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| Locked Down for More than 18 Months |
I haven't been away from this space quite that long, but it sure feels like it. There are lots of reasons for that, most of which I can blame on Twitter. It's not as if I've had nothing to say. It's just that I've always wanted this space to be about things that would stand up well over time. Indeed, part of the reason I started this blog in the first place was to flesh out some think
ing in a space that wasn't limited to a short newspaper op-ed (readership there is declining there anyway), but was less formalized than academic publishing (with a different set of narrow readership problems).
I'm going to do my best to return to this space and use it as I originally intended; flesh out some half-baked ideas, throw a few ideational grenades, and perhaps push a button or two in the process. More importantly, I want to use this space for some free expression. Ideas, and the speech that conveys them, are under assault. I've never been more worried about the tendency to silence free expression around the world. And no, I'm not just talking about the obvious thuggery being practiced among usual suspects like Russia, Hungary, Venezuela, or China. Indeed, I see worrisome signs in liberal democracies that civil liberties are increasingly seen as contingent, nice things to have, but not exactly necessities for achieving prosperous, peaceful, and equitable societies. I disagree.
My IPE course is different every year I teach it. For the past few years, it was the socio-economic earthquake that brought us Brexit and Donald Trump in 2016. Before that, Greek debt, Irish banking, or mortgage back securities provided endless opportunities to flesh out concepts against real-world examples. This year, and for several to come, it will be the global fallout from SARS-CoV-2. The implications everywhere have already been profound, but as they reverberate around the world. In July of this year, The Economist noted that pandemics have historically resulted in three profound outcomes for the world; first, a significant expansion of state power; second, a broad search for meaning following the trauma; and third, an explosion of audacity once the crisis has faded. Two of the three are fundamental to IPE. But the search for meaning is not inconsequential to the degree it alters economic activity.
ing in a space that wasn't limited to a short newspaper op-ed (readership there is declining there anyway), but was less formalized than academic publishing (with a different set of narrow readership problems).
The past 18 months have been trying, to say the least. Every glimmer of optimism that I see at the end of the tunnel seems to be snatched back from us at the very moment it appears. I reviewed the last several posts in this space from Spring 2020, was both pleased and alarmed by how well they've stood the test of time. It made for depressing reading. I wish I'd been wrong about more things.
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| Not So Disposable |
My thinking during the course of the pandemic has been radicalized by a lot of what I've seen unfold in the last two years. I've become even more entrenched in classical liberal thought. It leaves me on an isolated intellectual and ideological island; there aren't many factions these days who support vaccines but are skeptical of nearly all other interventions. 
Sadly, the political right and left in many countries (including the United States) have lost their way. Both have become a confused mush of incoherent ideas, angrily bouncing around their respective echo chambers. The last 18 months have given me plenty of fodder to work with in the years ahead. I am looking forward to teaching, writing, and arguing about all of this.
Let's end this blog post with a word about teaching. I'm really looking forward to being in the classroom again this fall. Zoom was horrible for everyone. I'm not thrilled that being on campus is still going to be a bizarre experience for everyone given the evolving kaleidoscope of measures we'll be contending with. However, it's our collective response to SARS-CoV-2 that has inspired some of what I plan to do in the classroom this fall.
In the fall of 2019, I hatched a new seminar on "authoritarianism," which I wrote about here. The inspiration for that design of that course was Donald Trump. The Trump Presidency will loom large in the 2021 edition--the January 6th riots at the U.S. Capitol--, but so too will our response to SARS-CoV-2.
My IPE course is different every year I teach it. For the past few years, it was the socio-economic earthquake that brought us Brexit and Donald Trump in 2016. Before that, Greek debt, Irish banking, or mortgage back securities provided endless opportunities to flesh out concepts against real-world examples. This year, and for several to come, it will be the global fallout from SARS-CoV-2. The implications everywhere have already been profound, but as they reverberate around the world. In July of this year, The Economist noted that pandemics have historically resulted in three profound outcomes for the world; first, a significant expansion of state power; second, a broad search for meaning following the trauma; and third, an explosion of audacity once the crisis has faded. Two of the three are fundamental to IPE. But the search for meaning is not inconsequential to the degree it alters economic activity.
I'm looking forward to being around people and talking about it all....
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