Top 5: Is Democracy still the best political system?

Also: the Big Quit

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The White House at Christmas. Image credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters.

The Top 5 articles for your week:

1. “What Biden’s Democracy Summit Is Missing” (Foreign Policy Magazine)

   Because Hélène Landemore argues that the President’s forthcoming Democracy Summit is an opportunity to talk about *why* democracy continues to be the best political system.

2. “Three Myths of the Great Resignation” (The Atlantic)

   Because, like many big news stories, Derek Thompson argues the narrative around the “Big Quit” is a mischaracterization of what is really going on with labor in the US.

3. “Why Is There So Much Judgment About How We Feed Our Kids?” (NYT)

   Because this interview, and the research supports it, gets at the ways economic insecurity affects how we feed our kids in obvious ways (what can be afforded) and less obvious ways (“There was so much that Julie had at her disposal that could make her feel like a good mom that saying ‘no’ to food was not as emotionally distressing. Julie didn’t really wonder if, by saying ‘no,’ she was depriving her kids or they were going without.”)

4. “Xi Jinping’s New World Order” (Foreign Affairs)

   Because this article is a good exercise in imagining a world where the United States is not at the center — whether that reality becomes true or not.

5. “The Black exodus that’s changing politics” (Politico Magazine)

   Because Politico has a new series on the second Great Migration happening, and this particular article focuses on Chicago and the aftermath of large declines in the Black populations of the 10 cities with the most Black residents. Last week, the Top 5 included an article on Black neighborhoods.