91福利

A Pinpoint Politics article by Ramsha Khan

The narrative of warfare in the last decade has been a poignant one, as we bore witness to the terrorist attacks, invasions, and revolutions that ignited across the globe. In its historical context this is not a phenomena out of the ordinary – indeed, the paradigm of conflict can be dated as old as mankind itself. However, there have been certain shifts in the form of warfare today, and, as these shifts in form collide with the liberal ideology and capitalist thought the western world is built upon, the resulting implications can be evidenced in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts, as well as the Arab Spring revolts. An actor that is receiving an ever-increasingly central position on this stage is the mercenary, or private soldier, along with the corporate structures and governments that control his role.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Enrico Longobucco

In recent days, a number of important Italian newspapers published surveys about confidence in Prime Minister Mario Monti. The approval rate for Monti seems to be about 50 per cent, the lowest figure recorded throughout his office. As a result, many Italian political parties want currently to indicate their independence from the government, and so do trade unions and professional associations, by means of a clever media campaign, which aims to tell people that whatever their current problems are, these are not due to politicians and unionists. Hence, political parties and organisations are lately trying to improve their image, after being at an all-time low in terms of credibility and support. However, it is not easy to tell whether this operation is bearing fruit. On one hand, it is true that the confidence in this government seems to decrease but, on the other hand, we are witnessing a steady loss of approval to political parties, as well as to trade unions.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Christopher Ogunmodede

The election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States was supposed to usher America into a “post-racial” world where Americans would be finally freed of its legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and racial discrimination. The election of a mixed-race, urban Senator from the North over a white, Republican Vietnam War hero was proof for many that America had closed the chapter of its sordid and contentious racial history. Then came , the Tea Party and now the Trayvon Martin shooting which reopens the discourse on race, police-community relations and guns in America.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Martina Čičáková

The Slovak population seems to have awakened this year after a long time of ostensible hibernation. Slovakia, a small state situated in the heart of Europe, has in the last two months become a stage of intensive political activity on a level that has been compared to the in November 1989, when people went into the streets demonstrating against the system and demanding democracy. Similarly, at present, protesters around Slovakia are demanding more democracy and transparency in the financing of political parties and privatisation of state businesses. Although Slovakia has been an officially democratic independent state since the Czechoslovak disintegration in January 1993, the ‘Gorilla’ case suggests Slovak politics has stagnated since the 1990s.

A Pinpoint Politics article by Andrew Kelly

On April 18^th, 1775, Paul Revere gathered himself and set off at mid-night riding North, as Malcolm Gladwell writes, to warn the resistance that the British were indeed coming. He was able to effectively galvanise them and had them ready and waiting. This ability to provoke such a response is what Gladwell calls, in his book The Tipping Point, the role of the connector. In many ways, this is precisely what Facebook and Twitter have come to be represented as; connectors, facilitators of action, mobilisers of movements, the Paul Revere’s of the internet.

91福利 Pinpoint Politics