World History

States seek to perpetuate themselves by seizing more control of capital and human beings. Size makes this easier. And every regime would become a mega-state like China or the US if it could.

Smaller countries have often been shown to perform better than large countries in terms of overall income and in economic growth. Also, their populations often enjoy more healthy and safe social environments.

The Edge of Democracy, a new Oscar-nominated documentary about Brazil, gets even basic facts wrong in pushing the idea that Brazil's corrupt and socialist politicians were the saviors of Brazilian democracy.

After very quickly becoming an advanced economy, South Korea is experiencing declining growth and labor productivity. The culprit, as usual, is government intervention in the market to favor certain interests.

Terrence Malick's new film about conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter is a subtle film. But perhaps too much so, and we need to look deeper to understand why this one man so vehemently resisted the Nazi state at the cost of his own life.

Entrepreneurs are the reason consumers have come to expect new gains and innovations in products and services every year. Without entrepreneurs, we'd still be using rotary phones.

Stephen Halbrook's book documents the efforts of a totalitarian regime to disarm its citizens.

If Chileans are concerned about inequality, real solutions are likely to be found in combating the central bank and other anti-market institutions.

Nothing short of an economic exorcism is needed in Zimbabwe. Looking at what President Mnangagwa has done so far, it doesn’t seem that Zimbabwe is actually serious about making tough reforms.

The totalitarian ethos of the twentieth century, whether in the “mixed” version of the Hindenburg Program or the Bolshevik version of Lenin and Stalin, emerges from the will of individuals who propose to control their fellows.