Comparative Politics

"The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger"

Posted as a Critique to the David Harvey Piece--the author is anonymous (why?); identifies himself as "How the World Works"; in videos where he is talking, he looks like a college-age person.

David Harvey--look for the critique of this one as well

Jeremy Rivkin

YouTube -

An interesting perspective on what transnational means from the IEEE, world's oldest association of electrical engineers!

This article intelligently reveals the difficulties of bridging many different countries, which vary politically and culturally, under one goal or line of thought. The specific laws within each country (and each region of each country) must hinder uniform implementation to a notable extent, but I admire the organization's dedication to its vision. However, I wonder if, with the various global regions and political orientations into which the IEEE is divided, interpretations, and not just implementations, of the organization's vision may be different. With that in mind, can implementations change not only according to local laws, but also according to personal biases?

I found the part about regulations in certain countries especially interesting. It seems ridiculous that a country would ban the import a technical journal. The fact that the author never gives specifics about which country he is referring to further backs his points about what it means to maintain a transnational organization. And while I'm sure that the IEEE is committed to its goal, I am not sure how committed its members might be and if they might bring about international disputes despite the IEEE's best efforts.

An uncomfortable article about the UN in Congo. It talks about how the UN has spent billions of dollars and more than a decade on trying to keep peace, but they've accomplished very little.

These rapings are atrocious, and I'm surprised that its coverage on the media has been so meagre, considering the long history of the crisis in the Congo. While the U.N. has not been able to improve the Congo significantly, I'm wondering if the problems lie in the desolateness of the area (no lines of communication, etc) or in the management of the U.N. bases there. I believe that the U.N. could be doing more, but I don't think they should be the only solution; the local economy and infrastructure must improve as well so that better communication and control can be established.

What was most shocking to me about this article was the scale on which this is happening in Congo and how open the attackers are about it- raping an 80 year old woman, raping women with UN peacekeepers right up the street. The rapists have absolutely no limits. Scary and very sad. It was equally shocking that the Congo government (police, law enforcement etc) has been unwilling or unable to do anything about this (the article cited them as often "too drunk" to do much about it). It's sad and heart wrenching that the UN has so far been unable to come up with a plan to help these people, and perhaps even more sad that their own government hasn't done anything. It's notable that Congo is being called the "UN's crowning failure" and their greatest failure so far.

Brussels wants to delve deep into the running of national economies. It should beware of digging too far

Why do people automatically assume that the nations with the most geographic proximity to one's own country are the best ones to form an international organization with? The EU appears to be suffering from a crisis of difference...In economic policy, political/cultural policy etc... Maybe it would have made more sense if like-minded countries teamed up rather than putting everyone close to each other together despite economy and political policy differences. Seems like that would make for a much more cohesive and eventually successful union.

Times Topics home page. Background info and links to articles from a variety of sources.

This article claims that one of the plotters in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, David Headley, was a) a double agent for the US and b) a member of a militant group created and sponsored by Pakistan's intelligence agency. And that the Mumbai attack was intended to provoke conflict between Pakistan and India, both of which are nuclear armed.

A little gross humor. Really questionable taste. I can credit and you can thank Ryan Trutner for finding this one.

This video uses food in a very unique way to demonstrate different countries and the violence between them. The part about the twin towers definitely had a certain emotional effect even though they were made out of hamburgers it still got the point across.

Times Topics main page. Lots of articles from a variety of sources linked on this page.

Constantly changing--this is the channel home page for stories on European nations and the EU

It's interesting to not only compare policies between the US and other countries, but within our own country. Opinions and laws vary from state to state, region to region, city to city. Many European countries don't allow guns to be carried as an everyday accessory/emergency-self-defense device, and yet the USA is now allowing guns to be carried by civilians in bars (at least in certain states). It's an interesting argument for self-defense, but I wonder how good a judge you are at distinguishing between defense and offense when you're drunk.

Congress also passed a law a few months ago allowing loaded guns in national parks. . .

It's really cool that the women referred to in the article (Dilma Rousseff, Michelle Bachelet, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and Keiko Fujimori) are taking their countries by storm. These countries are obviously very forward-thinking, and I admire them for it.

It's amazing how much power women can have in countries that Americans often think of as less developed than the US. These women are really taking control, when here in America we have yet to elect a female president or vice-president.

I want to echo Shalina's point. It's surprising that in the United States we still have not had a female President or Vice President, whereas countries that we often consider inferior to ours, such as Argentina and Peru, have already had female leaders. Though not mentioned in the article, another influential country that has already had a female leader is England- which first had a female Prime Minister over thirty years ago!