Is U.S. President Joe Biden too focused on defending democracy, as some observers have claimed recently? One can argue that the Biden administration is too maximalist in its aims, even to the point of trying to do too much. But is it truly due to a hyper-focus on the defense of democracy, both at home and abroad?
Whether Russia in Ukraine or Iran in the Middle East, authoritarian regimes flexing their military muscles can generate a sense of irresistible momentum that fuels anxiety among more open societies. Yet if one looks at how both these regimes are coping with social change, what initially seems unstoppable begins to look less ominous.
The ICJ’s middle-ground provisional ruling on whether Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza was not surprising given the specific difficulties of proving genocide. Still, to point out that the ruling falls short of what either party might have wanted would be to miss its wider implications that go far beyond the Gaza conflict.
