By Jan Servaes BRUSSELS | 18 July 2026 (IDN) — Traditional American historiography is often criticised for presenting simplistic, one-dimensional portraits of historical figures and events, thereby concealing complex realities and controversial aspects. Traditional historiography therefore tends to gloss over events and the broader struggle of marginalised groups, and to glorify a select few key […]
In Search of More ‘Participatory’, ‘Deliberative’, and ‘Egalitarian’ Forms of Democracy
By Jan Servaes BRUSSELS | 8 July 2026 (IDN) — For the average global citizen, the level of democracy today has regressed to that of 1978. This means that all the democratic gains of the so-called ‘third wave of democratization’—which began with Portugal’s Carnation Revolution in 1974—have either vanished or been significantly eroded. This is […]
How Books Can Save Democracy
By Jan Servaes MIAMI | 12 June 2026 (IDN) — It is well known that American democracy is in crisis. American society is more polarised than ever before. “We are being strategically driven apart by disinformation – the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth,” argues Barbara McQuade, a professor at the University of Michigan […]
Skyward Haven: A Thoughtful Novel for an Uncertain Age
By Jaya Ramachandran NEW YORK | 7 June 2026 (IDN) — Every generation produces books that capture the anxieties of its time. Some do so through realism, others through satire, and still others through speculative imagination. Skyward Haven belongs firmly in the latter category. Yet unlike many works of speculative fiction that rely on dramatic […]
Has the Democratic Party Lost Its Way Regarding Russia and China?
By Jan Servaes MIAMI | 6 May 2026 (IDN) — Anyone visiting a reputable U.S. bookstore today in search of an analysis of the position the United States occupies on the global stage under President Trump will immediately spot the hefty 534-page tome: Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder by Michael McFaul. […]
A ‘Wake-Up Call’ for U.S. Democracy
By Jan Servaes MIAMI | 28 May 2026 (IDN) — The weekend preceding Memorial Day (observed on the last Monday of May) is not only the time when Americans host their first barbecue of the summer season, but also when—during religious services, parades, and speeches—they commemorate those who have fallen in all American wars. In local […]
The rediscovery of America from within
By Jan Servaes MIAMI | 10 July 2025 (IDN) — In 2019, The New York Times published “The 1619 Project” by Nikole Hannah-Jones. Four centuries after African captives arrived on the Virginia coast, this project reshaped America’s origin story, centering on slavery and the contributions of African Americans. An updated version appeared in 2021 and […]
The End of Democracy?
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS | 24 April 2025 (IDN) — The Trump administration is rapidly destroying American democracy. In previous contributions, based on the writings of Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, we have already warned about this. Recently, professors Jennifer McCoy (of Georgia State University), Rachel Beatty Riedl and Kenneth Roberts (of Cornell […]
When Are You Going to Get a Proper Job?
By Azu Ishiekwene* ABUJA, Nigeria | 4 April 2025 (IDN) — He didn’t say when his father asked him, but I wonder what the old man must think in his grave. Jonathan Power is now 83 and arguably one of Europe’s most widely published columnists. He was a young freelance journalist when his father asked […]
The Impact of Afrikaner Identity and Apartheid Ideology
By Jan Servaes BRUSSELS | 3 April 2025 (IDN) — Although the names of Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, or other (South African) ‘tech billionaires’ are not mentioned anywhere in Eric Louw’s “Afrikaner Identity: From Anticolonial Struggle Through Hegemonic Nationalism to Disempowered Minority,” this book offers an excellent introduction to understanding the ideology and some of […]