U.S. higher education is in the grips of a new McCarthyism over criticisms of Israel. Sociologist William Robinson, himself the target of an unsuccessful campaign by the Anti-Defamation League, considers reports that the Israeli state is directly intervening to stoke repression on U.S. campuses and in U.S. society. He also discusses the political economic conjuncture … Continued
How did a Scottish moral philosopher of the Enlightenment become an apostle of the libertarian right in this country? Political theorist Glory Liu traces the uses of the complex ideas Adam Smith in the United States — from the establishment of the U.S. state, through debates about slavery and inequality, to justifying the ostensible retreat … Continued
They are among the biggest companies in the world: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon have an outsized impact on the global economy and on our daily lives. Rob Larson examines the companies that have become synonymous with the glories and ills of contemporary capitalism. He makes the case for online socialism. Resources: Rob Larson, … Continued
Leo Panitch, the great Marxist political economist, was one of the many losses we have suffered from the coronavirus. His frequent collaborator and lifelong friend Sam Gindin reflects on the enormous contributions that Leo Panitch made to a radical understanding of the state and capitalism on a global scale, as well as the limits of … Continued
The US-Mexico border is often in the news. But what’s usually missing is the cost of the border, both in human terms, and in terms of the political economy of the region itself — the deep entanglement of the livelihoods of people who live in places like Douglas, Arizona with the border industrial complex. Scholar … Continued
What does Karl Marx’s masterwork Capital have in common with Dante’s Inferno? And more importantly, what can the book — which was partly written in debate with the socialist movements of its time — teach us today? William Clare Roberts reflects on Capital, Marx, and the importance of the idea of freedom for him. Resources: … Continued
Doug Henwood in conversation with Mark Blyth, Professor of Political Economy at Brown University, and author of “Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, & Great Transformations.”
With Mark Blyth, Scottish political scientist, professor of international political economy at Brown University, and author of several books including his most recent Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea. About the Book: Politicians today in both Europe and the United States have succeeded in casting government spending as reckless wastefulness that has made the … Continued
