It is April 1998 and lunch is almost over at the Al Kawakbi School. The “Chanting Period” has started, with the instructor leading, “Our president forever,” and the students and I replying, “The President Hafez al-Assad.” It was a hard notion to grapple as a child that one man would rule for his entire life. […]
Last September, director Ahmad Abdalla released his second feature film, Microphone, which received a warm reception from the international film community. The film was praised as a magnificent artistic achievement in a variety of international film festivals. In the aftermath of Egypt’s revolution the film provides valuable insight into Mubarak’s Egypt. The film follows the […]
We have all heard about them, the people who call themselves Occupiers. Some paint them as dirty, lazy, hippies who do not want to work. Others view them as average Americans rightfully upset at the state of America and American society. Are they really all homeless hippies? Or are they average Americans representing the 99 […]
Mainstream media and American political discourse have continually ignored the one-state solution as a viable option for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The concept has been dismissed as too radical, though its background points to a history older than Israel and is rooted in the basic tenets of democracy and justice. The more prominent […]
It can be easy to belittle the progress made by the political and social systems in Northern Ireland (NI) since the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998, but let there be no mistake that the headway being made in NI is remarkable. Despite this growth, the society remains segregated. The two principal groups are […]
The West enters the twenty-first century at a crossroads. Having long been the model for economic and political success, the aftereffects of the 2008 Great Recession have resulted in a world in which developing countries with emerging markets now have greater economic dynamism than years past, while old economic powerhouses are struggling to secure their […]
This is the first in a three-part series that will examine the historical foundations, current dynamics, and future prospects of the relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia in light of the recent allegations that the Iranian government attempted to assassinate a Saudi diplomat in the United States. This October, the attention of the world […]
Thirty years ago, an unprecedented number of children in Woburn, a community just north of Boston, were diagnosed with leukemia. This unfortunate incident sparked an environmental revolution of sorts, highlighted in the film A Civil Action. Although decades have passed in the cleanup through efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the site has yet […]
During last summer, the economy was teetering on the edge of collapse due in part to the question of whether or not the debt ceiling, a ninety-year-old government policy, would be raised before the United States hit its limit. The main theory propping up the continued use of the debt ceiling has been the belief […]
Corruption is a contested concept with its understanding connected to societal, cultural and governance norms and values. A shorthand definition of corruption, found in the Transparency International Plain Language Guide, defines it as: “The abuse of entrusted power for private gain.”[i] According to the World Bank, for policy purposes corruption can be best understood as: […]
