Populism is currently attractive because it contains a grain of truth. If we want to be prepared for the post-populist period and hasten its coming, we must address these real issues.
The poor treatment of Vietnam War veterans, many of whom had PTSD, angered Natasha Zaretsky’s Midwestern students.
REUTERS/Mike Theiler
A scholar raised by leftist San Francisco parents in the 1970s ends up teaching in the heartland, where her students represent a very different kind of politics. What she learns from them is profound.
Turnbull may be the last of the old liberal-conservative politicians.
AAP/Composite/The Conversation
The victory of a Democratic Socialist in a New York primary will not lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat. It’s an incremental addition to the long history of moderate socialism in the US.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon holds a news conference with National Front party leader Marine Le Pen in the northern French city of Lille in March 2018.
(AP Photo)
Fears about the resurgence of fascism might have seemed irrelevant during the past 70 years, when it was discredited. It doesn’t seem irrelevant today with liberal democracy on the defensive.
Barack Obama delivering the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg.
EPA-EFE/Stringer
Barack Obama was asked to give the Mandela Lecture because he represents what the global liberation struggle icon stood for. He struck the right chord.
There’s a lot that Richard Denniss gets right. Neoliberalism clearly has an array of problems. But he risks throwing out what is good about liberalism in attacking neoliberalism.
Robert F. Kennedy accepts the Democratic nomination as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1964.
(AP Photo/John Lent
Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated 50 years ago, began his career as a conservative anti-communist. At the end of his life, he was transformed into a liberal who championed civil and workers’ rights.
Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm is the only libertarian in the federal parliament.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Libertarianism is a minority concern in Australian politics, but it offers a philosophical framework to understand contemporary social and economic challenges.
John Howard, pictured here with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, is fond of describing the Liberal Party as a “broad church”. But that breadth has led to increasing fracture within the party in recent years.
AAP/Dean Lewins
There’s a new way to reveal America’s political divide. One researcher finds the differences between groups that are normally crudely described as ‘right-left’ can be better explained by word clouds.
New Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack (front) talks to the media, while former leader Barnaby Joyce (left) listens in.
AAP/Lukas Coch
As the National Party looks to rebuild under a new leader, it needs to embrace its minority status, establish clearly what it stands for, and remain true to those ideals.
From a certain perspective, we’re already on the road to practicing a ‘progressive eugenics’ not a million miles away from what was imagined historically.
Abbott’s Right ignores completely the influence of Catholic thinking on the former prime minister.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
A new book attempts to cloak Tony Abbott in a political philosophy, but is not entirely convincing.
Malcolm Turnbull’s speech reminded his Liberal colleagues that he has not stolen the party and his leadership is legitimately Liberal.
Reuters/Hannah Mckay
Malcolm Turnbull’s claim that Robert Menzies’ party was meant to be one of the ‘sensible centre’ has some validity – but it may also be that that centre has shifted significantly, too.
People protest against the bill that would undermine Central European University in Budapest.
Reuters
Financial crises and soaring inequality fueled the populist backlashes that threaten neoliberalism’s core principles of free markets and free people. The world needs a new narrative to counteract it.
University authorities in South Africa have agreed to most fees protesters’ demands. Yet, the protesters keep moving the goalposts. Do they want more than fees to fall?
Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Citizenship at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State