The Last Page 
Marshall was a good friend over many years—almost half a century; he was a political comrade for all those years; and he was a lovely human being. My wife, Judy, and I knew him first as a very vulnerable young …
Winter 2025
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The Last Page
From the Age of Fear to the Age of Shame
If the twentieth century was the age of fear, the twenty-first is the age of shame. This is the most succinct way to describe how the dominant form of repression has changed. The twentieth cen-tury was full of terrible events …
The Values of Dissent
Do you remember the proverbial “herd of independent minds”? That was critic Harold Rosenberg’s description, decades ago, of the New York intellectuals. These days some packs are still (alas!) on the left, some on the right, and some run somewhere …
American Futures: The Shortcomings of the Governing Class
If tomorrow the GOP agreed to everything in the agenda that Barack Obama laid out in his February State of the Union address, the progress in dealing with the dramatic changes in the economic prospects of most Americans would be close to zero.
Spiking in the Favelas: Violence and Volleyball in Rio
Ravel Gonçalves Mendonça is a 17-year-old beach volleyball phenom from Rio. He is currently training with Brazil’s national team at its state-of-the-art facility. But his country’s preparation for the Olympics has eliminated what used to be Ravel’s home.
Patents Against People: How Drug Companies Price Patients out of Survival
As our television screens toggle between pundits squabbling over Obamacare’s insurance rules and ads for erectile dysfunction remedies, another health care battle rages in village clinics and corporate boardrooms. Multinational brands and technocrats are concocting supranational policies to hold poor patients hostage to pharmaceutical markets across the Global South through elaborate intellectual property schemes in international trade.
Can Germany’s Social Democrats Offer an Alternative?
In the Fall 2013 issue, Hans Kundnani wrote about the German Social Democrats’ struggle to challenge Angela Merkel’s approach to the Eurozone crisis. Read his update on the new grand coalition here, and read the original article here.
The Long Shadow of Mont Pèlerin
Once there was a golden age of democratic capitalism. Chastened by the Great Depression and cowed by vigorous labor movements, a generation of leaders forged a new type of political economy in the aftermath of the Second World War that united economic growth with robust welfare regimes. Then in the 1970s something went wrong. At least, that is how the story goes.
Islam and Social Democrats: Integrating Europe’s Muslim Minorities
European Muslims were once embraced by the left as a natural ally, but the relationship has become increasingly fraught. If the parties of the left don’t want to lose voters to new religious formations, they must create the conditions for people of faith to feel more comfortable in national institutions. There is room for more complex answers than those offered so far.
Letter to Hillary Clinton: Let’s Talk About Poverty
Since the Clinton administration, we have seen growing concern about income inequality, the clear failure of TANF to work as a safety net program, and that effectively ending welfare has not stopped Republicans from mounting new attacks on the poor. All of this indicates the urgency of reopening the welfare debate and initiating a public discussion that challenges archaic conservative ideas about poverty.
The Socialite Network
A Small World is a self-consciously exclusive social network aimed at a certain class of internationals—referred to interchangeably as “global nomads,” “citizens of the world,” or, more frequently, the “global elite.” The site reveals that modern cosmopolitanism has been a largely market-driven phenomenon, designed for capital, not citizens, to become “of the world.”
Plutocrats at Work: How Big Philanthropy Undermines Democracy
Early twentieth-century skeptics were rightly suspicious of plutocrats deciding how to improve the human condition and then paying to translate their notions into public policy. Now it’s time for a new progressive era—complete with muckrakers and trust-busters to cast a critical eye on big philanthropy.
Hollywood in Revolt?
As revolt continues to shake the globe, as images of mass protest and riot become the norm on the evening news, they become a part of the global consciousness and, as such, produce a new series of images for Hollywood to attempt to capture. But in putting a flaming White House in every subway station in America, not to mention in dozens of nations abroad, what desires could Hollywood unleash?
Blood and Tourism in Kashmir
Until 1989, before the start of the armed rebellion against Indian rule, foreign and Indian visitors flocked to the valley. In 1987, according to a government survey, Kashmir welcomed 700,000 tourists. Three years later, as violence gripped Kashmir, the number fell to just 6,000. Those who survived on tourism ate their savings and scraped together different work.
Mr. Zuckerberg Goes to Washington
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims that his new lobbying group, FWD.us, “can change everything.” But like Facebook’s other top-down “revolutions,” FWD conflates the leadership of the powerful with transformation for all, and efficient corporate recruiting with improving the lives of immigrant workers.
