National security in the United States

National security in the United States is a fundamental interest which is designed to be overseen by the executive branch. However, presidential interpretation of defense policy has evolved significantly over time in accordance with fluctuations in the political and social climate of the country. Historically, American national security has evolved from its twentieth century non-interventionalism, … Read more

American politics

In 1787, the agreement at the end of the Constitutional Convention that the United States would have a two house legislature plan, (with both an upper and a lower house) was far from predictable. The standard narrative is that in the end, both Federalists and Antifederalists came to an agreement in order to make the … Read more

Antiblackness

Antiblackness as a political structure began with the middle passage, separating black bodies from their past and rendering their flesh fungible. One of the major theories around the history of anti-black violence is that of social death, that there is no hope and never will be any hope for the black body. To simplify social … Read more

Jim Crow Laws

Political Science Jim Crow Laws may still exist. Jim crow laws were laws placed against African Americans which segregated blacks from whites. African Americans were treated as 2nd class citizens. According to ferris.edu, “Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between … Read more

Is the Constitution of the USA democratic?

Democracy is standardly defined as the “control of an organization or group by the majority of its members.” Therefore the constitution of the United States cannot be defined as democratic and, consequently, cannot be praised as a triumph of democracy because it did not create a government system lead by the majority of its members … Read more

Terror in the world

Many people in the world live in fear. Many people have begun to think more about the little things when they go outside their door at home. It is most often that we ourselves are part of the blame behind it all. Anyway, it is also the most often because we try to make an … Read more

The Iran Hostage Crisis

The Iran Hostage Crisis was displayed as one of the first incidents that involved radical Islam. The September 11th attacks were some of the first big terrorist attacks on the United States of America that involved Muslim extremists. The first attack occurred at the pentagon around 8 or 9am, by a plane referred to as … Read more

What is Power?

When I first encountered the word Power in this course, all I thought of was the forms of power over people or populations, the basic rudimentary form of power. Which makes sense, it’s easy to see when you have power over a person or a group of people. But power is not infinite and it … Read more

Immigration benefits all

Nearing the holiday of Thanksgiving, we are reminded of the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were immigrants from Europe who landed on the shores of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts in September 1620. They sailed from England on the Mayflower seeking religious freedom and a new start. They’re famously known for the story of the first Thanksgiving, … Read more

Economic sanctions

Sanctions largely emerged in the twentieth century against the backdrop of burgeoning economic and political interdependency. Conforming to a liberal rationale, sanctions provide coercive tactics that avoid military escalation. While the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and Western democracies recognise sanctions as a moral alternative, sanctions have a spotted record and lack scholarly consensus. Further … Read more

South China Sea

The South China Sea, abundant with islands and natural resources, is located south of China, east of Vietnam and Cambodia, northwest of the Philippines, and east of the Malay peninsula. The sea not only contains an estimated 11 billion barrels of oil, 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and one of the richest marine … Read more

The Syrian Conflict

Since conflict started in Syria in March 2011, more than 4.8 million Syrians have fled their country (UNHCR, 2016) cited in Ostrowski (2016). Of those, above 650,000 are currently registered with the UNHCR in Jordan. The fact that, the 2016 Amnesty International cited in Ostrowski (2016) reports that Jordan hosts more refugees than any other … Read more