Liberal Democracy

July 20, 2020

Political Economy Forum Seminar: Podcast Edition with Professor Mark Smith

On 7/10/20 the UW Political Economy Forum had the pleasure to welcome Professor Mark Smith to our weekly seminar. We tried something new this time : we did things over Zoom and recorded our conversation, which is available to anybody who wants to listen. Mark is Professor of Political Science at UW and the…

July 13, 2020

The Perils of Economic Populism, by Beatrice Magistro & Victor Menaldo

Argentina has cycled between populist democracies and military dictatorships over its modern history. This has catalyzed countless economic crises and catastrophes. The same is true of other Latin American countries. By contrast, Europe’s liberal democracies and the US have largely avoided this predicament, at least since World War II. That is, until now: Their political-economic…

July 8, 2020

The Economic, Political & Cultural Follies of Kicking Foreign Students Out, By Brian Ping Leung & Nick Wittstock

After the White House’s recent move to suspend the new issuance of several classes of visas, ICE published a Broadcast Message communicating that foreign students under F and M visas may not remain in the US if they exclusively take online classes in the Fall: “Students attending schools operating entirely online may not take…

F1 VISA Situation for International Students Taking Online Courses, by Beatrice Magistro

Thirteen years ago, a sixteen year-old teenager on a J-1 visa was preparing to enter the US as a high school exchange student, with the hope to live the American dream she had heard about and seen in the movies. I am that student, that experience changed my life and made me fall in love…

July 6, 2020

The Integrity of Higher Education is Key to Making Democracy Work, by Victor Menaldo

Democracy is a miracle. Its practitioners sometimes need to call upon a superhuman ability to transcend their self interest and self regard, prejudices, and desire to suppress things they don’t like. Democracy only works if we tolerate dissent, unpopular opinions, speaking truth to power, and whistle blowers. That, and affording those accused of wrongdoing due…

July 4, 2020

Thoughts about Liberal Democracy on America’s Birthday, by Victor Menaldo

A Political Economy Forum Fellow and graduate student at UW, Kai Ping (Brian) Leung, spoke to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday about his experience as a pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss Beijing’s recent arrogation of the rights of the territory’s citizens: China’s new National Security…

July 2, 2020

Is Democracy Failing in the U.S.? By Gretchen Helmke, Mary Kroeger & Jack Paine

Photo by Ryan Inzana Gretchen Helmke Mary Kroeger Jack Paine The idea that American democracy is in crisis is widely accepted among scholars and pundits. Serious allegations of unfair voting practices (such as voter suppression and gerrymandering), abuses of executive power, and mounting concerns about the legitimacy of elections are normal rather than extraordinary events….

June 24, 2020

Where do good governments come from?, by Yu Sasaki

Where do good governments come from? An age old question, it remains pressing today. In countries such as Afghanistan, Libya, and Yemen multiple armed groups have been vying for political authority for years on end. The result: societies that lack a functioning state and, thus, societies wanting of security, infrastructure, and basic services. Rich countries…

June 20, 2020

Why We Launched This Website and our New Plans

For several years now James Long (UW Political Science), Victor Menaldo (UW Political Science), and Rachel Heath (UW Economics) have been meeting every other Friday along with other UW faculty members, graduate students and undergrads (from across campus), and occasionally invited faculty from other universities. We do this under the auspices of the Forum on…