Author: TheConversation

By Kerry Whigham, Assistant Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University, State University of New York Between 1904 and 1908, German soldiers and settler colonists killed about half of all Nama people and over 80% of the Herero ethnic group. On May 28, 2021, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas acknowledged that Germany committed genocide in what is today Namibia. The statement by Maas was Germany’s first official description of these events as “genocide.” Maas also announced that Germany would pay Namibia roughly US$1.3 billion to answer for these crimes. Many refer to this gesture as reparations. Meanwhile,...

By Jennifer Reynolds, Professor of Law, University of Oregon American courts in 2021 have already handed down several potentially historic rulings, from the Supreme Court’s recent decision restricting voting rights in Arizona and potentially nationwide to a Minnesota jury’s conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd last year. Cases like these are often called “landmark” cases, because they set forth ideas and ideals that may bring about significant changes in the political and legal landscape. Many analysts considered the Chauvin trial, in particular, to be a landmark. In it, police officers actually testified against one of...

By Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di Torino The majority of Americans today are anxious; they believe their democracy is under threat. In fact, democracies deteriorate easily. As was feared since the times of Greek philosopher Plato, they may suddenly succumb to mob rule. The people will think they have an inalienable right to manifest their opinions – which means to state out loud whatever passes through their minds. They will act accordingly, often violently. They will make questionable decisions. Democracies may pave the way to tyrants. Self-serving leaders will appear. They will seek to rewrite national...

By Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Governance, University of Washington Chaotic scenes in Kabul accompanied the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The fundamentalist Islamic group was able to retake power after President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw the remaining U.S. troops from the country. The withdrawal brings to a close nearly 20 years of American military presence in Afghanistan. Without the ongoing prospect of U.S. military support, the Washington-backed Afghan government quickly fell – and on Aug. 21, 2021, the Taliban declared the creation of a new political order, the Islamic Emirate of...

By Thomas Alan Schwartz, Professor of History, Vanderbilt University; and Catesby Holmes, The Conversation US “While they are very different, many are looking at the 1975 fall of Saigon to try to understand what is happening in Afghanistan. Walter Cronkite perhaps said it best, ‘We’ve reached the end of a tunnel and there is no light.’” – Ken Burns As headlines proclaim the “end” of “America’s longest war,” President Joe Biden’s withdrawal of the remaining U.S. military personnel from Afghanistan is being covered by some in the news media as though it means the end of the conflict, or even...

By Sylvia G. Dee, Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Rice University Long before the current political divide over climate change, and even before the U.S. Civil War, an American scientist named Eunice Foote documented the underlying cause of today’s climate change crisis. The year was 1856. Foote’s brief scientific paper was the first to describe the extraordinary power of carbon dioxide gas to absorb heat – the driving force of global warming. Carbon dioxide is an odorless, tasteless, transparent gas that forms when people burn fuels, including coal, oil, gasoline and wood. As Earth’s surface heats,...