SPOTLIGHT

  • The African Union and its Reactions to Three Types of Coups in Guinea, Mali, and Chad

    Three different types of coups have occurred in Guinea, Mali, and Chad, and they are worth identifying. These are opportunistic, oligarchic, and sultanistic coups. Opportunistic in the case of Guinea, oligarchic in the case of Mali, and sultanistic in the case of Chad. All of the coups were staged as military takeovers of civilian government, but in different contexts.  

  • Bard vs. Bullet

    Good news for a change—but bad news, as usual. According to the Associated Press (July 31), there’s a shortage of ammunition all over the United States, as major manufacturers are unable to keep up with high demand. Only the military is unaffected, since the Army supplies its own ammo, for all branches of the armed forces.

  • The Critical Importance of Wildlife Conservation

    Many scientists believe that we are in the midst of a 6th mass extinction, one that is almost entirely caused by human involvement. While this is a grim reality, it also means that we have the power to do something to stop the future loss of species. From purchasing a shark bracelet that helps fund marine conservation to eco-friendly shoes, there are endless ways to make conscious purchases that make a big difference. 

  • The Abortion Wars

    The Texas law is an abomination, not just because it violates women's rights, but because the egregious manner in which it does so also betrays any who might be troubled by abortion on truly moral grounds. It is a law rooted in culture war politics, not moral concerns, and its effect will be the promotion of a more sinister and corrupt society, not a more morally sensitive one. And yet it is just such moral sensitivity that we require if we are going to caringly address abortion and other morally relevant issues.

  • African American Existentialism: DuBois, Locke, Thurman, and King

    Race today is often presented as a social construct. But social constructions, as Black people know all too well, can create real existential crises. Philosophers of the Black Experience writing during the Modern Era of the African American Freedom Struggle (1896-1975) engaged questions of freedom, existence, and the struggles associated with the experiences of being Black in America.

  • Surviving the City of Arts

    How do we teach humanities to STEM students in a time of increasing suspicion about the goodness of technology?

THEORY

PRACTICE

Kenya’s quest for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council is meaningless without United Nations reform

By |June 15th, 2020|0 Comments

Non-permanent rotating membership seats on the Security Council do not afford the weaker nations of the world an avenue to advance their interests. Developing nations are played off against each other by major powers based on the perceived allure of a non-permanent seat. Without reform, these seat are little more than contemptuous tokenism.

Immigrant media guru struggles with Kikuyu vernacular African media television station in the diaspora

By |June 12th, 2020|0 Comments

What place should vernacular stations have in the diaspora landscape? Are they instruments to preserve cultural heritage or vehicles to sharpen ethnolinguistic cleavages for African migrant communities that have had decades of post-colonial conflict between them? What is true, is that the question of vernacular language in the African diaspora community broadly, is both a bridge and a barrier to bringing the African community together.

The Soleimani Assassination: What We’re Missing

By |June 5th, 2020|1 Comment

Post-9/11, assassination has become a new norm in the asymmetrical conflict between states and terror groups. While the appropriateness, if not justness, of targeting terror leaders is still a matter for debate, the killing of Soleimani is an escalation of the use of assassination.

JUSTICE

Locke and the Right to (Acquire) Property: On the Philosophical Basis of Progressive Liberalism

By |July 14th, 2016|10 Comments

Do the rich pay their fair share in taxes? What is a “fair share”? Do governments have the right to tax some in order to provide services for others, or is this just theft? To answer these current political questions we must examine the philosophical underpinnings of liberalism, both in its classical form, as articulated by John Locke, and in its contemporary “progressive" form.

ARTS & LETTERS