Dispatches from the Culture Wars

As we survey the landscape of war today, it has become truer than ever that hot wars are a consequence of culture wars, especially as they unfold on college campuses. Universities have become central to a system that privileges expert opinion over popular rule in all areas of our society: the social sciences train the professionals that go on to manage the lives of the uncredentialed, while the humanities develop the perspectives that justify this form of managerial rule. In this issue of Telos, we consider how today’s culture wars over universities will shape our global future.

Introduction
David Pan

Perspectives on China

“Oriental Despotism,” Meritocracy, and the Fate of the Global New Class
Adam K. Webb

Russians as a “Warrior Nation”: The Formation of a Stereotype in China
Xue Ranran, Alexandra Bocharova, Alexander Lukin, and Olga Puzanova

Intellectual Freedom in the Academy

DEI in the Globalizing University
Mark G. E. Kelly

Academic Freedom in the Absence of Tenure: Global Lessons from the Australian Experience
Salvatore Babones

Engaging the Other Side: Techniques for Mitigating Resistance to Discourse within the Academy
Emma Baillie

The Need for Academic Freedom as an Enforceable Legal Right in Australia
Katy Barnett and Bill Swannie

Academic Freedom in New Zealand
James Kierstead, Michael Johnston, Stephanie Martin, and Max Salmon

The University in the Age of Trump

From Cultural Policing to Culture War: Donald Trump, the Woke War, and Academic Freedom
Salvatore Babones

Back to the Future: Trump, DEI, and Accelerationism
Mark G. E. Kelly

Barbarism by Any Other Name: Eliminating the NEA and NEH
Jay A. Gupta

Trump’s New “Golden Age” for America: “This is going to be great television”
Timothy W. Luke

Limiting Academic Freedom to Protect Freedom of Speech
David Pan