Politics

Rising empires require collaborators to expand their influence and win over adversaries. In this respect, China and other anti-Western regimes increasingly count on green activists, investors, and media to advance their interests.  read more »

US president Donald Trump has disrupted the nature of class politics. In a reversal of long-standing allegiances, working-class Americans – including many minorities – have shifted towards the MAGA right. Meanwhile, the well-educated, the corporate elites and the government-dependent have generally veered leftwards.  read more »

Recent revelations that the University of California received massive donations from organisations linked to China’s Communist Party — including a $220 million investment in Berkeley’s joint research project with Tsinghua University — may have elicited a harsh reaction  read more »

In American politics, the main beneficiaries of “dark money” have in recent years tended to be Democrats.  read more »

It’s once more springtime for America doomers, those who believe the United States will soon lose its global top-dog status.  read more »

There’s a great line from the comedy show Kath & Kim, where the very suburban Kim expresses her desire to be like affluent city people. “I want to be effluent Mum," she says. "You ARE effluent, Kim," replies the equally suburban Kath.  read more »

Throughout history, poverty, class and economic self-interest have driven radical political movements. The Bolsheviks harnessed the anger of impoverished workers and peasants  read more »

Ten thousand years from now, future archaeologists will be allowed back into the wasteland that was once known as California.  read more »

As with many political movements, MAGA represents a fragile coalition of groups that often have little in common — and, at the extremes, may even detest one another.  read more »

Over the last half-century, more restrictive urban planning policies have been associated with undermined housing affordability  read more »