The Thinking Line

Gao Feng, China's Special Representative for Arctic Affairs

The Thinking Line

How Obsession with China Warps U.S. Arctic Policy

U.S. Arctic policy has fallen prey to anti-China paranoia, distorting research, silencing dissent, and turning cooperation into confrontation.

By

Barry Scott Zellen

16 Min Read

The Rise of Illiberalism: A Threat to Liberal Democracy

Illiberalism: Protest against Poland’s Law and Justice Party during the 2020 abortion ruling protests. Demonstrators challenge illiberal restrictions on women’s rights. Photo by Jakub Chlebda

The Thinking Line

15 Min Read

How Neoliberalism Reshaped Democracy After 1989

The Fall of the Berlin Wall marked not only the end of the Cold War, but the beginning of a new era in which neoliberalism reshaped the foundations of European democracy.

The Thinking Line

15 Min Read

Is Law Still Written in Stone? Rethinking Legal Semiotics

Sculpture of a seated woman holding a book and a small figure of Justice, representing thoughtful interpretation of law outside the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Thinking Line

11 Min Read

Are Ukrainian Refugees Still Welcome in America?

Protest in support of Ukrainian refugees in front of the White House, Washington, D.C.

The Thinking Line

8 Min Read

Is Violence Shaped More by Place—or by Perception?

Is Violence Shaped More by Place—or by Perception?

The Thinking Line

15 Min Read

Why NATO’s Arctic Expansion Is Now Backfiring

Royal Marines conduct an Arctic beach assault during NATO’s Cold Response exercise in Harstad, Norway

The Thinking Line

16 Min Read

Why Is Studying Philosophy Still Vital in the Age of AI?

Philosophy_ Socrates statue

The Thinking Line

7 Min Read

Why Political Identity Feels Like Moral Faith Today

When political identity adopts the symbols of faith, allegiance becomes sacred and opposition heretical.

The Thinking Line

7 Min Read

Who Defines Hate Speech? Law, Platforms, and Political Power

Members of the American Life League, a conservative Catholic organization, protest comedian Bill Maher for allegedly promoting anti-religious speech. The call to 'Stop Hate Speech'—here used against secular criticism—illustrates how the term has become a tool claimed across ideological lines, shaped less by content than by contested moral frameworks.

The Thinking Line

8 Min Read

Can Democracy Survive Normative Artificial Intelligence?

Visualizing Normative AI: When algorithms don't just calculate but prescribe, democracy must reckon with code as a silent legislator.

The Thinking Line

7 Min Read

The Return of the Enemy: Carl Schmitt in 2025

Carl Schmitt en Plettenberg, en 1978.Wolfgang Haut

The Thinking Line

7 Min Read

Why ‘Ideology’ Has Become a Weapon Once Again

Ideology_Calgary Women's March.

The Thinking Line

7 Min Read

Selected Works in Social Sciences and Humanities

The Book Curator

Laureate Picks

Enslaved People _Cover-of-the-book-Patchwork-Freedoms_Law-Slavery-and-Race-beyond-Cubas-Plantations-by-Adriana-Chira

Patchwork Freedoms: How Enslaved People Won Their Rights

cover of The Creole Archipelago: Race and Borders in the Colonial Caribbean

Rethinking Colonial Caribbean History

Colonialism-Cover of the book Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects

3 Ways Colonialism Shaped Modern Inequality

Cover of the book Resisting-Change-in-Suburbia

Asian Immigration and the Myth of Suburban Stability

Cover of the Book Laboratories against Democracy-National Politics

How U.S. States Became Battlegrounds for National Politics

Cover of the book Winners and Losers. The Psychology of Foreign Trade

Why Public Opinion on Trade Is Not Just About Economics