Guy Sorman
Guy Sorman, a French philosopher and economist, is the author of Economics Does Not Lie.
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2011-06-17
| The meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant has sent political aftershocks racing around the globe. More often than not, however, the shocks have been ideological, with no basis in science.... read |
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2011-03-28
| Marine Le Pen is seeking the same path to power for France's National Front as that traveled by far-right parties in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark, all of which first became “soft” populist parties. And President Nicolas Sarkozy may be helping her find it.... read |
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2010-11-08
| In mid-November, G-20 leaders convene for the first time in South Korea - a choice of venue that tacitly acknowledges the country's remarkable success in becoming an economic powerhouse and a vibrant democracy. Japan, with its stagnating economy, dithering politicians, and complacent workforce, should take note.... read |
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2010-10-08
| It is usually easier to see the beginning of something than the end of it. Born in 1945 in post-war Britain, the welfare state met its end in Britain this week, when British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s repudiated the concept of the “universal benefit,” the idea that everyone, not just the poor, should benefit from social protection.... read |
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2010-09-22
| Microsoft is the latest high-tech company to cast its lot with an authoritarian government in the name of maximizing profits. Capitalism, we must remember, is always a trade-off: we must live with unethical behavior by money-making corporations, which provide us with new tools that can be used by democratic activists and despots alike.... read |
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2010-07-19
| What makes Europe's desolate economic landscape even gloomier is European leaders’ striking inability to explain it to their citizens. Indeed, it seems that here lies the seminal reason for their plunging poll ratings: they seem to lead nowhere, because they have no vision on which to draw.... read |
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2010-04-01
| It is almost taken for granted nowadays that this is to be the “Asian Century,” marking an irreversible political/economic shift in global power from West to East. But the Asian Century is a myth: we have entered the first Global Century, which is such a new phenomenon that we cling to old concepts in order to describe our emerging world.... read |
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2010-02-02
| Justice in democratic countries is supposed to be independent, but some prosecutors and investigating magistrates conveniently forget this. Indeed many among them are deeply enmeshed in politics, pursuing agendas – and vendettas – of their own. ... read |
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2009-11-11
| No tumbrils have appeared in Paris’s Place de la Concorde, but something like a revolution is underway in France. Recent weeks have seen the trial of former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and the conviction of former Defense Minister Charles Pasqua – and now even former President Jacques Chirac has learned that he is not immune from prosecution. ... read |
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Japan’s Road to Harmonious Decline
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Guy Sorman 
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The recent electoral triumph of Yukio Hatoyama’s untested Democratic Party of Japan has confirmed the Japanese public's wish not to follow America’s free-market model. But, while the DPJ's victory reflects Hatoyama's understanding that most Japanese are willing to accept economic stagnation as the price of avoiding painful change, how long can Japan afford this sentiment?... read
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2008-04-28
| In an age when some Eastern countries are Westernized, non-Western groups live in supposedly Western countries, and some Western countries are not fully Westernized, "the West" can no longer be defined territorially. Instead, "the West" is a mindset defined by three fundamental traits: a passion for innovation, a capacity for self-criticism, and gender equality.... read |
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2009-01-28
| Hollywood history is often nonsensical, but filmmakers usually have the good sense not to whitewash killers and sadists. Steven Soderbergh’s new film about Che Guevara, however, does that, and more.... read |
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2008-01-31
| Many optimistic observers of China bet on a soft transition from despotism toward an open society. So why, then, has the Chinese Communist Party launched a wave of harsh repression against moderate, law-abiding activists?... read |
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2010-04-01
| It is almost taken for granted nowadays that this is to be the “Asian Century,” marking an irreversible political/economic shift in global power from West to East. But the Asian Century is a myth: we have entered the first Global Century, which is such a new phenomenon that we cling to old concepts in order to describe our emerging world.... read |
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2009-11-11
| No tumbrils have appeared in Paris’s Place de la Concorde, but something like a revolution is underway in France. Recent weeks have seen the trial of former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and the conviction of former Defense Minister Charles Pasqua – and now even former President Jacques Chirac has learned that he is not immune from prosecution. ... read |
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2010-07-19
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| What makes Europe's desolate economic landscape even gloomier is European leaders’ striking inability to explain it to their citizens. Indeed, it seems that here lies the seminal reason for their plunging poll ratings: they seem to lead nowhere, because they have no vision on which to draw.... read |
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2009-09-16
| The recent electoral triumph of Yukio Hatoyama’s untested Democratic Party of Japan has confirmed the Japanese public's wish not to follow America’s free-market model. But, while the DPJ's victory reflects Hatoyama's understanding that most Japanese are willing to accept economic stagnation as the price of avoiding painful change, how long can Japan afford this sentiment?... read |
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2010-10-08
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| It is usually easier to see the beginning of something than the end of it. Born in 1945 in post-war Britain, the welfare state met its end in Britain this week, when British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s repudiated the concept of the “universal benefit,” the idea that everyone, not just the poor, should benefit from social protection.... read |
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2008-09-19
| Fifty years ago this week, General Charles de Gaulle seized power in France in what was a virtual legal coup d’etat. The regime he established, with its virtually unconstrained presidential powers and weak parliament, has served as an example to the world's despots ever since.... read |
2010-02-02