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.

Jonah Bennett and Wolf Tivy discuss why the bachelor’s degree is the new citizenship, and what it would take to actually build a status-generating alternative to the university.

Wolf Tivy and Pasha Kamyshev discuss Pasha’s latest article on AI grand strategy, and the deeper foundations of the problem: we are building digital totalitarianism, but we don’t know how to reconcile that with creating a good society.

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 discusses his review of economist Mariana Mazzucato’s book The Value of Everything with Jonah Bennett and Wolf Tivy.

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.

Jonah Bennett, Wolf Tivy, and Ash Milton are joined by Palladium writer Jean Fan to discuss her recent narrative piece on the psychological experience of observing rapid progress and change in China.

Jonah Bennett, Wolf Tivy, and Ash Milton are joined by Palladium writer Siavash Tahan to discuss his recent piece on urban housing politics in California and how land is a scam.

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.

Jonah Bennett and Ash Milton are joined by Palladium writers Avetis Muradyan and Ryan Khurana to discuss landlordism and economic pessimism, as well as the power of storytelling in producing optimism.

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.

Jonah Bennett and Wolf Tivy interview award-winning investigative journalist Ben Westhoff on his new book Fentanyl, Inc., a monumental effort that discusses the inception of the fentanyl crisis and Westhoff’s infiltration of Chinese labs to get to the bottom of the problem and the top of the drug supply chain.

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.