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From the archives

American Judge

The normal is gone

The Trust Spiral

Restoring faith in the media

Lax Americana

What happens if Donald Trump returns to the White House?

Ron Hikel

Ron Hikel has worked with political parties in the United States, England, and Canada.

Articles by
Ron Hikel

Life of the Parties

A political history October 2020
Not so long ago, parties were the dominant engines of the political process in many democracies. They identified, recruited, trained, and nominated suitable candidates, then helped finance and organize campaigns for public office. This process was brilliantly analyzed decades ago by the French scholar Maurice Duverger, who described parties as “transmission belts.” More recently, after the 2008 Democratic primaries in the United…

Missing in Action

When people turn their backs on public office October 2019
George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 begins, “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” Listen very closely: the political clocks are striking thirteen again. Voters are making strange choices. Governments on both sides of the Atlantic are gridlocked, unable to solve or even address major social problems, some of which they are themselves…