Paul Starr

The sources of moral anguish are entirely different, and some on each side may reject — and even resent — the comparison. But as Catholics confront a sex-abuse scandal in the Church and Jews agonize over events in Israel, there are striking parallels between the moral crises the two groups are experiencing. A central question […]

If Israel and the Palestinians cannot make peace with each other, what should the United States and the rest of the world do? Merely offering to mediate may not be enough. The descent into savage violence in recent weeks is not just another episode in a long -running dispute; it is a turn toward outright […]

History seems to have cheated us out of the freedom from anxiety we expected after the Cold War ended. When the Soviet Union collapsed, no power on earth appeared capable of threatening our security. And for a decade, until September 11, we enjoyed the happy illusion that we had safely arrived in a future that […]

It is not much more than a year since the 2000 presidential election was finally decided, but it seems like an eternity. The Republicans have now accomplished what they were unable to achieve at the polls: They have gained decisive control of the national debate and virtually locked their agenda in place for years to […]

Wartime generates violations of civil liberties.Wartime justifies restrictions of civil liberties. So we have heard sinceSeptember 11 from people variously trying to explain or to defenddepartures from standing protections of individual rights. A historicalperspective suggests, however, that we have reason for vigilance but notfor resignation about liberty’s fate–and at this point no grounds forbelieving doom […]

While the rise of electronic commerce excites visions of a new economy, the Internet continues to produce explosive growth in free, public communication. The sheer scale and variety of the electronic public domain are staggering, but the promise is not simply an information cornucopia. Despite all its problems, the Internet has the potential […]

The new technology may not only make progressive educational ideas more appealing; it may also help them work.

“If something is defined as real, it is real,” goes a common dictum of thesocial sciences. The passive voice, however, conceals an uncertainty: Defined bywhom? What if, for example, two antagonists define their conflict in opposing ways? As American forces strike in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden and theTaliban say this is a religious war–a view […]

Political parties rarely make deep changes in their societies by winning a single election. Once in power they generally need to reinforce their support, repeat their triumphs at the polls, and so change the terms of politics that even their opponents adjust their positions. That is what Margaret Thatcher did, and Tony Blair may be […]