Spotlight Articles

Thirty years of research have identified common facets of social movements (i.e. grievances, resources, ideology, and opportunity) that challenge and change government systems. An example was the 1989 demise of the Soviet socialist bloc in Eastern Europe, which is described in Oberschall’s 2000 article “Social Movements and the Transition to Democracy” and in Opp & Gern’s 1993 study, “Dissident Groups, Personal Networks, and Spontaneous Cooperation: The East German Revolution of 1989.” Once again we are witnessing a region-wide upheaval, this time in the Middle East as the Arab uprisings that began in Tunisia continue to ripple across national boundaries. It is too early to say with certainty how or why this cascade started, much less tell where it is headed. However, some basic facts make the situation worth inspecting carefully, especially since youth have been on the forefront of numerous movements throughout history. This has surely been the case in the contemporary Middle East.

The ascendance of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) on August 2009 was praised as the first genuine power transition in Japan’s postwar history. However, there were just as many—or more—who were anxious about the new DPJ-led Japanese government’s capacity to govern. After all, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had dominated most of the five decades of Japan’s postwar history as the ruling party. The sole role of the opposition parties, including the DPJ, was to criticize the policies presented by LDP-led governments. It was obvious, therefore, that the DPJ would be inexperienced at ruling. The question was how long it would take before the DPJ grew to become sufficiently able to play the role of a ruling party.

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows foreigners from certain countries to enter the United States without a visa for less than 90 days, has grown from a pilot program helping the tourism industry and strengthening diplomatic relations to one of the most important programs affecting US security and the US economy. According to the US Travel Association, VWP travelers spent more than US $51 billion in the United States in 2008. This spending generated 512,000 jobs, US $13 billion in payroll and US $7.8 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. The VWP has enabled the travel industry to become an important component in the national effort to rebuild the struggling US economy.

The Potential War Between China and the United States

Sri Lanka, the “pearl” of the Indian Ocean, is strategically located within the east-west international shipping passageway. Like the old Silk Road that stretched from the ancient Chinese capital of Xian all the way to ancient Rome, modern China’s strategic and commercial supply line extends over the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea to include the focal transit port of Sri Lanka at the southern tip of India. Today, over 85 percent of China’s energy imports from the Middle East and mineral resources from Africa transit through Sri Lanka and other so-called “string of pearls” ports.