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.
Trump announced in October that he would open the entire 1.56 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing. These lands are sacred to the Gwich’in Nation, home to irreplaceable wildlife, wilderness, and cultural values, and have never seen industrialization.
Donald Trump promised supporters that the United States would make a show of strength by forcibly removing foreign nationals from the country by any means necessary and by putting an end to “unfair” trade deals that benefited foreign countries more than the US. Prior to entering office, experts anticipated that Trump’s foreign policy would be based on a reciprocal approach to diplomacy, viewing relationships as “transactional” (Cha 2024). Both policies, mass deportations and protectionist trade policies, have become intertwined tools in a larger strategy of coercive diplomacy.
The United States and China have one of the world’s most complex relationships. The two countries have experienced periods of tension and cooperation over a range of issues. Key areas of conflict between the two include trade and economic practices. While the US and China have a critical trade relationship, they are also major competitors.
The numbers don’t lie: the U.S. labor market is languishing. Sifting through the revised, retracted, and re-revised labor statistics of the past few months, a dispiriting picture emerges. There was a net loss of jobs in June, for the first time since the winter of 2020.
The United States’ current health policy has undergone significant changes since President Trump took office. The Trump administration’s approach to health policy is marked by a mix of ambitious reforms and internal contradictions. Central to this dynamic is the tense debate surrounding the administration’s approach to vaccinations, coupled with Trump’s seemingly contradictory mission to Make American Healthy Again (MAHA).
Higher education is one of our proudest aspects of America, and has been a crucial part of our identity since the founding of our nation. These Universities are one of the largest and most important producers of scientific research in the United States. They receive almost $60 billion towards research from the National Institute of Health (NIH) alone, towards researching topics like cancer, neurological disorders, and diabetes.
This year, America saw a great deal of new laws passed addressing issues such as AI, abortion, guns, tariffs, and more. 2025’s new policies and regulations display the ideological divide across the United States; while California and New York move to regulate AI and protect abortion access, states like Florida and Texas double down on restrictions.
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
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.
We’ve all heard the word surface again and again in the news recently, from Trump’s policy agenda to numerous countries responding with reciprocal tariffs. Their effects span from countries, rates, and goods. The question is, just how impactful is this oft-wielded economic policy, and what kind of impact will it wield on us, the American consumers?
New York City’s housing crisis is a complex tapestry of challenges that affects every corner of the Metropolitan Area. While migration, bureaucratic hurdles, and slow construction are often cited as the primary culprits, the underlying issue lies in exclusionary zoning laws and local land use restrictions.
The economy is one of, if not the most, salient points of presidential elections in the United States. A voter evaluates an incumbent president regarding his/her material circumstances to form opinions about the candidate.
What makes a nation successful? By what metrics do we measure how well a nation is doing? As an alternative to GDP, a government’s competency in promising and fulfilling its obligations to its population could be a better metric of success.
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.
The WGA Strike of 2023 will undoubtedly be remembered for many years to come. Not only did the union achieve improvements for American writers, but the outcome of the deal will be felt across the country.
I was born and raised in the Bronx, the daughter of two Trinidadian immigrants. Throughout middle and high school, I went to a predominantly white, all-girls private school on a scholarship in the affluent city of Greenwich, Connecticut. For eight years, I traveled daily between these two cities, observing the differences between the two communities—and there were many.
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.
The ability to express one’s beliefs on political and social matters through speech—verbal or nonverbal—without fear of government-led censure for doing so is a central element of American democracy.
While there is likely no single reform that could solve all the problems with American politics, it could be good to look at some alternative voting systems that could be implemented in the United States. The majoritarian electoral system used in the US is not the only type that is used across the world, after all.
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