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

Dispatches

Category: Dispatches

Further Thoughts on Putting Liberal Democracy First

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Why we need consensus on the democratic left to defend liberal institutions This symposium contains essays by Michael Walzer, Sheri Berman, Leo Casey, and Jeffrey C. Isaac that reflect on the principles and possibilities of social democracy and liberal democracy in our current political times. The pieces constitute extensions of the authors’ presentations in the “Crisis of Democracy” panel that took place at the American Political Science Association …

Politics, Pessimism, and Populism

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We have lost the sense of the possible that social democracy injected into postwar liberal democracy This symposium contains essays by Michael Walzer, Sheri Berman, Leo Casey, and Jeffrey C. Isaac that reflect on the principles and possibilities of social democracy and liberal democracy in our current political times. The pieces constitute extensions of the authors’ presentations in the “Crisis of Democracy” panel that took place at the …

Not Knowing What We’ve Got Til It’s Gone

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We need to both defend liberal democratic norms and institutions and address their fault lines This symposium contains essays by Michael Walzer, Sheri Berman, Leo Casey, and Jeffrey C. Isaac that reflect on the principles and possibilities of social democracy and liberal democracy in our current political times. The pieces constitute extensions of the authors’ presentations in the “Crisis of Democracy” panel that took place at the American …

The Crisis of Democracy is a Crisis of the Left

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A capitalism transformed by a strong version of social democracy should be our political goal This symposium contains essays by Michael Walzer, Sheri Berman, Leo Casey, and Jeffrey C. Isaac that reflect on the principles and possibilities of social democracy and liberal democracy in our current political times. The pieces constitute extensions of the authors’ presentations in the “Crisis of Democracy” panel that took place at the American …

Arrows into the Heart of Democracy

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Attacks on Gender Studies and the conquest of democracy Today is the anniversary of a special revolution in Germany: 100 years of women’s suffrage. On November 12, 1918, the German Council of People’s Representatives publicly announced that it would henceforth carry out all “elections under the same, secret, direct, universal suffrage on the basis of the proportional electoral system for all males and females who are at least …

The Radical Center as a Utopian Project?

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7 notes on the ideal of a free, intelligent and consequential public life How in the world can a centrist be radical? 1. From a critical point of view, “the center” is the ground of the wishy washy: too attached to the ways things are to commit to the radical change of the left, not sufficiently informed by the wisdom of customs and traditional values to fully embrace …

Defending “Open” Democracy

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What would an open democracy based on different forms of non-electoral yet democratic representation look like? The following essay was presented as part of the day-long conference “Democracy in Trouble?” at the University of Pennsylvania’s Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. As the post-Cold War democratic order is straining under the dual threat of authoritarian and exclusionary movements on the national level and transnational oligarchic networks, the …

Let’s Keep Democracy

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But let’s look for better alternatives The following essay were presented as part of the day-long conference “Democracy in Trouble?” at the University of Pennsylvania’s Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. As the post-Cold War democratic order is straining under the dual threat of authoritarian and exclusionary movements on the national level and transnational oligarchic networks, the goal of the conference was to take account of the …

Can the Global Anticorruption Movement Survive Populism?

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Where could this increased demand for new non-corrupt ruling elites on the part of voters, who care primarily for their self-interest rather than abstract principles, take us? The following essay were presented as part of the day-long conference “Democracy in Trouble?” at the University of Pennsylvania’s Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. As the post-Cold War democratic order is straining under the dual threat of authoritarian and …

Why Do Authoritarian Leaders Appeal Today?

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The age of the strongman The following essay were presented as part of the day-long conference “Democracy in Trouble?” at the University of Pennsylvania’s Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. As the post-Cold War democratic order is straining under the dual threat of authoritarian and exclusionary movements on the national level and transnational oligarchic networks, the goal of the conference was to take account of the different …