Author: Brandon Christensen

Nightcap

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  1. Democracy doesn’t matter to the defenders of ‘economic freedom’ Quinn Slobodian, Guardian
  2. After the Berlin Wall: whither democracy? Sabine Beppler-Spahl, spiked!
  3. How Europe stumped Britain’s conservatives Geoffrey Wheatcroft, New Republic
  4. Don’t forget the one-fifth clause (impeachment, American-style) Eugene Volokh, Volokh Conspiracy

Nightcap

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  1. Why was it believed that the Aztecs greeted Cortés as a deity? Camilla Townsend, Lapham’s Quarterly
  2. Donald Trump’s lackey in front of the Berlin Wall: “walls work” Irfan Khawaja, Policy of Truth
  3. Liberalism according to The Economist Pankaj Mishra, New Yorker
  4. Slow recoveries are deep recoveries, with flatter Phillips Curves Nick Rowe, Worthwhile Canadian Initiative

Nightcap

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  1. On science fiction and cultural anthropology Matthew Wolf-Meyer, Fieldsites
  2. The case against galactic government Michelangelo Landgrave, NOL
  3. Planeterra Nullius (a very short story) William Lempert, Minds and Hearts
  4. The planets and you Caleb Scharf, Scientific American

Nightcap

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  1. Beyond the ideological lie: The revolution of 1989 thirty years later Daniel Mahoney, Law & Liberty
  2. Cheer the fall of the Wall Bryan Caplan, EconLog
  3. Don’t venerate the nation-state Dalibor Rohac, Standpoint
  4. Finally, a good idea comes out of Washington Jack Crowe, National Review

Nightcap

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  1. Taking cross cultural psychology seriously Tanner Greer, Scholar’s Stage
  2. East Germans, bio-Germans, passport Germans Katrin Benhold, New York Times
  3. The Texas-Latvia connection Graeme Wood, the Atlantic
  4. “Scholar reads obituary over coffee” Irfan Khawaja, Policy of Truth

Nightcap

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  1. Explaining the Japan-Korea dispute Matsuda & Park, War on the Rocks
  2. Mosul and the fall of the Caliphate David French, National Review
  3. Technology and madness in computational capitalism Leonid Bilmes, Los Angeles Review of Books
  4. Indian nations and colonial ambitions along the Mississippi Jacob Lee, Origins

Nightcap

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  1. History is, to some extent, inescapably nationalist Colin Kidd, History Today
  2. In praise of Jewish achievement Rebecca Abrams, Financial Times
  3. In defense of NIMBYism Addison del Mastro, American Conservative
  4. The way life comes at us Paul Griffiths, Commonweal

Nightcap

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  1. Soviet champagne, for the working man Jessica Gingrich, Atlas Obscura
  2. Radio and modern state power in Angola Jesse Bucher, Africa is a Country
  3. East and West Germany in 2019 Sumi Somaskanda, New Statesman
  4. The deeply dedicated American state Michael McFaul, New York Review of Books

Nightcap

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  1. Nationalization is as American as apple pie Thomas Hanna, Jacobin
  2. In China, every day is Kristallnacht Fred Hiatt, Washington Post
  3. How Mengzi bested the Golden Rule Eric Schwitzgebel, Aeon
  4. Countries are not anecdotes Scott Sumner, EconLog

Nightcap

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  1. The gory, secret lives of NHL dentists David Fleming, ESPN
  2. Imam publicly caned for breaking adultery law he helped draft BBC
  3. The Chinese Communist Party on the worldwide protests Global Times
  4. Are countries like people? Niall Ferguson, Times Literary Supplement

Nightcap

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  1. Confessions of a confused ex-libertarian Irfan Khawaja, Policy of Truth
  2. Big Coal: Can Warren succeed where Trump failed? Scott Sumner, EconLog
  3. Warren’s health care albatross Ross Douthat, New York Times
  4. What, if anything, is neoliberalism? John Quiggan, Crooked Timber

Nightcap

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  1. Sovereignty sharing in fragile states John Ciorciari, Horns of a Dilemma
  2. October reading regrets Journal of the History of Ideas blog
  3. A non-Western canon (start with Asia) Tanner Greer, Scholar’s Stage
  4. Firms and cities have open borders Robin Hanson, Overcoming Bias

China’s upcoming troubles: class or nation?

Brandon Christensen Culture, Current Events , , , , , ,

Hopefully you caught Joel Kotkin’s thoughtful essay on China’s looming class struggle (it was in a nightcap from a few days back). Kotkin is a geographer at the University of Chapman.

I think he’s wrong, of course. He’s not wrong about China’s continuing troubles (I agree with him that things will only get worse), but on how these troubles will really begin to flare up. I don’t see class as the major issue, I see nationalism as China’s biggest fault line (and have since at least 2013).

Here’s how I’ve laid it out in my head. Think of Hong Kong and Taiwan, two places that are Chinese but not part of the People’s Republic. Beijing has lots of problems with both polities. Is class or nation a better gauge to use here? Nation! Nobody in Beijing is harping on the riches accrued by democratic Chinese polities. The Communists are drumming up nationalistic furor instead. Nationalism is the better tool to use to understand contemporary China.

Here’s the kicker, though. In order to drum up nationalistic furor, you’ve got have a nation, correct? The problem for China is that it has several dozen nations within its borders (here’s that 2013 post again), and nationalism in China favors the Han ethnic group over the others. The harder Beijing leans on nationalism, then, the more it squeezes out non-Han ethnic groups from its coalition of the willing. And Beijing is leaning hard on nationalism. It’s going to have to lean harder, too, since liberty is apparently not on the table.

Nightcap

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  1. The spirits of 1989 Daniel McCarthy, Modern Age
  2. Trust cycles in politics Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
  3. A profile of Christine Lagarde Hujer & Sauga, Spiegel
  4. Catholicism and its critics Tim Stanley, History Today

More Arabs in the US? Yes, please!

Brandon Christensen Culture, History , , , , ,

I hope y’all had a chance to check out Ussama Makdisi’s essay on Ottoman cosmopolitanism from one of the nightcaps a few days back. It was excellent, and serves as good complement to Barry’s work on the Ottoman Empire here at NOL.

It’s especially good for a few reasons. First, it has a useful explanation of the mandate system that London and Paris experimented with. Second, it’s comparative and brings in lots of different modes of governance. Third, there is an interesting discussing about citizenship (consult NOL for more on citizenship, too). Lastly, it explains well why the Arab world continues to wallow in extreme inequality and authoritarianism.

Makdisi represents a shift in thinking in Arab circles away from victimization and towards self-determination and responsibility: no longer are the French and British (and Jews) to be reviled and blamed for everything that’s wrong with the Middle East. There is a shift towards internationalist thinking. The Americans now play a positive role in what could have been (and still might be) a freer Middle East. The British and French have factions now and some of them were supportive of Arab voices, some of them not. Arab scholars are finally benefiting from the American university educational system, probably because there are so many Arabs studying in the US now.

Makdisi’s piece is not a libertarian interpretation, but it’s a start.