A Review of The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today by Hal Brands Review By Justin Kempf A New Cold War On May 1st, 1960 the Soviet Union shot down an American spy plane known as the U-2. The United States used the U-2 for aerial reconnaissance because it... Continue Reading →
A Review of In Isolation: Dispatches from Occupied Donbas by Stanislav Aseyev Review By Justin Kempf In Isolation Many of us recognize the Russo-Ukrainian War began in 2014 in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. However, few of us know much about the conflict before 2022. For so long it was a distant affair in what... Continue Reading →
A review of The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On Liberal as an Adjective Review by Justin Kempf The Values of Liberalism In this week's episode of the podcast I talked to Michael Walzer. We talked about his recent book The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On Liberal as an Adjective. In the Preface he explains... Continue Reading →
A review of Manufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Era of Automation and Anonymity by Samuel Woolley. Review by Justin Kempf Digital Propaganda The recent release of ChatGPT has raised many questions about the limits of automation and its ability to replace what many have long considered creative work. I've heard people question whether we will eventually... Continue Reading →
By Justin Kempf Over the past year I have tried my best to keep up with the latest trends on democracy and political science. It's not easy, because amazing writers and scholars publish so many outstanding books every year. So, it's only natural that I have missed out on a number of titles. In fact,... Continue Reading →
By Justin Kempf A review of Buddhism and Comparative Constitutional Law edited by Tom Ginsburg and Benjamin Schonthal. Buddhism and Constitutional LawOver the past year I have made a real effort to explore constitutional law. Americans talk quite a bit about their constitution, but they know very little about constitutions in other countries. They often presume... Continue Reading →
By Justin Kempf A review of House of the People: Parliament and the Making of Indian Democracy by Ronojoy Sen House of the People For the past several years most of the popular literature on Indian democracy has focused on its shortcomings. So many books and articles fixate on Narendra Modi, Hindu Nationalism, and threats to... Continue Reading →
By Justin Kempf A review of Quest for Democracy: Liberalism in the Modern Arab World by Line Khatib Liberalism in the Modern Arab World On July 25th, 2021 Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed suspended parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. It marked the collapse of the last remaining democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring.... Continue Reading →
by Justin Kempf A review of Anti-Constitutional Populism edited by Martin Krygier, Adam Czarnota, and Wojciech Sadurski and Constitutionalism and a Right to Effective Government? edited by Vicki C. Jackson and Yasmin Dawood. The Purpose of a Constitution Among the most useful resources for those concerned about democracy is found at Constitute. It brings together 202... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! Preorder Towards a Green Democratic Revolution: Left Populism and the Power of Affects Populism and Chantal Mouffe In 2018, Chantal Mouffe tried to reclaim the idea of populism for the left. She argued the left must abandon its technocratic inclinations to reclaim a populist message for the masses and the working class... Continue Reading →
