By Justin Kempf A Famine in Somalia I am well aware the United Nations describes the catastrophe in Somalia as a drought rather than a famine. While the semantics might have legal implications, they do not bring much comfort to the families who suffer immeasurable loss. Last year alone 43,000 people died from hunger in... Continue Reading →
Martin Wolf is the chief economics commentator at the Financial Times. He has written many books, but his most recent is The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. Become a Patron! Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. I think democracy and capitalism are individually in crisis in that they're not working very well and that... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. Our Crisis of Democracy When I went to school, I believed America was more or less always a democracy. The constitution guaranteed a representative form of government and guaranteed many civil liberties long before other nations. Along the way, the United States became an even... Continue Reading →
Zizi Papacharissi discusses her book After Democracy with host Justin Kempf. Zizi has worked at the forefront on political communication in the digital age. She is a professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A transcript of the podcast is below. What Comes After Democracy Political theorist Takis Pappas has described the... Continue Reading →
The pandemic was not real for me until the schools closed. It was a distant concern until we had to redefine our childcare situation. My wife was already home. She had recently left a position she had held for nearly a decade. But she was about to begin a new role in a new field... Continue Reading →
Polarization has become known as the great challenge for American Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. Suzanne Mettler and Robert Lieberman include it among their Four Threats. So long as polarization is portrayed as a problem, the solution remains simple, although difficult to achieve. The solution to polarization is described as compromise and moderation. But what... Continue Reading →
My generation has faced the Great Recession and now, a global pandemic, in our lifetime. I remember watching the visuals of the World Trade Center’s destruction on 9/11. Two presidents have been impeached and a presidential election was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. My generation has endured both economic and political crises. And other... Continue Reading →
I find it difficult to read the classics of political science. It is easier to read contemporary scholars. I am certain some will believe this means the classics are dense or contemporary scholarship has regressed in its complexity. But that is not it at all. It all comes down to the context of the scholarship.... Continue Reading →
As populism and polarization have become part of the common vocabulary of political writings, their meaning has become less provocative. There is a general acceptance of its existence which no longer shocks the senses. But anti-system retains a powerful emotive force for the political scientist. It catches the reader off guard and gains their immediate... Continue Reading →
