A little-remembered Jewish culture in Germany and Austria between the 1870s and 1930s was a hotbed of ideas which drove the formation of the European Union, according to new research.
Literary and film scholar Dr Cathy Gelbin from The University of Manchester says cosmopolitan German speaking Jewish intellectuals, many of whom met in the coffee houses of Berlin, Vienna and Prague, were among the first to see their identity as European.
Her co-author on the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded study is the eminent cultural and literary historian Professor Sander Gilman from Emory University in Atlanta.(more…)
One of the most notable outcomes of the Nov. 6 election was the record number of women voted into Congress, including 20 women who will occupy seats in the U.S. Senate.
Christopher Berry, associate professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, recently discussed the effects of the increase in female U.S. senators. Berry co-authored a 2011 study that found congresswomen consistently outperform their male counterparts on several measures of job performance.
What implications will the increase of female representation have for the U.S. Senate?
Potentially of great interest to the constituents of the new female senators is our finding that they consistently bring home more federal projects and federal aid than their male counterparts. When you think about disasters like Hurricane Sandy, the ability to bring home federal aid for rebuilding efforts is really important. It is going to be good for their constituents and the states they represent. (more…)
AUSTIN, Texas — About half of Texas voters believe faith is a better guide than scientific evidence on most important questions, according to a recent University of Texas at Austin/Texas Tribune poll.
According to the poll, which surveyed Texans on a wide range of attitudes related to science and public policy, a similar proportion of voters said that “instinct and gut reactions” are just as good as the advice of scientists in most cases.
However, 66 percent of voters said politicians, when faced with a difficult decision, should follow the advice of relevant experts, even if it means going against their ideology. (more…)
The concept of responsibility is being used by politicians as a distraction from the real problems in society, which have to do with inequality according to research from the University of Exeter.
In the wake of the financial crisis there has been a renewed interest in issues of fairness and responsibility. The political debate about equality of opportunity, holding people responsible for their choices and helping people out when they suffer from undeserved bad luck has formed the focus of a four-year research project led by the University of Exeter.(more…)
More Asian Pacific Americans hold public office in the United States than at any other time in U.S. history, a sign of the community’s growing engagement with the political process, according to a newly released political almanac published by UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center.
The 14th edition of the National Asian Pacific American Political Almanac, first published in 1976, contains information on all 3,000 current elected and appointed officials. It also analyzes political trends and makes electoral projections of the nation’s 17 million Asian Pacific Americans. (more…)
