This tactic may steer the public political discussion away from problem solving and instead create a debate about the very liberal democratic basis of society. Election researchers from across Europe have looked at how populist parties profile themselves on Facebook. Their findings are quite clear. “Populist parties much more often use controversial, divisive issues when...
The world feels heavy again. Politics seethes with bitterness. Civil liberties bend under pressure. Wars erupt in places that once seemed far away but now echo through our daily lives. The news scrolls endlessly across our screens, a litany of anxiety and outrage. Even those who try to keep perspective sense a low hum of...
In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term in office, his administration has made many attempts to suppress speech it disfavors – at universities, on the airwaves, in public school classrooms, in museums, at protests and even in lawyer’s offices. If past is prologue, these efforts may backfire. In 2018, I published my...
As university leaders work to make deals with the Trump administration, many college presidents are at an ethical crossroads. On the one hand, they must do all they can to restore funding for vital research. On the other, they risk ceding to the demands of a president with views that don’t align with their missions....
When people use the term “Orwellian,” it’s not a good sign. It usually characterizes an action, an individual or a society that is suppressing freedom, particularly the freedom of expression. It can also describe something perverted by tyrannical power. It’s a term used primarily to describe the present, but whose implications inevitably connect to both...
When women political candidates deviate from expectations or the views of their party, they are judged far more harshly than men by voters, a new study in Politics & Gender, published on behalf of the American Political Science Association by Cambridge University Press, reveals. The research also found that voters begin campaigns with greater uncertainty about women...
Ask someone what a calling is, and they’ll probably say something like “doing work you love.” But as a management professor who has spent two decades researching the history and impact of calling, I’ve found it’s much more than personal fulfillment. The concept of calling has deep roots. In the 1500s, theologian Martin Luther asserted...
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings among California residents are tanking while Gov. Gavin Newsom’s favorability has improved, according to the latest UCI-OC Poll, administered by the University of California, Irvine School of Social Ecology. In late May and early June, Newsom’s approval ratings looked nearly as bad as those for Trump. Fifty-nine percent of Californians disapproved...
Get rid of states? Legal scholar Stephen Legomsky, who taught for 34 years at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, has just published a book, “Reimagining the American Union,” that proposes a radical idea: Abolish state government. The Conversation’s politics and democracy editor, Naomi Schalit – a former statehouse reporter herself –...
The recent deportation orders targeting foreign students in the U.S. have prompted a heated debate about the legality of these actions. The Trump administration made no secret that many individuals were facing removal because of their pro-Palestinian advocacy. In recent months, the State Department has revoked hundreds of visas of foreign students with little explanation....
