By Fabian Pape, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh
Johannes Petry, CSGR Research Fellow, University of Warwick
Tobias Pforr, Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute
The US has long sat at the centre of the global financial system, with the US dollar serving as the backbone of the world economy. Private investors rely on the dollar as a store of value in times of uncertainty.
Governments and central banks hold dollars to manage the value of their own currencies and as a form of insurance against economic shocks. Key commodities such as oil are also priced in dollars.
This dominant position, which has given the US enormous privileges including the capacity to borrow money cheaply and the ability to use the global…
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By Dominic Davies, Reader in English, City St George's, University of London
Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams was first published in 2002 as a short story in the Paris Review. When it was reissued as a standalone novella almost a decade later, it was shortlisted for the Pulitzer prize. While the book did not win that year, somewhat strangely neither did anything else – for the first time in 35 years, the panel refused, without explanation, to choose a winner.
I have always liked this story because it brings to life the eerie and unsettling world of the American frontier. Train…
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By Charles J. Russo, Joseph Panzer Chair in Education and Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton
Lydia Artz, Law Student, University of Dayton
As disputes rage on over religion’s place in public schools, the Ten Commandments have become a focal point. At least a dozen states have considered proposals that would require the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, with Texas, Louisiana…
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By Thin Ink
“[W]e want the Seed Library to be a place of freedom, an initiative for us to have autonomy over our food, but also over our spirit, our minds, our words.”
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By Sandra Joireman, Weinstein Chair of International Studies, Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond
A quarter of the 6 million Syrians who fled the country during the decadelong civil war have returned home in the past 12 months.
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By Human Rights Watch
Puerto Asís pier in Putumayo, Colombia, on October 19, 2025. © AFP Photo/Marie Audinet (Washington, DC) – Armed groups in Colombia’s southern state of Putumayo, have tightened their control over citizens’ daily lives and committed grave abuses against civilians, particularly in Indigenous communities, Human Rights Watch said today.Since 2023, the government has been in peace talks with several armed groups that control parts of Putumayo, which is on the Ecuador border. While some negotiating parties have reached agreements to destroy weapons and replace coca crops with food, armed groups…
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By Jonny Hanson, Environmental Social Scientist, Queen's University Belfast
There are many things people have love-hate relationships with in Britain and Ireland, from Brussels sprouts to cricket or sea swimming. Another item can now be added to this list: the reintroduction of lynx and wolves to the countryside.
Lynx and wolf reintroductions are ecologically feasible in parts of Great Britain and may be in parts of Ireland…
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By Sakkcham Singh Parmaar
Indian courts are adopting AI and emerging technologies to tackle backlogs and bureaucracy, yet success depends on addressing ethical safeguards and effectively training judges and citizens for responsible implementation.
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By Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria
Ismail Mohamed-Jan – better known by South African jazz fans as Pops Mohamed – has passed away at the age of 75. His life in music represented a struggle against narrow, oppressive definitions – of race, instrumental appropriateness and musical genre.
A few days before his death, a remastered version of his 2006 album Kalamazoo, Vol. 5 (A Dedication to Sipho Gumede) had…
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By Maggie Hall, Lecturer, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University
Matt Victor Dalziel, Research assistant, Western Sydney University
We all want to know if a guilty party actually regrets what they’ve done, but how can we tell? Well, we sort of can’t.
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