Other News
State of the Union(s): The Relevance of Narrative for America's Post-Crisis Economy
A Pinpoint Politics article by Brendan Pastor
"Well, we’re going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. The first step is we’re going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer. So for us, the base we’ve got for that is the fact that we’ve got – budgetarily we can’t afford not to. If we have collective bargaining agreements in place, there’s no way not only the state but local governments can balance things out.” ()
The above quote by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was in response to a question posed by billionaire and Republican Party donor Diane Hendricks, who asked if Walker could make Wisconsin a “completely red [Republican] state, and work on these unions’, transforming his state into “a right-to-work” state. Accepting Walker’s poorly phrased and politically slanted answer, Hendricks would go on to contribute over $510,000 to the Walker re-election campaign, his single biggest individual donor.
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy: Why a Military Intervention Will Not Work in Syria
A Pinpoint Politics article by Christopher Ogunmodede
In the wake of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s failed six-point Syria peace plan and the Assad’s regime not-so-subtle admission that it possesses chemical weapons, the stakes of a Western-led military intervention have increased significantly in less than a week. A report by the Royal United Services Institute noting the possibility of chemical weapons being used or stolen, not to mention the increased capability of the opposition forces as well as the geopolitical implications of the conflict spreading to and gripping other nations, concludes that a military intervention may take place to prevent the conflict from spilling beyond Syrian borders. As the ongoing crisis continues to manifest itself in the international realm, many pro-intervention voices in academia, the media, think-tanks and policymaking circles have decided that a military intervention will be the pill that cures all that currently ails the conflict-ridden country. John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, has been making the rounds of Fox News and other right-wing press outlets decrying the administration’s response to the conflict.
Dr James Brassett and Dr Nick Vaughan-Williams publish Special Issue of Alternatives on 'Governing Traumatic Events'
Dr James Brassett and Dr Nick Vaughan-Williams have recently published a Special Issue of Alternatives, entitled: 'Governing Traumatic Events'. The volume draws together leading critical scholars on the politics of traumatic events, covering subjects like 9-11, Mumbai, and the Norway Massacre, as well as the ideologies of 'response' and 'resilience' that predominate. This publication is part of an ongoing research project on 'Resilience and the Politics of Security' that seeks to interrogate contemporary practices of civil contingency planning in the UK and abroad.
Chris Hughes appointed Chair of Faculty of Social Sciences
Effective from 1 September, , Professor of International Politics and Japanese Studies and Head of Department in PAIS, will serve as the new Chair of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Prof Hughes will also continue in his current role as Head of Department.
Can the German Energy Turnaround Serve as an Example for ‘The Future We Want’?
A Pinpoint Politics article by Lena-Sophie Demuth
Energy is of major importance to almost every challenge and opportunity we face today, be it of economic, environmental or social nature. Leading a Sustainable Energy for All initiative that ensures universal access to modern energy services, improves efficiency and increases use of renewable sources, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is advocating a paradigm shift away from a global economy highly dependent on oil towards the use of renewable energies for all to foster sustainable development. This rhetoric of a ‘green economy’ ran like a common thread through the RIO+20 United Nations Conference of Sustainable Development, which took part last week in Brazil. In line with the motto ‘The Future We Want’, thousands of high level representatives from governments, UN organizations (e.g. UNESCO, FAO UNEP), the private sector, as well as NGOs, set their sights high to come to a binding agreement in the two main areas of a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and b) the institutional framework for sustainable development.