By Alex Hayes International Relations Student Florida is finally getting an intercity passenger rail system that will link the popular tourist destinations of Orlando and Miami. After more than 16 years of political blockage by Republican governors, it took significant private investment to put the project into place. Once built Brightline will offer numerous benefits…
Category: The Americas
Why Trump Probably Won’t Make America Great Again
By Jono Davis Columnist, International Relations Student A few weeks ago, I stipulated that I was fairly positive about a Trump administration in the foreign policy field. Needless to say, despite Stephen Colbert’s brilliant analysis (sarcasm) that someone with the nickname “Mad Dog” shouldn’t be Secretary of Defense, I stand by the opinion that there…
Why a Trump Presidency Really Might Make America Great Again
By Jono Davis Columnist, International Relations Student Can’t believe I’m saying this, but: I’m excited for a Trump Presidency (if only for the promising future in the realms of defense and foreign policy). The United States of America has lost its way a bit on the foreign policy stage, both blundering into Iraq and Afghanistan…
Isolation & Trade in a Trumpian America
By James Moynan Editor, Undergraduate Economics Student As the world adjusts to the news that the US electorate has voted for a man who seems more concerned about the public perception of the size of his hands than human rights violations, discussion turns to what exactly caused an outcome that seemed unlikely a week ago to…
Unfinished Ambition: The Obama Legacy at Home
By Jono Davis Undergraduate International Relations Student Barack Obama: the 44th President of the United States, the fifteenth Democratic president and most markedly the first African-American president, but also a name that can create emotions of both elatedness and utter disgust. Whilst all presidents create and command their own unique versions of America, Obama’s tenure…
We Lost, Alright?: Reflections of a Post-Primary Bern
By Jono Davis Undergraduate International Relations Student A few months ago, I wrote an article for this very website, in which positivity radiated from the page, describing the incredible experience of contributing to the Bernie Sanders campaign in the largest way I possibly could being a UK citizen. Now, as I sit down to begin…
Weighing Outsiders from Outside: The “Yuge” Players in 2016
By Jonas Nesbo Correspondent, Joint Honours Economics and International Relations Undergraduate It’s been nearly a year since the start of the campaigns for the 2016 United States presidential election. As a foreign observer US elections are incredibly interesting, both because of its impact on world affairs and the difference in campaign style from other Western…
Risky Investments: The Politics of 2016
By Adam Stromme Editor-in-Chief, International Relations & Economics Undergraduate Student Mark Hanna, the legendary Gilded Age political manager was fond of saying: “It takes three things to run a political campaign in America: Money, money, and I forgot the third thing…” Following the money, and the dash of cynicism which is always a safe bet…
Influencing an Election in Which I Can’t Vote
By Jono Davis Undergraduate International Relations Student Before attempting to describe the intriguing and often puzzling process of campaigning during American elections from the perspective of a Brit, I must first wholeheartedly thank three incredible people, whom, without their help, the Bernie Sanders campaign in St Andrews would genuinely have been nothing but a pipe…
And There Were Eight: Life After Scalia
By William Goodall Correspondent, International Relations Undergraduate Student On 13 February, United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, was found dead at age 79. The longest serving justice on the Supreme Court, Scalia was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan and served for 29 years. While often criticized by liberals for his hard-line conservative stance and almost…
The Elephant and the Circus: The Rise of the Radical Right
By Adam Stromme Editor-in-Chief, International Relations & Economics Undergraduate Student The politics of every country is capable of generating its own special, unique form of insanity when put under pressure. But today it seems only the nightmarish, never-ending spectacle of American politics is so absurd and offensive as to almost become a parody of itself….
Is Socalism Trendy?
By William Goodall Correspondent, International Relations Undergraduate Student With Canada voting the Liberal Party into majority, Justin Trudeau is set to take over as Canada’s parliament prime minister in the coming months. This is a landmark victory for the Liberal Party, as for the past ten years the Conservative Party prime minister, Stephen Harper, had ran the…
