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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
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The Virtual Reading Group
A monthly reading group focused on the written works of Hannah Arendt, led by Roger Berkowitz, Director of the Hannah Arendt Center.05-02-2019
Who is a Whistleblower?
By Roger BerkowitzDaniel Ellsberg was the quintessential whistleblower. He was an expert insider who had evidence of government misconduct. After attempts to expose the misconduct to his superiors, he offered it to journalists. Ellsberg’s whistleblowing led to the publication of “The Pentagon Papers,” which became the raw material for one of Hannah Arendt’s prescient essays “Lying in Politics.”
04-28-2019
The New Loyalty Oaths
By Roger BerkowitzWhen I was a graduate student teaching at UC Berkeley I was asked to sign a statement that I would report people with suspicious immigration backgrounds. When I applied for professorships at certain traditionally religious schools, I was asked to swear that I would not promote abortion in my classes.
04-28-2019
Prison Abolition
By Samantha HillThe New York Times Magazine featured an extensive profile of Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s campaign for prison abolition. The article breaks down the provocative term “abolition” to look at the language and arguments that surround prison culture in the United States, where more than 2 million people are incarcerated.
04-28-2019
University in Exile
By Roger BerkowitzSamantha Hill reviews a new book by Judith Friedlander about the history of the New School for Social Research and the “University in Exile” that saved so many European intellectuals, including Hannah Arendt. (free registration required)
04-28-2019
Thinking Under Siege: Masha Gessen
A presentation and discussion from the Hannah Arendt Center's 10th Annual Fall Conference, Crises of Democracy: Thinking in Dark Times04-26-2019
Democratic Education and the Open Inquiry Imperative
By Elizabeth BeaumontFromn volume III of HA: The Jounral of the Hannah Arendt Center.
04-26-2019
The Conservative Coates
By Roger BerkowitzWil S. Hylton interviews Paul Coates. Coates was a Black Panther Party leader in Baltimore in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He founded a prison literacy program, owned of a bookstore devoted to community service, and established the publishing company Black Classic Press to disseminate the work of...
04-18-2019
Tough Talk: They Mistook a Backlash for a Movement: Black Men and the Doom of Western Civilization
This talk was presented as a part of The Hannah Arendt Center's Tough Talk Lecture Series, organized by Bard student Mark Williams, Jr.. Introductions by Roger Berkowitz, Director and Founder of the Hannah Arendt Center, and Mark Williams, Jr.. Discussion moderated by Bard alum, Dana Miranda '14.04-17-2019