Five Essential Texts on Democracy
We asked a leading political theorist for help understanding the meaning of democracy and the elite reaction to it.
153 Articles by: Corey Robin
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Corey Robin is the author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump and a contributing editor at Jacobin.
Corey Robin: What Trump’s Impeachment Could Mean
Impeachment could, in theory, turn Donald Trump into an even bigger symbol of a rotten political and social order. It could help bury the Reagan order once and for all. But establishment Democrats would never be interested in the type of impeachment that fundamentally challenged the status quo.
When Politics Becomes Professional
All successful movements need leaders, elected officials, and, yes, even bureaucrats. The key is to remember the radical roots of those bureaucracies and leaderships — so they can sustain instead of squelch socialist politics.
The Mueller Report Won’t Bring Down Trump
After months of frenzied speculation and breathless commentary, Robert Mueller has turned in his report. But the political landscape some said it would upend is basically unchanged.
Trump Is About to Declare a State of Emergency. What Does It Mean?
Trump’s pending declaration of a state of emergency isn’t a show of power — it’s a show of desperation.
The Future of the Supreme Court in the Liberal Imagination
With the Right firmly in control of the Supreme Court, elite liberals’ veneration of the undemocratic body might finally be coming to an end.
The Scandal of Democracy: Seven Theses
It’s not just the Supreme Court — we have to take on the undemocratic scandal of the Court, the Senate, and the Electoral College. Only the Left can do it, because Democrats won’t.
Living and Struggling In Moscow
Set in contemporary Russia, Keith Gessen’s new novel captures the cost of modern life.
The Day Zach Galifianakis Saved Obamacare
Liberalism, they said back in the 1930s, was freedom plus groceries. In the Obama era, it was faulty websites plus hip celebrities.
Democracy and the Socialist Revival
At a time when Democrats and Republicans flout even basic democratic standards, it’s socialists who have become democracy’s greatest champions.
The Question of Russia and the Left
Making political hay from attacking Donald Trump as Vladimir Putin’s puppet is both wrong and dangerous.
Ocasio-Cortez, the Left, and the Future of Palestine
Ocasio-Cortez missed an opportunity to push a left position on Israel. But it’s not too late to change that.
Moving With the Times
It’s often a sign of progress when people change their minds. But it can also be unsettling, even eerie.
Liberals and the Strike
The wave of teacher strikes is a challenge not just to GOP austerity, but to Democratic Party neoliberalism.
Partisans Without Purpose
If the US is in the throes of a constitutional crisis, it’s one oddly devoid of social substance.
Democracy Is Norm Erosion
Sometimes you have to break the rules to create a more democratic system.
When Libertarian Judges Rule
Libertarians have a distorted sense of what counts as free speech.
Donald Trump’s Reactionary Mind
Burke, Hayek… Trump? Yes, The Donald fits well within the right-wing tradition.
It’s the Constitution, Stupid
The discourse of “norm erosion” has nothing to say about the very text that helped produce Donald Trump.
Forty Years of the Firm
Trump’s entire mode of politics is drawn from his business background. And that’s why he’s floundering.