This is not the first time we have seen Republican voters support a sexual predator. The Republican Party’s relentless support for their Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, despite all the allegations of sexual assault against him and the public outrage around his confirmation hearing, should make any voter question the...
Why protesting is not always an optimal strategy for achieving political results. Since Donald Trump took office on January 20, demonstrations have become the norm. Protesting has its own benefits: It reminds voters that there are other means of expressing their demands beyond the ballot box. Eager politicians will read the demands...
Economic reform in Saudi Arabia could affect the entire Middle East region. Since oil prices plummeted from around $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to $50 in September 2016, the fiscal crisis of Saudi Arabia has deepened further. The freefall of oil prices urged the government to announce austerity plans in...
Is the representative nature of democracy the source of its poor outcomes? When we talk about dictatorships, we recall terrifying names like Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jung Un, Idi Amin. They are all associated with images of unconstrained power, racism, xenophobia, nationalism, brutality and mass murder. We label them...
The bikini versus burkini debate is led by male dominance over women, not ideology. What should men wear on the beach? I have never heard anyone ask that question. It has never been part of social security debates, public policy talks, social morality speeches or a politically-charged electoral campaign. The...
Regardless of how inclined we are to have politics-free Olympics, it seems like an impossible task. Politically, the Middle East has been a global hotbed of interstate wars, civil conflicts and authoritarian regimes. Socially, it is home to some of the most restrictive social systems and policies. This has made the...
The threat of Islamic fundamentalism is perceived to be coming from the outside, even if the perpetrator grew up in the target country. A mass shooting and a political assassination on both sides of the Atlantic have highlighted the two versions of terrorism dominating the world today. In the United...
The Republican frontrunner’s proposed policy has low benefits and high costs. Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entry to the United States started out as a political anomaly. Yet as the idea is repeated in the media, it is gradually slipping into the subconscious of American public opinion till...
There are people in the world who still struggle for their most basic right: the right to live. If there’s one thing that graduate students love, it’s gossiping about their professors. At one point, I used the word “old” to describe a 50-year-old professor. In my opinion, I was stating...
