On October 7, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a speech at the Pnyx in Athens, one of the most historically significant locations associated with ancient Greek democracy. Standing near the Acropolis, he reflected on the foundations of Western civilization, the achievements of the ancient Greeks, and the historical responsibilities of nations that have inherited their intellectual and political traditions. He emphasized the importance of national sovereignty, cultural confidence, and the willingness of free societies to defend their institutions and historical inheritance.
Continue readingAuthor: William Wang
Scarcity Cannot Be Eliminated by Decree: Housing, Rent Controls, and the Politics of Supply
Housing has become one of the most politically charged economic issues in Spain. Rising rents, the difficulty of finding available apartments, and the increasingly delayed transition of many young people into independent living generate understandable frustration. When access to an essential good becomes difficult, the temptation quickly arises to identify a visible culprit: landlords, property platforms, investment funds, speculators, or simply “the market.”
Continue readingZhao Ziyang, Zhu Rongji, and the Limits of the Chinese Market Reform under the Communist Party Rule
The death of former mainland Chinese premier Zhu Rongji on August 12 has renewed discussion of his economic legacy. Zhu, who served as premier from 1998 to 2003 after previously overseeing much of mainland China’s economic policy as vice premier, was one of the principal architects of the market-oriented reforms of the 1990s. He restructured state-owned enterprises, strengthened the central government’s fiscal capacity, promoted housing reform, and used mainland China’s accession to the World Trade Organization as a means of exposing domestic firms to greater competition.
Continue readingWhen Democracies Get It Wrong: Political Correction, Presidential Judgment, and an Uncertain World
The international environment of 2026 has forced governments to reconsider assumptions that seemed relatively comfortable only a few years ago. The continuing war in Ukraine, the U.S. operation in Venezuela, the war involving the United States, Israel, and the Iranian regime, severe disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and renewed arguments over European defense have all changed how political leaders evaluate power, credibility, and risk. These events are interconnected not because they form part of a single conflict, but because every government watches what happens elsewhere and updates its expectations about what allies and adversaries are willing and able to do.
Continue readingExtremism, Interventionism, and Political Polarization
One of the least productive habits in contemporary politics is the assumption that criticizing one political party automatically means supporting its principal opponent. In Spain, criticism of the PSOE is frequently interpreted as evidence that one must therefore support the Partido Popular or Vox. The same binary reasoning increasingly appears elsewhere: if one criticizes the progressive left, one must be “far right”; if one criticizes Donald Trump, one must belong to the left.
Continue readingThe Hidden Costs of Europe’s Energy Transition: Cheap Generation Is Not the Same as Cheap Electricity
Europe’s energy transition is usually described through a relatively simple set of numbers: how many solar panels have been installed, how much wind capacity has been added, how quickly emissions are falling, and how much fossil-fuel consumption has been displaced. These indicators matter. But they do not tell us whether the transition is economically well designed.
Continue readingFrom Marxist Materialism to a Material Measure of Progress
It would nevertheless be too easy to say that mainland China’s consumer materialism has nothing to do with Marxism simply because Marx himself criticized commodity fetishism. Marxist historical materialism and consumer materialism are conceptually different, but ideas also matter through the political institutions and policy priorities constructed from them.
Continue readingFrom the Alps to the Mediterranean: Cities, Institutions, and the Long Course of European History
Travel becomes much more interesting to me when a city is not treated simply as a collection of landmarks. A cathedral is also evidence of religious institutions, accumulated capital, technology, and political authority. A medieval city gate tells us something about security and collective organization. A stock exchange reveals another stage in the development of commerce. Even the location of a city may help explain why it became wealthy, politically important, or repeatedly contested. Seen this way, traveling through Europe can become a form of reading history in physical space.
Continue readingPolitical Correctness: Voluntary Respect or Politically Enforced Conformity?
Political correctness has become one of the most controversial concepts in contemporary Western societies. Ironically, much of the debate begins before any substantive discussion even starts, because people rarely agree on what the term actually means.
Continue readingPolicy Should Come Before Party
Recently, someone asked me why I’m willing to discuss politicians, public policy, and even my informal opinions about political figures in the classroom, yet I rarely post those views on Facebook or X.
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