Heather Cox Richardson on Democracy in Agony

“Look at me! I’m reading the Economist! Did you know Indonesia is ‘at a crossroads’?”

Ever since Homer Simpson developed a split-second interest in Indonesia in 2004, the “crossroads” conceit seems to have been banished from jet-set magazines. Just as well. The image, which suggests that a nation’s history is as legible and linear as a road map, has long…