Departments

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democracy

  • SOURCE: Data & Society
    4/14/2021

    House Arrest: How An Automated Algorithm Constrained Congress for a Century

    In 1929, Congress adopted a formula for apportionment based on the Census. While made political disputes a matter of law, it also capped the size of the House, which has not kept up with population growth and contributed to the disproportionate influence of small states in the House and the Electoral College.

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    4/8/2021

    The Man Who Waited 50 Years for This Moment

    Fred Wertheimer has been battling the influence of money in politics since the 1970s. Writer George Packer asks if, at age 82, he will finally match his ideas to the political moment. 

  • SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review
    3/8/2021

    Will Hong Kong’s Free Press Survive?

    Security laws imposed by Beijing suggest that the Chinese government has lost patience for Hong Kong's traditionally active and frequently antagonistic press. 

  • SOURCE: Aeon
    3/9/2021

    Lessons From All Democracies

    by David Stasavage

    The idea of the "torch" of democracy passing from one historical society to the present blinds us to understanding how popular sovereignty arises and why it's resilient. If we are concerned with protecting democracy, we must first understand it.

  • 2/21/2021

    Don't Defend Democracy With Half-Truths About the Past

    by Brook Thomas

    Although the Capitol riots raised deep concern about the rule of law, there is a deeper challenge ahead of the nation: to understand and change the undemocratic aspects of our foundational law and refuse half-measures in the name of unity.

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    2/15/2021

    The Founders Were Wrong About Democracy

    by David Frum

    The conservative commentator writes that the framers' concern with broad populist movements shouldn't overshadowing the greater damage done to democracy by a minority faction that controls key institutions and follows its own fickle self-interest.

  • 2/14/2021

    History, Evidence and the Ethics of Belief

    by Guy Lancaster

    Untrammelled freedom of belief has been enshrined as an American civic virtue. The nation, democracy, and possibly the planet are imperiled without a collective commitment to respect belief only to the extent available evidence supports it. 

  • SOURCE: New York Review of Books
    2/3/2021

    The Case for a Third Reconstruction

    by Manisha Sinha

    During their brief hold on power, so-called "Radical Republicans" used their power to build multiracial democracy in the South and punish white supremacist terrorism. We face the same challenges today and must learn from and complete the work begun in Reconstruction and renewed by the modern Civil Rights movement.

  • SOURCE: New York Magazine
    1/31/2021

    All the Lies They Told Us About the Filibuster

    Columnist Jonathan Chait considers the politics of the Senate filibuster and Adam Jentleson's new book "Kill Switch," concluding that much of the mythology of the filibuster as a check on knee-jerk legislation is bogus. 

  • 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.