Virgin Politics
We often hear that the instrumentalization of children is a hallmark of totalitarian regimes. That is not entirely wrong—but it is not quite right either. Yes, totalitarian systems frequently deploy…
No Strategy for Prosperity
Stealing is not a path to prosperity,” my favorite anti-Trump commentator, Matthew Yglesias, wrote in response to talk of an attack on Venezuela. On that point, he is right. In…
Centralized Power and the Myth of Freedom
Modern states, in the sense we use the term today, did not truly emerge in Europe until the seventeenth century. Before that, a king might have been sovereign in theory,…
“Aggressive Center” That Isn’t a Center at All
Frank Furedi recently published a perceptive essay on the transformation of European politics. The traditional divide between left and right has largely dissolved. In its place stands an aggressive “center”…
The American pattern
We do not yet know what Venezuela’s next chapter will look like, what exactly the Americans will do, or how deeply they will intervene. But one thing is already becoming…
The Venezuelan Lessons
Nicolás Maduro committed the worst political crime imaginable: weakness. As I argued some time ago, there is only one real difference between a dictator and a legitimate ruler. A legitimate…