Gunar Olsen

PhD student in Jurisprudence & Social Policy at @BerkeleyLaw. Writing on US foreign policy in @jacobin @damagemagazine @newrepublic @thenation.

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

The economic logic of capitalism enabled the West to weather the storm of the 1970s shocks far better than the Soviet model did for the East. My review in @damagemagazine of @fritz_bartel’s tremendous structural account of the end of the Cold War:
https://t.co/jlaZO3ryeg

[Nick French @nickfrenchnyc]

The socialist project is more complicated than just making a working class “in itself” into a working class “for itself.” Yet understanding objective class interests remains essential.

My latest for Left Notes: https://t.co/JGK2vRupaB

[Broadbent Institute @broadbent]

Read and watch @sunraysunray's full lecture: https://t.co/iwtcyy99sA

& see photos from the event at @arts_tmu: https://t.co/mKdi8JRYEZ

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

Great piece

[Damage Magazine @damagemag]

Can’t it be that the victims of hyper-globalization are both the immigrants and the native-born?

Dustin Guastella argues that while immigration is the toughest issue for the Left to solve, the future depends on it.

https://t.co/psvENwJmsZ

[Bhaskar Sunkara @sunraysunray]

I did a surprisingly long @voxdotcom interview with @EricLevitz about Zohran's victory and, looking to the future, what the economics of a feasible socialism AFTER capitalism could look like.

Appreciate being able to go so deep on markets and planning! https://t.co/8WrdCfZXBO

[LPE Blog @LPEblog]

Today, @mddimick argues that while antitrust may promise to tame corporate power, it leaves untouched the deeper logic of capitalism that compels production for profit’s sake.

The latest in our mini-series on Marxism and Antitrust.

https://t.co/XctrjZEuRJ

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

"Any abstract claim for or against checks and balances cannot be sustained. Their value must be judged relative to specific, historically given social relations." @mddimick in @form_legal: https://t.co/fAs2IdT3PW

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

Luxemburg v Bukharin

[Jacobin @jacobin]

Mainstream economics argues that the tax system is the best tool for reducing economic inequality. In fact, “predistributive” measures like minimum wages and collective bargaining can be equally or more effective. https://t.co/6fKtzMEKB1

[LPE Blog @LPEblog]

Today, @mddimick explains why one of the most famous arguments against predistribution fails on its own terms.

https://t.co/qW9MAFnHVv

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

“The problem with this approach for the Left is that most politically active people are embedded in institutions that do not become progressively more accountable to a popular working-class base.”

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

One of my favorite things I’ve read in a long time. Phenomenal essay ⁦@classreductress⁩ https://t.co/6AxhHxd8Ti

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

“It is more likely that one will try to rationalize one’s political activity as having spillover or trickle-down effects, developing a theory of political action that places oneself as close to power as possible. Thus hyperpolitics is a way of doing politics just where one is…

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

Congratulations @mddimick!

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

@colinbodayle @ope_sec Ya he lays out that full argument here: https://t.co/PePKnpOfiO

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

https://t.co/R2Kup6t2Bj

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

Like South Africa, the Houthis are showing the world what Palestine solidarity looks like. The many attempts by Beltway folks to belittle this solidarity are moral failures and obstacles to justice. My latest for @newrepublic: https://t.co/wkwQvGGBG2

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

In 1976 British IMF crisis, “US and West German policymakers insisted on budget cuts not bc they adhered to the neoliberal intellectual revolution, but rather bc they viewed neoliberalism as the best means of waging the Cold War in the mid-1970s.” https://t.co/0vFZnnIpFR

[Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy @catalyst_theory]

The new issue of Catalyst is out now.

In our lead article, Vivek Chibber examines radical theorists’ abandonment of materialism over the past quarter century and offers both an elaboration and a defense of materialist analysis.

Get a $20 introductory subscription: https://t.co/vluDTHgCLW

[Stephen Wertheim @stephenwertheim]

Biden and Harris ran for president as candidates of the system, right down to campaigning with Dick Cheney’s daughter, Liz.

As Democrats reckon with the future of their party, foreign policy must be part of the reckoning.

My thoughts in @guardian:

https://t.co/jiPwVF0vbb

[Gunar Olsen @GunarOlsen]

It’s really this simple.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.

While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.

And they’re right.