Political science, not political science-fiction. A student-run magazine at Binghamton University.
The United States prides itself on democratic and egalitarian values. Despite this, we choose to elect our executive by means of an Electoral College, which due to its nature, sometimes produces antimajoritarian election outcomes. These results go against the wishes of a majority of voters.
Climate Change is an extremely complicated problem. The Earth is an extremely delicate system—it has many layers and each of them interact with the others in ways we are still not completely sure about. This means that, when there is an imbalance, even a small one, it creates a huge change in the planet’s weather, temperature, and biological systems.
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.
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.
Elections in the United States are dominated by a two-party system with Democrats on the centre-left and Republicans on the centre-right. Although there are other parties, they receive negligible amounts of support and often fail to win any significant elections. For voters who support third parties, elections can be frustrating, as it seems like there is no good outcome when casting a vote.
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).
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 European Union (EU) is turning to new strategies to boost its global competitiveness, which has declined in recent years. The European economy has been hit hard by rising public debts following the pandemic and rising energy costs due to sanctions imposed on Russia following the Russia-Ukraine war. However, when you look at the big picture, the crisis Europe was experiencing was not due to these two events but rather to structural problems.
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 2025 Democratic mayoral primary stunned New York City when former Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded to Zohran Mamdani. Cuomo was a political veteran strongly favored by Democratic leaders, despite having a sexual harassment scandal in 2021. The odds had been stacked against the 33-year-old Assemblyman, a newcomer to citywide politics. Yet Mamdani made history.
On July 4th, 2025, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA). At the end of June, as the bill ricocheted between the House and the Senate, our timelines were barraged by political pundits analyzing its far-reaching effects. However, the subject that garnered the most bipartisan attention was changes in federally funded health insurance programs.
Voters in New York City are set to go to the polls on November 4th to elect a new mayor. In the months leading up to the election, the race has been jam packed. Currently, the four main candidates in the race are Zohran Mamdani (Democrat), Eric Adams (Independent), Andrew Cuomo (Independent), and Curtis Sliwa (Republican).
Climate change is a pretty simple problem, at its core.
We cut down all the trees, drained all the swamps, dammed all the rivers, and then started burning oil. We cut out the earth’s lungs and got addicted to smoking.
Since the problem is seen as quite complicated, it should first be discussed why the problem is simple.
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?
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.
Nothing in this world is free. The effort toward global decarbonization that has become a critical priority for much of the international community comes with its immediately obvious hurdles. The large-scale rollout of renewable energy production, the mass electrification of oil- and gas-powered sectors, and the scaling down of animal agriculture are all wide-scale and far from easy.
Vandalized Teslas, hundreds of protests, stormed dealerships, and scared owners—what’s going on here? The target is Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, and appointed “head” of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The motive? A widespread belief that Musk has used his wealth to meddle in politics to the detriment of our democracy.
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.
On December 8th, 2024, the Syrian Ba’athist Party and the Assad political dynasty were exhumed from the Syrian administration after a grueling decade of civil war. Since the start of the Arab Spring in 2011, the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, waged an all-out war on the country’s political insurgents. The Arab Spring was a chain of protests across North Africa and the Middle East that demanded civic freedoms from their authoritarian governments, attempting to loosen autocratic regimes’ grip over their people.
Many of us conjure up a similar image of a stereotypical spy when we think of espionage. Disguises, black sunglasses, a jack of all trades, a guy who builds their gadgets, hacking on a black screen with green code; the list goes on. Having such stereotypes has made the world of spies and espionage seem like a fantastical one—one that is far removed from our real world.
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