The Culture of Silence Inundating India

Content warning: This article discusses sexual assault and violence against women.    After the 2012 Delhi gang rape, the world shuddered at India’s inability to swiftly prosecute the attackers. Finally, in May 2017, four out of the five perpetrators were sentenced to death.  Their punishment has yet to be carried out.  More sexual assault cases […]

Unmasking Peronismo: Juan Perón’s Legacy on Argentina

October 27 marked an important day for the people of Argentina, as the country voted for a new president. Alberto Fernández, a center-left politician, triumphed over the incumbent, Mauricio Macri—a center-right politician. This election came at a pivotal time for Argentina’s politics and, more importantly, its economy. Argentina’s economic crisis spans decades, but the current […]

Universities in the United States have become an Economic and Social Trap

The United States’ higher education system is often cited as the best in the world. Since its conception with Harvard University in 1636, it has ballooned to over four thousand universities and colleges. College degrees in the US have become viewed as a tool for economic prosperity and social mobility. As the economy has changed, […]

Censorship and Self-Censorship: China and the NBA

Illustration by Ellie Strayer “Tank Man”—the photo of a man defiantly standing in front of four advancing tanks during the Tiananmen Square massacre 30 years ago—is one of the most iconic photographs of the twentieth century. Search for it in the United States and Google returns millions of hits. Search for it on the Chinese […]

(Back)stop it: The Role of the Irish Border Problem in Brexit

During the 2016 Brexit referendum, Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union (EU) with 56 percent of the vote, but the United Kingdom (UK) as a whole voted to leave, with 52 percent of the vote.  While the Irish border problem was not a talking point in the initial Brexit debate, it quickly […]

Is Enough Enough?—Farmers’ Dilemma Heading Into 2020

As America heads into another presidential election, trade relations with China continue to be a complicated issue. Just recently, Chinese officials canceled planned visits with US farmers in Montana and Nebraska. This was a surprise, as the White House had announced hours prior that they would temporarily spare more than 400 Chinese products from tariffs. […]

Why Americans Don’t Vote

Though the United States has a slight obsession with installing democratic governments across the globe, American democracy is consistently one of the least active among developed countries. In the 2016 presidential election, only 55.6 percent of citizens in the voting-age population cast a ballot. Turnout has been between fifty-two and sixty-three percent in every presidential […]

Re-Examining Japan’s North Korea Strategy—What Can Be Done?

On October 3, North Korea launched a missile into the Sea of Japan. It was the eleventh missile test this year, and the first one launched from a submarine. Japan claimed that the missile landed in its exclusive economic zone—an area two hundred nautical miles around the island.  In response, Japan’s Self Defense Force (SDF) […]

Corn (Not Coal) is Destroying the Environment

As the Iowa caucus steadily approaches, Democratic primary candidates are eager to demonstrate their support for rural America, promising to bolster industries that have yet to shift jobs overseas. In Iowa, the largest of these industries is ethanol, a biofuel made from the closest thing Iowa has to gold: corn. Ethanol is a biofuel made […]

Hong Kong Attempts to Criminalize the Basic Right to Protest

Photo courtesy of Aidan Marzo June 1989 marked a flashpoint for Hong Kong activism, when one million Cantonese people protested the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Many Hong Kongers continue to observe June 4th to remember those who died in the crackdown.  Martin Lee is one such observer. Lee is the founding […]