The Independent Review

The term polemic is derived from the Greek noun polemos, meaning “war,” and the Greek adjective polemikos, meaning “warlike” or “hostile.” A polemic is conventionally viewed as contentious, disputative, or combative rhetoric, the intent of which is t

In a democratic society perhaps the most vital nondiscrimination principle which has to be entrenched is that majorities shall have no power to enrich themselves through government at the expense of minorities.—W. H. Hutt, “South Africa’s Salvation i

From Lenin through the Brezhnev era, Western examinations of Russo-Soviet interpretations of the work of John Maynard Keynes provided a lens by which to understand Russian economic thought and policy (Lange 1945; Zauberman 1949–50; Meek 1959; Turner

“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.” So says The Analects of Confucius. Which is why the argument set forth by Michael C. Munger and Mario Villarreal-Diaz in an article in a recent issue of The Independen

Forty-seven years ago, in 1975, Peter Singer published Animal Liberation, the book largely responsible for initiating the animal rights movement. On a theoretical level, Singer argued that the interests of sentient animals deserve consideration equal

By John G. Matsusaka Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. xii, 298. $29.95 hardcover. The resurgence of populism in recent years has generated a great deal of attention from academics and the media. Much of the discussion focuses on

By Pascal Salin Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2020. Pp. vii, 213. $115 hardcover. Although Tax Tyranny was published in the Elgar series New Thinking in Political Economy, it is actually the edited version of L’arbitraire fiscal, Pascal Salin’s hig

By Marcus M. Witcher Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2019. Pp. xi, 428. $39.95 hardcover. What is “conservatism”? Which U.S. president do “conservatives” most admire? For many people, the answer to the second question is “Ronald Reagan.” For mo

By Michele Alacevich New York: Columbia University Press, 2021. Pp. xvi, 332. $35 hardcover. Albert Hirschman (1915–2012) was the noneconomists’ favorite economist. That title might have gone to John Kenneth Galbraith for intellectuals in the 1950s a