Study: Democracy Declining in More Than Half of U.N. Member States

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 26, 2015 A new report released by a long-established civil rights advocacy group says democracy is waning and authoritarianism is on the rise in more than 96 of the 193 states that belong to the United Nations. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Orwell, Huxley and America’s Plunge Into Authoritarianism

By Henry A. Giroux, CounterPunch Jun 21, 2015 In spite of their differing perceptions, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley both argued that the established democracies of the West were quickly foreclosing the promise of liberal democracy and entering a space where totalitarianism perverts the modern ideals of justice, freedom and political emancipation. Dig deeper ( 30 Min. Read )

Authoritarianism, Class Warfare and the Advance of Neoliberal Austerity Policies

By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout Jan 11, 2015 Capitalism has learned to create host organisms and in the current historical conjuncture one of those organisms is young people. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

The Specter of Authoritarianism and the Politics of the ‘Deep State’

By Henry A. Giroux, Ragazine Mar 2, 2014 I am not quite sure what to say about Mike Lofgren’s essay published at Moyers & Company, because while I agree with much of it in pointing to the anti-democratic tendencies undermining democracy in the U.S., I find the language too constrained and the absences too disturbing. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

Hope in the Age of Looming Authoritarianism

By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout Dec 5, 2013 The relentless activity of thoughtlessness -- worship of celebrity culture, a cravenly mainstream media, instrumentalism, militarism or free-roaming individualism -- undermines crucial social bonds and expands the alleged virtue of believing that thinking is a burden. Dig deeper ( 26 Min. Read )

The Ghost of Authoritarianism in the Age of the Shutdown

By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout Oct 19, 2013 The threat of authoritarianism to democracy is alive and well in the United States, and its presence can be felt in the historical conditions leading up to the partial government shutdown and the refusal on the part of the new extremists to raise the debt ceiling. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Challenging Casino Capitalism and Authoritarian Politics in the Age of Disposability

By Henry A. Giroux, Monthly Review Press Jun 27, 2013 Neoliberalism's ideology of competition strips schools of their civic and democratic project and hands them over to the logic of the market, helping to put authoritarianism, not democracy, on the rise in the United States in the twenty-first century. Dig deeper ( 25 Min. Read )

Turkish Leader: Protesters Are ‘Extremists Running Wild’

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 1, 2013 Thousands of Turks demonstrated for a second day in Istanbul against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom they see as becoming increasingly authoritarian. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Russian Punkers Are Convicted

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 17, 2012 A Moscow judge has convicted three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot of hooliganism in a verdict that amounts to a defense of the Russian Orthodox Church’s apparent right to be shielded from criticism within its own walls. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Zombie Politics: Dangerous Authoritarianism or Shrinking Democracy – Part II

By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout May 4, 2012 It is difficult to imagine how a society in which a financial elite and megacorporations control almost every aspect of politics could possibly be mistaken for a democracy. Dig deeper ( 18 Min. Read )

Kim Jong Un: New Leader of North Korea

Tom Janssen, Cagle Cartoons, The Netherlands Dec 23, 2011 Dig deeper

A Peek at Henry A. Giroux’s ‘Education and the Crisis of Public Values’

Staff / Truthdig Oct 1, 2011 "We are more than a nation in decline; we are a nation moving toward the bittersweet simplisms, policies and values of a new form of authoritarianism," writes Henry Giroux, in an article adapted from his new book on America's shift away from democratic values toward a rigid, market-driven uniformity. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )