New Year, New Rules: The 2025 Laws That Are Shaking Up America

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.

Third Parties and Strategic Voting

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.

Zohran Mamdani: What a Democratic Socialist Mayor could mean for NYC

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.

Green Colonialism and Environmental Racism: A Case Study in the Democratic Republic of Congo

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.

Hochul vs. Trump: Congestion Pricing

Gridlock is a term that was coined in New York City, referring to the traffic congestion preventing the efficient functioning of the city’s network of intersections, particularly in Manhattan. The term has existed since the emergence of America’s car culture in the 1900s when New York officials believed that a toll system would be the best solution to the traffic problem in Manhattan. However, New York officials have recently developed an ambitious experiment to resolve traffic control: congestion tolling.

Electoral Cooperation Across Borders?: Political Internationals and Electoral Coordination

An often neglected aspect of political parties is their broader participation in transnational political organizations, referred to as political internationals. A political international is a transnational organization comprising parties with a common ideology or political outlook.

Who Does High Turnout Benefit in the Trump Era?

The 2024 presidential election campaign, characterized by a quick succession of unexpected and shocking twists and turns, is likely to result in an incredibly close election. Most polls show Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in a dead heat in the seven battleground states. Vice President Harris has a slight lead in national polls but is well within the margin of error.

The Swinging 60s: Cultural Revolutions and Legislative Reactions in Britain

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. 

How Perón Rescued and Failed Argentina

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 War on Terror and its Impact on the Trust of Politicians in the 2000s

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.