The Americas

Reports about the changing climate and human’s role in it are plenty. The prognosis these studies give are often snowed under by the fierce debates that follow them, questioning the effects these changes in temperature really will have. A recent study however comes with a new angle: the extinction rate. And according to it, we’re ’at the verge of a ... Read More »

Power cuts, shortages of goods, staggering inflation, corruption and crime rates ranking among the highest on the continent, have become common features in the record of Venezuela. As of recently, domestic turmoil that has been the largest in a decade and have thrown the country into a serious domestic crisis, can be added to this record. The protesters demand among ... Read More »

By José-Manuel Heinze Power cuts, shortages of goods, staggering inflation, corruption and crime rates ranking among the highest on the continent, have become common features in the record of Venezuela. As of recently, domestic turmoil that has been the largest in a decade and have thrown the country into a serious domestic crisis, can be added to this record. The ... Read More »

The war the Mexican government is waging against drug cartels has dragged along for years and resulted in nothing but more instability and civilian casualties. The government simply doesn’t seems to be able to get a grip on these huge organizations. As a reaction to this, a new ‘force’ entered the game and already has one of the major cartels, ... Read More »

Major technological inventions occur  in extracting gas from unconventional sources. Nowadays natural gas is the new gold. Substantial amounts of natural gas are ready to be extracted from sedimentary rocks, so called shales. According to Forbes,  the US could become the world’s largest producer of fracked energy by 2017. This energy revolution could be the solution for European countries like ... Read More »

As the Central Intelligence Agency indicates, the fertility rate in Brazil over the last five decades has dropped from six children per women to approximately fewer than two. This substantial shift in the Brazilian demographical records is often compared to the China’s one child policy which has produced similar results. However, if in China the responsibility over declining birth rates ... Read More »

On the 17th of October 2013, the USA could advert the bankruptcy of the state but the ideological raptures remain. By Derya Bischoff A few hours after insolvency, President Obama warned the 535 members of Congress that the way how Washington is doing business has to change. But this is wishful thinking. The polarization of society and the political elite ... Read More »

Festival season has kicked off. Many of you associate the word ‘festival’ with big dance events like Sziget or Lowlands and with people wearing oversized sunglasses, light summer dresses or trendy shorts, dancing in the hot summer sun. But festivals come in many different ways: they are celebrated throughout the world, with different purposes and are indeed a phenomenon of ... Read More »

Oh no, you have not misread the title. This specialized office has the remarkable duty of, for example, fining restaurants that inaccurately call their pasta ‘pasta’ or those who give away plastic spoons with only English writing on it. Where on earth, you might ask yourself, does the police involve itself with such surreal and seemingly trivial practices? Dictating the ... Read More »

With the academic year nearly at an end, is it possible that you over-satisfied your yearly reading needs? Apart from some well-deserved relaxation, the decade’s worth of documentaries that is freely dispersed over the internet can provide you with sufficient food for thought. In the field of IR, The Fog of War is often considered as a standard work among ... Read More »