JOHN McINALLY welcomes a rigorous class analysis of the history and exploitation of sectarianism by the Scottish ruling elite
Latest editorial
Disunited states
GAVIN O’TOOLE explores how US federalism has been exploited by Republicans, but remains the best arena for progressive solutions
Charlottesville ‘Unite the Right’ rally enters Emancipation Park in August 2017
[Anthony Crider/flickr/CC]
WILL STONE, JAMES WALSH and MARIA DUARTE review Souleymane’s Story, Sunlight, Good Fortune, and After The Hunt
ALEX HALL recommends an exhaustive investigation of the means by which the Starmer faction assassinated the left
DAVID MORGAN recommends a refreshingly inspiring novel that features encounters with some tremendous women
BOB NEWLAND recommends a political thriller from former anti-apartheid activist Peter Hain
JAMES WALSH speaks to Chris Thorpe-Tracey - among many things, a one-time Morning Star columnist — about songs, cities, politics and prophecy
Laboratories Against Democracy: How National Parties Transformed State Politics
by Jacob M Grumbach, Princeton, £25
A reflex apparent in US political science after Reagan saw a reinvigorated federalism as a source of innovation in economics, education, and social policy.
The states, so the argument went, were emerging as “laboratories of democracy” in which creative governors experimenting with ideas that went beyond traditional party politics were harbingers of a new “Progressive Era”.
How times change.
Similar stories
The left must avoid shouting ‘racist’ and explain that the socialist alternative would benefit all
GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes a masterful study of gang behaviour in the favelas of Sao Paulo
GAVIN O’TOOLE explores the resistance expressed by central American artists to their own erasure by US imperialist policies
On the fifth anniversary of the rebellion and the eve of local elections, HUGO GUZMAN looks at how the demands made by the people have not been properly addressed