Spring 2013, No. 28

We dedicate this issue of Democracy to the issue of voting rights. How can progressives fight back against the new voter-suppression movement? And what positive agenda can we put forward to expand and strengthen the franchise? We invited Jonathan Soros, Mark Schmitt, Michael Waldman, Heather Gerken, Tova Wang, and Jeff Hauser to offer some new ideas.

Also in the issue: the esteemed social psychologist Jonathan Haidt takes a look at how and why Democrats and Republicans define fairness differently. Mark Kleiman of UCLA offers a definitive essay on what a smart, progressive crime policy should look like. And Michael Wahid Hanna scans the Middle Eastern landscape and assesses where the region is and where it’s going.

Elsewhere: Bill Burton on campaign-finance reality. Jane Mayer on our post-9/11 terror courts. Brad DeLong on the conservative hatred of the 47 percent. Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson on what primitive societies have to teach us. David Blight on the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. And Thomas Sugrue on the false dawn in Detroit.

Back Issues Archive

Symposium

Winning the Voting Wars

Barack Obama's second inaugural included what most would expect from a progressive President, including calls for action on climate change, inequality, and immigration reform. But near the peroration, the President also declared, Our journey is not complete until no citizen...

By The Editors

3 MIN READ

Playing Offense: An Aggressive Voting Rights Agenda

By Michael Waldman

12 MIN READ

Make It Easy: The Case for Automatic Registration

By Heather K. Gerken

9 MIN READ

The Missing Right: A Constitutional Right to Vote

By Jonathan Soros

10 MIN READ

Expanding Citizenship: Immigrants and the Vote

By Tova Andrea Wang

10 MIN READ

A Temporary Victory: Looking Ahead to 2014 and Beyond

12 MIN READ

Features

Of Freedom and Fairness

The new culture war is about economic issues, and the side that better sells its idea of fairness will have the upper hand.

By Jonathan Haidt

26 MIN READ

Smart on Crime

Being tough on criminals hasn’t worked, but neither has being lenient. Here’s how to prevent—and punish—crime the right way.

By Mark A.R. Kleiman

26 MIN READ

The Seven Pillars of the Arab Future

The United States cannot make a success of the Arab Spring. Only the region's nations can. Here are the ways they need to mature.

By Michael Wahid Hanna

29 MIN READ

Book Reviews

Dark Matters

America’s terror courts will continue to exist because they spare U.S. officials from public accountability.

By Jane Mayer

14 MIN READ

Shrugging off Atlas

Exactly how did once-respectable conservative economists get swept up in moocher class mania?

By J. Bradford DeLong

17 MIN READ

Lincoln the Emancipator

One hundred fifty years ago, Abraham Lincoln emancipated the slaves. Just how he got there might surprise you.

By David W. Blight

16 MIN READ

Past Perfect?

How best to respond to a crying child, and other lessons modern societies can learn from traditional ones.

By Daron Acemoglu James A. Robinson

13 MIN READ

Notown

Good news: A few hipsters are rediscovering Detroit. Bad news: everything else.

By Thomas J. Sugrue

16 MIN READ

Responses

Hate the Game

Yes, we have to reform the rules of campaign finance. But we cant tie our hands in the meantime. A response to Russ Feingold.

By Bill Burton