Political science, not political science-fiction. A student-run magazine at Binghamton University.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the United States’ largest program aimed at combating hunger. However, it is currently under attack by the Trump administration, and millions of Americans are at risk of their welfare benefits being cut.
“Eat the Rich.” “Power to the People.” “Make America Great Again.” These populist slogans pop up everywhere, from graffiti under an overpass to TikTok “For You” pages. The basic populist message—“the people” versus “the elites”—isn’t new. It was used by American revolutionaries in the 1700s, rebellious farmers in the late 19th century, and even anti-communist politicians in the 1950s (Gillon 2025). But over the past half-century, populist rhetoric has dramatically increased on both the right and left.
When the 13 colonies were established throughout the 16th-18th centuries, the myriad Christian denominations that found themselves in the New World began integrating religious practices into the laws of their respective colonies.
In recent years, there has been increased buzz over the United States becoming the first UN member state to recognize the independence of the self-declared state of Somaliland. In March 2022, Somalilander leaders met with members of Congress and the Biden administration to lobby for American recognition of their aspirational state. Citing growing Chinese influence in the Horn of Africa and the success of Somaliland’s democracy as opposed to Somalia’s failed state, Somalilander has made the case for recognition on the grounds of guaranteeing stability and US influence in the region
Bolsonaro’s attempted coup has striking parallels to the January 6th insurrection in the U.S. with the stark discrepancy being the fact that Bolsonaro faced criminal prosecution, and Trump’s case was dismissed. Within the last decade, several leaders worldwide have attempted to unlawfully seize power when losing their reelection bids or facing impeachment, but many of them faced judicial pressure and long sentences of imprisonment.
The influence of moneyed interest in elections has become increasingly relevant in American politics over the past twenty years. This influence has reached new levels of concern in the second Trump Administration; over thirty different wealthy campaign donors, who collectively contributed hundreds of millions to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election campaign, have been appointed to key positions in his Cabinet.
The United States Government is around $36,220,000,000,000 in debt as of April 2025, according to figures calculated by the US Treasury. The figure is immense, exceeding America’s 2023 gross domestic product by trillions. The sheer scale of the debt informs why reducing it has been one of the current Trump Administration’s largest stated goals in their policy agendas so far.
The idea that gentrification caused a decrease in crime is a misdiagnosis. D.C.’s crime went down in 2024, but there has been a significant overall surge from pre-pandemic numbers in the past few years. This has fueled a prevalent public perception of D.C. as being overrun with crime.
For a majority of Americans, no policy has had more of an impact on livelihood than employment contracts. Employment contracts lay out all terms and conditions regarding workers filling a certain position at a given firm, such as wages, job responsibilities, and terms of employment.
Since the popularization of social media, a perceived feeling that history is essentially happening “faster” today compared to previous eras has been prevalent. Has the frequency of major world events truly accelerated in tandem with our transition to modernity? Or is the notion of history going faster simply an artifact of memory?
As European states evolved into their modern forms, the developments made in statecraft shifted diplomacy away from monopoly-based imperial competition towards the maintenance of a shared hegemony over globe-spanning colonial holdings.
A discrepancy exists between the United States’ original mission of independence and the fate faced by its subjected territories and nations. This is particularly evident in the United States’ campaign in the Philippines.
In an April 1966 edition of Time Magazine, the sociocultural landscape of Britain was vividly described as being “in the midst of a bloodless revolution” (“Time Magazine” 1966). The rejection of the elite-dominated status quo ushered in the creation of a new social order– a society in which people wore “suspiciously bright cloth[ing],” listened to catchy beat music, and talked openly about sex.
In the recent Argentine presidential election of November 2023, a surprising wave of young adult voters (almost 70% percent of the under 30’s) cast their votes for the libertarian, extremist candidate Javier Milei, instead of Sergio Massa, the candidate for the Peronist party in government. However, young voters weren’t just rejecting the current Peronist government, but rejecting the Peronists who have dominated Argentine politics for the last 80 years.
The 1970s—a decade notably defined in the United States by disco beats, bell bottoms, and of course, significant political turbulence. Marked by the legal milestone of Roe v. Wade (1973) that legalized abortion across the nation, the 1970s represents a time of cultural shifts that challenged norms of female reproductive freedom, gender, and sexual liberation.
As thick black smoke billows into the sky, the president’s forces stormed the Parliament to the sound of more gunfire. The political change is palpable; Russian democracy is dead, and while no one knows it yet, the path has been laid for a new unknown political actor named Vladimir Putin to take and hold power. We know how this story ends, but where does it begin and when did things go so terribly wrong?
The extreme turbulence of the early 2000s along with the missteps of leadership by politicians created a larger problem – an overall loss of faith in government by some. The 2000s can be pinpointed as a shift in view for many Americans, splitting the American political sphere into various factions that have only continued to grow to this day.
Congress enacted the Presidential Records Act (PRA) in 1978 initially as a reaction to the Richard Nixon Watergate scandal and a dispute over his presidential records. The new legislation essentially changed the legal ownership of presidential records from private to public; the records belonged to the United States government rather than the President himself. It also laid out the process of filing records and what happens after a President’s term comes to an end.
In an unprecedented turn of events, Donald Trump, the former president and current presidential candidate, finds himself in uncharted waters, becoming the first U.S. president to be indicted while simultaneously dealing with multiple other major legal cases and federal felony counts.
How did France, with a crippled economy and weakened military, gain the status of a superpower?
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