In our first forum of 2016, Jedediah Purdy accepts that there is no longer a nature independent of human meddling—so how then, he asks, do we make that condition more democratic? Alisa Reznick reports on how clean water is being used as a weapon in Syria's civil war, and David G. Victor questions whether university divestment from fossil fuels really brings us closer to a greener future. In an arresting personal essay, Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey reports on an experiment in the humane raising and butchering of pigs. Also, Nick Bromell asks whether we should enshrine dignity as a critical democratic right, Robert Archambeau reviews two new collections from Charles Simic, and more. Join us in the New Nature!

Paul Bloom leads a forum discussion on why we crave luxury goods. Martin O'Neill writes about what the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn means for the future of the Radical Left. Jenny Hendrix reviews Sven Birkerts's new book on the perils of "smart" devices, and Nathan Robinson warns that bad forensic science is ruining criminal justice. Plus, Cathy Park Hong announces the winner of our annual poetry contest, Safiya Sinclair.

Our 40th anniversary issue. Ira Katznelson leads a forum on the Anxieties of Democracy. Peter Godfrey-Smith reviews Charles Taylor and Hubert Dreyfus's Retrieving Realism. Judith Levine profiles Ellen Willis. Mike Konczal shows how bureaucracy expands our liberties. Poems by Anne Carson, Jorie Graham, Charles Simic, and others.

Peter Singer leads the forum on the logic of effective altruism. Daron Acemoglu, Angus Deaton, Paul Brest, Larissa MacFarquhar, and others respond. Plus: Stephen Steinberg on the Moynihan Report at 50; Claude Fischer writes about the problem with David Brooks; Vivian Gornick reviews Susan Neiman's Why Grow Up?; and essays on Mary Jo Bang and Fred Moten.

K. Sabeel Rahman leads a forum on regulating the growing power of Internet companies. Juliet Schor, Dean Baker, Mike Konczal, and others respond. Jess Row on American cynicism as a (white) lifestyle; Katie Peterson on Jorie Graham; Meghan O'Gieblyn reviews Jon Ronson's So You've Been Publicly Shamed; Dave Byrne on Lead Belly.

John Bowen leads a forum on France After Charlie Hebdo. Arthur Goldhammer, Joan Wallach Scott, Haroon Moghul, and others respond. Jessa Crispin writes on the incorporation of victimhood into women's identities; Randall Kennedy warns against the legacy of black power revisionism; Claude Fischer on political correctness. Plus, new poems by Jorie Graham and Yusef Komunyakaa.

Ferguson won't change anything. What will? Glenn Loury leads the forum, with responses from Doug Henwood, Danielle Allen, and others. Elsewhere in the issue: Steven Shapin on whether science makes you good, Samuel Moyn on the origins of liberalism, Amy Dean profiles Richard Trumka, and Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig on affirmative consent laws.

Paul Hockenos on a group of young anarchists in East Berlin. Plus: Henry Farrell on Ireland's Cold War; Mike Konczal on public goods, profits, and state legitimacy; Vivian Gornick on the state of contemporary feminism; Stephen Phelan after Scotland's Independence Referendum.