Democracy

Marching (Again) for Jobs and Wages

Today’s mix of economic problems calls for demands that echo those of the 1963 marchers.

  • Thomas A. Kochan

Democracy and Philanthropy

Rob Reich on the Role of Foundations in Democratic Societies

  • Rob Reich

Slavery, Emancipation, and the Relationship of Freedom and Equality

Two Objections to Slavery

  • Elizabeth Anderson

Where Is Inequality Headed?

What History and Economics Tell Us About Inequality's Future

  • Anthony Atkinson

Slavery, Emancipation, and Equality

Wesson Lecture Discussion

  • Elizabeth Anderson
  • Joshua Cohen
  • David Hollinger

Arresting Robert Mugabe

An interview with activist Peter Tatchell.

  • Tinashe Mushakavanhu

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Twelve Absent Men

Rebuilding the American Jury

  • Albert W. Dzur

The Cost of Our Drone War in Pakistan

An interview with Ambassador Akbar Ahmed.

  • Wajahat Ali

Iran’s Olive Branch

What Rouhani’s presidential victory means for Iran-U.S. relations.

  • Akbar Ganji

The Rise of Narendra Modi

A new biography tells the story of his rise to political prominence.

  • Zahir Janmohamed

The Secret History of the Haitian Earthquake

A Conversation with Jonathan M. Katz

  • Colin Dayan

Turkey’s Non-Crisis

The streets of Istanbul are alive with democratic politics—not dramatic upheaval.

  • Wajahat Ali
  • Haroon Moghul

“What Are Foundations For?” at Harvard

Rob Reich discusses his views on the role of foundations in democratic societies, as articulated in his Boston Review forum essay "What Are Foundations For?" 

  • Rob Reich

What Are Foundations For?

Philanthropic institutions are plutocratic by nature. Can they be justified in a democracy?

  • Rob Reich
with responses from
  • Christopher J. Coyne
  • Stanley N. Katz
  • Diane Ravitch
  • Deborah Fung
  • Paul Brest
  • Rick Cohen
  • Tyler Cowen
  • Seana Valentine Shiffrin
  • Pablo Eisenberg
  • Larry Kramer
  • Eric Beerbohm
  • Robert K. Ross
  • Gara LaMarche
  • Emma Saunders-Hastings

The Turnout Mystery

The decline in turnout from 2008 to 2012 is a puzzle.

  • Stephen Ansolabehere

Making Every Vote Count

Electronic voting in Brazil.

  • F. Daniel Hidalgo

Votes Behind Bars

As of 2010, more than 5.85 million American citizens were disenfranchised because of criminal convictions. This is troubling. 

  • Pamela S. Karlan

Occupy the Future

A Boston Review Book

  • David B. Grusky
  • Rob Reich
  • Debra Satz
  • Doug McAdam

Promoting Social Mobility

The accident of birth is a principal source of inequality in America today.

  • James J. Heckman
with responses from
  • Mike Rose
  • Robin West
  • Charles Murray
  • Carol S. Dweck
  • David Deming
  • Neal McCluskey
  • Annette Lareau
  • Lelac Almagor
  • Adam Swift & Harry Brighouse
  • Geoffrey Canada

Making Elections Fairer

An Interview with Archon Fung

  • David V. Johnson

Before Greed

Americans Didn’t Always Yearn for Riches

  • Richard White

Founding Fathers, Founding Villains

As soon as there was a Constitution, fights about its meaning began.

  • William Hogeland

Undoing the Wrack

Without campaign finance reform it is difficult to see how America’s problems can even be addressed, much less dealt with.

  • Gore Vidal

Under the Influence

Democracy requires that all citizens—rich and poor alike—have influence over the policies their government adopts.

  • Martin Gilens
with responses from
  • Larry M. Bartels
  • Matthew Yglesias
  • Kay Lehman Schlozman
  • Mark Schmitt
  • Nancy L. Rosenblum
  • John Ferejohn
  • Barbara Sinclair
  • Russ Feingold
  • Archon Fung
  • Michael Gecan
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