From the conference “Democracy in Trouble?” at the University of Pennsylvania’s Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, why do authoritarian leaders appeal today? Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the age of the strongman; populism in the twenty-first century: Cas Mudde on an illiberal democratic response to undemocratic liberalism; and what would an open democracy based on different forms of non-electoral yet democratic representation look like? Helene Landemore on defending “open” democracy. Against identity politics: Francis Fukuyama on the new tribalism and the crisis of democracy. Scott McLemee reviews recent and forthcoming titles analyzing not just the alt-Right but also the nearly global wave of new authoritarian and nativist movements.
Tom McCarthy reviews How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley. How can we understand the simultaneous rise of the far Right and the authoritarian evolution of neoliberalism? We need an antifascism that can highlight the latter’s role in this “neo-fascist moment”. No, I will not debate you: Civility will never defeat fascism, no matter what The Economist thinks.
