Politics

Youth leaders from across Nashville will converge at the Vanderbilt Law School Sunday, Oct. 15, for the forum, "Youth Engagement as a Strategy for Youth Development and Community Change." Read More

Vanderbilt University's "Meet the Candidates" community picnic on Oct. 6 is expected to be one of the area's largest and most festive political gatherings prior to the Nov. 7 election. The picnic provides an excellent opportunity for Vanderbilt's students, faculty and staff as well as the university's neighbors, to learn more about the campaigns. Read More

The stage is set for Shinzo Abe to become Japan's new Prime Minister Sept. 26 following his election as the leader of the country's ruling party. Read More

Kevin Klose, president and chief executive officer of National Public Radio (NPR), will speak Sept. 27 at Vanderbilt University Law School. Read More

On the recent fifth anniversary of 9/11, Americans faced anew a choice between fear and compassion. Five years have passed since that bright blue, cloudless, horrific morning. Since then it has become a truism to say that American life has changed unalterably. In the coming weeks, politicians and pundits will pontificate about how 9/11 changed American life. But a prior, more basic question will remain unasked: Why should that day change the very fabric of our common life? Should heightened security concerns corrode our national character? Must it lessen who we are? Read More

From adolescence on, I heard a constant refrain from my Indian father: "Don't ever believe that you're really American." I found his advice peculiar, especially as I had been living in America since age 8 and had largely forgotten my time in India. To him, it didn't matter that the only language in which I could think a complex thought was English. It didn't matter that the only music I listened to was Michael Jackson, the Bee Gees and Billy Joel. Read More

As chair of the Democratic Party in Smithville — not to mention choir director of the First United Methodist Church — Faye Fuqua generally knows what's going on around town. Read More

U.S. Senate candidates Harold Ford Jr. and Bob Corker will square off for a statewide televised debate at Vanderbilt University's Ingram Hall Oct. 28. Read More

Feelings of grief, anger and vulnerability over the 9/11 terrorist attacks five years ago remain strong for most Americans, according to James Booth, a Vanderbilt University professor of political science and philosophy. Read More

Finding the line between interpreting laws and making them has been an issue for America since its founding, and concerns about "legislating from the bench" crop up regularly. Read More

Fidel Castro's serious illness could signal bumpy times ahead for the Cuban government: "When you have dictatorships that revolve around the persona of one individual, they tend to be very brittle," according to political scientist Mitchell Seligson. Read More

The proposed trip of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East will undoubtedly encourage many to draw parallels to Henry Kissinger's famed shuttle diplomacy after the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, according to Vanderbilt University Professor of History Thomas Alan Schwartz. Read More

Three Vanderbilt political scientists are available to discuss the 2006 Tennessee U.S. Senate race. Read More

A vote-by-vote recount in Mexico's contested presidential election would ideally convince all Mexicans that this was a clean election and not a repeat of 1988, said Vanderbilt political scientist Jonathan Hiskey. Lopez Obrador, who claims there was voter fraud, lost to Felipe Calderon by less than one percent, according to the official results. Read More

The district attorney prosecuting the rape case against three of Duke University's lacrosse players received significant support from both black and white voters in the recent Durham primary, according to a voting analysis by Vanderbilt University political scientist Christian Grose. Read More

Mike Newton, acting associate clinical professor of law at Vanderbilt University, is an expert on war crimes and international criminal law. Vanderbilt University Professor of History Thomas Alan Schwartz says that one of the real dangers about the Haditha investigation is that the truth about the incident could become secondary to opposing political agendas. Read More

The possibility that Iraqi civilians were massacred at Haditha has brought back painful memories for many about the infamous My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, according to Vanderbilt University Professor of History Thomas Alan Schwartz. Read More

President Bush's call for National Guard troops on the border is "a political move that flies in the face of reality," according to Robert Barsky, editor of AmeriQuests and an expert on refugee, border and migration issues. Delivering a nationally televised speech on immigration shows President Bush wants to act, not react, on the debate about cracking down on illegal immigrants, according to presidential expert John Geer. Read More

The next time you hear a political candidate blast his or her opponent in a negative political advertisement, your natural inclination may be to grab the remote and change the channel. However, Vanderbilt University political scientist John Geer believes attacks ads play a crucial role in the democratic political process, so listen to and evaluate that negative message before heading to the polls. Read More

Financial journalist and author Peter Brimelow addressed an audience of nearly 200 in Langford Auditorium March 20 as he spoke on "disappearing borders" - the theme of this year's IMPACT Symposium. Read More