Politics Books

Is basic income a viable policy that changes everything? Matthew Johnson, Professor of Public Policy at Northumbria University, and other members of the 'Common Sense Policy Group' think so. He introduces us to the political philosophy behind basic income, how it works, and some of its potential outcomes.

From a book based on the actual love letters a British prime minister sent to his mistress in the run-up to World War I, to a fantastical tale that takes its cue from the Epic of Gilgamesh, there's a wide variety of novels to choose from on the shortlist of this year's Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. The comments are from the judging panel, chaired this year by British novelist Jim Crace.

From conspiracy theories wreaking havoc in US politics to poignant memoirs of painful events around the globe, the books shortlisted for the 2025 Orwell Prizes, the UK's most prestigious awards for writing about politics, have been announced. These are the eight books shortlisted for the 'Orwell Prize for Political Writing,' awarded annually to a nonfiction book. The comments are from the judging panel, chaired by UK diplomat and former ambassador to the US Kim Darroch.

Even some of the world's most authoritarian rulers continue to pay lip service to democracy and people's right to vote for their leaders, but the days when many social scientists believed that all countries at a certain level of prosperity would eventually turn to liberal democracy are over, says Francis Fukuyama, now a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute. Here, he recommends books to better understand liberal democracy, and what those of us lucky enough to live in one can do to protect our form of government.

Anthropologists look for cultural and political currents reflected in everyday behaviours, says Ruben Andersson, the Oxford academic and author of a new book about the contemporary obsession with self-protection, Age of Security. Here, he recommends five anthropology books that have influenced his work and writing—and reflects on the difficulties of recognising patterns in our own thinking.

The Orwell Prizes are the UK's most prestigious prizes for writing about politics, awarded annually to books and articles that best meet George Orwell's own ambition "to make political writing into an art." The nonfiction books that made the 2024 shortlist ranged from evolution to political philosophy, from memoir to the Middle East.

Around the world, democracies are struggling with angry populations who are fed up with politicians who don't seem to represent them effectively. Fortunately, there's an alternative. Hugh Pope—a veteran reporter on the Middle East who also spent 15 years working for International Crisis Group—introduces us to the growing movement for 'citizens' assemblies', where ordinary people get together to decide what's best for the community. He argues that these assemblies have already been used effectively on important issues that are difficult for politicians to tackle and reveals how the French president, Emmanuel Macron, came to find out about them.

After a tumultuous year in politics, 'populism' is on everybody's lips. But what is it? Is it good or bad for democracy? How is it that populist movements often have superrich leaders? Political scientist and longtime populism observer Cas Mudde recommends the best books on populism.

Our political systems evolved in an era when information was much harder to come by. What challenges does our current reality of information overload pose for democracy? How do we even start thinking about these questions? Political scientist Henry Farrell proposes key books for building a curriculum on 'the politics of information,' starting with a beautifully written novel.

The first half of the 20th century was an era when individuals could have a huge impact on the course of history—whether for good or bad, argues political scientist Michael Mandelbaum. He recommends the best biographies to read about the eight world leaders who feature in his latest book, The Titans of the Twentieth Century, from Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) to Mao Zedong (1893-1976).