...om a state-run market to a truly progressive, integrated and thriving global market. The GDP Myth Using China’s spectacular GDP growth as an indicator of its global influence is not accurate. The example of Japan in the 1990s is a reminder that large economies can stagnate with little effect on the rest of the world. In October, The Economist observes that around half of exports to China are then exported elsewhere and concludes that “...
...al efforts to curb global warming have been attempted before but have been largely unsuccessful. The Kyoto Protocol, formed in 1997, required all developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emission levels by 5.2% from 1990 levels. The protocol, however, was hampered by the fact that climate change had still not been accepted globally and developing countries such as India and China, who were projected to have some of the highest carbon em...
...te remains unconstitutional. Throughout the history of the United States, the federal government has habitually sought to safeguard religious liberty – except for when the Supreme Court historically reversed this precedent in 1990. In Employment Division v. Smith (1990), a group of Native Americans sued the state of Oregon on the grounds that a statute criminalizing the use of peyote violated their First Amendment rights. The Court ruled that rel...
...gedies, the issue of gun control has been largely resolved? Since 1984, the number of US households with guns has declined from 47.5 percent to 36 percent, perhaps because violent crimes, too, have slowly declined since their 1990 peak. And 2,262 New Yorkers were murdered in 1990, compared to 471 last year. Perhaps it’s not just the political weight of the gun control issue that’s in decline, but the actual social gravity. “Fewer Americans see a...
...on system seems impressive. In 2009, Chile outscored all Latin American countries in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Since 1990, university attendance has tripled, and Chilean students often attain higher test scores than their Latin American neighbors. But in reality, education in Chile is flawed and disturbingly unequal. While Chilean universi...
...s so overpowering we have nothing to worry about: think again. US naval power is slowly diminishing, and America is doing nothing to reverse this decline. Washington has reduced its naval fleet from approximately 546 ships in 1990 to 288 ships today, and this number will continue dropping if Congress proceeds to make cuts across the board. What’s worse is that our current fleet of ships is aging at a rapid rate, making Navy budget cuts even more...
...the factions involved in those conflicts and trained their leadership in Libya. The few young men that were recruited as soldiers for Qaddafi’s army are remnants of failed Libyan-sponsored insurgencies in the Sahel during the 1990’s. The idea at the time was to train these unemployed young men to be able to “start their own war of independence in Mali and Niger.” Quite to the contrary, Qaddafi’s marginalization of their leadership and lack of ass...
...n an $18 billion case over the company’s widespread pollution in the Ecuadorian rainforest marked an unprecedented victory in the global fight to hold multinational corporations responsible for their actions. Between 1964 and 1990, Chevron illegally dumped tons of contaminated wastewater directly into the forest, causing the land and water supply to become dangerously toxic. In the case, which started in 1993, thousands of poor Ecuadorians sued C...
...ten their way of life. Despite Mali’s history of religious tolerance, the region of Azawad is certainly no stranger to violence. There have been four Tuareg rebellions to date: the first occurred from 1962-64, the second from 1990-95, and the third from 2007-2009. The current, ongoing conflict began in January 2012, after Tuareg militants and mercenaries returned from the Libyan Civil War. The MNLA began waging war against the Malian army in Azaw...
Illustration by Kaela Chambers In 2010, the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission held that corporations and unions could not be prohibited from broadcasting electioneering communications (ads that mention a candidate) within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary, which had previously been the restriction of the McCain-Feingold Act since 2002. What does this mean for the way campaigns and policymaking a...
Follow us at
Like us on
Recent Comments