Prior to the 1990s, defense contracting looked very different than it does today. During the Vietnam War, Korean War, and Cold War, the building of arms remained in the hands of multiple smaller defense contracting companies. By the end of the Cold War as U.S military spending reached over $325 billion annually, lawmakers began to […]
Seventeen years ago, the 2008 Debt Crisis brought Greece to its knees, pushing unemployment above 27 percent and shrinking the economy by a quarter. With three relief packages totaling 289 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU), the country faced a difficult road to recovery. Finally, Greece has begun to […]
Conflict is the world’s greatest threat to stability. As multilateral institutions atrophy and hegemonic powers embrace militarism, small and middle powers (SMPs) must navigate a precarious future. Yet, the dissolution of unipolarity also presents opportunities for SMPs to lead diplomatic innovation by leveraging strategic coalitions with civil society and with each other. Should these states […]
The United States is confronting a disturbing reality: the criminal legal system has become one of the most consequential forces determining who survives long enough to grow old. New evidence shows that the greatest threats to Black Americans’ life expectancy are not solely medical, but structural. Where policing, incarceration, and environmental injustice converge, premature death […]
Introduction In March of 2015, following the death of Michael Brown and the subsequent uproar surrounding his death, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) conducted an extensive investigation into the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department. At the conclusion of their investigation, the DOJ released a 102-page report, citing several instances of racial bias among police […]
Uber drivers don’t get unemployment insurance, but doesn’t mean no one pays. When the pandemic hit, thousands of gig workers found themselves without rides, without support, and without answers. Platforms like Uber and Lyft insisted that drivers were independent contractors, not employees, and therefore not eligible for state unemployment benefits. In response, many states shuffled […]
Kneecap has emerged as a pioneer in Irish-language rap, producing caustic political satire with playful, punchy bilingual lyricism. Their tracks inject new life into Gaelige, one of Europe’s oldest languages, challenging sanitized depictions of Irish culture with gritty lived realities of post-Troubles youth. Once marginalized through centuries of colonial suppression, the Irish language is often […]
Wrongful convictions demonstrate one of the most apparent signs of injustice in the United States. A wrongful conviction occurs when someone is found guilty of a crime they did not commit, often after being targeted in ways that are shaped by systemic bias. For African Americans, wrongful convictions are not rare accidents; they instead happen […]
In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson declared that the United States’ duty as a leader on the global stage was to “make the world safe for democracy.” His bold vision set a powerful precedent for US intervention globally while defining an era in which the United States could position itself as a moral force in international […]
In 2020, police departments across the US deployed widespread militarized response in light of the nation-wide Black Lives Matter protests. Policing in the US has become increasingly militarized, with the War on Drugs serving as a major catalyst. The War on Drugs, a government-led initiative to fight illegal drug distribution and use, led to policy […]
