Corrupt Pols and Charismatic Idiots
Around 1947, McCarthyism hit Hollywood, just when it was starting to make hit films about the corruption and idiocy of American electoral politics.
21008 Article(s) by: Ryan Switzer
Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
Hobbies: Football and Fascism
Football ultras don’t just cheer for right-wingers on the pitch.
War on Wheels
Formula One has its origins in Italian and German fascism. It continues to flirt with authoritarianism today.
The Same Old Song and Dance
Except this time, a bit more off-key than usual.
The Lyric Composers of the Concentration Camps
When German fascism came to power, it interrupted a revolutionary experiment in freedom exemplified by two classical composers: Arnold Schoenberg and Hanns Eisler.
The Right Without Wrong
For decades, liberals have hoped for the de-Christianization of the American Right. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Michel Houellebecq: The Unhappy Oracle
Michel Houellebecq’s chronicles of modern discontent have made him one of the most renowned writers of the century as well as a far-right prophet. Yet liberalism’s fiercest critic still hasn’t found his alternative future.
For Christ’s Sake
American evangelicals have spent millions exporting Christian conservatism to Africa.
The Hindutva International
The overseas wing of Narendra Modi’s paramilitary organization is raking in members, dollars, and influence around the globe.
Apps Won’t End African Underdevelopment
The promise of digitization in Africa is a ruse.
The Colombian Killing Fields
Colombia recently discovered mass graves in a 150-year-old cemetery in the city of Cúcuta. The bodies, many of which were smuggled in during this century, reveal connections between right-wing militias, business, and the state.
A Tale of Two Lithium Producers
The global market is scrambling to extract Argentine and Chilean lithium. Argentine president Javier Milei has unleashed a frenzy of corporate profit, while Chile’s Gabriel Boric is demanding that his country get its fair share.
Indonesia Turns Right
Indonesia’s new president has a gruesome track record of human rights violations and hostility to democracy. But a slick campaign successfully presented him as a harmless grandpa.
Soldiers of Fortune
In the 1970s, American mercenaries traveled to Angola and Rhodesia, seized by racist, anti-communist dreams and delusions of grandeur.
Their International Brigades
At the height of the Rhodesian Bush War, American mercenaries advertised their forces in the magazine Soldier of Fortune.
Labor Lives to Fight Another Day
When and where organized labor’s been on the move.
The Gender Polarization of US Politics
Young women overwhelmingly support Kamala Harris.