Politics Archives - Page 82 of 143

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Observing the Social Content of Economic Competition

A report of new findings

April 9, 2018 • by Paulo L. dos Santos

“All that frenetic switching between left and right means something. It’s not random noise. It’s as if you’re flipping a coin. Of course you expect as many heads as tails, but instead you get twice as many heads as tails. So you conclude that the coin is loaded, in our ...

Observing the Social Content of Economic Competition

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Seeing Is Believing

The Marchers of #MarchForOurLives

April 8, 2018 • by Yvonne M. Vissing

The national and international march for gun safety catalyzed by the Parkland students would be a feat for anyone of any age. But these are teenagers who have triggered a social movement. Although only time will tell what becomes of it, that the young are in charge gives me hope that this movement will stand ...

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March for Our Lives

Rally in Washington D.C. on March 24

April 7, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

Millions of people marched at over 800 US cities in response to the mass shootings that have catalyzed support for gun regulation. The main march in DC was changed to a rally as the expected numbers grew. Instead of marching up Pennsylvania Ave., people packed all the spaces from 3rd to ...

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Civility and Subversion in Dark Times

Answering the Question: Why Public Seminar?

April 6, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

Why Public Seminar? Over the past four years, the doubtful, curious, intrigued and impressed have asked me this question, people at my university and at others, academics and non-academics, young and old, New Yorkers, Americans and colleagues from abroad, interested readers and potential contributors. I have answered in various ways, all ...

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Russia’s Choice

Voting in predetermined elections

April 5, 2018 • by Ivan Makeyenko

On March 18, Russian citizens faced a painfully familiar dilemma — to vote or not to vote. What on the surface may look like a simple choice between exercising an inalienable right and sinking into political apathy is, in fact, much more delicate and nuanced. For many of us election ...

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The Challenge of the Catalan Independence Movement in Spain

An interview with Enric Juliana

April 5, 2018 • by Gerardo Muñoz

In recent years, Catalan politics has experienced the rise of a pro-independence political alliance across the ideological spectrum. Several factors have contributed to this development: a general social discomfort with the economic crisis of 2008, numerous corruption cases of top governmental officials at both national and regional levels, the failure of ...

The Challenge of the Catalan Independence Movement in Spain

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Two Europes, Not Quite the Same

Cedric Robinson’s concept of racial capitalism in Eastern Europe

April 3, 2018 • by Elena Gagovska

Yugoslavia was in a state of bloody mayhem. Bullets whistled back and forth across the streets from the weapons of invisible shooters, snipers. But as the shells vied to wipe out passersby, reduce thousand-year-old bridges to dust, and the formerly ‘new’ philosophers vied to shame us, going out of their ...

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Damon Linker is Wrong About Liberals

Here’s why

April 3, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Damon Linker is a respected writer, columnist for The Week, and editor (University of Pennsylvania Press). He is also a Facebook friend of mine. I enjoy his columns, and often exchange comments with him. He has offered strong and admirable criticisms of Trump, and of the ways the Republican party and ...

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How Populists Become Popular

The speculative shift in politics

April 3, 2018 • by Péter Csigó

In the past decades, we have all learned to see politics as a popularity contest where politicians use polls to detect the position of the popular majority and try to sell this position in their media appearances. There is a common tendency to see populist figures like Donald Trump or ...

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The Radical Center and The Politics of the Gray

Notes on the implications of the social condition for an understanding of politics

March 30, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

Over the past three months, I have been publishing weekly Gray Friday posts, reflecting on the events of the day and enduring human problems, and considering how contributions to Public Seminar inform my appreciation of the beauty of the gray. Today, I will begin to explain the political implications I ...

The Radical Center and The Politics of the Gray

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Courage Before the Break

Agnes Heller’s Theory of “Radical Needs” Revisited

March 30, 2018 • by Max L. Feldman

“Good persons exist, how are they possible?” With this question, inimitable Hungarian philosopher Agnes Heller outlines her philosophical territory. As readers of critical theory, it is hard to know how to begin expressing our admiration for the energetic grande dame of our tradition. One anecdote might suffice: Heller’s mentor, the great, but ...