Michael Ignatieff checks his privilege
Ignatieff looks back over his generation and wonders if he could examine his life, not as an individual but as a cohort member. In trying to do just that, he discovered he wasn’t unique.
How the Irish saved womanhood
Butler wants to eliminate the very idea of motherhood and women, arguing instead that biological sex, like gender, is nothing but a social deception. Butler, who uses the pronouns they and them, goes further and claims that the body’s genitalia is itself socially constructed.
Is populism destroying European democracy?
In his new book on the erosion of European democracy, Larry Bartels, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, challenges the prevailing notion that the public is the catalyst for radical reform in Europe.
How austerity saved Greece
Such as in Greece following the 2008 financial collapse, austerity programs are only necessary when governments make economic policy mistakes that can no longer be ignored.
The long, slow uncancelling of Woody Allen
Through it all, Allen kept making films even though they were no longer distributed in North America. Allen now shoots his films in Europe, including his 50th film, Coup de Chance, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year to good reviews.
The intellectual roots of why so many support Hamas' terror attacks
If we want to understand the violence by Hamas and those who supported it, we have to understand the political motivation behind the attack. For that, we need to understand the mind of Frantz Fanon.
Beware the tyranny of the minority
Both Canada and the U.S. are threatened by the tyranny of minority rule, just in different ways. The real problem in Canada comes from an unelected and geographically and socially homogenous group, known as the Laurentian Elite.
Who is the greatest economist of all time?
Tyler Cowen lays down a few criteria to get past the problem of political bias. Any candidate for the GOAT prize must be original, of great historical importance, a carrier of essential ideas, and know lots of micro and macro theory and empirics.
Here are the top five books I reviewed this year
Books tackling a range of issues from the abandonment of meritocracy, the decline of the West, and the complicated life and legacy of George Orwell all had profound things to say, with lessons for our current unsettled moment.
We need more than civility to defend civilization
The Soul of Civility by Alexandra Hudson is a well-meaning contemplation on the need to get beyond our anger while respecting those we disagree with. But in today’s political climate, we are required to do more.