New York is set to become the first North American city to levy fees on drivers accessing downtown streets. Promoted originally by a business think tank and later championed by New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, the plan would charge … Lire / Read
Exposed: Investigating the Social Function of Sensational Violence in Film
Exploitative violence – the brand depicted in many popular films, including Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s recent release, Grindhouse –is a prevalent fixture of the media landscape. Violence figures differently in various societies. For some, violence, or the threat of … Lire / Read
Cultural Supremacy Undermines First Nations Land Claims
Claiming land was one of the central motivations for European settlement of Canada. For centuries, Europeans took possession of territory occupied by First Nations under the pretext of possessing superior cultural institutions. Recently, an Algonquin First Nations cultural centre in … Lire / Read
Repressing the Potential of the Video Game
Despite their explosive commercial and popular success, video games continue to be limited in their ability to convey messages outside of their purposes of entertainment. This essay looks at the example of the game Super Columbine Massacre RPG (SCMRPG… Lire / Read
Joint African Union-United Nations Peacekeeping Efforts: A Dangerous Liaison?
Following a decade of failed peacekeeping endeavours across Africa at the end of last century, the United Nations (UN) was forced to re-evaluate its role as a global institution for conflict resolution. In the newly reformulated African Union (AU), the … Lire / Read
Lending a Harming Hand: The Interaction of Aid and Conflict
Large foreign aid commitments garner good publicity. Pledges are generally viewed positively and are not considered further. In turbulent situations, though, one must ask whether these financial commitments translate into positive changes on the ground. Unfortunately, there is not always … Lire / Read
Assessing the European Community’s Merger Regulations
The European Community (EC) has come a long way since its initial attempts at merger control under provisions which were only tangentially applicable. Merger legislation of the 1980s enabled the European Commission to develop a test of market dominance for … Lire / Read
Grameen Bank and the Microfinance Revolution
Micro-credit revolutionized rural economic development. While micro-credit institutions such as the Grameen Bank were heavily subsidized in the past, the current view among policy makers is that self-sustainability is needed to add to the impact of these institutions. However, some … Lire / Read
L’OMC en trois temps: le passé, le présent, un futur?
L’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) a vu le jour il y a de cela 12 années dans un contexte où la méfiance et la fascination semblaient réunir les tenants et les opposants du libre-échange. Dès lors, l’OMC s’était imposée comme … Lire / Read
La vieille «nouvelle» gauche française
«Ils ont les mains blanches mais ils n’ont pas de mains»
– Charles Péguy
– Charles Péguy
Le 22 avril dernier, les Français et les Françaises ont provoqué la tenue d’un deuxième tour pour les présidentielles. Après le camouflet d’avril 2002, qui nous … Lire / Read