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Ian Buruma

Ian Buruma

Writing for PS since 2001
222 commentaries

Ian Buruma is the author of numerous books, including Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance, Year Zero: A History of 1945, A Tokyo Romance: A Memoir, The Churchill Complex: The Curse of Being Special, From Winston and FDR to Trump and Brexit, The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II, and, most recently, Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah (Yale University Press, 2024).

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  1. Who Will Lead the Democratic World?
    buruma224_WPA PoolGettyImages_europe_summit WPA Pool/Getty Images

    Who Will Lead the Democratic World?

    Mar 5, 2025 Ian Buruma thinks the onus of defending our political freedoms will be on two countries that once tried to destroy them.

  2. Ian Buruma on Gaza, Trump, authoritarianism, and more
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    Ian Buruma on Gaza, Trump, authoritarianism, and more

    Feb 25, 2025 Ian Buruma says there is no chance US democracy will emerge from Donald Trump’s second administration unscathed, explains why the left is losing the culture war in the US and Europe, touts the enduring importance of the humanities, and more.

  3. Breaking US Democracy Beyond Repair
    buruma222_Anna MoneymakerGettyImages_donald_trump_cross Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    Breaking US Democracy Beyond Repair

    Feb 5, 2025 Ian Buruma warns that Donald Trump’s efforts to tear down America’s “civic religion” will be difficult to reverse.

  4. Ukraine’s Existential Culture War
    buruma221_DIMITAR DILKOFFAFP via Getty Images_ukrainerussiastatues Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images

    Ukraine’s Existential Culture War

    Jan 7, 2025 Ian Buruma thinks the country is justified in banning Russian art, even though it runs counter to humanist principles.

  5. Truth or Trumpian Consequences
    buruma220_Chip SomodevillaGetty Images_trumpjournalists Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    Truth or Trumpian Consequences

    Dec 13, 2024 Ian Buruma warns American liberals not to double down on ideological posturing in response to fear of authoritarianism.

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  1. wallach2_Frederic J. BrownGettyImages_us_port Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images
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    What Trump’s Tariff Critics Are Getting Wrong

    Lori Wallach laments the Democratic Party’s misguided criticism of a potentially effective policy tool.
  2. palacio167_Picture AllianceGettyImages_hydrogen_pipeline_germany Picture Alliance/Getty Images
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    Europe’s Security Depends on a European Energy Union

    Ana Palacio advocates a pragmatic approach to reviving the EU’s competitiveness and bolstering its strategic autonomy.
  3. kalemliozcan5_Burak KaraGettyImages_istanbul_protests Burak Kara/Getty Images
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    Authoritarianism Is Turkey’s Biggest Economic Risk

    Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan

    More than just a popular mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu is a national symbol of the political pluralism and democratic possibility that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sought to quash. Given the precarious state of the Turkish economy, his sudden arrest and imprisonment may prove to be the last straw.

     believes the current mass protests are about more than the arrest of the country’s leading opposition figure.
  4. lee55_TANG CHHIN SOTHYAFP via Getty Images_asean+3 Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images
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    Asia Must Unite to Survive Trump 2.0

    Lee Jong-Wha highlights ways the region's economies can boost their resilience and global influence.
  5. gabriel15_Justin Tallis - WPA PoolGetty Images_EUcoalitionofthewilling Justin Tallis/WPA/Pool/Getty Images
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    Europe and the Next World Order

    Sigmar Gabriel & Peter Eitel observe that the continent has once again become the fulcrum of global politics.
  6. hausmann121_Artur WidakNurPhoto via Getty Images_applestoreasia Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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    Trump’s $16 Trillion Trade Blind Spot

    Ricardo Hausmann identifies the fundamental flaw in the administration’s efforts to dismantle the postwar international order.
  7. roach176_Morris MacMatzenGettyImages_hamburg_port Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images
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    A World Turned Inside Out

    Stephen S. Roach

    The geostrategic shock that has accompanied Donald Trump’s return to the White House is the functional equivalent of a full-blown crisis. It is likely to have a lasting impact on the US and Chinese economies, and the contagion is almost certain to spread throughout the world through cross-border trade and capital flows.

     likens Donald Trump’s reversal of America’s global leadership role to a full-blown crisis, similar to COVID-19.
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    Jorge Heine on the BRICS, active non-alignment, the US dollar, and more

    Jorge Heine urges the Organization of American States to demonstrate leadership in Haiti, shows how small countries can implement a foreign policy based on active non-alignment, calls on China and Europe to diversify the global monetary system, and more.
  9. fengler4_SIMON MAINAAFP via Getty Images_africadigitalbank Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images
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    Financial Inclusion Must Reach the Last Billion

    Wolfgang Fengler explains why economic growth alone is not enough to extend the ladder of opportunity to all.

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