Political Science
Conservative Shocked to Discover Obama Doesn’t Hate White People
This week, Barack Obama delivered a long and thoughtful defense of liberalism, pluralism, and democracy against strongman populism. The themes, which …
PoliticsWhat Some Early, High-Quality Polls Can Tell Us About The Race For The House
Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup.<p>Poll of the week<p>If you’re anything like me, you get inordinately excited every time you see a …
PoliticsA Message to the GOP Congress and Other Trump Enablers: 'In the Name of God, Go!'
Putin believes destroying the West will be easy because we've lost the will to defend our allies. Everyone around Trump knows this. They know Trump's …
News (U.S.)How I miss Obama
How I miss Barack Obama.<p>And I say that as someone who worked to defeat him: I was a foreign policy adviser to John McCain in 2008 and to Mitt Romney in 2012. I criticized Obama’s “lead from behind” foreign policy that resulted in a premature pullout from Iraq and a failure to stop the slaughter in …
OpinionThe Essay That Helped Bring Down the Soviet Union
Fifty years ago this Sunday, this paper devoted three broadsheet pages to an essay that had been circulating secretly in the Soviet Union for weeks. The manifesto, written by Andrei Sakharov, championed an essential idea at grave risk today: that those of us lucky enough to live in open societies …
OpinionAndrew Sullivan: Why Trump Has Such a Soft Spot for Russia
It is possible, is it not, that Donald Trump simply believes what he says.<p>I realize, of course, that this is technically impossible from moment to …
GeopoliticsRepublicans Swore an Oath to Defend This Country — And They're Violating It
Donald Trump's performance in Helsinki was certainly historic. On no other occasion since the founding of this country has an American president …
Donald TrumpThe will of the people? These Brexit ideologues are destroying democracy | Jonathan Freedland
We should hardly be surprised that they’re now ready to turn on democracy and the rule of law<p>First, a confession. One that relates to the current threat facing our democratic way of life and which involves a decision I made nearly 15 years ago. It turns on the unlikely name of Brian. In January …
Opinion (UK)The "intellectual dark web" is many things: crusade against political correctness, revolt against conventional beliefs, check on the illiberal left. One thing it is not: new
The "intellectual dark web" is many things: crusade against political correctness, revolt against conventional beliefs, check on the illiberal left. …
PhilosophyHow Conservatives Won the Law
Washington<p>When I was a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley in 2011, the College Republicans announced plans to hold an “Increase Diversity Bake Sale.” The idea was to offer minorities and women discounts on cupcakes while white males would pay full price. This led to an emergency …
OpinionReturn of the Rhetorician
For more than a year and a half now, hundreds of intellectuals and historians and commentators have written books and articles and delivered lectures …
U.S. PoliticsThe GOP's minority rule
Can a country remain a liberal democracy while abandoning majority rule?<p>The Republican Party in the 21st century appears exceedingly eager to explore …
U.S. PoliticsWhen will be too late to sound the alarm on demagogues?
<i>Ian Buruma, editor of</i> The New York Review of Books<i>, is the author of</i> Year Zero: A History of 1945<i>.</i><p>Comparing today’s demagogues with Adolf Hitler is almost always unwise. Such alarmism tends to trivialize the actual horrors of the Nazi regime, and distracts attention from our own political problems. …
Hillary ClintonClimate Change is Proving Worse Than We Imagined, So Why Aren’t We Confronting its Root Cause?
June 23 marked the 30thyear anniversary of NASA climate scientist James Hansen’s presentation on global warming to the U.S. Congress. In his address …
ClimateLet’s take back control from this authoritarian Tory government | Owen Jones
So now we know what “take back control” means: a cynical, shameless power grab by the Conservative party. Remember all that dewy-eyed rhetoric about restoring the sovereignty of Britain’s parliament? Let me shock you: I’m starting to think it might have been a con.<p>The Tories’ cynical breaking of …
Opinion (UK)Do We Really Need a New Conservatism?
<i>EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second essay of a RealClearPolicy series centered on the American Project, an initiative of the Pepperdine School of</i> …
Civil RightsJohn B. Hurford Memorial Lecture With Michael McFaul | Council on Foreign Relations
Michael McFaul provides an insider’s perspective on Russia during his time as U.S. ambassador, including his analysis of Russia’s foreign policy from …
RussiaEverything You Wanted to Ask About Sects … But Were Afraid to Know
Fifty years after 1968, Marxism-Leninism sounds as off-putting to most leftists as it did to everybody else back in the day.<p>For those of us active in …
Left-wing PoliticsGet a Grip, America
This week, <i>The Washington Post</i> published an op-ed headlined "It's not wrong to compare Trump's America to the Holocaust." As with similar examples of …
Foreign PolicyPay attention to the violence in Cameroon
The July 12 editorial “Nicaragua’s descent” decried the vicious political violence employed by the cornered and discredited President Daniel Ortega regime against the population.<p>Why is the paper so strikingly silent concerning the much worse assault by the government of Cameroon against the …
OpinionObama warns against 'identity politics' — a message for both parties
When Barack Obama, in his first major speech since his presidency, decried today’s “utter loss of shame among political leaders,” did anyone not know whom he was talking about?<p>No, when the first African-American president made the point Tuesday during the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in …
Nelson MandelaHow to Destroy Democracy, the Trump-Putin Way
Is it fascism yet? When the actual Godwin says he’s suspending Godwin’s law, you’d better believe we are in trouble. I’ve always resisted applying …
Liberal ViewHow Authoritarians Use Capitalism To Bolster Their Oppressive Regimes
As I traveled recently from city to city in Russia under the spell of the World Cup, I was haunted by a question: Are Vladimir Putin's Russia, Xi …
Saudi ArabiaPutin is Anointed King, but Big Capital has the Real Power – RAI with A. Buzgalin (7/12)
On Reality Asserts Itself, Prof. Aleksandr Buzgalin says after the chaotic ‘90’s, the Russian oligarchs needed a stronger central state to defend …
Liberal ViewObama’s words on identity politics better late than never
“Democracy demands that we’re able to also get inside the reality of people who are different than us, so we can understand their point of view. …
Nelson MandelaAnother summit to remember: When Gorbachev outmaneuvered Reagan in Reykjavik
The Russians came armed with detailed and tantalizing proposals. The Americans arrived with no clear agenda and little sense of what to expect.<p>When the Russian leader suggested a striking settlement premised on mutual trust, his American counterpart appeared to embrace the idea.<p>Discord arose, and …
Ronald ReaganHow afraid should Americans be right now? | Opinion
Should we Americans be afraid nowadays, more afraid than 10 or 30 years ago? The short answer is yes, but a short answer to a complex question isn’t …
Foreign PolicyA weak democracy better than dictatorship: Bilawal
LAHORE, Jul 20 (APP):Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the his party would pursue the politics of federation, like it …
AuthoritarianismAmy Chua Discusses What To Do When Tribalism Comes To America
American politics is becoming increasingly tribal. The camps are well known: Democrats vs. Republicans, globalists vs. nationalists, elites vs. the …
Conservative ViewOn the Tight Confines of Madeleine Albright's Cold War Intellectual Straitjacket
None<br>The <i>Death of Democracy</i>. <i>How Democracies Die</i>. Bookstores are awash in books on the 'demise of democracy'. Insert whatever adjective /phrase you wish …
Cold War