Departments

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democracy

  • SOURCE: Africa Is A Country
    1/20/2021

    Reflections On An Imploding Empire

    by Russell Rickford

    Progressive dissidents must meet the moment of Biden's inauguration by not settling for what liberal politicians offer on economic justice, human rights, environment, labor, and health. 

  • SOURCE: Slate
    1/11/2021

    The Only Way to Save American Democracy Now

    by Richard R. Hasen

    "We need bold changes to deal with the threat to democracy from an authoritarian wing of the Republican Party that appeared ready to abet Trump’s stealing of the election, as well as the separate problem that the Republican Party can continue to consistently win elections with minority support thanks to backward American election rules we have in place."

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    1/8/2021

    How to Ensure This Never Happens Again

    by Beverly Gage and Emily Bazelon

    A menu of democratic reform initiatives ranging from strictly defining the electoral vote process to abolishing the electoral college: reforms needed to stop the temptation to undemocratic rule and authoritarianism.

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    1/7/2020

    What Trump and His Mob Taught the World About America

    by Anne Applebaum

    "The images from Washington that are going out around the world are far more damaging to America’s reputation as a stable democracy than the images of young people protesting the Vietnam War several decades ago, and they are far more disturbing to outsiders than the riots and protests of last summer."

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    12/13/2020

    Why Getting the Most Votes Matters

    Times Editor Jesse Wegman examines the unique absence of majoritarian principle in the election of the American president and argues it goes against the most basic understanding of political fairness. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    11/29/2020

    Trump Looms Large Now, but Maybe Not Forever

    by Steve Inskeep

    NPR's Steve Inskeep reflects on the prospect that historical distance will make Trump and Trumpism smaller (and not all-consuming) parts of a story about American society struggling with bigger questions of political, economic and social equality that became increasingly contentious during the Obama era. 

  • SOURCE: The Nation
    11/17/2020

    American Democracy Was Never Supposed to Work

    by Richard Kreitner

    "Merely ousting Trump is not enough without addressing more fundamental weaknesses in our political system, especially an outdated Constitution that continues to serve a minority of wealthy and white citizens and to curb any movements that might threaten their wealth and power."

  • SOURCE: Boston Review
    11/19/2020

    Against Returning to Normal

    by David Walsh

    Liberal pleas to return to a "normal" defined by bipartisan consensus ignore the long legacy of ideological conflict and the pursuit of division as a political strategy by the conservative movement. 

  • SOURCE: The Yale Review
    11/15/2020

    The Wondrous Banality of Democracy

    by John Witt

    A professor of law and legal history volunteered as a ballot counting observer in Pennsylvania and offers a reflection on the unspectacular nature of democracy in action. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    11/13/2020

    2020 Shows Why the Electoral College Is Stupid and Immoral

    by Jamelle Bouie

    The Times Opinion columnist contents that the electoral college infects American politics with uncertainty and the multiple opportunities to contest the result. This not only is undemocratic, it undermines faith in democracy. 

  • 11/10/2020

    Was This a Coup Attempt?

    by HNN Staff

    On January 6, Trump told a rally of supporters the election had been stolen and encouraged them to go to the Capitol. A mob then stormed the building, temporarily disrupting the verification of the Electoral College vote count. Historians discuss how serious the danger to democracy was and the possible consequences. 

  • SOURCE: Public Seminar
    11/5/2020

    Measuring the Health of Our Democracy

    by Heather Cox Richardson

    Donald Trump saw the fading of his power to control political narratives as news organizations labeled his charges of election fraud as baseless. 

  • SOURCE: The New Yorker

    Is American Tolerance for Political Violence on the Rise?

    by Bernard Avishai

    Things get dicier when these attitudes bleed into opinions about the legitimacy of a government led by the other side. Only forty-four per cent of Trumpists said that they’d regard a Joe Biden victory as legitimate.