Will Donald Trump Make ‘1984’ Seem Like a Nursery Tale?

By Tom Engelhardt / TomDispatch Dec 26, 2016 I suspect we're about to have the screw-you presidency of all time, far surpassing George Orwell's vision. And believe me, that will prove to be dystopian beyond compare -- or do I mean beyond despair? Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

Trump in the White House: An Interview With Noam Chomsky

By C.J. Polychroniou / Truthout Nov 14, 2016 Chomsky warned years ago that the US was ripe for the rise of an authoritarian Now he speaks about the election, the state of the U political system and the threat Donald Trump poses to the world. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

The Media Buy In to Donald Trump’s Authoritarian America

Bill Boyarsky / Truthdig Feb 22, 2016 Now that he has bullied his way into the mainstream, it’s time for the media to take a serious look at his policies and the dreadful consequences they would have if he occupied the Oval Office. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

VIDEO: ‘Stunning’: Turkish President Erdogan Tightens Grip in Election Amid Violence and Fear

Staff / Truthdig Nov 2, 2015 Turkey’s Islamist Justice and Development Party has regained its parliamentary majority, helping President Erdogan strengthen a hold on power that critics say has become increasingly authoritarian and divisive. Patrick Cockburn, The Independent’s Middle East correspondent, comments. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

VIDEO: Youth in Authoritarian Times: Challenging Neoliberalism’s Politics of Disposability

By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout Oct 23, 2015 A kind of infantilism now shapes daily life as adults take on the role of unthinking children while children are subject to a range of disciplinary pressures that saddle them with debt and cripple their ability to be imaginative. Dig deeper ( 25 Min. Read )

The Plague of American Authoritarianism

By Henry A. Giroux, CounterPunch Aug 24, 2015 It is too easy to believe in a binary logic that categorizes a country as either strictly authoritarian or strictly democratic, and leaves no room for the possibility of a mixture of the two. American politics today suggests a more updated if not different form of authoritarianism. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

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 )