So If You're In Cambridge, MA on a Tuesday Night...

An in-person event!

Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash

Gentle readers, if you:

1. Reside in the Greater Boston area;

2. Like going to book author events;

3. Are concerned about the health of the democratic body politic; and

4. Really want to meet the hard-working staff here at Drezner’s World…

Might I suggest heading over to the Harvard Bookstore at around 7 PM this evening — Tuesday, July 16th? There is an event featuring Vox’s Zack Beauchamp. He has written a new book, The Reactionary Spirit: How America's Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept the World.

Here’s how the Harvard Bookstore is describing the event:

Harvard Book Store welcomes ZACK BEAUCHAMP—senior correspondent at Vox and former host of Vox's Worldly podcast—for a discussion of his new book The Reactionary Spirit: How America's Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept the World. He will be joined in conversation by DANIEL W. DREZNER—distinguished professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

That’s right, I’m taking that “distinguished” label out for a spin!

This event will primarily be about Beauchamp’s argument, with the occasional question from me. Here’s the synopsis for The Reactionary Spirit:

There is a fundamental contradiction at the heart of American politics that has endured since our nation’s birth. The defining ideals of democracy and liberty for everyone have always existed uneasily alongside realities of slavery, widespread disenfranchisement, and other grave impediments to true democracy. How has this paradox survived for so long in the face of America’s foundational claim of liberty and justice for all?

In The Reactionary Spirit, Zack Beauchamp explains that this tension is in fact an example of a phenomenon intrinsic to the project of democracy, what he calls the reactionary spirit: as strides towards true democracy are made, there is always a faction that reacts by seeking to undermine them and thereby resist change. The adoption of democratic rhetoric cleverly belies authoritarian ends—a development that is increasingly prevalent today, both at home and abroad.

Brilliantly combining political history and reportage, Beauchamp reveals how the United States was the birthplace of this strange and harrowing authoritarian style, and why we’re now seeing its evolution in diverse nations including Hungary, Israel, and India. These countries in turn provide blueprints for the reactionary spirit domestically, as with Florida governor Ron DeSantis taking pages from Hungarian president Viktor Orbán’s anti-LGBT legislative playbook.

The Reactionary Spirit paints a vivid, alarming picture that illuminates not only what’s happening to democracy globally, but also what we must do to protect it—while we still can.

A lot of stuff has happened since Beauchamp finished writing his book — hell, a lot has happened since I finished reading Beauchamp’s book last week! The point is, it should be a rollicking conversation.

Also, spoiler alert: his book serves up a plausibly hopeful conclusion about our democratic future.

Hope to see you there!