Democracy is, by nature, a work in progress, and Western history has had very few occurrences when the “demos” became a politically self-conscious actor. What do these moments teach us?
It’s Unity, Stupid!
“. . . creating a sense of community, building the elements of a group identity, having a cohesive organization, leaving none of your men or women behind, and sticking to your values.” (Srdja Popovic)
Democracy’s Perversion
The United States is used to equating being “the greatest power in the world” and a democracy. But which is it? How and why a constitutionally limited government would turn into a superpower?
Democracy’s Prospects: Looking Backward
In the past, political transparency toward the people was antithetical to the government by an aristocratic elite. But has the US ever been a a government of, by, and for the people and how could it genuinely become one?
Beginnings of the Imaginary of a Permanent Global War
Since World War II, the U.S. made itself the legitimate guardian of freedom in the world. To Sheldon Wolin, this is the clear mark of a drift from an open “constitutional imaginary” to a dictatorial “power imaginary.”