History As It Happens

We might need a new lexicon to describe the threats to liberal democracy. At a time when some notable scholars are referencing the 1930s -- the decade of Hitler and Mussolini -- to argue that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, to name two, are fascists, historian Roger Griffin contends fascism is too malleable and unhelpful a concept. Today's autocrats and wannabe authoritarians do not fit into a single category or share the same political ideology. Rather, Griffin argues, nationalistic leaders, many of them democratically elected, are rejecting liberalism and humanism by bending their nation-states in on themselves. What should we call this? Incurvation.

The origins of the populist backlash against free trade and Wall Street hegemony may be traced to the excessively optimistic 1990s when breaking down trade barriers with Mexico and China was seen as essential to America's long-term prosperity. The decade also saw figures such as Bob Rubin and Alan Greenspan exert their influence to deregulate financial markets, putting ideological faith in banks and hedge funds to regulate themselves, and in the potential of technological innovation to solve societal problems. In this episode, labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein discusses his important new book, "A Fabulous Failure," which charts the Clinton administration's drift away from outdated policies of New Deal, Keynesian liberalism to a neoliberal order prioritizing the free flow of capital, open markets, the decline of labor power, and smaller government. Was the Clinton boom built on sand?

Taiwanese voters handed the Democratic Progressive Party an unprecedented third consecutive presidential term in the face of Chinese intimidation. The party is promising to defend Taiwan's autonomy, rebuffing Beijing's claims of sovereignty. The election had global implications, too, as The Washington Times reporter Andrew Salmon and U.S. Institute of Peace senior expert Carla Freeman discuss in this episode. At a time when democracy is said to be in retreat, Taiwan's ruling party says it will stand up against the forces of authoritarianism.

In Yemen a rebel movement of Shia Islamists has been firing missiles at commercial shipping in the Red Sea, provoking several rounds of U.S. airstrikes in retaliation. Few Americans know much about the Houthis, who go by the formal name of Ansar Allah or "Defenders of God." The Houthis seized control of Sana'a in 2014, leading to years of catastrophic war once Saudia Arabia intervened to try to restore the ousted government. Today, this relatively small militia is disrupting global shipping, as cargo ships have been forced to avoid the strait at the mouth of the Red Sea on the way to the Suez Canal. In this episode, Eurasia Group analyst Gregory Brew discusses the Houthis' motives and the impact of their missile attacks on the geopolitics of the region.

In the face of government repression and censorship, a number of brave Chinese citizens -- some are activists, others ordinary folks -- are using basic technologies to disseminate the truth about the country's history. Since taking power in 2013, President Xi Jinping outlawed criticism of Mao and rewrote China's modern history to erase the Communist Party's sordid record from the Great Leap Forward to Tiananmen Square and beyond. In this episode, journalist Ian Johnson discusses how the "underground historians" are fighting for China's future by accurately portraying the past.

Before Gaza became synonymous with poverty and human misery, the area was a thriving commercial hub and a crossroads for the armies of empires. Before it became the much smaller Gaza Strip and a seedbed of Palestinian nationalism, it was home to 80,000 Arabs and of little interest to Zionists. But since the middle of the 20th century, Gaza's Arab inhabitants -- the great majority refugees from the violence that brought the independent state of Israel into being -- have been cut off from the greater region. In this episode, eminent historian Jean-Pierre Filiu explores the origins of today's war and its continuities with the past. By his count, there have been 15 wars between Israel and the Arabs of Gaza since 1948. Over the past 75 years, each time Israeli leaders have sought a solution to the problem of Gaza they failed to fulfill Palestinian national aspirations. The result was a cycle of violence spanning generations. Read Jean-Pierre Filiu's essay about Gaza in Foreign Affairs here.

In a major campaign speech to start 2024, President Joseph Biden likened the remarks of his likely November opponent to the rhetoric of Adolph Hitler. "He talks about the blood of America is being poisoned, echoing the same exact language used in Nazi Germany," said Mr. Biden from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. In fact, Donald Trump has warned his supporters at rallies that immigrants poison the country's blood, and he also recently referred to his political opponents as "vermin." But does likening Trump to the Nazi dictator clarify or confuse? Can Americans understand the challenges to their democratic system by studying 1930s Europe and the rise of fascism? In this episode, esteemed Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov of Brown University dives into the debate over whether Donald Trump poses a unique threat to American democracy, and whether comparisons to Hitler work.

In 1968 the antiwar left punished Vice President Hubert Humphrey for supporting his boss Lyndon Johnson's war in Vietnam. Many young activists either withheld their votes from or gave reluctant support to the Democrat who ultimately lost to Richard Nixon. Then Nixon prolonged the Vietnam War four more years. The distinguished Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin says young leftists today who are considering not voting for President Joe Biden because he refuses to chastise Israel for the war in Gaza, may want to absorb the lesson of '68 or risk helping Donald Trump return to the White House. Kazin, who was a self-described radical in the 1960s, explores the parallels between '68 and the 2024 election cycle with a focus on the genuine dilemma faced by the antiwar left.

President Joseph R. Biden will begin 2024 managing the same commitments and crises that defined his foreign policy in 2023. In both Ukraine and Israel, as well as in the Indo-Pacific, Mr. Biden tied U.S. power and influence to his global crusade against rising autocracy. But as he runs for re-election, the president must balance his time and energy between, on the one hand, managing the U.S. role in foreign wars of questionable popularity and, on the other, tending to pressing domestic issues such as high prices and border chaos. In this episode, The Washington Times' national security team leader Guy Taylor and military and foreign affairs correspondent Ben Wolfgang look ahead to the fourth year of Mr. Biden's foreign policy agenda.

This is the second of two episodes looking back on the major events of 2023. Our year in review continues with historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel. As professional scholars, they share their perspectives on the controversy involving free speech and antisemitism on college campuses. They also look ahead to the presidential election of 2024 for which there appear no obvious parallels in U.S. history. The two historians and host Martin Di Caro conclude by sharing their favorite moments of 2023 as well as their thoughts on the importance of historical thinking.