Cut U.S. Senate. Insert Chinese Politburo.

What, If Anything, Can Asia’s Authoritarian Regimes Teach the Gridlocked West?

 

Distinguished commentators from The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman to the editors of The Economist warn that diverse Western democratic governments–like those in California, the U.S. and Europe–are too hamstrung by interest groups and partisan politics to make the necessary decisions. They urge the world to look to fast-moving Asian governments, especially those of Singapore and China, as models of governance. But those are highly authoritarian regimes with records of abusing human rights. In advance of Zócalo’s first Sacramento event, “Is Democracy Too Slow?” we ask what democracies can learn …

You’ll Miss Europe If We Kill It

The EU Benefits the World More Than People Appreciate

Several years ago, after a lifetime in the heartland of America, I moved to the heart of the European Union. Having heard Brussels described as the Washington, D.C. of Europe, …

What If No One Were Born American?

Eric Liu On the Duties of Citizenship

At the launch of the Zócalo Public Square/Cal Humanities “Searching for Democracy” series, author, civic entrepreneur, and former Clinton speechwriter Eric Liu, a fellow at the Center for Social Cohesion, …