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This is a story about institutional transition, and most importantly, about the institutional transition to a modern global society. Modernity, for Barry Buzan in Making Global Society: A Study of Humankind Across Three Eras, is not the period that was established sometime between the early modern and nineteenth century period in Europe, or as a ‘quick jump early in the nineteenth’.

The post Vanity project or stroke of genius? The puzzle of Making Global Society appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

A simple game shows how fear of regret shapes decisions.

The post The Power of Regret appeared first on Nautilus.

With the news that the House Judiciary Committee Republicans are a bunch of useful idiots, those former intelligence officials who sounded the alarm about this whole Hunter Biden smear campaign feel vindicated: The allegation that Smirnov was spreading new falsehoods about Joe Biden with an election looming hearkened back to an episode from the 2020 election, when the question of whether Russian spies were trying to smear Joe Biden was first raised. Derogatory information, purportedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop, had surfaced in a New York Post article.

In a small dark and windy lane in Leith in Edinburgh I got into a conversation with an artist painting a bright yellow mural of a young woman on a wall. The artist told me she was painting Bisan, a young journalist, who opens all her posts with – “Hey everyone, this is Bisan from Continue reading »

The US senses that the clock is running rapidly down on its power. The question in Washington regarding war with China is not if, but when–and how. In many traditions, when you paint or sculpt a Buddha, the eyes are the very last part to be painted. It’s only after the eyes have been completed Continue reading »

Two years since the Russian invasion, Ukraine has faded from the headlines. But not in the Vatican and for the man who might be the next Pope. Tied down in a strategic frontline stalemate, Ukraine has faded from the headlines, especially after the October 2023 Hamas attack and Israel’s Gaza response. In a late-December 2023 Continue reading »

Thucydides has Pericles, the great Athenian statesman and strategist, observe that “Mastery of the sea is no small matter”. The Defence Minister should have been mindful of Pericles’ words as he launched the Enhanced Lethality Surface Combatant Fleet (ELSCF). Or he might have recalled Pericles’ caution that “I am far more afraid of our own Continue reading »

More than four months after a crushing defeat in the Voice referendum, and soon after the Closing the Gap report confirmed that there was almost no progress in improving Aboriginal lives last year, Aboriginal players in the yes case are moving towards an inquest into how their case went so terribly wrong. Marcia Langton, for Continue reading »

The South China Morning Post recently published an illuminating article on China’s policy towards ethnic minorities, with a particular focus on Inner Mongolia that has strived hardest to assimilate its Mongols with the rest of the Chinese population to promote a single national identity. But does China’s policy reflect the assimilation policies towards First Nations Continue reading »

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt. We must educate and act urgently on these problems. The continuing decline of the life support system of ecosystem services and biodiversity is a crisis needing urgent, Continue reading »

GP visits are down 37% since the government took office. But all we get is spin. Decades of inadequate funding and poor policy has driven Medicare to the point of crisis and beyond — and the crunch-point coincided with the election of the Albanese government. It looks as if GP clinics had held out in Continue reading »

When do shared values become shared interests? Australia’s relations with India have accelerated exponentially. The nearly century-long pattern of discovery and rediscovery of India by the Australian polity is now history. Durable knots are being tied across the spectrum of political, economic, and social issues. No one-night stands anymore. It is all so reminiscent of Continue reading »

I arrived in Australia with my family at the time when Malcolm Fraser was the Prime Minister of Australia. He was preceded by Gough Whitlam and succeeded by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. They were all intellectual, individualistic and humane leaders. I had never felt more secure and proud to be Australian. However, the subsequent Continue reading »

“Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and his party are scrambling to contain the fallout from a conservative Alabama court ruling that prompted some state providers to suspend in vitro fertilization treatments.”
— Reuters

Life begins at conception. Therefore, we must force girls and women to give birth because an embryo is a person who deserves full personhood, just like corporations. So when the Alabama Supreme Court decided that all embryos should be considered children, I rejoiced wholeheartedly—right up until the moment I saw the results of the National Republican Senate Committee’s internal poll.

The GOP primaries are giving us some interesting information Of all the 2024 political events I believed were irrelevant, the GOP primary campaign has been at the top of the list. But I was wrong. As it turns out these primaries, which have commonly been touted in the media as decisive evidence of the Donald Trump juggernaut going into the fall election, are illustrating a major weakness in his coalition and its one that we have been seeing since the day after he won the 2016 election. There is a substantial faction of Republicans and Republican leaning voters who simply cannot stand him. Yes, he is overwhelmingly popular among his MAGA base which makes up about three quarters of the GOP and the majority of them are blindly devoted to the man no matter what he does. They are not just enthusiastic about voting for him they are ecstatic. The media sees this as a sign that he is virtually unbeatable even to the extent of pushing the narrative that he is the front runner for the general election and Joe Biden is on the ropes despite the polls saying that the race is very close. It’s not that he is in any danger of losing the nomination.

As Liz Truss joins Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson as the latest recruit to Steve Bannon’s dangerous and undemocratic internationalist ‘anti-globalism’ – more online information warfare and hate will be the result, writes Peter Jukes

The Scottish Green Party Co-Leader and Government minister says Islamophobia has been treated as less important than antisemitism, as he calls for media reform

Krisen i den svenska skolan har nått högskolan. I dagens Kaliber berättar universitets-lärare om studenter med låga förkunskaper, om krav som sänks och om ett ersättnings-system som ger mer pengar ju fler studenter som godkänns … Lars Pålsson Syll är professor i samhällskunskap och undervisar bland annat blivande lärare i statistik. Sedan han började undervisa […]

Don’t want to intrude on your personal decisions, but…. Note: The story below is not about new Missouri legislation to prevent divorce during pregnancy, but efforts by a Democrat to remove the existing state ban. The headline frames it badly, but in a clickbait way. X-user The Volatile Mermaid tweets, “Missouri law says pregnant women can’t get divorced, in case you were under the false impression that Republicans care about protecting life. It’s. All. About. Controlling. Women.” Freedom. It’s another case of Republicans and “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” WDAF-TV: JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – As it stands, Missouri judges cannot legally finalize a divorce if a woman is pregnant. Three other states have similar laws: Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas. While a couple can still file for divorce in Missouri, the court must wait until after a woman gives birth in order to finalize child custody and child support. When it comes to domestic violence, there’s no exceptions. “It just doesn’t make sense in 2024,” said State Rep.