Showing titles in History & Theory

Despite the not-so-distant invocations of the "end of history," representative democracy is, today, under siege even from corners where one once might have expected strong sympathy and support. Indeed, confidence in representative democracy has, in recent years, been shaken by the economic and political performance of many such regimes.

Fully updated chapters continue to address how technology and increasing levels of education have exposed people to more information than ever before. These societal gains, however, have also helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues. Over the past several years, the rise of populism and conspiracy theories have taken this to new levels. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism.

In Gaetano Mosca's groundbreaking work, The Ruling Class (originally published as Elementi di Scienza Politica in 1896), the Italian political philosopher shatters the illusions of pure democracy by revealing a timeless truth: in every society, from ancient civilizations to modern nations, power is always concentrated in the hands of an organized minority–the ruling class.

El Código Verne & El Factor Géminis, de Jesús Cediel, es un ensayo impactante y provocador que revela las fuerzas ocultas detrás de la crisis que sacude a Estados Unidos y sus repercusiones en todo el mundo. Su mensaje central es claro: América está entrando en una fase histórica que siempre ha sido el preludio de revoluciones, guerras civiles y grandes cambios globales.

History teaches that antisemitism is a disease which begins with the Jews but does not end with them. Once antisemitism is unleashed, it knows no bounds and can attack the very fabric of society. This deadly strain of hatred often turns against other minority groups too, not to mention foundational democratic values, beginning with equal rights and equal protection before the law. Therefore, antisemitism should be viewed as a universal human rights issue of importance to all, and not solely as a parochial Jewish or Israeli concern.

Scholars and citizens have often assumed that dispassionate rationality, reciprocity, and nonviolent tolerance are necessary conditions for the sustained development of democracy. Accordingly, they reject oppositional parties that spurn consensus and terms of mutual respect—and often use force to accomplish their political goals—denouncing extremists as antidemocratic.

Publicado em 1944, durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial, Governo Onipotente, de Mises, foi o primeiro livro escrito e publicado após sua chegada aos Estados Unidos. Nesta obra, ….

Twenty-five years old and struggling to find his way in his journalism career, the young reporter who had been covering local political stories found himself smack in the middle of the world's biggest geopolitical crisis—fleeing air raids and being questioned by militants along the way. One year later when Hamas carried out its October 7th attack, Sherman flew right back into the thick of it—running from rockets and diving into Hamas tunnels in Gaza. While shrouded in the proverbial "Fog of War," it became clear to Sherman that the world isn't as simple as he thought it was.

A commanding biography of one of Australia's greatest and most visionary prime minsters by an acclaimed political journalist and author. There has been no one like Gough Whitlam in public life - a charismatic, inspirational and visionary leader who ushered in a reform revolution to modernise...

In this volume, the professor talks about: the defective copyright-patent mechanism and the introduction of the prototype concept; the succession of lawyers to contract engineers in freedom; the contradiction in terms of so-called contract enforcement; and more.

Book four of fifteen for the entire set of SIC ITUR AD ASTRA (This is the Way to the Stars). This first volume of eight of what Professor Galambos calls “the most important course of The Free Enterprise Institute” is subtitled, V-201: The Nature and Protection of Primary Property, Volume 1 and consists of the first seven sessions of the 48 sessions plus three workshop courses in which the professor spells out the actual roadmap to freedom that was introduced in course V-50.

The Age of Choice tells the long history of the invention of choice as the defining feature of modern freedom. Taking listeners from the seventeenth century to today, Sophia Rosenfeld describes how the early modern world witnessed the simultaneous rise of shopping as an activity and religious freedom as a matter of being able to pick one's convictions. Similarly, she traces the history of choice in romantic life, politics, and the ideals of human rights. Throughout, she pays particular attention to the lives of women, who have frequently been the drivers of this change. 

Starting not with the United States but with the Corsican constitution of 1755, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen moves through every continent, disrupting accepted narratives. Both monarchs and radicals play a role, from Catherine the Great of Russia, with her remarkable Nakaz, to Sierra Leone's James Africanus Horton, to Tunisia's Khayr-al-Din, a creator of the first modern Islamic constitution. Throughout, Colley demonstrates how constitutions evolved in tandem with warfare, and how they have functioned to advance empire as well as promote nations.

The Republic is a classic work by an ancient Greek philosopher Plato. There is one of the most famous dialogues of Plato about the arrangement of the state structure and the essence of the state (contemporary for Plato, of course, but also important nowadays because the whole modern so called "European civilisation" is based, first of all, on ancient schemes). The structure of Plato's dialogue is similar to others. Socrates and Glaucon are coming back to Athens from Piraeus. They are stopped by Polemarchus who invites them to visit him and talk.

La historia no se repite, pero sí alecciona. Tanto el nazismo como el comunismo fueron reacciones a la globalización: a las desigualdades reales o imaginadas que creaba, y a la aparente impotencia de las democracias para afrontarlas. Eran movimientos en los que un líder o un partido decían dar voz al pueblo, prometían protegerlo de las amenazas globales existentes y rechazaban la razón en favor del mito. La historia nos muestra que las sociedades pueden quebrarse, las democracias pueden caer, la ética puede venirse abajo y la gente corriente puede encontrarse en situaciones inimaginables.

The Communist Manifesto, originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is an 1848 political document by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London just as the Revolutions of 1848 began to erupt, the Manifesto was later recognised as one of the world's most influential political documents.

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 - December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as vice president from January to April 1945 under FDR and as a US senator from Missouri from 1935 to January 1945. In these recordings from the 1960s, Truman discusses the establishment of Israel in 1948, the bravery of Jewish soldiers, and his view of the Jewish-Arab conflict in Palestine.

David Ben-Gurion was the primary national founder of the State of Israel as well as the state's first prime minister. Born in Płońsk, Poland, he immigrated to the Palestine region of the Ottoman Empire in 1906. Adopting the name of Ben-Gurion in 1909, he rose to become the preeminent leader of the Jewish community in British-ruled Mandatory Palestine from 1935 until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The following 1967 recording is a fascinating and spirited discussion by Ben-Gurion about the events that lead to the creation of the Jewish state of Israel.

Appointments to the United States Supreme Court are now central events in American political life. However, this has not always been the case. As late as the middle of the twentieth century, presidents invested little time and effort in finding and vetting nominees. Media coverage was desultory, public opinion was largely non-existent, and the justices often voted independently and erratically.

Drawing on original survey and experimental data, Berinsky shows that a tendency toward conspiratorial thinking and vehement partisan attachment fuel belief in rumors. Berinsky argues that in fighting misinformation, it is as important to target the undecided and the uncertain as it is the true believers.