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Jan-Werner Mueller

Jan-Werner Mueller

60 commentaries

Jan-Werner Mueller, Professor of Politics at Princeton University, is the author, most recently, of Democracy Rules (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021; Allen Lane, 2021).

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  1. When the Left Goes Far Right
    mueller55_Maja HitijGetty Images_bsw Maja Hitij/Getty Images

    When the Left Goes Far Right

    Nov 4, 2024 Jan-Werner Mueller considers what drives some politicians to reverse their political allegiances.

  2. Populism’s Lost Summer
    mueller54_CHRISTIAN MONTERROSAAFP via Getty Images_trump CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP via Getty Images

    Populism’s Lost Summer

    Aug 16, 2024 Jan-Werner Mueller explains how to defeat far-right, anti-democratic parties in the public square and at the ballot box.

  3. Why Macronism Failed
    mueller53_LUDOVIC MARINAFP via Getty Images_macron Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

    Why Macronism Failed

    Jul 1, 2024 Jan-Werner Mueller thinks a series of lucky breaks masked the essential incoherence of the French president's political project.

  4. The Enduring Influence of Europe’s Far Right
    mueller52_KENZO TRIBOUILLARDAFP via Getty Images_eu elections KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images

    The Enduring Influence of Europe’s Far Right

    Jun 7, 2024 Jan-Werner Mueller thinks these forces will not unite in the European Parliament but could successfully push their agenda.

  5. The Zombification of Political Parties
    mueller51_ David McNewGetty Images_gop trump David McNew/Getty Images

    The Zombification of Political Parties

    Mar 15, 2024 Jan-Werner Mueller argues that Donald Trump’s capture of the GOP’s organizational machinery recalls authoritarian tactics elsewhere.

  1. brown116_Timur MatahariGettyImages_indonesia_free_school_meals Timur Matahari/Getty Images

    School Meals Provide Food for Thought - and Fuel for Development

    Gordon Brown & Kevin Watkins tout universal nutrition programs in lower-income countries to mitigate a lost decade for poor children.
  2. karl3_Apu GomesGetty Images_LAfires Apu Gomes/Getty Images

    A House Gutted by Fire

    Terry Lynn Karl blames the inferno now consuming Los Angeles County squarely on greenhouse-gas emissions.
  3. op_janeway17_Natalya KosarevichGetty Images_moneyhandslightbulb Natalya Kosarevich/Getty Images

    False Economies

    William H. Janeway

    For decades, an efficiency-centered “economic style” has dominated public policy, overriding the concerns for fairness that animated the New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. Now, Americans must brace for economic governance that delivers neither efficiency nor fairness, only chaos.

    highlights the high cost of the single-minded focus on efficiency that has come to dominate the discipline.
  4. bq trump institutions Photo by Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images

    Can US Institutions Withstand Trump 2.0?

    While some observers doubt that US President-elect Donald Trump poses a grave threat to US democracy, others are bracing themselves for the destruction of the country’s constitutional order. With Trump’s inauguration just around the corner, we asked PS commentators how vulnerable US institutions really are.

  5. wagner31_Westend61Getty Images_climatependulum Westend61/Getty Images

    The Climate Policy Pendulum

    Gernot Wagner notes that green technologies retain their many advantages, regardless of national political developments.
  6. strain35_Christina HouseGettyImages_commencement_ceremony Christina House/Getty Images

    Could High-Skill Immigration Increase Under Trump?

    Michael R. Strain argues that the recent kerfuffle over foreign workers underscores the president-elect’s pragmatic instincts.
  7. posner38_Viktor SidorovGettyImages_un_flag Viktor Sidorov/Getty Images

    What Happened to International Law?

    Eric Posner sees the web of treaties, conventions, and institutions as another victim of the anti-globalization backlash.
  8. palacio165_Picture AllianceGettyImages_eu_flags Picture Alliance/Getty Images

    Europe’s Year of Fundamental Choices

    Ana Palacio considers the complex array of internal and external challenges the European Union must confront in 2025.
  9. coral1_Mandel NganGettyImages_us_supreme_court Mandel Ngan/Getty Images

    Texas’s Online Age-Verification Law Must Be Overturned

    Lilian Coral & Prem Trivedi urge the US Supreme Court to protect internet users from legislation posing new privacy and security risks.

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