Category / Family / International

  • The Middle East In The 2020s

    As the Middle East enters the last year of this decade, it has completed what could be the worst epoch in its history. Oxford Professor Eugene Rogan, in The Arabs: A History, talks about the feeling of humiliation present in the Arab world following a series of events. The defeat of Iraq in the First…

  • Big Brother Is Not Just Watching

    The western world has paid much attention lately to the emergence of China’s social credit system, which evokes fears of Orwellian control and Big Brother—the Chinese state, in this case—watching and controlling its citizens. The system, which was announced in 2014 by China’s State Council, is an attempt (in the State Council’s words) to encourage…

  • Demanding A Democratic Response To Neoconservatism

    The 2020 election cycle has arrived and the Democrats need a message. With a Republican incumbent (who may be in for a primary challenge), all eyes are on the Democratic field. All Democrats can agree on one thing: at least their nominee won’t be Trump. But such a declaration dismisses the meaningful policy discussions that…

  • Dollar Homes And Urban Decay

    Soon, you might be able to buy a house in St. Louis City for $1. This comes after the Board of Aldermen passed a resolution to encourage the St. Louis Development Corporation to restart a homesteading program. Agree to live in and rehabilitate one of the vacant residential properties in public care, and you can…

  • The Evolution Of A Campus Conservative Revisited

    I arrived at Wash U in 2015 a doe-eyed Republican, having spent my first eighteen years in perennially red South Dakota. I grew up among climate change deniers, gay marriage opposers, and gun enthusiasts. I was practically weaned on Fox News. Though I managed to emerge from this environment with some socially liberal views (primarily…

  • Getting Women In The Right House

    A record 125 women were elected to serve in the 116th U.S. Congress during the 2018 midterm elections, 40 of whom are new members. However, despite the fact that women make up 50 percent of the U.S. population, 125 seats is still only 22 percent of Congress. These proportions aren’t unique to the federal level…

  • The Spread Of The Sprawl

    St. Louisans and Wash U students rightly criticize the city’s anemic public transportation and bike infrastructure. However, this shortage exists in the context of St. Louis’ overbuilt automobile infrastructure. St. Louis sits at the intersection of several major interstate highways that serve as the arteries of a larger network of roads that make up the…