Personal Freedom and the Moral Case for Capitalism (Russell Roberts and Ayaan Hirsi Ali)

This is from the Human Prosperity Project of the Hoover Institution. A lot of people reject capitalism because they see the market process at the heart of capitalism—the decentralized, bottom-up interactions between buyers and sellers that determine prices and quantities—as fundamentally immoral. After all, say the critics, capitalism unleashes the worst of our possible motivations, …

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The Factual Context for Climate and Energy Policy (Steven E. Koonin)

Virtually all climate policy discussions assume that climate science compels us to make large and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But any realistic policy must balance the hazards, risks, and benefits of a changing climate against the world’s growing demand for reliable, affordable, and clean energy. To strike that balance, climate policymakers will consider …

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America Needs a New Strategy to Avert Even Greater Catastrophe in the Middle East: Shuttle Diplomacy Must be Backed by Meaningful Pressure (Andrew P. Miller)

Nearly a year after Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack, the Israeli government’s ongoing escalation of its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon has put the Middle East on the precipice of a regional war—one that could all too easily draw in the United States. Although Israeli leaders believe that intensified military action will cause the militant …

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America’s Strategy of Renewal: Rebuilding Leadership for a New World. (Antony J. Blinken)

Afierce competition is underway to define a new age in international affairs. A small number of countries—principally Russia, with the partnership of Iran and North Korea, as well as China—are determined to alter the foundational principles of the international system. While their forms of governance, ideologies, interests, and capabilities differ, these revisionist powers all want …

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AI, Society, and Democracy: Just Relax (John H. Cochrane)

The author argues that law and regulation have never diagnosed and prevented social, political, and economic ills of new technology. AI is no different. AI regulation poses a greater threat to democracy than AI, as governments are anxious to use regulation to censor information. Free competition in civil society, media, and academia will address any …

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The Social Contract Theory in a Global Context (Jason Neidleman)

The social contract was introduced by early modern thinkers—Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Pufendorf, and John Locke the most well-known among them—as an account of two things:  the historical origins of sovereign power and the moral origins of the principles that make sovereign power just and/or legitimate.  It is often associated with the liberal tradition …

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Global Capitalism and Perpetual War (Slavoj Žižek)

Sudan today has become the exemplary case of how the developed West contributes to the conditions for violent conflict and mass migration in resource-rich parts of the world. Beneath the façade of “primitive” ethnic passions exploding in the African “heart of darkness,” one can discern the unmistakable contours of global capitalism. LJUBLJANA – When one …

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Hugo Grotius (1583—1645) (Andrew Blom)

Hugo Grotius was a Dutch humanist and jurist whose philosophy of natural law had a major impact on the development of seventeenth century political thought and on the moral theories of the Enlightenment. Valorized by contemporary international theorists as the father of international law, his work on sovereignty, international rights of commerce and the norms …

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