Our nation is quite advanced in terms of religious freedoms it affords its citizens. Often billed as the melting pot of religions and cultures, the nation exhibits a truly cosmopolitan ethos. Yet, religious tolerance, prejudice and discrimination do crop up in public affairs. Christianity being the religion followed by a majority of the population, there…
Tag: United States
Film Review: The Station Agent
There are clear markers that set aside The Station Agent from mainstream American movies. The limited budget, the austere production style and the modest profiles of the cast actors all identify the film as belonging to the ‘independent’ genre. The off-beat story line and its central theme is also distant to conventional plots and themes. …
Oil as a determinant of social, political and economic history of the United States from 1981 to the present
American military intervention in world affairs has risen drastically since the end of the Second World War. The period following the Second World War saw America assume the role of a superpower that headed the western coalition in what was then a bipolar world. Since the collapse of Soviet Union in the late 80’s, America…
Should Product Placement in films and other media be controlled?
Abstract: While a mutually beneficial relationship between the advertiser and the producer is achieved via product placement, the best interests of the audience are neglected. Another concern this phenomenon has raised is the compromising of artistic merit for commercial gain. Conventional wisdom instructs us that high profits and elevated ethics don’t go together. Given the…
The importance of conceptions/definitions of terrorism to the analysis of counter-terrorism
Terrorism is the most discussed issue in early 21st century public discourse. Ever since the September 11, 2001 attacks on America, it has been a major pre-occupation of American diplomatic and military efforts. Since the United States is the leader of the prevailing uni-polar world, terrorism now has implications for all countries associated with it….
Politics of Tolerance vis-a-vis Islamic Republic of Iran
The term ‘Politics of tolerance’ is usually not associated with the ‘Islamic Republic of Iran’. Currently, the country is in the stronghold of radical Islamic forces and no tolerance is shown for dissidents, secularists and pluralists. While Iran has historically been a conservative society, the America backed coup-de-tat of 1953 proved to be a turning…
Politics of Turkey vis-a-vis Comparatives politics
The ‘Politics of Turkey’ holds relevance to the subject of comparative politics due to the uniqueness and multi-dimensional composition of the nation’s polity, culture and geography. Moreover, Turkey’s political history has had many notable achievements and as well as some obvious failures, lending itself to a longitudinal comparative case study. Geographically located at the joint…
How true is the claim by some Western scholars that Islam is on a collision course with the West and is inherently inimical to the modern age we live in?
Samuel Huntington’s book The Clash of Civilizations has evoked a broad range of responses from political commentators both in the United States as well as abroad. Huntington asserts that the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 had marked a new beginning in the history of international politics. While prior to the collapse of the Soviet…
On Orientalism featuring Edward Said
Orientalism, a concept coined by the renowned American intellectual Edward Said has attracted praise and controversy in equal measure. While remaining Said’s definitive scholarly work, its thesis is a condensation of themes found in his other works such as The Question of Palestine and Covering Islam. To be concise, Orientalism can be defined as the…
Two great speeches: Ain’t I a Woman and Address to the People of the Free States
What do Ain’t I a Woman and Address to the People of the Free States by the President of the Southern Confederacy tell us about the divisions between people in United States during the 1860s? The 1860s were a tumultuous time in the history of the United States. Public discourse and debate centered on the…