Solutions for Democratic Decay
A clear understanding of democracy’s first principles makes it easier to assess threats to the system.
Winter 2026
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The Rise of the Elite Anti-Intellectual
For decades, “common sense” has been a convenient framing for conservative ideas. The label hides a more complicated picture.
For a Liberal Socialism
Today’s novel New Deal coalition offers the only plausible chance for progressive reforms.
The Not-So-Strange Death of Right Populism
A string of pseudo-populist conservative movements have reverted to the same agenda of tax cuts and deregulation. Why should we expect anything different?
The Italian Response
How the crisis gets resolved will depend, to a large extent, on the European Union.
Afterlives of the Emergency
Responding to widespread popular discontent, Indira Gandhi marshaled the powers of the Constitution to suspend the rule of law. Her actions anticipated the crisis of democracy in India today.
Ross Perot, Populist Harbinger
Views that were fringe in Perot’s day have taken center stage in national politics.
Modi’s Saffron Democracy
India may grant Narendra Modi another chance to embody its aspirations and fears. But his classic populist gambit cannot hide a plain truth: the “good days” he promised have still not arrived.
Is Anti-Intellectualism Ever Good for Democracy?
Today’s backlash against intellectual life cannot simply be written off as a popular celebration of mindlessness.
How Liberalism Failed
After decades of relative stability, Western elites forgot how precious and precarious liberal democracy really is.
Brazil’s Coalition Against Democracy
Jair Bolsonaro’s electorate—a loose coalition brought together by the candidate’s appeal to “bullets, bibles, and bulls”—stands perilously close to dragging Brazil back into authoritarianism.
Balancing Act
If two recent analyses of populism agree on one thing, it’s that democracy and capitalism have fallen out of balance. Less clear is how—or whether—the truce between them should be restored.
Whose Populism? The Mixed Messages of La France Insoumise
Claiming the mantle of populism, La France Insoumise has sought to transcend the left and build a new coalition to transform French politics. But the group’s commitment to pluralism is already revealing limits.
Mexico’s Bid for Change
Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s landslide victory in Mexico’s presidential election reflects widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo—and a broad-based mandate to transform the country.
Disembowel Enoch Powell
Fifty years ago, British politician Enoch Powell set the template for a racist neoliberal populism that has reached its apotheosis today.
