It seems like so long ago that Hosni Mubarak’s regime finally toppled after months of protests. After a century of unrest in the Middle East, it seemed as though democracy was on the way in and dictators were on the way out. Now this sense of optimism seems to be fading into memory. All around…
My name is Siri Manning, and I am a senior Political Science major from Breckenridge, MN. My political beliefs have always been fairly fluid due to the fact that my dad, a pastor, has refused to go into detail about his ideas on politics my entire life in order to appear objective to his congregation….
Concordian debates, part I: Two student political bloggers debate American intervention in Syria See the opposing argument here. We are all fascinated by moments rich in irony, like when the builders of the Titanic promised that she was “unsinkable,” or when Brett Favre put on a Vikings jersey and ran out onto Lambeau Field to…
Concordian debates, part I: Two student political bloggers debate American intervention in Syria See the opposing argument here. As talk of a Syrian intervention increases, Americans seem increasingly exhausted, tired of war, tired of looking out for the world, tired of getting tangled in other states affairs, and tired of paying for it. The prospect…
Immigration reform has been in the news recently, principally in relation to an emerging consensus in Congress over a comprehensive overhaul that will touch everything from the contentious issue of border security to expanding the number of visas for highly skilled workers in technical fields. Now, although the point of this overhaul is to facilitate…
This week, President Obama traveled to Israel for the first time since he assumed office in 2009. He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who only recently finally succeeded in organizing a shaky post-election coalition government—and the chairman of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Obama articulated in measured terms various long-standing American positions on issues…
Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world when he announced during a meeting of cardinals in the Vatican that he intended to abdicate the papacy. This was a stunning development because there has been no papal abdication in about seven centuries and also because there had been no indication in the public arena beforehand that the…
This past week, with the very generous assistance of the political science and global studies departments, I was very fortunate to attend the 54th Academy Assembly of the U.S. Air Force in Colorado Springs. Concordia is one of a small number of institutions of higher learning that are invited to send a delegate or two…
This month, Chief Justice John Roberts swore in President Barack Obama for a second time. In a speech rife with progressive rhetoric, the newly rechristened president equated the fight for gay rights with other civil rights movements, highlighted the importance of climate change and alluded to speaking on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Amidst this…
Just a few months ago in September, I wrote a piece for The Concordian Politics called “Charting a Course”. The gist of the piece was basically the idea that the United States needs to disabuse itself of the notion that it can unilaterally shape the affairs of the world to its liking. In the United Nations the…