Category: Politics

Will Congress give Obama authority to negotiate trade agreements?

Guest post by William Krist President Obama called on Congress to give him authority to negotiate trade agreements in last night’s State of the Union address. This authority, commonly called Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) or Fast Track Authority, was last granted to the President in 2002, but that authority expired in 2007. Under our Constitution,…

U.S.-Cuba rapprochement: historic, but limited

Guest post by Christopher Darnton The United States and Cuba have reached a historic agreement, putting an end to a half-century of frozen relations. Reciprocal speeches by Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, and gestures like the exchange of high-profile prisoners convicted of espionage, suggest that the two countries will open not only embassies but…

Taking to the streets and to the internet in Hong Kong

Guest post by Catie Snow Bailard After four weeks of protest and occupation, which at times have drawn tens of thousands of participants, face-to-face talks between government officials and protest leaders appear to be yielding results. Chinese officials have promised both to issue a public report documenting the protesters' sentiments and to provide a platform for discussing electoral issues…

Taking to the streets and to the internet in Hong Kong

Guest post by Catie Snow Bailard After four weeks of protest and occupation, which at times have drawn tens of thousands of participants, face-to-face talks between government officials and protest leaders appear to be yielding results. Chinese officials have promised both to issue a public report documenting the protesters' sentiments and to provide a platform for discussing electoral issues…

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, Your International Students…

Guest post by Michael A. Olivas If any of you are at all known to your campus or law school immigration/international student advisors, you may find yourself in regular contact with them and your general counsel. I am regularly in touch with these folks, in part because I teach higher education law, in part because I…

Politics in the nation’s capital: Meet us in DC at APSA

By Brendan Coyne As people across the world grapple with such issues as the Islamic State and continued hostilities between Palestinians and the Israeli state to institutionalized discrimination and militarized police to climate change and unstable governments, the world's largest collection of political scientists meets this week in Washington, D.C. We're happy to be here supporting…

Politics in the nation’s capital: Meet us in DC at APSA

By Brendan Coyne As people across the world grapple with such issues as the Islamic State and continued hostilities between Palestinians and the Israeli state to institutionalized discrimination and militarized police to climate change and unstable governments, the world's largest collection of political scientists meets this week in Washington, D.C. We're happy to be here supporting…

Mobilizing Democracy: from Dictatorship to Neoliberalism

Guest Post by Paul Almeida My first encounter with Central America came in the late 1980s when I volunteered with a local immigration agency. Northern California’s Monsignor Oscar A. Romero Central American Refugee Committee (MOARC) aided refugees, most of whom were fleeing El Salvador’s decade-long civil war. While a volunteer, I had the opportunity to travel to El…

Mobilizing Democracy: from Dictatorship to Neoliberalism

Guest Post by Paul Almeida My first encounter with Central America came in the late 1980s when I volunteered with a local immigration agency. Northern California’s Monsignor Oscar A. Romero Central American Refugee Committee (MOARC) aided refugees, most of whom were fleeing El Salvador’s decade-long civil war. While a volunteer, I had the opportunity to travel to El…

The problem of undocumented immigrants is not new

Guest Post by Ronald H. Bayor The nation is presently watching the Mexico–U.S. border and obsessing over the issue of illegal immigration. The topic of undocumented immigrants, however, is not a new one. With the passage of largely ineffective state laws in the nineteenth century excluding certain immigrants because of disease, criminal background, or other problems,…