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Articles by Arch Puddington
The GOP Turns Its Back on Global Democracy
During the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee the media made a point of interviewing delegates who supported American military assistance to Ukraine. Clearly, journalists were hopeful that someone from the GOP’s anti-Putin faction might have a dissenting phrase about the absence of so much as a kind word for Ukraine in the party platform or the speeches of Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, or other MAGA luminaries.
Conservative Isolationism, Then and Now
America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators by Jacob Heilbrunn (Liveright, 251 pp., $22.64) Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Joshua Muravchik wrote an article in Commentary that looked at the responses of critics of American foreign policy from the left and right. There were pointed disagreements across the ideological divide. But differences between left and right were far more obvious than any similarities.
Netflix Takes on a Lion of Democracy
During the 1970s, I had the great fortune to work as an assistant to Bayard Rustin, the civil rights leader who made an enormous, if undervalued, contribution to racial justice and American democracy. My association with Bayard—as a researcher for the A. Philip Randolph Institute—came a decade after the crucial years of racial protest in which Bayard played a central part as organizer, strategist, and theoretician.
Orbán’s Tainted Democracy
Tainted Democracy: Viktor Orbán and the Subversion of Hungary by Zsuzsanna Szelenyi (Hurst, 352 pp., $29.60) In the early years after the collapse of Communism, Hungary played host to a wide-open political environment. It had political parties on the Left and on the Right, with platforms ranging from social democratic to conservative nationalism. One party in particular was notable for its youth, enthusiasm, and commitment to the ideals of classical liberalism.
Prigozhin’s Putsch Propped up Putin
THE PROPOSITION THAT THE ABORTIVE mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin will result in a more vulnerable and weakened Vladimir Putin is appealing to those of us hoping for a quick victory for Ukraine and possibly even regime change in Moscow. After all, as we were reminded by the Arab Spring movements in 2011 that led to the downfall of several longstanding authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, such regimes seem stable—until they’re not.
Mission Accomplished?
Much has been written marking the 20th anniversary of President George W. Bush’s decision to wage war to remove Saddam Hussein from power. The history of the Iraq war, however, cannot be reduced to Bush’s decision alone. To understand the war fully and honestly, and to learn the right lessons, requires examining five major decisions beyond Bush’s—remembering that neither the decisions nor the events took place in a vacuum.
The Brilliance of Guo Pei
On the first Monday in May 2015, Rihanna arrived at the annual gala hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in an outfit that created a global sensation. Even for the Met ball, it was extraordinary: a yellow silk cape embroidered in silver and gold, with a lavish collar of fox fur dyed to match. The train stretched sixteen feet and required three attendants to arrange it for photos.
Crisis, Conflict, Turmoil
You've successfully subscribed to American Purpose Great! Next, complete checkout for full access to American Purpose Welcome back! You've successfully signed in. Success! Your account is fully activated, you now have access to all content. Jeffrey Gedmin's weekly newsletter on politics, culture, and music is made possible by American Purpose's generous members. Join today to recieve his newsletter and other great benefits. Hans Grimmelshausen (1621–76) was kidnapped as a 10 year old.
Checkmate
For the better part of the last two centuries, Central and Eastern Europeans had little control over their geopolitical destinies. Not anymore. The heroism of Ukrainians in defense of their country has amplified Ukraine’s voice on the global stage and helped build an international coalition to support the country militarily and financially throughout the war.
Dana Sachs on Our Saviors at Sea
Ian Buruma on Three Legendary Fakes In an era of fake news and invented personalities, it’s worth looking back to a time when deception could mean the difference between life and death. In his new book, The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II, Ian Buruma delves into three World War Colbert I. King on D.C., Journalism, and Black History Colbert “Colby” I.
The Russian Choreographer Fascinated by America
More has been written about Russian choreographer George Balanchine than perhaps any other figure in ballet, but with Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century, Jennifer Homans has crafted an authoritative portrait that combines in-depth research with a lyrical command of language. Weaving together her insights as a historian, dance critic, and former dancer, Homans helps readers appreciate the historical, artistic, and personal dimensions that make Balanchine’s plotless ballets so curious.
Free Press, Regardless
The current “no limits” partnership forged by China and Russia presents the democratic world, and especially the United States, with its most ominous threat in many decades. The Beijing-Moscow axis has brought together two seemingly confident powers whose ambitions stretch far beyond their own territories and who have proved willing to use coercive diplomacy, hardball economics, and—with the Ukraine war—military might, to achieve their goals.
Colbert I. King on D.C., Journalism, and Black History
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Opinion | Democracy may be on the march again
Comment on this story Comment Michael J. Abramowitz is the president of Freedom House. Arch Puddington is the organization’s senior scholar emeritus. Is the world standing on the threshold of a democratic comeback? After years of relentless bad news, Freedom House’s latest annual global report on the health of democracy offers hope.
Democracy may be on the march again
Is the world standing on the threshold of a democratic comeback? After years of relentless bad news, Freedom House's latest annual global report on the health of democracy offers hope. This year's "Freedom in the World" survey notes that the number of countries suffering declines in 2022 was the lowest in 17 years, and was nearly matched by the number of countries experiencing improvements.
Hungary’s Orbán Has Become the Global Ringleader of Right-Wing Autocrats
The triumph of a conservative alliance in Italy’s recent elections ranks as the high point in a modest winning streak for the global right. It also reaffirms Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s status as the unofficial leader of world conservatism, or at least that version that has broken with the traditions of limited government, market economics, individual rights and informed patriotism.
Press Freedom for Freedom's Adversaries?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August visit to Taiwan predictably touched off a torrent of denunciation and rebuke from the Chinese Communist Party. Along with the strident polemics from official sources, China also deployed a battery of critics from its diplomatic corps, think tanks, and media to promote Beijing’s perspective on the Taiwan controversy—and all too frequently, through the willing organ of the Western media.
Conservatism, Once and Future
It is Republican primary season, and talk of a GOP civil war once more fills the air. The idea is overstated: Donald Trump’s influence on Republican voters is going strong. But the conservative movement is still searching for an alternative to Reaganism, and two new books offer useful insights on the quest. The first is Matthew Continetti’s The Right, a history of the past century of conservative thought and right-of-center American politics. This is a complicated story.
Hazony’s Un-American Conservatism
Over the past three years, “national conservatism” has emerged as a significant intellectual challenge to the conservative establishment. Because Patrick Deneen and Yoram Hazony, its two principal doctrinal architects, are academically trained political philosophers, the movement rests on well-developed theoretical foundations.
Matthew Continetti on American conservatism
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Nationalism and the Struggle in Ukraine
Like so many other observers, I have marveled at Ukraine’s brave resistance to Russia’s brutal invasion and at the extraordinary popular backing it has received in the West. Everyone seems to grasp that a transformational change in Western public opinion has taken place that’s helped to alter the political landscape in many European countries and to strengthen the Atlantic Alliance.
Remembering the Heroes
Anatoly Sharansky (left) and Andrei Sakharov Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the collapse of the Soviet Union was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century. Putin has it precisely wrong: the existence of the Soviet Union was a catastrophe, a tragedy, and one of the worst man-made disasters in all of history.
Protect Ukraine Now!
There is a real and immediate threat that Russia will invade Ukraine, in a brazen act of territorial aggrandizement whose aim is to snuff out that country’s effort to turn itself into a liberal democracy. For the second time in a year, the Kremlin has massed troops on Ukraine’s borders, this time at much higher levels than last spring.
James Bond, Served with a Twist-le Carré
John le Carré’s novels and their adaptations have been in dialogue with Ian Fleming’s James Bond books and films ever since le Carré and Fleming began writing in the 1950s. Both authors drew from their respective careers in British intelligence, though to different effect. For decades, their fiction has lived at opposite poles of the imagined spy world. Le Carré’s stories are grounded in a tragic realism; the Bond films, in escapist fantasy.
Four Horsemen against the Illiberal Apocalypse
Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, Viktor Vasnetsov, 1887 Those of us who call ourselves liberals—in the classical and capacious meaning of the term—face a grave predicament. We have opponents on the right and left, at home and abroad, who reject the values, institutions, and form of government we seek to uphold. Whether they reside at Mar-a-Lago or hotbeds of the successor ideology, in Budapest or Beijing, our antagonists show no signs of retreating.
The Shackling of the Progressive Mind
The leitmotif of young British commentator Douglas Murray’s thought-provoking book The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity is well captured in his frontispiece quotation of G.K. Chesterton: “The special mark of the modern world is not that it is skeptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it.” Murray’s timing with this book could not have been better—both when published in 2019 and today.
The Primary Problem
The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol continues to make news, as the committee issues a stream of subpoenas for testimony from former President Donald Trump’s closest advisers. There will be still more headlines as we approach the first anniversary of that unprecedented challenge to the constitutional order. Determining the specific role played by the former President in instigating that challenge is of the utmost importance.
December 7, 2021: "Biden's Democracy Summit." A roundtable discussion featuring Fiona Hill and Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Co-hosted by Norman Eisen and the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group
Join American Purpose and the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group on December 7, 2021 to hear Fiona Hill, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and additional experts discuss the Biden Administration's Democracy Summit taking place December 9-10, 2021. Ambassador (ret.) Norman Eisen will co-host. Fiona Hill is the Robert Bosch senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings Institution.
America as Geopolitical Risk
Engraving of the great Lisbon earthquake and tsunami, 1755 Any list of geopolitical risks for the next few years would include climate change and environmental degradation; Covid’s ongoing human, economic, and political costs; increased tensions between the United States and China; the uncertain future of Europe; regional flashpoints; cyberattacks; and terrorism.
20/20 Hindsight
(c) Francis Fukuyama I have to admit that I’ve gotten pretty annoyed at a lot of the punditry surrounding the terrible events accompanying the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. There are many things to legitimately complain about, particularly the Biden Administration’s failure to anticipate and plan against a rapid regime collapse, and Biden’s own efforts to blame everyone else, including the Afghans themselves, for this debacle.
A Real History of Fake News
1 Herald: News, news, news! 2 Herald: Bold and brave news. 1 Herald: New as the night they are born in. 2 Herald: Or the phant’sie that begot ’em. —Ben Jonson, News of the New World If the past half-dozen years have a defining concept, it may be the refrain “fake news,” a phrase that former President Donald Trump claims to have invented.
Crimea Platform
Today marks the launch of the Crimea Platform, an initiative of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to highlight Russia’s continuing illegal annexation of Crimea, and to demonstrate that the world has not forgotten about it. The Platform itself will not, of course, do anything much to change Russian thinking; it is aimed rather at Western audiences and designed to give Ukraine’s friends an opportunity to register their support.
The Calamitous Fall of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a bewildering, agonizing, enchanting place. You get a feel for this in Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 novel The Kite Runner. I got a sense of it when I went there a decade ago. We Americans tend to travel to such places in organized bubbles. My particular bubble was an exceptional one: I arrived in Kabul as president of a congressionally funded media group.
The Enemy Uncounted
Photo by Jorge Garcia, U.S. Army For years experts on domestic extremism and U.S. intelligence analysts have warned the Pentagon that it has a problem with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and anti-government extremists in the ranks.
Wolf Warrior Diplomacy
In the past couple of years, international observers have noticed an increasingly harsh tone from Chinese diplomats. These “wolf warriors,” named after a blockbuster Chinese movie, are known for their nationalist rhetoric and calculated harangues. As the many articles about them have noted, their performance is a marked departure from the behavior of their predecessors in the early 2000s. The new Chinese ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, exemplifies the trend.
The H Factor
When most great fortunes were inherited, it was easy to write social criticism from the left. Heirs sunning themselves in $2,000 blue jeans and $200,000 wristwatches did most of the work. You, the writer, only had to come up with a few stories of deprivation among the worthy poor as a counterpoint, along with some witty ridicule of the evident intellectual limitations of the sons and daughters of the great entrepreneurs. With minor variations, this formula could sustain an entire career.
Voice of Freedom
Iulia-Sabina Joja: Talk to us about corruption in Moldova. How does the fight for liberal democracy align with the need for transparency and accountability in business and politics? President Maia Sandu: The magnitude of corruption in Moldova transformed it into a threat to our national security. After the dismantling of the USSR, we had to build the state from scratch.
Freedom to Fail
In my recent post on bureaucratic autonomy, I noted how the CDC was too risk averse during the Covid crisis. As Michael Lewis explained, this tendency stretched all the way back to the Ford Administration, when the CDC director was blamed for alarmism regarding a possible swine flu epidemic. The competitive nature of U.S politics means that the opposition party will always jump on any perceived mistake, while failing to give credit for crises averted.
Firmin DeBrabander on the Internet's Threat to Privacy
Is there any hope for safeguarding privacy in the age of the internet? Firmin DeBrabander, professor of philosophy at Maryland Institute College of Art, joins Richard Aldous to discusses his book Life After Privacy: Reclaiming Democracy in a Surveillance Soceity. PodcastBookstack American Purpose newsletters Sign up to get our essays and updates—you pick which ones—right in your inbox. Subscribe
Remembering Bayard Rustin
The author of a recent New York Times article on Black heroes managed, remarkably, to mention both Bayard Rustin—protest strategist, intellectual, and humanitarian—and Huey Newton, the menacing, and many believe homicidal, founder of the Black Panthers. Bayard would probably have shrugged off the whole affair. Bayard was one of 20th-century America’s most remarkable figures. He is best known as a key adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., especially as an organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
Seeing China Clearly
Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21st Century by Josh Rogin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 384 pp., $30) The title of Josh Rogin’s book, Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21st Century, refers to a saying attributed to Mao Zedong: “There is chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent.” According to the China scholars Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals, it came from a letter that Mao wrote to his fourth wife, Jiang Qing, in 1966 as he prepared...
In Praise of Industrial Policy
My friend Steve Rhoads, emeritus professor at the University of Virginia, will be publishing through Cambridge University Press a 35th anniversary edition of his 1984 book The Economists View of the World. The book reviews and explains many of the fundamental concepts of modern neo-classical economics, like opportunity costs, marginalism, incentives, externalities, welfare, consumer preference, and the like in an informative and balanced way.
Not Your Father’s Dictators
The annual Freedom House report on the state of global democracy has just been released, and the message is disturbing. According to Freedom in the World, democracy has declined for each of the past fifteen years. More countries experienced an erosion of freedom in 2020 than in any other year this century. Only 20 percent of the global population lives in what Freedom House designates as “free” societies, a kind of surrogate indicator for stable democracy.
More than McKinsey
Pete Buttigieg is the first millennial—the generation born between 1981 and 1996—to be appointed to a U.S. cabinet post. His Senate confirmation hearing was the very picture of civility; he was confirmed by an overwhelming majority. “Mayor Pete” is unquestionably smart, and his past experience as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is likely to be a big help to him at the Department of Transportation. So much for the piety.
China's Olympian Atrocity
A year from now, some of the world’s greatest athletes are scheduled to compete for medals and glory at the Winter Olympics. The host country, China, is looking forward to another cameo on the world stage. Its leader, Xi Jinping, has promised an event that is “fantastic, extraordinary, and excellent.” “A rebuke to humanity” would be more accurate. If there was ever an event that deserved universal repudiation, it is the 2022 Games.
Sell It Again, Uncle Sam
Originally published January 13, 2021 For one euphoric moment after the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, democracy and liberalism seemed to reign as universal values. Now, with the rise of China, the re-emergence of Russia, the erosion of many more democratic regimes, and the resilience of dictatorships in other parts of the world, the battle of ideas has resumed.
The Essential State
Among the institutional reform issues that the incoming Biden Administration needs to address is an overhaul of the federal civil service. One of the most destructive legacies of the Trump Administration is its numerous efforts to politicize and weaken the permanent bureaucracy by replacing professional civil servants with incompetent or self-serving appointees chosen for their political loyalty to the President.
Jan. 15, 2021: Agnes Callard discusses "Anger and Politics."
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The Darkening Mind
Deeper than polarization, tribalism, populism, or other faddish appellations that are said to define American political dysfunction today is a portentous tectonic shift in mentality. It is an attitudinal shift from the positive-sum, Enlightenment-infused approach to social order and institutions to an older, zero-sum premise. Dividing these two different mentalities are incompatible assumptions about human nature, particularly human social nature.
How a Second Trump Term Could Degrade Democracy
According to Freedom House, the United States has experienced the most severe ten-year period of decline in political rights and civil liberties of any free country around the world. Where once the United States ranked at roughly the same level as Germany or Great Britain, it now keeps company with flawed systems like Croatia and Italy, and trails behind such new democracies as Taiwan and Estonia.
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