Departments

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authoritarianism

  • SOURCE: The New Republic
    1/14/2021

    The Capitol Riot Revealed the Darkest Nightmares of White Evangelical America

    by Matthew Avery Sutton

    Many observers have speculated that American evangelicals have had a transactional relationship with Donald Trump. But his messages of "American carnage" and warnings of dire consequences if he is defeated mesh perfectly with their end-times outlook and have helped tie evangelicals to the far right coalition. 

  • 1/14/2021

    Donald Trump’s Situational Fascism

    by Gavriel Rosenfeld

    Rather than engage in an unproductive debate about whether Donald Trump is or is not a bona fide fascist, scholars should consider the events of January 6 (and Trump's role in inciting them) as emergent, contingent results of the interplay of factors latent in American liberal democracy.

  • SOURCE: The Nation
    1/11/2021

    Ex-Friends: Anne Applebaum and the Crisis of Centrist Politics

    Critic David Klion considers the unexamined relationship between the late 20th Century rise of market-oriented liberalism and the 21st century rise of authoritarian nationalism (or, "why so many of her once-close friends have turned out to be fascists").

  • SOURCE: Politico
    1/11/2021

    Yes, It Was a Coup. Here’s Why

    Former Trump National Security Council staffer Fiona Hill says the events of January 6, in the context of Trump's refusal to accept the election results, meet the practical standard of a coup. 

  • SOURCE: PBS News Hour
    1/10/2021

    Don't Compare the Capitol Riot to the "Third World"

    "Lucia Dammert, a Wilson Center Global Fellow and Professor at the University of Santiago of Chile objects to the comparison to the Global South -- adding that the U.S. has played a key role in sparking the turbulence, especially in Latin America."

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    1/11/2021

    Denial Is the Heartbeat of America

    by Ibram X. Kendi

    Claims that the Capitol riots were "not who we are" are rooted in denial of the long history of racist and antidemocratic politics in the United States. 

  • 1/10/2020

    Will the Republicans Take the Fascist Option?

    by Kevin Matthews

    Before this past week, too many in the GOP seemed too willing to choose the fascist option.  Now they have seen what it looks like and where it leads.  The question Republicans must answer is simple: Will they choose fascism anyway? 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    1/4/2021

    An Insurgency From Inside the Oval Office

    “Trump’s attempt to overturn the election, and his pressure tactics to that end with Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, are an example of how authoritarianism works in the 21st century,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of “Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present.”

  • SOURCE: Democracy
    12/22/2020

    Cleansing Ourselves of Trumpism

    by Jim Sleeper

    Donald Trump's election revealed, rather than launched, the degradation of American political norms and institutions through decades of the Republicans' lurch to the right and the Democrats' abandonment of the common good. 

  • SOURCE: Daily Beast
    12/4/2020

    History Will Judge Trump but We’ve Got to Do It First

    by David Perry and Matthew Gabriele

    Medieval history gives insight into the way that history's judgment is far from automatic; powerful actors in their own time can prevent their deeds from being accurately assessed in the future by concealment, destruction of evidence, and a climate of elite impunity. 

  • SOURCE: ZNet
    11/29/2020

    Is the Nationalist Tide Receding?

    by Lawrence Wittner

    The author contends, with hope, that the Trump presidency was a brief blip in the long decline of nationalistic conflict that will allow international cooperation for global challenges.

  • SOURCE: Boston Globe
    11/11/2020

    Trump’s Big Election Lie Pushes America Toward Autocracy

    by Timothy Snyder

    "A claim that an election was illegitimate is a claim to remaining in power. A coup is under way, and the number of participants is not shrinking but growing. Few leading Republicans have acknowledged that the race is over."

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    11/10/2020

    Authoritarians From Mussolini to Trump (review)

    by Francis Fukuyama

    The political theorist Francis Fukuyama offers a brief review of Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book on authoritarian strongmen, and suggests paying more attention to Trump's unique characteristics in order to prepare for future instances of Trumpism.