Politics

The Filibuster Myth

Debate about the Senate filibuster is a distracting, artificial controversy.

  • Charles Fried
  • Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr.

The Turnout Mystery

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

  • Stephen Ansolabehere

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

The Next Left

An interview with Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of Jacobin.

  • Jake Blumgart

Son of Madonna

Whereas Christians know Jesus as the son of God, Muslims know him simply as the son of Mary.

  • Haroon Moghul

Occupy the Future

A Boston Review Book

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

Sign up for our newsletter

Making Elections Fairer

An Interview with Archon Fung

  • David V. Johnson

Sweet Forgiveness

Debt relief is fair. It would also be good for the economy. Why isn’t it happening? Politics.

  • Mike Konczal
with responses from
  • Dean Baker
  • G. Marcus Cole
  • Tamara Draut
  • Louis Hyman
  • Jacob S. Hacker & Nathaniel Loewentheil
  • Mark A. Calabria
  • Robert C. Hockett
  • Barbara H. Fried

Before Greed

Americans Didn’t Always Yearn for Riches

  • Richard White

How Not to Talk about Gaza

Talking about Gaza is like talking about God. We face the ineffable. We cannot talk about what we see.

  • Colin Dayan

Empty Benches

When Obama was sworn into office, there were 55 vacancies on the federal bench. There are now more than 75.

  • Pamela S. Karlan

Head and Heart

Are conservatives more moral?

  • George Scialabba

Choose Your Choice

The Great American Obsession with Choices

  • Claude S. Fischer

Reclaiming Politics

Solving Problems Washington Won’t

  • Michael Gecan

The Execution of Carlos DeLuna

Preventing Wrongful Convictions

  • Gabriel O’Malley

Telling Stories about the Stories We Tell

An interview with Philip Gourevitch on Rwanda, the dangers of narrative simplification, and the limits of humanitarianism.

  • Cécile Alduy
  • Philip Gourevitch

Tax and Cut

A remarkable thing happened in U.S. politics last year.

  • Stephen Ansolabehere

Founding Fathers, Founding Villains

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

  • William Hogeland

Sizing Up the Race

Stephen Ansolabehere on the Election

  • David V. Johnson
  • Stephen Ansolabehere

Art for Politics’ Sake

Claire Bishop on Social Practice

  • Corinne Segal

Home for the Eid

Ramadan in Cairo and Istanbul

  • Ahmed Moor

The Future of U.S. Health Care

The Affordable Care Act is at once a monumental accomplishment and a sprawling, confusing, Gorgon-headed workaround.

  • Andrea Louise Campbell

This Machine Helps Fascists

Split on Greek Left Aids Nationalist Golden Dawn Party

  • Ari Paul

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
trending_flat
Get our newsletter

Vital reading on politics, ideas, and culture to your inbox

A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975

Registered 501(c)(3) organization

Help Us Stay Paywall-Free

Donate

Become a Member

Subscribe