U.K.'s Labour Party Sweeps To Power In Historic Landslide | NPR News Now

To understand the pressures on democracy in the 21st century, it’s important to understand what modern democracy is and where it came from. In The Origins of Political Order, political economist Francis Fukuyama explores the development of political systems from prehistory to the eve of the American and French revolutions in order to show how and why modern democracies evolved.

Fukuyama argues that a stable democratic society requires three components: a strong state, the rule of law, and accountability. In this guide, we’ll explore each of these components in detail and show, for example, how Chinese bureaucracy created the first modern state and how local English legal disputes eventually led to democracy. Along the way, we’ll build on, update, and sometimes challenge Fukuyama’s claims by referring to other works of political theory such as Sapiens, Humankind, and How Democracies Die.

Does the end of Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign also signal the end of the British monarchy as an institution? What role can an inherited, ceremonial figurehead play in today’s modern world? Turns out: maybe an important one.

A Promised Land is Barack Obama’s memoir of his early political career and the first two years of his presidency. Obama takes us on his journey from relative obscurity as a biracial kid from Hawaii to becoming a transformative figure as the nation’s first African-American president. At every step of his career, Obama was guided by a deep faith in the fundamental unity of Americans; the potential and promise of America; the necessity of compromise and seeking common ground; and above all, the power of the democratic system to heal our divisions and effect real change for ordinary people.

In Florida, Hurricane Ian left behind over 100 deaths and $60 billion in damage, making it the costliest hurricane in the state’s history. Its longest-lasting effects will be financial: insurance bankruptcies, premium increases, financial ruin for many homeowners, and quite possibly, a downturn in the housing market. Florida’s insurance market was already in crisis—premiums have long been expensive and insurers are unreliable. Many homeowners thus opted out of flood coverage and are now facing catastrophic costs.

A Promised Land is Barack Obama’s memoir of his early political career and the first two years of his presidency. Obama takes us on his journey from relative obscurity as a biracial kid from Hawaii to becoming a transformative figure as the nation’s first African-American president. At every step of his career, Obama was guided by a deep faith in the fundamental unity of Americans; the potential and promise of America; the necessity of compromise and seeking common ground; and above all, the power of the democratic system to heal our divisions and effect real change for ordinary people.

A record-breaking storm hit California in early February 2024, causing widespread flooding in major cities. Researchers predict that as global temperatures continue to rise, California will experience more intense storms with increased dry spells between them, creating challenges for water managers to maintain adequate supply year-round.

Though the U.S. economy has grown at a healthy clip in 2021, signs point to a slowdown. Much of this is simply the plateauing of the surge of post-lockdown growth, but there are also specific challenges facing the country. Slow-burning problems like the continued spread of the Delta variant, the ongoing labor shortage, supply chain disruptions, inflation, surging energy prices, and an overvalued stock market will depress growth heading into 2022. The possibility also looms of a sudden, acute shock—such as the potential collapse of the Chinese real estate market, should its largest property developer, Evergrande, default on its $300 billion of debt.

Despite predictions of a labor market slump, the US economy demonstrated resilience and diversity at the start of 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January. The robust January jobs report, encompassing a broader array of industries than in 2023, paints a promising picture for continued economic growth.

Coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the US economy. But the looming threats of automation, inflation, and a fundamentally unequal global economic structure threaten to undermine the recovery and doom the world to years of depression.