A collaboration with The New School & the European Democracy Institute
 
Year: <span>2024</span>

Year: 2024

Georgia’s Turn Toward Illiberalism and the “Uses and Abuses” of History

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The Erosion of Memory Consensus  The political and symbolic imaginary, the “memory consensus” regarding Georgia’s path toward Europe has come to an end. This consensus gained momentum following the “Rose Revolution” in 2003 and was built on the promise of modernizing Georgia and cutting ties with its Soviet past. Georgia’s pro-Western narrative has been systematically attacked and eroded by the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party. This process began …

Why Tim Walz Is the Right Pick for Vice President

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The few weeks of speculation are over. Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her VP running mate. All six of the leading candidates had strengths and weaknesses that have been endlessly discussed. Whoever Harris selected, some of her supporters were bound to be disappointed. I believe that nothing is more important in U.S. politics at this moment than defeating both Trump and Trumpism. And so …

Kamala Harris and the Future of American Democracy

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The prospects for American democracy seemed dimmer than at any time since Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential election. Harris’s ascendancy has changed everything. Less than two weeks ago the prospects for American democracy seemed dimmer than at any time since Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential election. Twice-impeached ex-President and convicted felon Trump, surviving a shooting attempt just days before, was exulting in his “martyrdom” and lording …

Macron’s Gamble: The Costs of France’s Republican Dam

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Growing up in France, I remember Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front branded as nothing short of an extreme right-wing party. It was crass: the epitome of racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, and outright stupidity. It was dubbed the party of the uneducated working class, looked down upon by a condescending privileged class. This elite could afford to pontificate on the white man’s burden to welcome the wretched of the earth …

Joe Biden Is Now Democracy’s Greatest Liability

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Joe Biden’s performance last night in CNN’s so-called “debate” with Donald Trump was a monumental disaster, for his campaign and for everyone who cares about democracy in the U.S.  Ever since first entering the presidential race in 2019, Biden has claimed to personify the strongest political  bulwark against Charlottesville-style neofascism and Trumpist authoritarianism. The claim was redeemed in the 2019-2020 Democratic primary and in the November 2020 election, and …

What Hannah Arendt can teach us about today’s campus demonstrations

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Tomorrow marks the 54 years since the National Guard fired live ammunition on students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. For three incredibly tense days last week, my colleagues and students at Indiana University-Bloomington, had reason to worry that we might become “the next Kent State,” with Indiana State Police with high-precision assault rifles mounted on the roof of the Indiana Memorial Union (the central building …

The Making of Anticommunist Memory Politics: From Paris to Prague, from the extreme left to the extreme right

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Many thanks to Gérard-Danial Cohen for his critical comments. This text results from a presentation at the workshop After Critical Theory? convened at Queen Mary University London by Eric Heinze, 2 February 2024. Many thanks to him, too, as well as to Jan Čulík, who originally published this piece in Britské listy. May 1968 in Paris must have been great fun. “Beneath the cobblestones lies the beach” claimed …

What Israel’s Nation-State Law means for an Israeli-American citizen watching the current protests from the US

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Israel, often referred to as the region’s “only functioning democracy,” seems to be disintegrating in front of our eyes and the eyes of the rest of the world. The Israel-Palestine conflict became a torrential storm of bullets, bombs, and horror over the past four months, attracting global attention. While the country fractures from grief, its political unity is also under increased stress. In recent weeks, for the first …

The History of Struggle in Palestine and Its Current Relevance

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The image of Palestinians is one tainted by the misrepresentations rampant throughout the media. Palestinians have long been underrepresented and misunderstood, both in the media and in policy discussions. Despite their long history of struggle, they are still oftentimes portrayed in a negative light with their actions heavily scrutinized. This is a result of the misconceptions regarding their history and their movements. These misconceptions primarily stem from a …