When Claudia Sheinbaum was officially inaugurated as the 66th president of Mexico on October 1, 2024, she became the first female president of Mexico and the first Latin American president of Jewish heritage—all after running in the first majority-female Mexican election. Mexico’s election system is fascinating, and an extreme example of a trend that can […]
Tag: election
The Duality of Bollywood: Modi’s Populist Playground
Introduce a good-looking, heroic, male protagonist and a pretty girl with an antagonistic father. Develop a flimsy love story, throw in some brawls with slo-mos and replays, and add scenic cuts to the lovers’ singing and dancing in Switzerland. Make the father abruptly realize the protagonist is the best option for his daughter and conclude […]
A Deeper Shade of Blue: the Tories’ Leadership Woes
On the 5th of July 2024, members of the British Conservative Party, or Tory Party, woke up to their biggest-ever general election defeat. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the parliamentary party was reduced to a rump of 121 seats, merely a third of the 365 seats they earned in the 2019 election. […]
Clashes in Leadership
As the election looms ever closer, Congressional Republicans found themselves between a rock and a hard place: a government shutdown, and the demands of their presidential nominee, Donald Trump. However, this conflict arose not just from Democrat-Republican relations, but internal party politics. Through the whole month of September, Republicans and Democrats debated amongst themselves on […]
Cease and Desist: The Dangerous Socio-Political Consequences of Trump’s Election Fraud Rhetoric
“CEASE & DESIST,” former president Donald Trump began in a statement on TruthSocial. “Please be aware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters & Corrupt Election Officials,” he wrote, adding that these people “will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.” Just […]
The Case for Breaking Up Big Tech
The Big, the Bad, the Un-American… In 2020, New York Times writer Kashmir Hill set out to answer a salient question: how dependent are we on Big Tech? Working with a technologist, Hill designed a virtual private network that blocked all internet addresses controlled by tech’s five largest companies: Amazon, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Meta, […]
2024 Elections: Redefining Global Politics
“I voted … I’m so happy … I’ve voted for the ANC, is that OK?” One woman, who had just cast her first vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections, asked Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, now the Chief Executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs, this question. This fundamental premise for the people to freely […]
From Cricket to Corruption: How Imran Khan Won an Election from Prison
In the tumultuous landscape of Pakistani politics, Imran Khan’s journey from a cricket star to a prominent political figure has been nothing short of a rollercoaster. In the 1980s and 1990s, Khan served as an all-rounder on the Pakistan cricket team and was regarded as one of cricket’s best. However, in 2018, Khan was elected […]
A New Perception of Right for New Zealand
October 26th of 2017 was a historic day for not only New Zealand, but the world. Jacinda Ardern stepped up to the podium in Wellington to be sworn in to office, where she would become the youngest female head of government in history at age 37. Her center-left campaign and agenda at the helm of […]
A Bookend to 20 Years of Turmoil? What Thailand’s New Government Means for the Country
After four months of political limbo, yet another dramatic episode of Thai politics drew to a close. The general elections in May offered a scathing rebuke of the military-backed government. The progressive Move Forward Party (MFP), led by Pita Limjaorenrat, pulled a huge upset that headed 151 out of 500 seats in the lower House […]
Guatemala’s “Uncle Bernie” Faces Potential Coup After Presidential Victory
Guatemala is on the verge of a political coup amid election turmoil. In the country’s recent presidential election, progressive candidate Bernardo Arévalo secured his victory with 58% of the votes, defeating the former first lady Sandra Torres’s 37%. The unprecedented victory of this dark horse candidate has provoked wrath and fear in the country’s political […]
Israeli Election: Netanyahu’s Comeback Attempt, Plus Far-Right Revival
“Elections have consequences:” Israelis will pick winners today in a contest with the potential to dramatically alter long-standing norms. Today, Ehud, an Israeli construction worker from the small city of Hadera, will vote on his country’s future. What kind of future? He hasn’t decided yet. With over 30 parties vying for parliament, Ehud likely won’t […]
The Democrats’ Branding Failure
The midterm election set to take place this year has significant potential to upset the delicate balance of Congress. With an effective 50-50 split in the Senate accompanied by a slim eight seat majority in the House, Democrats face an uphill battle in the coming election cycle that signals the need for the party to […]
Kevin Faulconer: An Upset in the Making?
Though the 2020 election was just months ago, candidates are already gearing up for the 2022 midterm elections. This is especially true for California, where the top prize in 2022 is the Governor’s Mansion. Accelerating this process is incumbent Governor Newsom’s looming recall, a movement that has gained steam as California attempts to navigate its […]
BLM Galvanizes LA Voters in Contentious District Attorney Race
The police have killed 861 people in 2020. Black Americans, despite accounting for 13 percent of the United States’ population, represent 28 percent of those killed by law enforcement. Eric Garner. Tamir Rice. Rayshard Brooks. Elijah McClain. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. There are countless others, whose names we saw plastered in the news and on […]
On California’s Law and Order Initiative: Proposition 20, Featuring Eric A. Stanley
“This bill is being pushed through at the same time that the people across the United States are demanding the abolition of the prison industrial complex. It’s indicative of a culture war, which is to say a class war, around prisons and policing.” – Eric A. Stanley Walking on the streets of California after consuming […]
Unpopular Populism: The Dismal Prospects for Far-Right Politics in Canada
He has repeatedly called climate change a “hoax” perpetrated by “environmentalist alarmists.” His immigration policy includes building border fences, restricting family reunification, and making temporary foreign workers less competitive. And he spends much of his time railing against “the Liberal cult of diversity” on his Twitter account, a platform he uses to comment on — […]
Nigerian Elections: a Divergent Violent Pattern and Future Uncertainty
Nigeria just re-elected Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for his second four-year term. His opposition in the election, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), lost in his fifth bid for president. In Nigerian history, the election of incumbents is common, as only one failed reelection bid has occurred since the […]
Turkey: Where Do We Go From Here?
On June 24, 2018, incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, despite what nearly every polling statistic said, won the election, reestablishing himself as the nation’s authoritative figure. Erdogan, a socially conservative yet economically liberal leader, had had a turbulent first term in office, including a coup attempt from the Turkey Armed Forces, a shut-down of […]
What Really Happened to Egyptian Democracy?
Egyptians went to the polls on March 24th of this year. El-Sisi, Egypt’s current President ran for a second term in an election described by Human Rights Watch as “farcical.” Following the 2011 Tunisian uprisings, democracy seemed to have finally arrived at the doorstep of the Arab World. With the toppling of Egypt’s long-standing authoritarian leader […]
Voter Turnout is Too Low in the U.S. – Here’s How to Fix It
It’s no secret — voter turnout is too low, and it doesn’t need to be. To increase voter turnout, two important changes should be made to the election. First, an option to select “None of the Above” should be included on the ballot. Second, election day should be made into a national holiday. The United States […]
The Crisis of the African National Congress: The Coming Intraparty Conflict
Upon assuming the South African presidency, Nelson Mandela proclaimed, “The time for the healing of the wounds has come.” At the time, South Africans hoped that the end of apartheid would also bring an end to the civil strife that the country had experienced for so long. During the late 1990s and the early 2000s, […]
Fake News is Real: The Rise of Computational Propaganda and Its Political Ramifications
“Fake News” — two words that have become synonymous with Donald Trump and his 2016 bid for the presidency. Some wholeheartedly believed it, some cast it aside as irrelevant, and others avidly denied it. Yet, President Trump was right. Fake news is real, but not necessarily in the way that most imagine. In the 2016 election, […]
A Matter of Pride and Prejudice: The Firing of FBI Director James Comey
It all began as an October surprise. On October 30, 2016, just days before the Presidential election that would cause an upset of historical proportions as Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States, headlines read much like this Politico one: “The Very Political James Comey: The FBI director says he doesn’t […]
The Recession of the Pink Tide
Empty shelves in Venezuela Lenin Moreno’s April victory in the Ecuadorian presidential election must have brought sighs of relief to socialists across the continent, who have been buffeted by scandals and electoral defeats in recent years. Still, it was a close fight. Guillermo Lasso, the conservative candidate and a former banker, was able to win […]
The Third Time’s Not the Charm: Corruption in Somalia’s Election
On February 8th, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was elected President of Somalia, defeating the incumbent Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. This was the culmination of the third election cycle since 2009. In 1991, the central government fell to armed opposition groups. Since then, elections have been held in 2009, 2012, and 2017, although the 2009 election had to […]
Hillary Clinton’s Brand of Nationalism
In the February of 1942, a mere two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 127,000 people of Japanese descent were rounded up from all along the west coast, and were subsequently marched into American internment camps. Though these individuals included fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, from a myriad of backgrounds, they shared one […]
An Open Letter to President-Elect Donald Trump
Dear President-Elect Trump, I’d like to start this off by offering my congratulations on a well-fought campaign. While you did not have my support before the election, I recognize that you are now my President, and I refuse to protest the will of the people. You have clearly pinpointed a strong source of anger and […]
The Race to Turn the Senate Blue: The Top Senate Contests in the 2016 Election
Though the presidential race has taken up much of the electoral coverage thus far, there are also many close U.S. Senate seats up for grabs that could tilt the Senate in the Democrats favor. Democrats are even hoping the House of Representatives comes into play if there is backlash against Trump and the Republican Party, […]
Macho or Bust: Today’s Voters Still Want a Machismo President
Marco Rubio, a Republican candidate seeking to gain traction in the race for becoming the next U.S. president, recently has been seen brandishing guns during his campaign photo ops, along with peppering his speeches and his so-called off-the-cuff remarks with plentiful references to football. This is not by happenstance nor by an already existent personality […]
Motor Voter: As California Goes, Will the Country?
The 2014 midterm election represented a new low for California politics. With a record-low 42% voter turnout, political involvement in California looked dim. The cynical adage of millennial political apathy seemed to ring true, and alarmingly so—only 52% of eligible youth from ages 18-24 were registered to vote. Low congressional job approval ratings—14% according to […]
The Election Effect
Every election year, the fate of the American people is up for grabs. Tensions run high, and nearly half of the nation is bound to be unsatisfied by the result. Uncertainty plagues the months leading up to the election, which are fraught with political jabs and increasingly quixotic promises by candidates hoping to win over […]
Guatemala’s new president, the comedian—Morales’ Morality Campaign
Beginning in April, Guatemala’s streets swelled with massive weekly protests calling for two goals: for President Otto Perez Molina to step down, and to end political impunity and corruption, two traits with entrenched legacies in Guatemala. Both the people and the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a UN-backed investigative committee which began work […]
The Gift That Keeps On Giving: Why Trump Fever Is Here to Stay
The man is all over national airwaves, newspapers, and internet memes. He is a presidential candidate, yes. But perhaps more than that, Donald Trump is a social phenomenon: a real-life hashtag, national trend, and constant re-tweet. Mr. Trump’s popularity has been repeatedly taken apart and examined under the social microscope. The conclusions are as varied […]
Eric Cantor or Eric “Can’t Win”?
It didn’t matter that David Brat was an unknown economics professor. It wasn’t enough that Eric Cantor had spent nearly $5.4 million on his campaign. And it certainly made no difference that Cantor branded himself as a preacher of the Republican Creed. On the evening of July 10, 2014, Eric Cantor made congressional history, becoming […]