How Culture Theory happened, and what it means.

From the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 4, 2007:IT IS EASY TO GET very discouraged when surveying the state of the world. Few Americans need to be reminded about the chaos in Iraq, Iran’s ambitions as a regional and potentially nuclear power or the possibility of Sunni-Shiite conflict spreading throughout the Persian Gulf.But there’s also the […]

This piece appeared in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Careful readers of this blog may notice that an earlier version of it was posted here first.The Wall Street JournalCOMMENTARYKeeping Up With the ChávezesBy FRANCIS FUKUYAMAFebruary 1, 2007; Page A17What is it that leaders like Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez have in […]

Marty Lipset passed away on New Year’s Eve, after a long period of disability following a stroke in 2001. His friends and former colleagues are busy organizing an appropriate memorial service for him in the Washington area, but in the meantime I thought I should say something about what his life and work meant to […]

In George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” Sugarcandy Mountain is a pretend land of sweetness promised to the animals by Moses, a pet raven who belongs to the owner of Manor Farm. The only promise more enticing to the collection of pigs, horses and assorted working animals is the even bigger idea that if the farmer went […]

Jack Abramoff didn't set off a wave of malfeasance in Congress all by himself. A guide to what's wrong and how to make it right.

The French don't like headscarves. John Bowen explains why.

The Doha Round failed because powerful agricultural lobbies in wealthy countries didn't want it to succeed.

An Environment-8 to match the Group of 8.

Martin Malia and Jay Winter examine utopians and the movements—major and minor—they spawned.