I originally planned a literary excursion to famously stable Chile. Instead, I came to a country engulfed in protests, where trains pass by the wreckage without a word. From Santiago and Valparaiso to the Atacama Desert, I delved into a conflict for the future.

Civility is critical to collective self-government. But the formal structure of self-government has no way to maintain it against political division and private interest. Civility can only be restored by some outside intervention.

The locus of legitimate authority in the American state is increasingly unclear. A reconfiguration of Marxist thought on the state reveals how elites interact with it, and also the state’s power to shape the elite itself.

There are times in politics where top-down, elite-driven mandates are necessary for the common good. Building communities is not one of them.

The current American AI strategy is disorganized and unambitious. With no real innovation on the strategy front, the U.S. is just playing not to lose.

Universities have endured plague, population collapse, scandal, and even outlasted nations. Despite proclamations of the university system’s death, one thing is certain: it’s not going anywhere.

Ash Milton reviews Mariana Mazzucato’s book The Value of Everything. Mazzucato’s work confronts an overreaching financial sector and provides a powerful case for rebuilding state capacity.

Facebook’s global payment system, Libra, would usurp the role of the dollar, but it doesn’t have the hegemonic military, historical moment, or political utility to make that viable.

Real estate development in California has been frozen for decades. A new coalition is emerging to break homeowner resistance. But dishonesty from both sides prevents the reconciliation of social fabric and development, jeopardizing the future of American cities.

American discourse doesn’t prepare you for how good life in China is becoming. It’s a sharp contrast to our own governance troubles. It feels like the American dream has moved to the other side of the world.

The world’s great powers are gunning for the Arctic and access to the Northwest Passage shipping route. Without a bold Arctic development plan, North America risks losing out.

As ideological tensions rise between China and the West, an authoritarian nationalist Confucianism seeks to influence the official ideology of the CCP. But a more independent, critical reading of the Confucian tradition is possible. The West can learn from both.

Canada’s image as a dynamic and optimistic country is largely mythical. The Canadian economy is beset by a parasitic real estate sector and stagnant production. A better comparison is the sclerotic political environment of Brezhnev’s USSR.

In the current period of economic and social stagnation, the video game industry has created increasingly addictive virtual experiences. Pulling users out requires a collective, not individual, effort.

As underworlds grow larger, the need for real deradicalization increases. Wolf Tivy discusses his experience on a terror trial jury, the incompetence of the current system, and missed opportunities for reintegration.

Drawing on three generations of Mexican family history in America, Seth Largo tells a more nuanced and hopeful story on immigration and assimilation than current ideological narratives.

Karléh Wilson, a Yale graduate who was involved in recent student protests at the school, writes a letter to the editor, offering a representative perspective on one corner of life at elite colleges.

A visit to an underground Shanghai house church gives an inside look into how millions of Chinese citizens worship. But as the new generation makes its mark on Chinese Christianity, it is also being hit by a regime suspicious of foreign subversion.