Why Conservatives Should Conserve the Environment

When the sun comes shining, then I was strolling In the wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting This land was made for you and me -Woody Guthrie In 2017, Congress passed new tax legislation allowing for the leasing of oil rights in the Arctic National […]

All About Incivility: An Interview with Candice Delmas

Candice Delmas is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at Northeastern University, and the Associate Director of the Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Program. She will be a 2019-2020 Humanities Center Fellow and served as a Dworkin-Balzan Fellow at New York University School of Law in 2016-2017. She works in applied ethics, social and […]

The Qatar-Gulf Crisis in Context

Akshat recently traveled to Doha as a member of the Qatar Exchange Fellowship, sponsored by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations and the Northeastern University International Relations Council. The content of this article is largely sourced from conversations with officials from the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, Qatar’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministries, Al […]

The Good Kind of Popularity Contest

As the year 2000 drew to a close, two presidential candidates fought vehemently to claim the most powerful position in the world. Democratic candidate Al Gore called for a manual recount in Florida, where Republican candidate George W. Bush led by 0.5% in the initial tally.[1]  They battled over how the votes should be recounted, […]

Policy Platform(s): The Dangers of Political Discourse through Social Media

On February 10th, a month into her first term in Congress, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) posted on her public Twitter profile. In months prior, she used Twitter to garner support for her congressional campaign and to share her story as an up-and-coming progressive leader.  She later used the platform to celebrate becoming one of the […]

Sports as a Mirror to Society

Sports in America have evolved similarly to the country itself: with slow, painful change pushed by minorities and women risking everything to stand up and demand the right to play. Waves of change in sports are reflected in trends throughout society; each step forward for women’s sports have aligned with the different waves of feminism, […]

Rethinking the Fight for $15

Congressional Democrats have renewed the fight to give working Americans a raise. In January, they proposed the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2024. The bill is already supported by 181 Democratic sponsors in House and 31 in the Senate.[1] The proposal […]

Ending the Okinawa Conflict: A Challenge for Democracy

What happened on February 24th should not be regarded as just another day in Japanese politics. It was the day 70% of Okinawans voted to oppose plans to relocate the Futenma Air Station to Henoko, a remote location in the prefecture with endangered coral reefs.[1] As the central government plans to move forward with the […]

White House, Black Mark: Trump’s Shutdown

There is very little a government can do to frustrate and anger its population more than shut down. Citizens pay taxes and abide by laws—even those with which they don’t agree—and in return, the government abdicates much of its responsibility and ceases to function over issues that do not necessitate such drastic measures.[1] Indeed, this […]

Politics and Sports: A Long and Complicated Relationship

In recent years, as the American political sphere has become more polarized, news pundits, online commentators, and politicians have repeatedly declared that professional athletes are “out-of-touch-millionaires” who should “shut up and dribble.” Players such as Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Richard Sherman have pushed back against the ‘whitelash’ to become more politicized. But […]