Stories Archive | Page 2 of 77

Analyses

Yassin al-Haj Saleh, born in 1961, is one of Syria’s foremost intellectuals and a long-standing dissident against the Assad regime. He spent sixteen years in prison for “political reasons,” including time in the maximum-security facility of Tadmur, also known as Palmyra. With the onset of the Syrian Spring, he immediately emerged as an opponent of the regime.

The Abu Dhabi Document: When the Pope Met the Grand Imam
Adnane Mokrani 26 April 2025
Religion
From Language to Brotherhood: Francis’ Reforms in Progress
Riccardo Cristiano 24 April 2025
Religion
Bergoglio a Populist? On the Contrary: A Pluralist and Enemy of Demagogues
Giancarlo Bosetti 24 April 2025

Pope Francis has been labeled by his critics as a populist, a claim that must be firmly rejected—unless we are willing to define as populist anyone who cares about the problem of poverty. Such an assumption would be absurd and repugnant. Populism is a broad concept with various meanings: in the North American context, in 19th-century Russia, and in Latin America during the 20th century. Today, especially in the West, the term refers to heterogeneous political groups that foster resentment toward political and economic elites, as well as hostility toward immigrants, refugees, and foreigners in general: a “we” versus “them” dynamic—against those in power on one hand, and against “others” and the “different” on the other, perceived as a threat to the interests of the native and resident population.
Religion
The Legacy of Pope Francis
José Casanova 23 April 2025

Nobody knows who is going to be Francis’s successor and what kind of new direction he will give to his pontificate. But after encountering the last five Popes, from John XXIII to Francis, all great Catholic Popes and great global leaders, each uniquely placing their emphases on different aspects of the pluralist Catholic tradition, we can be almost sure that the next Pope is likely to continue the Catholic legacy in his unique personal way, leading the global church as the Bishop of Rome, while also continue working, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “for the advancement of humanity and of universal fraternity.”
Religion
A Shepherd for the Poor, Peace, and Nature
Nadia Urbinati 22 April 2025

A son of Argentina, cradle of populism—a rhetoric that slices facts and ideas in two, goes straight for the emotions, and makes no concessions, because right and wrong must fall clearly on one side or the other. Argentine populism was socially nationalist in politics and conservative in values. Likewise, Pope Francis was a progressive populist on social issues and conservative on moral ones—after all, a position consistent with the principles of the Roman Catholic Church.
International Affairs
Tunisia’s Opposition Leader Ghannouchi Speaks After Two Years Behind Bars
Rached Ghannouchi 22 April 2025
International Affairs
Trump is Erecting a Police State in America
Hussein Ibish 18 April 2025

In the increasingly surreal second Donald Trump administration, a 29-year-old Salvadoran named Kilmar Abrego Garcia now embodies the most fundamental restructuring of the US constitutional order, arguably in its history. Mr Garcia is being used as a test case for the Trump administration to decouple Americans from the rule of law and protection of courts. His case may be operating at the margins of American society, but its implications potentially represent a redefinition of the relationship between the individual and the US government.
Political Theory
Curtis Yarvin, Nick Land and the Dark Utopia
of the New Radical Right
Editorial board in collaboration with AI 17 April 2025

A galaxy of intellectuals, theorists, entrepreneurs, and cultural agitators is rewriting the language of the American right. In place of old conservatism, a new vision is taking shape—anti-egalitarian, anti-liberal, and post-democratic—one that looks to both the feudal past and the digital future to imagine a new order: hierarchical, technical, algorithmic. At its center stands the enigmatic figure of Curtis Yarvin.
Society
Tectonic Shifts, Not Total Decoupling: Shaun Breslin
on U.S.-China Trade War
Alessandra Tommasi 17 April 2025

Tit-for-tat tariff hikes have paused (for now) at 145% on Chinese imports into the U.S., countered by 125% levies on American goods heading to China. But the trade war shows no signs of ending: the White House is already threatening to raise tariffs again – this time to a staggering 245% – “as a result of China’s retaliatory actions,” and is not ruling out that countries – from neighboring Latin America to Europe – may soon have to choose between Beijing and Washington. Xi Jinping has vowed that China would “fight to the end.” For a Chinese perspective on this trade war, Reset DOC has reached out to Professor Shaun Breslin, Director of the European Hub for Contemporary China.
International Affairs
Obama: Core Principles of Democracy Are Eroding
Under Trump’s Agenda
Editorial Board 10 April 2025

“It is up to all of us to fix this.” In his first public speech since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, Barack Obama urged Americans to defend democratic values and called on institutions—particularly universities and law firms—to resist the administration’s attacks. “I have deep differences of opinion with my most immediate successor—who’s now president once again,” Obama told students of Hamilton College, without naming Trump directly, “but at least for most of my time, I’d say the post-World War II era, there was a broad consensus between Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals around a certain set of rules where we settle our differences—[…] bonds that transcend party, region, or ideology.”