ThePoliticalReview

The changing face of elections

U.S presidential elections are known, among other things, for elaborate campaigns. Barack Obama's 2008 campaign is destined to go down in history for the way it was able to convince people that the election was more about bringing sweeping social change than it was about electing a new head of state.

Across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom, however, things have generally been different, with Prime Ministerial elections being neither as long nor as protracted. Debates are held quietly, campaigning is kept to a minimum and Britons would have it no other way.

The 2010 elections, however, took a decidedly American turn when it was decided that there would be a televised debate, with incumbent labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown, popular Tory challenger David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg. The move was criticized by those who believed that television as a medium put too much emphasis on the personality and charisma of the candidates, and shifted the focus away from the policies. The debate was also seen as detrimental to the chances of Brown, who is known for his dour personality and lack of charisma.

While politics based on personality should be guarded against, the fears of the critics were alleviated by the actual debate. All the candidates were intelligent, engaging, respectful of the questioners and crucially, did not rely on canned political cliche. In the end, the winner of the night seemed to be Nick Clegg, who was seen as an outside shot. While this writer was initially skeptical of the move, the publicity that it has given to a formerly weak candidate deserves to be lauded. One hopes though that the move is not merely the beginning of the Americanization of British Politics.

Human Sacrifice: The horror that hasn't been eradicated

It's shocking to think about it, but while one part of the world engages in civil debates and the political process, another witnesses barbaric cruelty in the form of a human sacrifice. In West Bengal, India, the severed head and torso of a man were recently discovered at a local village temple. The police in the region believe that it is a case of human sacrifice, to appease the goddess Kali, who is traditionally represented in Hindu mythology as warlike and sometimes even bloodthirsty.

The practice was prevalent in India centuries ago but was thought to be completely extinguished. As is the case with most social evils in the country, the worst victims are the poor and illiterate, who are sucked into a web of blind faith and are completely subordinate to the local priest. The case is embarrassing both to the West Bengal and Indian government, and casts a very poor light on the country. Despite its impressive economic growth and increased clout on the international stage, all is not well in the giant.

In what has been a forgettable couple of weeks, the country has also faced a minor crisis with the killing of over fifty policemen by Naxalites, rebels who wage a guerrilla war in the forests of India in the hope of overthrowing the government and setting up a Communist state. The movement has been active since the 1960's, but these have been, by far, the worst attacks on the government.

The attacks have caused widespread concern, and there are fears that the Naxalites are now indirectly in control of a vast swathe of Indian districts concentrated in the center of the country. The way the incumbent government, led by the Congress, deals with the threat will be crucial to their re-election prospects, with the main criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being that he is weak on terrorism and militancy.

The tyranny that is Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe celebrates its 30th birthday today, for it was on this day in 1980 that it achieved independence from the UK. In an ideal world, this would be the perfect time for its leaders to sit back and plan out a meaningful future for the African nation. Instead, Robert Mugabe, the man who was once seen as a liberator, turned tyrant and has been in power for the last 30 years. In 2000, he launched a land-reform program that seized white-owned land and handed it back to blacks. The consequences of the sudden rearrangement were crippling blows to the economy, hyperinflation and accusations of 'reverse-racism'. Mugabe has a lot to answer for: when he took power, Zimbabwe was seen as a model for other African nations, and his presence had an effect that was not unlike that of Obama among his supporters in 2008. After flattering to deceive, Zimbabwe is in a mess. The world needs to sit up and take notice of a nation that is desperately clinging, on its 30th birthday, to any semblance of normality.

Modern politics really do run the full spectrum.

Siddharth Krishnan can be contacted at siddharth.krishnan [at] wustl.edu

It's census time. In the United States, people have been filling out and mailing forms, in addition to being interviewed by officials from the Department of Census. The feat of carrying out a survey of 300 million people is as difficult as it is important. Simultaneously, in another part of the world, census officials are faced with an even bigger headache: surveying and charting India's population for its 15th census. How much bigger? India's population is now estimated to be at around 1.2 billion, almost four times that of the U.S. Added to this is the fact that a large portion of India's population lives in villages that are off the beaten track, and a large part of its population is a 'floating' one, without any permanent base.

The numbers boggle the mind. 250,000 census officials will travel to 240 million homes spread across 600,000 villages, 7000 towns and 600 districts, in an operation that will cost almost $2 billion. In addition, Access to many of the more obscure places that officials will travel to is mired by terrible roads, or indeed no roads at all. It is often said that conducting a legitimate election in India is one of the world's biggest logistical feats, but it pales in comparison to the task of carrying out an even remotely accurate census in the country. The fact that it's even done- and has been done fourteen times since 1872- is an achievement for a government that is often derided for its labyrinthine bureaucracy and overall corruption levels.

A rising economy and a changing demographic mean that the census will continue to be one of the most important procedures that India's government undertakes.

The Vatican's woes

Catholicism is facing a crisis of leadership. While the world's largest democracy is being counted and categorized, the world's largest single denomination faces turmoil. This last week, there has been mounting pressure on Pope Benedict to resign, which he can technically do by submitting a signed letter to the council of cardinals. No modern Pope has done this, but these are not ordinary times, with a sinister history of child molestation coming to the fore after decades of silence.

Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Irish Church has been under particularly heavy fire with his position being called under severe scrutiny and an erosion of his respectability. He allegedly knew about crimes in question but kept silent on the matter. The Irish church has also been rocked by not one, but a series of scandals, with the most shocking being that of Brendan Smyth, a clergyman who molested hundreds of child victims throughout the seventies and eighties. He died in prison in 1998, but his sinister legacy lives on. The Vatican has some serious questions to answer, not least to the faithful who would derive hope from their spiritual leaders.

One Great Leap For Mankind..



Move north from the Vatican however, and there is a decided increase in the levels of optimism. This week, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) performed the high-energy experiments it was designed for, after nearly two years of repair. The machine, a 27 km long tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border was originally finished in 2008, but broke down, much to the disappointment of the scientific community. Today, it's fully fixed, and to cut a long story short, works.

The idea of the experiment is to accelerate particles around the tunnel until they approach the speed of light, and then have them collide to create conditions that scientists believe are similar to those that existed at the very beginning of the universe. Don't hold your breath for a definitive conclusion though: according to CERN, the research institute that conducted the experiment, it will take scientists years to fully understand the results. Overall, this is a very exciting time to be a particle physicist indeed.

In an interesting week for science, famed but reclusive Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman has turned down the prestigious Clay Medal for Mathematics, awarded to him for solving the Poincare Conjecture, a 100 year-old math problem that could help determine the shape of the universe. Eccentric and shy, his friends say his apartment is cockroach-infested and in a state of disrepair, and Perelman would have it no other way. In his words, he does not want to be 'like an animal in a zoo' and claims he is 'not a hero of mathematics'. He had previously also turned down the Fields' medal and his future in Mathematics is under doubt, if reports are to be believed. One hopes that for the sake of science, however, that he continues his groundbreaking work.

The Sudan Divided

Believed to be the hungriest place on Earth, Sudan is facing a possible election boycott. The head of a prominent opposition party in North Sudan,Sadiq al Mahdi, has vowed to boycott the first multipartisan elections in the country in 24 years if his demands are not met. Already deeply divided, the country could face a serious problem of credibility if this happens. The country's president,Omar al-Bashir, is wanted for war-crimes in Darfur, and flouting the ultimatum could further weaken his position. Sudan is a country in dire need of strong leadership, and the elections could mean some hope in a war-torn and poverty ridden country.

Humanity continues to confound and amaze in equal measure.

Siddharth Krishnan can be contacted at siddharth.krishnan [at] wustl.edu

Of Journeys and Apathy

Recently, there was a story in the news of an Afghan teenager who fled his troubled homeland eight years ago to seek asylum in London. His extraordinary modern-day odyssey saw him travel illegally in a truck through Moscow, Eastern Europe and Paris en route to his final destination. The fairytale wasn't a permanent one, however, and he was forced to return to Afghanistan eight years later, as a 23-year old. The price he paid for his eight years away? The last time he saw or heard from his family was the day he left, all those years ago and he has no way of knowing where they are, or if indeed they are alive. On our speck of our planet, there continue to be journeys that are epic and tragic in equal measure.

Welcome then, to the 360. With the barrage of information that we are subjected to, it's easy to lose track of the bigger stories and trends that shape the world and our lives, however indirectly. In the words of a dictator that history frowns upon, one death is a tragedy while a million deaths is a statistic. A comment greeted with consternation at the time has never rung truer than it does today. The number of people left dead by avoidable circumstances is an omnipresent news headline and serves only to numb. It's time to break the media-induced apathy.

The War on the Masses

Ours is the age of firsts. For the first time, wars are not entirely confined to battlefields and fought between primed groups of soldiers. Instead, the modus operandi of extremist groups is attacks on civilians irrespective of their political allegiance and ideology. For the first time, we are witnessing a war on the masses that is both unprecedented and cowardly.

In Lahore on March 12th, a suicide bombing saw 54 killed and 100 injured, the worst attack on Pakistani soil this year. The next day, 10 more were killed and 37 more injured by a bomb in Pakistan's northwest region. While no one group has owned up responsibility for the attacks, they are believed to be the work of the Taliban, which had earlier promised a wave of suicide-bombings if Pakistan's offensive against militants were to continue. In a country marred by political instability, the progress of the army against the Taliban that began late last year was seen as an indicator of better times. Instead, the Pakistani government finds itself in a difficult position, with the security of its people under severe threat and a military offensive that is too far in to give up.

Pakistan has also been under intense pressure from the United States to take a more active stand against the Taliban. In the past, the link between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Taliban has been notorious, and the country is in a bid to repair its image and quell growing discontentment against its conciliatory policy towards the Taliban.

The country finds itself in a very difficult position. While some argue that civilian losses are inevitable in a conflict of this nature, it's hard to argue for the justice in the death of over 80 innocents in two days.

Communal tensions in Jos, Nigeria have left 100 dead. On the surface, the clashes between the Fulani group of Muslims and the Berom group of Christians are religious. The reality is far deeper, however, and the causes and are primarily socioeconomic. Nigeria's oil-rich government is seen by many as the only way to power, and in order to maintain control, politicians fan ethnic hatred. The situation is not helped by the official government policy of classifying people as 'settlers' and 'indigenes'. Thousands of civilians have been killed in such clashes since Nigeria returned to a civilian government in 1999, and there are fears that the country is on its way to becoming a failed state.

The scenes of horror described by the residents of Jos give ample evidence of a dysfunctional government. Reports of unburied bodies littering the village are jolting the international community. The new interim president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, will need all the luck he can get to put the affairs of Africa's most populous nation right.

Meanwhile, in another populated giant..

In a landmark move, the Indian government has reserved a third of all seats in its parliament and state legislative assemblies for women. The move was met with stiff resistance by a spirited group of socialist members of parliament, but was eventually passed, polarizing analysts.

Despite a growing economy and and increasing level of general education in the country, only 54% of Indian women are literate. Combined with the prevalent social inequality, the antipathy towards girl-children in many parts of the country and a declining sex-ratio, this paints depressing picture for India's nearly 600 million women. Proponents of the move herald it as the beginning of a new age of reform and hope that it will lead to an increased focus on women's issues.



Opponents of the bill evoke memories of 1909, when the then British government introduced separate electorates for different religious communities, a measure that ultimately proved divisive and played a major role in the growth of the mutual suspicion that ensued between the Hindus and Muslims of India. Moves of this nature, they argue, undermine the very principles of democracy in the country.

Either way, this promises to be an interesting time for the women of the world's largest democracy.

The journey continues. Watch this space.




Siddharth Krishnan can be contacted at siddharth.krishnan [at] wustl.edu