In 1989, Francis Fukuyama suggested that history had reached its end, not because events would cease, but because humanity had supposedly resolved its deepest political question: how to live. Liberal democracy, he argued, met the human demand for recognition (what the Greeks called thymos) more fully than any rival. After the fall of communism, politics […]
Tag: Cold War
Space Race 2.0: Profits, Power, and the Politics of the Cosmos
Capitalism is out of this world—quite literally. The commercialization of space is propelling us into a second space race, one that is fundamentally different from its Cold War predecessor. Unlike the 20th-century contest between the United States and the Soviet Union, this new race is driven by private enterprise, technological ambition, and the pursuit of […]
Building a Better Chile
September 11, 1973. Santiago, Chile. Latin America’s most stable democracy goes up in flames as jackbooted goons brutally murder thousands of civilians in the streets and arrest even more to be tortured and killed in prisons. General Augusto Pinochet, the head of Chile’s military, is mounting a coup d’état to seize power from democratically elected […]
Are Cold War Politics at Play in the Closure of Manas Air Base?
Next fall will be a busy time of year for our dysfunctional government. Faced with the prospect of midterm elections for a Congress with some of the lowest approval ratings ever and the near complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, our country’s bureaucrats will be hoping that nothing else will shake up the second […]