As I write this, the ultimate outcome of the revolutionary fervor sweeping the Arab world has yet to reach a clear outcome. But from Mauritania to Oman, a clear tide of political, economic, and social discontent has swept regimes long presumed invulnerable to such forces. Most observers, if asked to pick a Middle Eastern state liable to revolution, would have [...]
by Darina Shtrakhman East or West? Turkey has been debating this question as long as it has been a country, perhaps even since the Ottoman era a century earlier. After World War II, Turkey made a name for itself by maintaining a secular democracy in a predominantly Muslim country — an impressive straddling of Middle Eastern and Western values which has [...]
by Mihir Garud It took just 18 days for one of the most entrenched leaders in the Middle East, Hosni Mubarak, to be forced out of power. Despotic leaders from around the region are feeling the pressure that revolutions may be inevitable. Leaders in Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Bahrain, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are struggling to prevent their countries from losing [...]
With autocratic, dictatorial regimes falling left and right in the Arab world, one might anticipate a few demonstrations by the oppressed in other corners of the globe. North Koreans in particular have been receiving news of the uprisings via leaflets flown in by balloon from the South. “A dictatorial regime is destined to collapse,” they claim. Sadly, so long as [...]
by Ben Wofford It was a classic budget showdown. Invigorated by a resounding off-year election and emboldened by his perceived political mandate, a young politician stepped into his newly-won executive office and initiated a staring contest with public sector unions. With his government facing a considerable deficit—let’s just say a number followed by a ‘b’—municipal unions and their generous pension [...]
by Brian Collopy Hopping on the underground train that connects the offices for Congressmen in the House of Representatives to the Capitol building flashing an ID and wandering around restricted areas, I found myself thinking that I had a pretty good job. During the summer of 2010, I interned for a congressman on Capitol Hill, learning how things actually get [...]
by Graham White The prevailing trend in American history has been one toward the further democratization of our republic. Virtually every aspect of how we choose our leaders has been modified since the ratification of the Constitution well over two centuries ago. The arrival of secret ballots, the vast expansion of suffrage, the 17th amendment, and the introduction of ballot [...]
by Greg Kurzhals “Disappointed, disillusioned, and in some cases, downright disgusted.” This was the alliterative description used in an October 2010 article by CBS anchor/commentator Katie Couric to characterize the prevailing attitudes among what is perhaps America’s most misunderstood voting demographic: independents. While self-professed independent voters have always played a relevant role in American politics (one need only recall Ross [...]
by Lauren Harding Our nation is a nation of dissenters. From our dear Mr. Franklin and his co-Founders breaking from British rule during the Revolution to South Carolina’s secession from the North during the Civil War, dissenters have shaped American history. Yet dissent need not be monumental, as Americans critique our government in varying degrees, from chastising blogs to protesting [...]
Art by Laura Paragano In the 1983 classic WarGames, Mathew Broderick, playing a young hacker named David Lightman, unintentionally infiltrates a military supercomputer. Believing he is playing a computer game, Lightman unwittingly causes a military supercomputer to simulate a nuclear war and nearly sets off World War III. The potential for the military and government’s reliance on computers has long [...]
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