Mikael Sandberg (Halmstad): Soft Power, World System Dynamics, and Democratization: A Bass Model of Democracy Diffusion 1800-2000. Henrik Serup Christensen (Abo): Political activities on the Internet: Slacktivism or political participation by other means? From Re-public, a special issue on piracy as activism. It looks increasingly like the rescue of the auto industry was an overall success, saving hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of jobs and bolstering the country's manufacturing base for years (if not decades) to come. An interview with Josh MacPhee and Alec Icky Dunn of Signal, a new journal of international political graphics and culture. The first step in the transformation of American unionism in the 21st century is to get beyond exclusion — what the left Labor needs is not union democracy but working class democracy. Is Google's "Auto-complete" anti-Semitic? Brad DeLong on Washington's deficit-hawk pretenders. As the increasingly brutal suppression of uprisings in Yemen, Bahrain, and Libya shows, the Egyptian model of massive street uprisings may not work everywhere in the tyranny-prone Middle East. Womb envy and Western society: An article on the devaluation of nurturing in psychotherapy and society. Clay Shirky explores the role of Facebook and Twitter in the Middle East. The Day the Movies Died: No, Hollywood films aren't going to get better anytime soon — Mark Harris on the (potential) death of the great American art form. How screwing unions screws the entire middle class: Kevin Drum on what Wisconsin is really about (it's about power) If I ruled the world: Richard Dawkins on how human intelligence is undervalued these days — we must do away with rulebooks and start trusting our own judgement. Josh Green on why backroom deals aren't so bad.
