Category: Politics

November 28, 2011

Steven Pinker Chooses Why Civil Resistance Works as a Best Book of 2011

The Guardian recently posted its list of the Best Books of 2011 as selected by such notable figures as AS Byatt, Jonathan Franzen, Eric Hobsbawm, Hari Kunzru, Hanif Kureishi, David Lodge Colm Tóibín, David Hare, and Jeanette Winterson. The Guardian...

September 19, 2011

James Powell: Science Denial Is Not Free

“The American people … should remember that science denial is not free. History teaches us that it can bear a heavy cost in dollars and in human lives.”—James Powell The following post is from James Powell, author of The Inquisition...

September 12, 2011

Paul Pillar on the Pretend Fix of U.S. Intelligence

“Ten years ought to be enough time for Americans to get over their overwhelming post-9/11 need for catharsis and reassurance and to look more critically at what was done for that purpose, including measures that pretend to be fixing something...

September 12, 2011

Antonio Gramsci's Letters from Prison: An Interview with the Editor Frank Rosengarten

The following is an interview with Frank Rosengarten, editor of Antonio Gramsci’s Letters from Prison, volumes 1 and 2, which has recently been released in paperback editions. Question: How would you explain the worldwide interest in Antonio Gramsci’s Letters from...

August 18, 2011

The debate over Political Theology continues at The Immanent Frame

Today we check in with the debate on Political Theology by Paul Kahn going on over at The Immanent Frame. Since we last updated you on the discussion on sovereignty and American political theology six new posts have gone up....

August 17, 2011

Paul R. Pillar on the true costs of the Iraq war

In a post today at The National Interest Paul R. Pillar, author of the new book Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform, discusses the true cost of the Iraq war for the United States. In his...

August 10, 2011

Should Egyptians Use Violence? Erica Chenoweth Debates the Efficacy of Non-Violence

Over the past couple of weeks there has been a very spirited and thoughtful back-and-forth between Erica Chenoweth, author of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, and the author Thanassis Cambanis. The debate began with Cambanis’s...

July 14, 2011

More on Political Theology by Paul Kahn at The Immanent Frame

Let’s check in with The Immanent Frame today to see how the roundtable discussion about Paul Kahn’s new book, Political Theology: Four New Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty is going. Since we last looked at the debate three new...

July 1, 2011

Adam McKeown on immigration

The following is an essay by Adam McKeown, author of Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalization of Borders. Immigration law is the last and most unrepentant bastion of discrimination in the modern world. Among the causes for discrimination are...

June 29, 2011

The Immanent Frame on Political Theology

The terrific blog The Immanent Frame from the Social Science Research Council is currently hosting a discussion on Paul Kahn’s new book Political Theology: Four New Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. The discussion started with an excerpt from the...

March 17, 2011

Craig Calhoun on Religion's Many Powers

“To say that religion has power in the public sphere is not to say that it can be easily absorbed or that it should be. It is a basis for radical challenges and radical questions; it brings enthusiasm, passion, indignation,...

March 10, 2011

Erica Chenoweth on the Nonviolent Resistance in the Arab Revolts

“Nonviolent resistance is about finding and exploiting points of leverage in one’s own society. Every dictatorship has vulnerabilities, and every society can find them.”—Erica Chenoweth Erica Chenoweth, co-author of the forthcoming Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent...