Abandoned Footnotes

(Some commentary on recent elections in North Korea, and on electoral rituals generally) As many readers will know, North Korea just had a...

(Warning: speculation about Spanish history during the Franco era by an amateur). I’m currently in Spain, doing some research on Fran...

It's the solstice: time to take stock, and (in the Northern hemisphere, where I am right now) give thanks to the guardians of Asgard for...

(Part of an occasional series on  the history of political regimes . Contains some work in progress.) This is the age of democracy, ideol...

(A footnote on Inga Clendinnen’s extraordinary “ Aztecs: An Interpretation .” If there’s a better book on the Aztecs than this, I want to r...

This story of how Mabroka al-Werfalli (lecturer in politics at the University of Benghazi, previously the University of Garyounis) managed t...