In the late 1970s and early 1980s, both the US and UK led the radical transformation of the international political economy toward a fundamentalist neoliberal regime. What this meant is that the public sphere would be systematically eroded in favor of an all-out, untethered private sphere as the moral ideal. The arbiter of rationality would shift away from the leadership of public-minded individuals to those eager to run the state along strictly market principles. More

Aleksandar Vučić’s rule was characterised by his ability to satisfy and placate external actors: he was warmly received in Brussels, embraced Zelensky in Belgrade, built economic and security ties with both Israel and Russia, came close to a historic business deal with the Trump family, while for China, the region served as a hub linking Central and Eastern Europe with the European Union. In these circumstances, the discontent of the younger generation and the gradual mobilisation of broader social strata against domestic conditions were treated as an ‘internal matter of a sovereign state’. At least, that was the appearance. More

In the run-up to this week’s election, Trump has attacked the integrity of  U.S. elections and has tried to assert more federal control over the voting process, which the Constitution mandates to the states.  Trump has preemptively challenged the certification of Alaska’s Senate election and has used the Department of Homeland Security to find evidence of illegal voting without any indication of significant noncitizen voting.  The search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington residence was one of the worst examples of a weaponized Department of Justice targeting and vilifying Trump’s perceived foes. More

As has been the practice for more than a few decades, Donald Trump ran as a political outsider, threatening to blow the system up if elected. Ordinary DC chair warmers, as the collectors of political donations to support oligarchic control over the rest of us, represent the institutionally-mandated mode of ‘governing’ in the US. Trump came to the job with a list of long-discredited ideas that less intrepid souls would have understood to be both idiotic and self-destructive. One possible way to consider this contest is as between the political parties. One party supports one flavor of policies and the other party favors another. As should be evident at this point in history, that system put in place a tiny group of oligarchs making really bad decisions for the rest of us. Crypto grifts and AI? This is what happens when a ‘heads, they win, tails we lose,’ power dynamic is in place. The good news for the few is bad news for the rest of us. More