Author: TheConversation

By Thomas F. Schaller, Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Rural white voters have long enjoyed outsize power in American politics. They have inflated voting power in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House and the Electoral College. Although there is no uniform definition of “rural,” and even federal agencies cannot agree on a single standard, roughly 20% of Americans live in rural communities, according to the Census Bureau’s definition. And three-quarters of them – or approximately 15% of the U.S. population – are White. Since the rise of Jacksonian democracy and the expansion of the vote...

By Keith A. Preble, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, Miami University; Charmaine N. Willis, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, Skidmore College Almost two years after the West responded to the Russian invasion in Ukraine with a blistering array of sanctions, a fresh round of financial measures was announced by the Biden administration on February 23, 2024. The new sanctions, imposed following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, raised the number of individuals and entities now targeted by the U.S. to more than 2,000. These measures have run the gamut, from targeted sanctions against President Vladimir...

By Martina Baradel, Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher, University of Oxford Nishimura Mako is a petite woman in her late fifties, with flowing hair and a delicate face. But you soon notice that she is no traditional Japanese lady, she is tattooed up to her neck and hands and her little finger is missing. These are signs of affiliation to the yakuza – Japan’s notorious criminal syndicates. The yakuza is dominated by men and leaves only informal roles to women. Typically a woman involved with the yakuza might be an anesan, a boss’ wife who takes care of young affiliates...

By Martyn Smith, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, University of Sheffield Visitors to Japan are usually primed to look up at the vast skyscrapers, the ornate temple gates, the traditional timber-framed guesthouses. Those who look down at their feet, though, might have noticed something equally intriguing on the ground. Ornate manhole covers in wrought iron, often plain, sometimes brightly painted, dot the country’s pavements, separating street life from the sewers that run below. These objects have garnered a considerable following of “manholers” (as the hobbyists are known), who will be delighted to learn that city officials in Kyoto and other...