Cole Bunzel is a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the editor of the blog Jihadica. He is the author of the book Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. Access Bonus Episodes on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. The Jihadis today root themselves theologically and ideologically... Continue Reading →
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 →
Anna Grzymała-Busse is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies at Stanford University. She is also the Director of the Europe Center and a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute. Her latest book is Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State. Become a Patron! Make a one-time... Continue Reading →
Robert Kagan is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, a columnist at The Washington Post, and among the most influential writers on foreign policy today. His latest book is Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941. Become a Patron! Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. We... Continue Reading →
Jeremi Suri is the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He cohosts the podcast This is Democracy with his son Zachary. His latest book is Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy. Become a Patron! Make a one-time Donation to Democracy... Continue Reading →
A review of Never Turn Back: China and the Forbidden History of the 1980s by Julian Gewirtz from Harvard University Press. Review by Justin Kempf Zhao Ziyang I will admit that I never gave Zhao Ziyang much thought. He comes across as a supporting character without significant influence for China's history or politics. Deng Xiaoping... Continue Reading →
Frank Dikötter is the author of three books about China under Mao called the People’s Trilogy. He is currently the Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. His latest book is China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower. Become a Patron! Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. This is... Continue Reading →
Become a Patron! The Cycles of Russian Expansion In March of 1918 Russia accepted humiliating terms to withdraw from World War I. It ceded any claims over Finland, the Baltic States, and most of Ukraine and Belarus. It lost additional territory in the Caucasus. All told Russia lost one third of its population. In this... Continue Reading →
Ideas and Political Decisions Political science almost always falls back into discussions of institutions and interests. The human element gets extracted from serious research, because it does not fit well into statistical analysis or spatial models. Instead, ideas and opinions become diminished into political interests. In other words, scholars largely assume ideologies do not evolve... Continue Reading →
Martin Conway is the author of the new book Western Europe’s Democratic Age: 1945—1968 and a Professor of Contemporary European History at the University of Oxford. Where you and I and, I think, many others start from an assumption that somehow there is a thing called democracy and we sort of know what it is.... Continue Reading →
