The Ideas Letter
My old friend, Stephen Kotkin, had the supreme fortune to study as an undergraduate with the historian Christopher Lasch. Lasch was a legendary teacher at the University of Rochester and Steve has recounted stories galore about Lasch’s brilliance. Outside the academy, Lasch became a celebrity (of a sort) and a leading public intellectual in the 1970s and 1980s for his probing psychological interpretations of politics and society in the age of consumerism. Of late he has been exhumed by some on the left, and more on the right, for his critiques presaging the neoliberal arguments regnant today. In this issue, Soli Özel, the brilliant Turkish political scientist and Lasch devotee, takes Lasch’s measure for the current moment.
We follow with an interview I conducted with the Argentine journalist Juan Elman on the particularities of the Right in the Americas. (Juan wrote for The Ideas Letter several months ago after attending the CPAC conference in DC.) Our conversation zooms out on some of the themes he first addressed and looks comprehensively at the vitality of the region’s right-wing movements.
We are glad to also (and once again) feature the supple pen of Shanghai-based writer and analyst Jacob Dreyer. Jacob headed to Yunnan province to get a unique perspective on the country’s advancing soft infrastructure, and the ways in which AI might be a boon for China’s poorer and more far-flung provinces.
We kick off our curated section with a spirited essay from our close partner Africa is a Country and a good friend of The Ideas Letter, Sa’eed Husaini. He looks at the question of neoliberalism and its potential alternatives (or, alternatively, its recrudescence) in comparative perspective, which is necessary for a fuller appreciation of its continued power.
Featured Essays
What is The Ideas Letter
Welcome to The Ideas Letter, a publication that prizes the unconventional. We are not in the business of persuading. We won’t try to convince you of anything—other than that the world is complex and reality ever-shifting. We are not here to advocate. What you will find, and we hope embrace, are contributions from across ideological aisles, from a broad range of disciplines and a true cross-section of thinking. If catholicity is your métier, and you are uneasy with banging the drum but would rather hear its many sounds, this is the place for you.
We really like critique. Not the mean-spirited or spiteful kind, but rather commentary that raises tough questions, unpacks assumptions, sometimes calls people on the carpet, and always provides opportunity for discussion. That is what we are really after—facilitating, augmenting, furthering, and bolstering debate around issues of consequence.
You’ll find here articles, essays, and criticism that will challenge you to think. Let us know your thoughts, and make sure to tell a friend. Or even someone with whom you disagree!