Perhaps the most interesting economic thinking of recent years has come out of the effort to understand the collapse of communism. And the implications of this thinking are far removed from the simplistic market worship that so many, in East …
The second annual Locarno Conference on Politics and Society was held this past May at the Biblioteca Cantonale in Locarno, Switzerland. The conference brings together Dissent editors and writers with our European counterparts—this year with editors of Esprit (Paris) and …
The self-destruction of British conservatism by New Right ideology and policies illustrates a central neoliberal (that is, Thatcherite) theme—the importance of unintended consequences in social, economic, and political life. In sweeping away the postwar settlement that all major parties endorsed …
We were a bit surprised when our Comrade-Guide, as he insisted we call him, gave in to our demands for a department store visit. Until then, touring North Korea had been a frustrating experience. Herded from one scenic spot to …
A favorite argument used by opponents of affirmative action claims that it undermines the very people it is supposed to help. Affirmative action, it is said, robs women and minority members of the respect they deserve for getting hired or …
Not long ago, perhaps a little more than a decade, perfectly “qualified” women and people of color couldn’t get through the front door when it came to well-paying, prestigious occupations—or, indeed, many less attractive jobs. There were almost no black …
Though I have argued for many years that the American use of atomic bombs against Japanese cities was wrong, I do not find myself much engaged by one of the questions it raises: should U.S. leaders apologize now to the …
“I would have dropped the bomb to save even one American life,” a fellow scholar argued at a conference. The comment stunned me into silence. In fact, I did not fully comprehend it until I returned to my hotel. Was …
The right dominates talk radio; the left has been singularly unsuccessful in this medium. Does it have to be that way? Rush Limbaugh is on the radio three hours a day (noon to three in the Eastern Time zone), five …
In one of his last published works, John Rawls outlines his six principles for when democracies can go to war.
In 1989 a young scholar named Jeff Smith published a book entitled Unthinking the Unthinkable: Nuclear Weapons and Western Culture, a book that received too little attention at the time or subsequently, for that matter. Dissatisfied with economic and psychological analyses …
When it comes to Romania, political squalor is taken for granted. But the transition to democracy didn’t start out that way. In December 1989, Romania was the only Soviet bloc country where the revolution appeared to be both bloody and …
The very respectable journal Le Monde Diplomatique recently published an ethnic map of Europe. It portrays the western part of the continent in solid colors coinciding perfectly with state boundaries. The eastern part, however, is a crazy quilt of overlapping …
This book traces the development of the German left since 1945, concentrating on what was West Germany. The main difficulty of democratic socialism in Germany, the authors argue, is the success of a welfarist version of capitalist democracy in the …
Toward the third hour of the hagiographic documentary about Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, a moment of truth emerges. Chomsky is lecturing at the University of Wyoming. He has just finished his familiar stump speech: fifty reasons why we live in …
