This type of ideological disagreement and debate is what makes me love this publication. Since our inception, we have prided ourselves on being a “multi-partisan” magazine. People often ask me, “What does that even mean? Why don’t you just call yourselves a non-partisan magazine?” We are by no means a non-partisan magazine. Our writers hail from every political leaning and emphatically express their views without any inhibitions. That’s what makes us unique in a world of journalism in which political publications are quickly pigeonholed into one side or the other. This issue marks our 10th year of existence and I’m incredibly proud that we have stayed true to our ideals.

If the system is broken, then it must be fixed. The question, of course, is how. It might be helpful to first look toward public policy elsewhere that has succeeded in reducing inequality and involving citizens more in governmental deliberations. In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a municipal policy called participatory budgeting (PB), which has democratized the process of city budgeting, has succeeded in accomplishing just that.

Just a little over a year has passed since the outset of the massive uprisings that shook Egypt and deposed one of the longest-ruling Middle Eastern leaders in modern history, and they are quickly passing from the realm of current events into history.

Offset against grey skies and the black uniform of an average Istanbulite bundled against the cold, the bright yellow and turquoise banners of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) bring a hint of the Arab Spring to Taksim Square.

Perhaps the most critical and least acknowledged impediment to the negotiation of a conflict is the manipulation of language. No peace process can come to fruition when representatives from conflicting parties are embroiled in debates on semantics, yet individuals in both government and media inevitably employ strategic language at various stages in the process.

The massive discrepancy between the debate over this bill and the facts of the American health care system is a testament to the sorry state of contemporary political discourse.

In Russia’s parliamentary elections on December 4, 2011, United Russia – the party of President-turned-Prime Minister-turned-current-President Vladimir Putin – won the majority of seats in the Duma, the Russian Parliament, amid cries (and video evidence) of widespread election fraud.

Currently, the world’s geostrategic center is shifting northward, and few of us are paying attention.

The recent Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contraception coverage mandate is one of the most recent examples of intrusive government power.

President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign constantly begs the American people to give Obama another chance to lead the nation, but when deciding who to vote for in November, remember what Obama did (and didn’t do) with his first chance.

This ain’t your daddy’s space race.

In the beginning of October 1949, the bloody Chinese Civil War was nearing its end, and Mao Zedong had proudly declared the foundation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). With the Nationalists defeated, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could now focus on its aims on fully reuniting the country and instituting socialism. The disastrous effects of the latter aim are well-known.

With Rick Santorum’s departure, the 2012 U.S. Presidential race has finally come down to Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.

This week marked the beginning of the trial of Anders Breivik, charged with the killing of 77 people in a bombing and shooting spree last July in Norway.

The Summit of the Americas

Last Thursday, in an act of defiance, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, despite international warnings not to do so, launched a rocket which they claimed to be a satellite, but which everyone else knew to be a long-range missile test.

Imagine a world in which up to one half of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was not taxed. Imagine capitalist investors and heads of companies escaping the long-handed reach of state coffers, thereby avoiding their due contribution of hundreds of millions of dollars to the very citizenry that helped create their wealth to begin with.

It has long since become cliché to wax poetic about the momentous changes that are now sweeping the Middle East.

Traditionally, third-party candidates receive next to no attention in presidential races, mostly because it is an accepted truth that one could never win an election.

Bollinger, Foner, Jackson, and Shaw Share Their Expertise