoliberalism as a Political Philosophy Neoliberalism is more than a school of economics. It incorporates a broad political philosophy surrounding its ideas about economics. The neoliberal package of reforms is often presented as a toolkit for economic development, but its earliest theorists associated free markets and capitalism with human freedom and liberty. They saw themselves... Continue Reading →
Introduction to Myanmar The politics of Myanmar confuse many of us (although few will admit it). Let’s start with the name. Some still call it Burma. This is the original name dating back to British colonial rule. However, its name officially changed in 1989 to Myanmar. At the time the United States refused to recognize... Continue Reading →
