INVENIRE

Photograph by Andrew Harnik / AP / Shutterstock In liberal democracies, voters have become sceptical of the archetypal career politician. In Germany, the resignation of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has held the role since 2005, has caused a mutiny amongst supporters of her centre-right Christian Democratic Union party. Voters who remained loyal to the CDU due to Merkel's personality are uninspired by the incoming leader of the party, Armin Laschet, and CDU polling figures have fallen accordingly. Laschet is widely regarded to be a career politician, having held public office since 1994, and is generally characterised as "boring". In the United States, famously, voters rejected Hillary Clinton, a woman who had served as Senator and Secretary of State, in favour of a man with no prior political experience; in fact, many voters cited Trump's lack of political experience as the reason they were attracted to his campaign. Both Germany and the United States are prosperou...

1066 is widely regarded to be the most consequential year in the histories of England and Britain. The death of the heirless Edward the Confessor created a crisis of succession, resulting in numerous claimants to the English throne. The eventual coronation of William I resulted in a new dynasty of English kings, significant changes to the English language, and a novel government. Every schoolchild in England knows about the events of that year, and if asked to retell them, would likely recount the story portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. These two contemporary articles constitute the vast majority of our evidence for this period and therefore much of what children are taught about the creation of modern England is from documents that fall far shorts of what we might consider "reliable" today. Historians today look critically at the Bayeux Tapestry. Given that it was commissioned by the half-brother of William I, Bishop Odo, one might suspect that ...

Both conservatives and leftists should be cautious of the Biden administration, albeit for different reasons.  When Bernie Sanders conceded the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party was angry. On two consecutive occasions, the firebrand Senator for Vermont was ousted by an "establishment pick". Sanders, the left-wing populist, had run on the promises of Medicare for All; an end to corporate-funded political campaigns; a free four-year university education for all; and a radical response to the climate crisis - all to be funded by new taxes on a favourite target of his: "the billionaire class." Joe Biden was a stark disappointment.  For months, many of Sanders' supporters expressed a refusal to support the candidacy of Biden,  with many believing him to not be radical enough.  Urged on by the centrist wing of the party, many of them, albeit reluctantly,  backed Biden,  largely motivated by fears of a second Tru...

Although Britain had defeated the Axis Powers in the Second World War, the country was falling from its status as the world’s sole economic power; 1945 was the second consecutive year that GDP per capita had fallen. Influenced by economists like William Beveridge and John Maynard Keynes, British economic policy operated under the guidance of what is referred to as the Post-War Consensus. From the end of the Second World War until the election of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government, British politicians from both major political parties agreed to establish Britain as a social democracy. A key element of the Post-War Consensus was its proposition of nationalisation as a method to increase output and to make utilities more available to the British people. Nationalisation, although well-intentioned, was the leading cause of the decline of the British coal industry, and therefore lead to increased energy dependence on other nations. Between 1945 and 1951, Clement Attlee’s Labour go...

When Thatcher assumed Downing Street in 1979, a revolution of sorts had occurred in British politics. For more than three decades, British politicians had committed themselves to a post-war economic consensus: Keynesian economics, state ownership of key industries, strong trade unions, and progressive taxation. After the perceived economic failures of the Callaghan-formed government, which culminated in the Winter of Discontent, Thatcher’s promise to curb trade union power and rein in inflation resonated with British voters. It is important to recognise that Thatcher’s platform was an economic one. Of the five points that headed the Conservative Party’s 1979 manifesto, one pertained to economic growth, one pertained to inflation and the trade unions, and one pertained to streamlining social welfare provisions.   Margaret Thatcher presented herself as an economic saviour, and given Britain’s state at the time, it is easy to see why this was appealing. Between October 1978 and Octobe...

Undoing the work of the previous President is far from uncommon in American politics.  Therefore, it shocked no political observer when Biden authorised executive orders intended to stop the construction of the infamous southern border wall or to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. On the 24th of February, the Biden administration issued its 34th executive order so far, entitled, "Revocation of Certain Presidential Actions". This action gave orders for the repeal of seven Trump-era actions, ranging in subject from the operation of government agencies to economic reforms. One of the actions repealed, however, concerned the architectural style of federal buildings.  The Trump order, enacted in the final days of his presidency, provided guidelines as to the style in which civic buildings must be built. Given that the executive order option empowers a President to act without popular approval, it would be convenient for a President to keep the order short: a few sentences might suff...

Despite the fall of the Western Roman Empire to invading tribes, the Eastern Roman Empire, later called the Byzantine Empire, flourished for nearly a millennium after. The longevity of the Byzantine Empire can be attributed to Constantinople, and the reforms of the Emperor Justinian. The city of Constantinople gave the Byzantine Empire stable rule, made the Empire a formidable military power, and created immense wealth; moreover, the city’s architecture imparted an invaluable Greco-Roman identity onto the Byzantine Empire, uniting its citizens, and enabling the empire to survive on. On the other hand, the reforms of Justinian created a fair, orderly society that discouraged separatism and increased contentment amongst the people of the Byzantine Empire. The foremost reason that the Byzantine Empire survived so long was the physical situation of its capital. As a result of the imminent collapse of Rome, Constantine decided to move the seat of Roman power to a new city. He identified th...