The hottest Political theory Substack posts right now

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Top Philosophy Topics

The Case for American Power Unedited Review

Theory Matters • 0 implied HN points • 25 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Political theory
  1. The book argues for the importance of American power in today's world, even though many find it a hard case to make. It suggests that America still plays a crucial role in global politics despite challenges.
  2. Hamid believes that democracy is essential for a better world order and sees America's universal values as a force for good. He draws connections between democracy and political authority.
  3. The review recommends reading Hamid's earlier work, 'The Problem of Democracy,' to understand the foundations of his arguments. It highlights how he uses a mix of different methods to support his claims.

Question to Self: Space at Berkeley for a Marx Half-Day Microconference in the Spring?

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 0 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
🚌 Education Political theory
  1. Considering organizing a half-day Marx microconference at Berkeley in the spring to create space for focused discussion.
  2. The event would probe critical theory in the wake of the ‘Steampower Society’ era and how to read Marx’s Capital in the world students will inherit.
  3. A central question is whether Marx should serve as a core, organizing framework for sociological study or be treated as an outdated relic.

The Collapse of Meaning under Liberalism

Inland Nobody • 0 implied HN points • 14 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Political theory
  1. Liberalism has given people unprecedented freedom, wealth, and safety, but it has also eroded inherited social and moral frameworks that used to provide stable meaning, leaving many people with thin or fragile senses of purpose.
  2. Smartphones and algorithmic media massively accelerate meaning collapse by constantly exposing people to dissonant information and public humiliation, which erodes self-understanding and increases reactivity.
  3. This crisis of meaning helps explain current political volatility: those with internal meaning navigate freedom better, while people who rely on external meaning often project anxiety into reactionary politics, so liberalism needs new, value-neutral ways to help people build durable meaning without sacrificing freedom.

Carl Schmitt, Friendship, and Technology

Theory Matters • 0 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
📖 Philosophy Political theory
  1. Technology and AI are changing how people make and keep friends; they can provide companionship but also deepen loneliness and enable harmful behavior.
  2. Social bonds are weakening in ways that spill into politics, turning personal relationships and everyday institutions into battlegrounds and eroding solidarity.
  3. We need clearer ideas of what friendship is to rebuild it; classical views that value friends for who they are offer a guide, and using modern political theory to explain these changes should be done with caution.