Category Archives: Politics

Madeleine Albright Chats with Henry Paulson about Career, Foreign Policy

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2013Politicsafghanistan, albright capital management, albright stonebridge group, american involvement, arab leaders, best decision making, Britain, central, China, chinese embassy, co ed, conflict in bosnia, decision-making, do ability doctrine, eastern europe, economic, environmental challenges, foreign policy issues, france, global strategy firm, investment advisory firm, jon huntsman, madeleine albright, medal of freedom, multilateralism, munich agreement, native czechoslovakia, nazi germany, no fly zone, paulson institute, president barack obama, president bill clinton, presidential, robert b zoellick, secretary of state, soviet union, state department, syria, united states, university of chicago, US, us government history, us treasury secretary, world affairs, world bank, world war, years of communism

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told an audience at the University of Chicago that her worldview was shaped early in life, when she witnessed the impact the United States had during and immediately following World War II.

Albright explained how terrible things happened to her native Czechoslovakia, when Britain and France signed the Munich Agreement in 1938, allowing Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia without its consent. Only when the United States entered World War II did Czechoslovakia’s plight improve. However, after the war, when the United States and its allies allowed the Soviet Union to liberate Central and Eastern Europe, it led to 50 years of communism. (more…)

Kofi Annan to students: ‘It’s your world now’

By Guest PostFebruary 13, 2013General, Politicsabsolutely essential, afghanistan, africa, arab league, city college, civil war, cuny, east timor, economic prospects, egypt, geneva, global food security, India, international monetary fund, jackson institute, Japan, jean krasno, john negroponte, kofi annan, kosovo, latin america, macalestar college, minnesota, native ghana, new york, nigeria, nutrition, Pakistan, political, radical change, russia, security council, sub-saharan africa, switzerland, syria, town hall meeting, un secretary general, united states, violent world conflicts, world economy

Former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan predicted during a campus visit that the civil war in Syria will become even more tragic before the international community takes action to help resolve the conflict, but said he is optimistic about the political and economic prospects for Africa in the years ahead. (more…)

‘Finally American’: Poet Discusses Impact of Inaugural Poem

By Guest PostFebruary 11, 2013Culture, Politicsamerican holiday, ancestors, building bridges, cuban immigrants, cultural negotiation, cutting sugar cane, elizabeth alexander, emotional historian, ezra stiles college, finally american, idealized america, impact, inaugural poem, inauguration platform, james taylor, math whiz, mathematics, miami beach, natural bent, new haven residents, one today, podium, poet, poetry, president barack obama, richard blanco, san giving, second inauguration, stephen pitti, sub genre, venus, vice president, washington mall, working class, writing a poem, yale professor

Is the inaugural poem a new sub-genre of poetry? According to two practitioners of the form, the answer might be “yes.”

Poet Richard Blanco and Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander, two of only five poets in history to have created works for a presidential inauguration, came together on Feb. 5 for a poetry reading and dialogue about their unique shared experience. Blanco read his work “One Today” at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, while Alexander read her “Praise Song for the Day” at Obama’s first. Their discussion was hosted by Ezra Stiles College master Stephen Pitti. (more…)

Tendency to Fear is Strong Political Influence

By Guest PostFebruary 10, 2013Politicsanti immigration, baseline fear, brown political scientist, common focus area, congress, emotional factors, Environment, factors, forces, genetic liability, immigration, immigration and war, kenneth s kendler, level, lindon j eaves, michael c neale, out group opinions, penn state university, peter k hatemi, political attitudes, political campaigns, political influence, political preferences, pro segregation policies, provocation, rational arguments, rose mcdermott, segregation, social phobia, tendency to fear, threat, trait based fear, virginia commonwealth university

Fear can play a role in influencing political attitudes on hot-button issues like immigration, according to new research co-authored by Brown political scientist Rose McDermott. The study, published in the American Journal of Political Science, shows that individuals who are genetically predisposed to fear tend to have more negative out-group opinions, which play out politically as support for policies like anti-immigration and segregation.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — It’s no secret that fear is a mechanism often used in political campaigns to steer public opinion on hot-button issues like immigration and war. But not everyone is equally predisposed to be influenced by such a strategy, according to new research by Rose McDermott, professor of political science, and colleagues published in the American Journal of Political Science. (more…)

New Book Traces Black Panthers’ Evolution from Local Activists to Global Anti-Imperialists

By Guest PostFebruary 6, 2013Culture, Politicsafrican american culture, african americans, algeria, american, american black power, american jazz artists, anti colonial activist, anti colonial movement, anti imperialist movement, anti war activists, assassination, black activist, black against empire, black history, black panther movement, black panther party, black panthers, black power, bobby seale, business as usual, california legislature, China, civil rights movement, civil war, communist revolutionary, criminal charges, Cuba, evolution, folk heroes, frantz fanon, free huey, global anti imperialists, history, huey newton, jim crow segregations, joshua bloom, local activists, los angeles chapter, lowndes county, malcolm x, mao zedong, marcus garvey, martin luther king, mulford act, new york chapter, non violent activism, oakland, pan africanism, panther angela, peoples republic, political asylum, political genius, political power, politics of containment, poverty, president nixon, prisoners of war, revolutionary struggles, robert hill, robin kelley, rural alabama, scot brown, sociology, stokely carmichael, tom hayden, ucla, united states, university of california, us government, viet cong, vietnam war, voluntary manslaughter, waldo e martin, zhou enlai

History has long denied the political genius of the Black Panther Party. At worst, its members have been cast as unconscionable criminals. At best, such seminal figures as party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and early supporter Stokely Carmichael have been portrayed as outlaw folk heroes who, propelled by the progressive winds of the late 1960s, dared to take on the establishment.

But a UCLA graduate student in sociology who worked alongside former Panthers a decade ago as a community organizer in Oakland, Calif., didn’t buy the conventional wisdom. (more…)

Born to Lead? Leadership Can be an Inherited Trait, Study Finds

By Guest PostJanuary 18, 2013Politics, Scienceassessment, Barack Obama, born to lead, child, de neve, democratic primary, dna sequence, economic, framingham heart study, garfld986, gene, genetic difference, genetic discrimination, genetic trait, genotype, harvard, hillary clinton, inherited trait, jan emmanuel, leadership, leadership behaviour, leadership position, leadership skills, learning environment, new hampshire, nyu, political outcomes, professor john antonakis, rs4950, selection, tendency, ucl, unite for change, united states, university college london, university of california, variation, workplace

Genetic differences are significantly associated with the likelihood that people take on managerial responsibilities, according to new research from UCL (University College London).

The study, published online in Leadership Quarterly, is the first to identify a specific DNA sequence associated with the tendency for individuals to occupy a leadership position. Using a large twin sample, the international research team, which included academics from Harvard, NYU, and the University of California, estimate that a quarter of the observed variation in leadership behaviour between individuals can be explained by genes passed down from their parents. (more…)

An Interview with Dr. Russ Glenn: ‘China as Superpower’

By BlogArenaJanuary 7, 20131 commentInterview, Media, Politics18th party congress, anti chinese balancing, blood for oil, bo xilai affair, china as superpower, chinese oil demand, east china sea, japanese militarism, liaoning aircraft carrier, oil peace paradox, russ glenn, senkaku islands, taylor fravel, wikistrat consultancy, xi jinping

Dr. Russ Glenn is a lecturer at the Leiden Institute for Area Studies at Leiden University. He focuses on Chinese politics and international relations. Prior to Leiden he completed his PhD at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. He conducted his doctoral work on Chinese energy security needs in a thesis titled: “No Blood for Oil: The strategic implications of increased Chinese oil demand on the Sino-US relationship and the Oil Peace Paradox”, where he broke down the role of oil into the military and economic aspects of supply security, and interrogated the ability of China to successfully achieve oil security. He is particularly interested in military history, Chinese, and East-Asian history, politics, and international relations. Outside of academia he is a contributing analyst at the Wikistrat Consultancy, and has been a keen coach, competitor, and coxswain in rowing for the past 11 years at Cambridge and at Brown, and has also boxed for Cambridge. (more…)

Moscow Legislators Visit Chicago Harris to Learn about U.S. Governance

By Guest PostJanuary 3, 2013Politicsamerican elections, american political parties, andrey ambartsumov, center for tax, Chicago, chris berry, city of chicago, cook county, democratic institutions, george palamattam, harris school, maksim motim, marc farinella, moscow, municipal council deputies, natalya chernysheva, objective, open world program, paula worthington, political system, public policy, russian legislators, scott allard, skokie, united states, university of chicago, vladimir garnachuk, washington d.c., william howell, yekaterina kalatskaya

Five Russian legislators visited the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy recently to learn about American elections and democratic institutions from Chicago Harris faculty and students.

The Chicago Harris stop on Dec. 3 kicked off a weeklong trip for the delegates to Washington D.C. and Chicago as part of the congressionally sponsored Open World Program. The goal was to expose the legislators, who are all municipal council deputies in Moscow, to American best practices in local governance. (more…)