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Temptations of Tyranny
Rod Dreher’s conflicted support for President Trump illustrates a broader crisis among intellectual conservatives who fear the "soft totalitarianism" of liberal institutions yet embrace the hard authoritarianism of executive overreach. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s political thought, the essay contends that true freedom is preserved not through charismatic leaders but through the multiplication and decentralization of citizen power. Revitalizing democracy, it argues, requires stubborn, local acts of collective governance rather than the dangerous temptation to concentrate authority in a single figure.04-27-2025
Articles
Justice Thomas' Racial Fatalism
The Supreme Court this week ruled that two gerrymandered districts in North Carolina were unconstitutional because they were impermissibly drawn on racial grounds to dilute the vote of black Americans.05-28-2017
Words That Mean Nothing
Masha Gessen, who will be speaking at the Hannah Arendt Center Conference on "Crises of Democracy," turns to Hannah Arendt to understand Donald Trump's assault on language and our common world.05-21-2017
The Courage to Be: Tania Bruguera
Ana Bauer, Gemma Godfrey, and Loreli Mojica, HAC student fellows, share their thoughts on Tania Bruguera's visit for our spring 2017 "Courage to Be" Dinner and Lecture Series.05-19-2017
People's Assemblies
Kate Aronoff interviews Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who will likely be the next Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi. Lumumba is an advocate of bringing "people's assemblies" back into government, a new way to rethink the idea of self-government.05-14-2017
Reactionism
Andrew Sullivan rightly sees that we are in the grip of reactionism, not conservatism. Reactionism is not simply about hatred or racism. It is illiberal, yes, but an indignant rejection of the status quo.05-07-2017
An Open Letter Addressing the May 3rd Living Room Conversation, From Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College
An Open Letter Addressing the May 3rd Living Room Conversation, From Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College05-03-2017
You Are Not An Experience
Ulrich Baer argues that the so-called "liberal snowflakes" are actually right, that free speech should be sacrificed in the name of securing the legitimacy of personal experience. He is mistaken, but worth taking seriously.04-30-2017
To Think What We Have Done
Alex Cocotas worries about the culture of Holocaust memorialization.04-23-2017
The World At Stake
Lacino Hamiltion argues that Black Lives Matter is transforming from a protest movement into a political movement.04-16-2017