In the Western world, nearly all of our political discourse revolves around the concept of freedom. Ideas like freedom, liberty and human rights all are rooted in pursuing a greater good for the individual, and by proxy for all. However, it is not often we as a society stop to ask the question, what is freedom? There are two opposing conceptions of freedom, and while they both aspire to award ‘true freedom’ to individuals, they differ in their applications. These concepts are negative freedom and positive freedom.  Negative freedom is the absence of arbitrary coercions which prevent individuals from pursuing their…

An essential element of a democratic society is the universal tolerance of all political perspectives. Through tolerance, interactions between the multitude of perspectives within the spectrum take place. Democracy is the product of these interactions being expressed at the ballot. It is because of tolerance that political ideas can coexist and that no one perspective is held sacred. Citizens are free to form opinions and vote based on those opinions. However there exists a concept that has become increasingly relevant in the past decade, the idea that universal tolerance is dangerous. In his influential work The Open Society and Its…

In attempting to moralize politics, the principles of democracy and multiculturalism are eroded. Morality is a product of culture, it is not universal. Because of this, a democratic multicultural society relies on its ability to tolerate all political orientations. Sophisticated and simple, moderate and extreme, all of these ideas are equally entitled to exist and to be tolerated by society as a whole.   Universal tolerance is a pillar of democracy. It allows for a peaceful coexistence between opposing belief systems. While you may have an unwavering view of the world, it is because of the tolerance of others that you are…

Ireland is reeling from the riots in Dublin, sparked by a stabbing attack which left three adults and two children gravely injured. While the Irish government and establishment media are quick to label the protest which preceded the riots as a ‘far-right outlash,’ the reality is that there is a growing discontent with government policy regarding immigration and the housing crisis. Ireland saw its first mob violence in decades in late November. Anti-immigration protests eventually grew into riots causing widespread carnage and even setting police cars ablaze. It all began when news of an Algerian immigrant stabbing three adults and…

The United States is the world’s oldest constitutional democracy. It is a nation built on the concept of universal political equality above all else. Abraham Lincoln once described it as a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Currently, however, the people’s faith in the U.S. government is at an all-time low. Much of the decline in trust can be attributed to the overall political divisiveness. U.S. citizens regard the state of politics and certain policies pursued during the last 60 years to be non-representative of public opinion or hazardous to the health of the nation. Furthermore,…

Since the U.S. started measuring average public trust of the government in 1958 it has consistently trended downwards. Peaking at 77% in 1964, it reached an all-time low of 16% in 2023. The key factor in this slide toward distrust is the ever-increasing polarization of American politics. The entirety of American politics, economy, war, immigration, social norms and everything else under the sun, is tainted by obstinate partisanship. Collective partisan identity politics currently governs election outcomes, so politicians seeking reelection worry more about narratives than actual solutions. The Pew Research Center finds that more than half of citizens believe politicians…

The war in Gaza goes beyond Israel and Palestine. There is now a Houthi blockade in the Red Sea, attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, and Yemen and Israeli airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon. All of these instances can be traced to the ‘Iranian Axis of resistance’ — a group of Iran’s allies including Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Shia militias in Iraq, the Syrian government and more.  It is through this axis that the Houthis are allied with Hamas. Iran, Hamas and the Houthis are all threatened by a potential truce between historical enemies Israel and Saudi…

Big Picture: As a multipolar world order emerges, the U.S. relationship with Taiwan has become more complicated. Ostensibly, the U.S. does not officially recognize Taiwanese independence, yet it signals that it would come to the island’s defense in the event of a Chinese invasion. The Chinese government regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that will inevitably reunify with the mainland, one way or another. The hesitancy of the U.S. to recognize Taiwan and its impulse to defend it are the results of China’s growing strength. This ambiguous American approach to the sensitive situation has become a source of increased tension…

In the midst of an economic downturn, the right is on the rise across Europe following widespread policy issues, such as the rising cost of living, the housing crisis, the effects of mass immigration and environmentalist intervention within the EU. Meanwhile, the largest European war since 1945 is raging on in Ukraine. After decades of the European right’s irrelevance, the tide is changing. Right-wing parties have come to power in Italy and Finland, and have won seat majorities in the Netherlands. Simultaneously, right-wing opposition parties are growing in Germany, France, Switzerland and Sweden. The EU is a supranational organization, so…

Much of Europe is experiencing something that has not happened since before the Second World War: right-wing parties are on the rise. The UK took the first step by leaving the EU through its Brexit vote, a move generally praised on the right. The current Prime Minister of Italy, the first female to fill that role, is the nation’s most decidedly right-wing leader since Mussolini. Germany’s far-right AfD (Alternative for Germany) party is quickly gaining traction, especially in the Eastern half of the country, and is being labeled as extremist by the current German government. Last year, France saw nearly a…