March 2012
70 posts
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Michigan primary: Not proportional | Fruits &... →
From Fruits & Votes (Matt Shugart’s blog):
I have generally been keeping away from the circus that is the US Republican Party’s presidential nominating process, 2012.
However, this one is right up the F&V alley.
Michigan is not allocating its delegates proportionally, notwithstanding what various news accounts I have heard and read say.
According to Frontloading HQ, the most...
February 2012
56 posts
“Stereotype threat is the idea that we are all aware of the stereotypes that...”
– Toure: Jeremy Lin’s Victory over Stereotype Threat | TIME Ideas | TIME.com (via npr)
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Politicalprof: Sorry Goldstandardians: Gold Is Not... →
From politicalprof:
Gold is a naturally occurring substance that human beings choose to dig out of the ground or pick up on the surface, usually in or near riverbeds in which running water has exposed previously subsurface gold. It has historically been valued for its perceived beauty, its malleability, and its comparative scarceness. It is because of this last condition, its scarceness, that...
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“We are tired of being an unwilling party to what appears to be a deliberate...”
– We are removing Argentina’s official inflation figures from our economic indicators page. Find out why. (via theeconomist)
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“How many children live on less than $2 a day in the US? 2.8 million, up 130%...”
– From @AHDP (Measure of America)
BTW, $2/day is the international statistic for “absolute” poverty. That’s about 1 in 5 children (or 20%) in the US, living on the financial equivalent used to define extreme poverty … in the third world. For comparison, the following country...
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letterstomycountry asked: Thanks for the links on Denmark's welfare state. I've long argued that Scandinavian Welfare states represent the ideal political economy for human flourishing and sound economics/public finance. When gov't meaningfully takes the reigns on healthcare & education (instead of simply subsidizing profit-driven market actors), the results are virtually always positive, with reasons...
politicalprof asked: Many moons ago I had a job interview for a temp job at Dickinson. I know a lot of people who went through there. I guess they have a lot. (Didn't get the job, though. But it all worked out in the end.)
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The Danish welfare state
If you’d like to tag along with my POL 102 class this semester, here’s your chance.
This week we’re discussing political economy, and our additional “text” is a pair of NPR Planet Money podcasts about Denmark:
“The Awesomest Economy?”
“Tax Me Please”
Both podcasts aired in 2010, but they’re still relevant. In addition to a great deal of...
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“But can we please admit that many four year colleges do in fact attempt to...”
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This is pedantry at its best.
All education is transformative. No one is born believing a darn thing.Your parents, your church and your community all install ideas and beliefs and faiths in you. College comes late to the game, and can only provide those students who care to develop them with the...
Africa is leading the World
clubrelaford:
The poverty mafia once controlled the development debate in Africa. No longer.
The old approach was about how to prevent Africa from getting poorer. All development goals were essentially negative, as experts wallowed in risk-aversion and promoted various doomsday scenarios of an Africa with a rapidly growing population.
The new thinking on development is to share Africa’s wealth...
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“All citizens of Chile as well as foreigners legally residing in Chile for at...”
– Elections in Chile | Wikipedia
There’s a lot of talk lately about the Chilean economic model (apparently it’s chic to admire Pinochet these days). If we’re going to adopt Chile’s economic model (privatized social security, public education, etc.), why not also consider their...
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Hip Hop and the Arab Uprisings | openDemocracy →
A fascinating roundup of hip hop artists from around the “Arab Spring” countries. This is a great way to learn more about the story of the year through its interaction with pop culture—as well as a great way to learn about how pop culture (and, in some way, globalization) is reshaping modern Arab societies.
The story has embedded videos by MC Swat (Libya), Lowkey (Palestine), and...
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Why Tuesday? | The Monkey Cage →
From The Monkey Cage:
A reader points me to the group, Why Tuesday, that wants to move Election Day to a more convenient time. They write:
Today, we are an urban society, and we all know how hard it is to commute to our jobs, take care of the children, and get our work done, let alone stand on lines to vote. Indeed, Census data over the last decade clearly indicates that the inconvenience of...
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“Babaamr is facing a genocide right now. I will never forgive you for your...”
– One of Syrian citizen journalist Rami Al-Sayed’s last messages. The 27-year-old Al-Sayed, who bravely documented what was going on in the wartorn city of Homs, was actively targeted by the regime’s shelling according to activists. He ran a live feed of the bombardment of his city, out of the...
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WatchIf you’d like to tag along with my POL 102 class this semester, here’s your chance. Once a week I assign a web based assignment to go along with the topic of our chapter textbook (we’re using The Good Society: An Introduction to Comparative Politics).
This week, we’re looking at various facets of political culture. So Wednesday we’re discussing a Current TV report about the...
In Defense of the Public Library →
tofias:
We (and by we I mean I) don’t spend enough time appreciating that the public library has become one of the only institutions we have attempting to bridge the inequality of the digitial divide (via Matt Haughey).
I would add that choosing not to read is the same as not knowing how to. Libraries are perhaps the greatest monument to learning any society possesses. To the extent that they...
From George Takei
70 years ago today, the President signed a decree that sent me and my family to a prison camp. Hear my story, and learn how you can help fulfill our pledge: Never Forget. Never Again.
Worth a close look today, especially considering the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric these days.
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WatchIf you took any 100-level political science course (American, comparative, or IR) last semester at the University of Mississippi, chances are you took a survey during the first and last week of the semester. If you were curious about the results of that survey (which asked about political efficacy and news media consumption, among other things), here are the results. My co-author, Cy Rosenblatt,...
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"Brazil in Black and White" | PBS Wide Angle →
If you’d like to tag along with my POL 102 class this semester, here’s your chance. Once a week I assign a web based assignment to go along with the topic of our chapter textbook (we’re using The Good Society: An Introduction to Comparative Politics).
This week, we read about the relationship between the state and society. So Wednesday we’re going to discuss a provocative PBS documentary...
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U.S. Department of State: Syria: "The Violence Is... →
statedept:
Robert S. Ford serves as U.S. Ambassador to Syria.
Editor’s Note: This entry appeared first on the U.S. Embassy Syria Facebook page. You can find additional satellite imagery of Syrian military movements here. The violence is not equal. Yesterday I put out a note…
We live in an age when we can see asymmetrical warfare waged in various forms. Here’s one clear example of...
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"The American Anomaly"
Over at his Tumblr blog, Politicalprof answers a question from a reader about what makes the US political system “so weird” with some insightful comments. As a comparativist, I won’t belabor the point about how important—perhaps critical—it is for Americans to be familiar with the differences in how our democracy functions and how it functions in other countries.
But I will...
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“We are a democracy. We can only have as good a foreign policy as the public’s...”
– Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, told PBS NewsHour last night. (via realmencry)
Is he right?
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“The French, I found, seem to have a whole different framework for raising kids....”
– From “Why French Parents Are Superior by Pamela Druckerman” | Wall Street Journal
A fascinating (comparative) look at parenting. Read the whole thing. How does this compare to Amy Chua’s “Tiger Mom” approach?
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“I would not look to the United States Constitution if I were drafting a...”
– Ruth Bader Ginsburg (via tofias)
If you were drafting a new constitution (as they’re doing in Libya and Egypt), what would you do?
For starters, you might start with some considerations on drafting a constitution from this interview (in The Christian Science Monitor) with Andrew Reynolds, a...
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The 2011 Failed States Index | Foreign Policy →
If you’d like to tag along with my POL 102 class this semester, here’s your chance. Once a week I assign a web based assignment to go along with the topic of our chapter textbook (we’re using The Good Society: An Introduction to Comparative Politics).
This week we read about the state. So tomorrow we’re going to discuss the annual Foreign Policy Failed States Index.
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