Politics

Learning from Obama’s Campaign

Han and McKenna have written a history of the Obama campaign in which the candidate himself has little more than a cameo.

A New Deal for the Colorado River

What is being called a drought is likely the new norm.

Netanyahu Is Right: U.S.-Israel Relations Are Here to Stay

“Reports of the demise of Israeli-U.S. relations are not only premature, they’re just wrong.” It is hard to disagree.

Don’t Defund, Just Dismantle the Department of Homeland Security

Republicans are right to obstruct funding for DHS—but they’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

With Immigration Plan, Obama Invited Legal Scrutiny

Even if Obama’s immigration measure gets past procedural obstacles, it may be quickly revoked.

For Americans, Science and Religion Are Largely Compatible

It is when science directly touches faith that the conflict flares up.

France after Charlie Hebdo

France’s own political traditions can accommodate visible Islam and heal social divisions.

Still Missing: Etan Patz—and Others

During the exhaustive search for Etan, black children were disappearing in Atlanta.

An Anatomy of Outrage

Outrage tactics such as the ‘hate retweet’ have value, even if they risk elevating the worst voices.

Did Christianity Create Liberalism?

On Larry Siedentrop’s Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism.

Pat Lynch’s Deadly Machismo

In this drama of race and sexuality, the NYPD could learn something from Mayor de Blasio.

Ever-Crumbling Walls

The identity of a nation lies in its borders.

Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement

One of the largest peaceful protest movements in recent world history.

Democrats’ Immigrant Burden

Lurching Toward Happiness in America

Claude S. Fischer paints a broad picture of what Americans say they want—and suggests what might finally get them there.

Ferguson Won’t Change Anything. What Will?

Michael Brown shouldn’t be a poster child for social justice movements.

Of Popes and Dogs

The Church has always had a vexed, somewhat aggrieved relation to dogs and their status as things to be blessed or sanctified.

Slumming It

Heated response to “slum ethnography” is as old as the genre itself.

The Bill of Rights in the Modern Age

Technology, business, and government are changing the 482 words in the U.S. Constitution.

Brazil’s Era of Possibility

A Berkeley radical returns to his native Brazil after the Berlin Wall's fall.

Money Is Not the Only (or the Biggest) Source of Voter Distrust

Rates of participation in politics are still at or near historic lows after decades of skyrocketing campaign spending.

Selling Fast

Public goods, profits, and state legitimacy.

Islam’s Abortion Debate

Islamic jurisprudence does not encourage abortion, but unlike the Catholic Church, it does not absolutely forbid it.

The Rise of Outside Spending

The "independent" expenditures in the midterm elections are record-breaking 

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