Departments

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authoritarianism

  • SOURCE: CNN
    8/5/2021

    Why Tucker Carlson went to Hungary

    by Nicole Hemmer

    Tucker Carlson's PR visit to Orban's Hungary echoes the tribute paid by leaders of the American right to racist regimes in Rhodesia and South Africa in the 1970s, and reflect the ongoing fantasy of the right to rule free of constraints of law and democratic norms. 

  • SOURCE: Washington Post
    6/7/2021

    Too Many are Still Underestimating the Trump Threat

    by Max Boot

    "What has made dictators and demagogues so dangerous is their ability to pull vast numbers of people into their personal delusions — to turn their paranoid fantasies and megalomaniacal dreams into a harsh reality for millions."

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    4/15/2021

    The Sun Never Set on the British Empire’s Oppression

    While nationalist leaders in postcolonial states win political support by invoking heroic struggle to defeat British imperialism, they are very happy to use the repressive laws of colonialism against dissidents today. 

  • SOURCE: The Nation
    4/6/2021

    Methods of Power: How do Authoritarians Rule? (Review)

    by David A. Bell

    Is Trumpism a fascist movement or a response to a power vacuum created by decades of neoliberal policies? Historian David A. Bell reviews Ruth Ben-Ghiat's "Strongmen" and argues that the book misses the specific context of Trumpism by making him an archetype of the authoritarian ruler. 

  • SOURCE: The New Republic
    3/16/2021

    The Post-Trump Crack-Up of the Evangelical Community

    Anthea Butler and Kristin Kobes Du Mez offer insight into how racial double standards within evangelical religion and the willingness of "insider" historians to craft a selective picture of evangelical political action has made it difficult to understand how many of today's evangelical leaders have made peace with (or even embraced) white supremacy.

  • SOURCE: Just Security
    2/4/2021

    Movie at the Ellipse: A Study in Fascist Propaganda

    by Jason Stanley

    Not enough attention has been paid to the video shown to spectators at Donald Trump's January 6th "Save America" rally. A close look shows it to be a work of propaganda firmly in the tradition of fascism. 

  • SOURCE: Africa Is A Country
    1/20/2021

    Reflections On An Imploding Empire

    by Russell Rickford

    Progressive dissidents must meet the moment of Biden's inauguration by not settling for what liberal politicians offer on economic justice, human rights, environment, labor, and health. 

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    1/17/2021

    My Sister Was Disappeared 43 Years Ago

    A writer became the legally-designated recipient of his sister's remains after she was killed by Argentina's military dictatorship during the nation's Dirty War. The experience led him to confront how a society suppresses the knowledge of political violence.

  • 1/24/2021

    Cheese to Chalk: Can Democracies be Compared to Dictatorships?

    by Leonid Luks

    A German historian argues that American scholars and commentators have for years been too quick to equate antidemocratic measures taken by Republicans with Hitler's seizure of dictatorial power, dismissing ample research on the nature of totalitarian regimes. The last three months have shown that America's core institutions are not weak enough to be crushed. 

  • SOURCE: Jacobin
    1/15/2021

    Trump Is a Threat to Democracy. But That Doesn’t Mean He’s Winning

    by Daniel Bessner and Ben Burgis

    Overreaction to the horror of January 6 risks giving license to a host of new internal security measures that will likely threaten democracy more than the misguided and futile efforts of Donald Trump and his followers to overturn the election. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    1/9/2021

    Pre-Nazi Germany Tells us the Fight to Save American Democracy is Just Beginning

    by Michael Brenner

    German history highlights how the real risk to American democracy came hours after order had been restored in the U.S. Capitol when seven U.S. senators and 138 members of the House of Representatives voted to sustain an objection to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.