(Press-News.org) Los Angeles, CA (October 9, 2012) - In the new fall issue of the World Policy Journal, the editors liken today's period of politics to an "electoral tsunami." With more of the world's population heading to the polls than ever before, this new issue of WPJ includes a collection of articles that take an in-depth look at democracy: the opportunities it presents, and the dangers that put it at risk.
The issue begins with reflections from international experts on the "The Big Question" – What is the biggest threat to democracy? Some of the world's most distinguished commentators such as Patrice de Beer, whose career has brought him from charnel house of the Khmer Rouge's "Democratic" Kampuchea, to London, Paris, and Washington, pull together years of expertise to analyze the challenges of democracy.
De Beer wrote, "Too many potential voters take democracy for granted, treating it like a habit that has hung around for ages … When you fail to use a privilege won by your forbears, when you let it decay as a useless tool. It runs the risk of becoming obsolete."
Other contributing experts include:
James L. Creighton, a retired U.S. Army colonel, who chronicles his experiences securing elections in Afghanistan and discusses what is needed to sustain democracy in war-torn nations.
Ai Weiwei, an inspirational challenger to China's single-party rule, an artist, sculptor, and the brains behind the venue of the Beijing Olympics, who discusses his experience as a detainee who stood up to the Chinese Communist Party.
United Nations Secretary, General Ban Ki-moon, who shares his personal experiences as a student activist under the Korean dictatorship and later as a negotiator with the governments in Syria, Mali, Libya, and the Ivory Coast.
"I think that democracy cannot be established over one or two elections," wrote Ki-moon. "We need to continuously engage with people, so that, first of all they can conduct elections credibly and in a fair and objective manner."
This issue of WPJ contains pieces written by many more journalists, activists, and politicians, who tackle the issue that threaten democracy from Estonia to Bahrain and Tibet to Finland. It also includes a visual demonstration of a ranking of the world's top 10 most authoritarian leaders based on time in power, prison population, military expenditures, freedom of the press, and the opinion of experts.
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Contact camille.gamboa@sagepub.com for immediate, full access to the issue or to be connected with the experts who are published in the journal.
University of Adelaide applied mathematicians have extended Einstein's theory of special relativity to work beyond the speed of light.
Einstein's theory holds that nothing could move faster than the speed of light, but Professor Jim Hill and Dr Barry Cox in the University's School of Mathematical Sciences have developed new formulas that allow for travel beyond this limit.
Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity was published in 1905 and explains how motion and speed is always relative to the observer's frame of reference. The theory connects measurements of the same ...
University of Guam Marine Lab scientist, Tom Shils and coauthor Heroen Verbruggen of the University of Melbourne have recently published an article describing a new species of algae found in the waters of Guam. Rhipilia coppejansii is the fifth green alga described from the Mariana Islands and the first one since 1978. "The molecular tools that aided its identification also reveal that previously undetected biodiversity abounds in the marine algal flora of Guam, which is an integral part of the island's natural heritage in which its people and their culture are deeply rooted," ...
The speed and degree to which the pupil of the eye responds is a standard test for alertness. It has also been used to assess how sleepy or exhausted a person is. Now, research to be published in the International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications suggests that measuring pupil response alone is not enough and that a person's rate of blinking should also be incorporated to obtain a more precise measure of alertness. The work could be important in the care of people with multiple sclerosis and other conditions. It might also be automated and ultimately used ...
There have been claims recently that the HPV (Human papillomavirus) vaccination increases sexual activity in adolescent girls as it effectively gives them a 'green light' to have sex because of a perceived protection against sexually transmitted infections. This study published in Vaccine, examines whether or not there is any influence on sexual behaviour as a result of being offered or given the vaccination.
The study looked at a cross-section of over 1,052 girls in the UK, with a mean age of 17.1 years. Of these, 433 had been offered the HPV vaccine and 620 had not ...
A concrete structure of three meters wide and over two meters high, placed by order of Augustus (adoptive son and successor of Julius Caesar) to condemn the assassination of his father, has given the key to the scientists. This finding confirms that the General was stabbed right at the bottom of the Curia of Pompey while he was presiding, sitting on a chair, over a meeting of the Senate. Currently, the remains of this building are located in the archaeological area of Torre Argentina, right in the historic centre of the Roman capital.
Antonio Monterroso, CSIC researcher ...
More efficient use of the food production chain and a decrease in the amount of food losses will dramatically help maintaining the planet's natural resources and improve people's lives. Researchers in Aalto University, Finland, have proved a valid estimation, for the first time, for how many people could be fed with reducing food losses. The world's population is an estimated seven billion people. An additional one billion can be fed from our current resources, if the food losses could be halved. This can be achieved if the lowest loss percentage achieved in any region ...
Polarstern is expected back from the Central Arctic expedition "IceArc" in Bremerhaven on 8 October 2012 after a good two months. 54 scientists and technicians from twelve different countries conducted research on the retreat of the sea ice and the consequences for the Arctic Ocean and its ecosystems over a period of two months in the High North. A number of new technologies were used for to film and photograph life in and below the ice down to a depth of 4400 metres. Since its departure from Tromsø (Norway) on 2 August 2012 Polarstern has travelled some 12,000 kilometres ...
Do you have it in mind to go to a mountain top and study beetles that nobody else has ever seen? Well, there are two fewer such mountains available now that beetle species discovered on Mont Tohiea and Mont Mauru in the Society Islands have been named. James Liebherr, Curator of the Cornell University Insect Collection, has just described 14 species of predatory carabid beetle, also called ground beetles, as part of a U.S. National Science Foundation team that surveyed the insects and spiders of French Polynesia.
Liebherr described the species in two papers published ...
New research from North Carolina State University, Brigham Young University and the University of California, Irvine finds that parental involvement is a more significant factor in a child's academic performance than the qualities of the school itself.
"Our study shows that parents need to be aware of how important they are, and invest time in their children – checking homework, attending school events and letting kids know school is important," says Dr. Toby Parcel, a professor of sociology at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work. "That's where the payoff is."
The ...
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Liberal arts colleges continue redefining their historical missions or flat-out disappearing – a trend that threatens to diminish America's renowned higher education system, argues a study co-authored by a Michigan State University scholar.
Of the 212 liberal arts colleges identified in a landmark 1990 study, only 130 remain in their traditional form – a 39 percent reduction, according to the new research.
While some liberal arts schools have closed or become part of larger universities due to financial problems, Roger Baldwin, MSU professor of ...
