From Trump to global populism, political upheaval has dominated our lives this year. Here are our top ten political stories from 2017.


The President's House Is Empty
by Bonnie Honig

Opting out, as Trump threatened to do with the White House, is a neoliberal habit. But the democratic experiment involves living cheek by jowl with others.

Despair Is Not an Option
Bernie Sanders in conversation with Archon Fung

“Our job, ultimately, is to be involved in the political process in every way possible.”

What Did Cedric Robinson Mean by Racial Capitalism
by Robin D. G. Kelley

Today’s insurgent black movements against state violence and mass incarceration are indebted to the work of Cedric Robinson.

The Mythical Whiteness of Trump Country
by Elizabeth Catte

J. D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy has been held up as a guidebook for understanding the 2016 election, but his logic is rooted in a dangerous myth about Appalachia.

America's Imperial Unraveling
by Aslı U. Bâli and Aziz Rana

The United States remains the preeminent economic and military power in the world, yet it has embarked on a project to dismantle its own hegemony.

What Totalitarianism Looks Like
by Christopher Lebron

Every American should be asking what, exactly, does it take to make America not great. The answer is on the news every hour of every day.

An Open Letter from Guam to America
by Victoria-Lola M. Leon Guerrero

On becoming the collateral damage of American warmongering.

No Eulogy for the Living
by Miguel Syjuco

There is a vital difference between popular opinion and democracy. Authoritarianism has always benefited from confusing the two.

Mourning in America
by Peter E. Gordon

The transformation of the world can never be anything more than a melancholic bet.

The Putin Problem
by Thomas Graham and Rajan Menon

If Russia and the United States wish to avoid a rupture, to say nothing of a military confrontation, engagement leavened by realism is the best alternative.