The Conversation

Campus protests are part of an enduring legacy of civil disobedience improving American democracy

Written by Lawrence Torcello, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology

A protester cleans up after a pro-Palestinian demonstration ended peacefully at Brown University.AP Photo/David Goldman

They didn’t illegally camp out in local parks or on college campuses, as many protesters did across the U.S. recently. But back in 1773, the Boston Tea Partiers broke the law when they protested British Colonial taxes by...

Kenyan president will receive White House praise over troops-to-Haiti move − but lack of action across Americas should prompt regional soul-searching

Written by Jorge Heine, Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

Kenyan President William Ruto will attend a rare U.S. state reception for an African leader on May 23, 2024 – but much of the chat will be about a third country: Haiti.

Kenyan troops are preparing to deploy to the Caribbean nation as part of a U.N.-backed mission aimed at bringing stability to a country ravaged by gang violence.

The White...

Biden and Trump will fight for Michigan’s votes county by county in a state where little things matter a lot

Written by Dante Chinni, Director, American Communities Project, Michigan State University

Somali Americans cast their early votes at the Lansing city clerk's office on November 2, 2020, in Lansing, Michigan. John Moore/Getty Images

Between now and Election Day, journalists are going to spend a lot of time talking about Michigan as one of a group of “crucial battleground states” in the 2024 campaign. There will be stories...

Soviet media downplayed the significance of the D-Day invasion

Written by Stephen Norris, Professor of History; Director of the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies, Miami University

The Soviet Union's leading newspaper only mentioned D-Day in small print at the very top of its front page on June 7, 1944.Pravda

When Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited to participate in the 75th anniversary commemorations of D-Day held in France in 2019, he claimed it was “not a problem” because the Allied invasion of...

Rangers led the way in the D-Day landings 80 years ago

Written by James Sandy, Assistant Professor of History, University of Texas at Arlington

U.S. Army Rangers prepare to depart England for the D-Day invasion.Photo12/UIG/Getty Images

Among the 150,000 soldiers who landed on and fought across the hostile beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, were 1,000 members of a new, specially trained unit – the U.S. Army Rangers.

Most of them fought across the German beachfront defenses,...

For many American Jews protesting for Palestinians, activism is a journey rooted in their Jewish values

Written by Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame

Activists with Jewish Voice for Peace gather to protest the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and chain themselves to the fence outside the White House on Dec. 11, 2023.AP Photo/Susan Walsh

In April 2024, during Passover, a group of American rabbis approached a border crossing in Israel. Affiliated with Rabbis for Ceasefire, the group joined Jewish Israeli...

Georgia Supreme Court justice appointed by governor wins election to full term – a common occurrence in some states where voters are supposed to pick their judges

Written by Bryna Godar, Staff Attorney, State Democracy Research Initiative, University of Wisconsin Law School, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Minnesota has elections for Supreme Court justices, who serve in this building, but the governor appoints almost every one of them instead.Dennis Macdonald/Photodisc/Getty Images

A Georgia Supreme Court incumbent has successfully fought off an election challenge from a former Democratic member of Congress. Justice Andrew Pinson, first appointed to...

A century ago, anti-immigrant backlash almost closed America’s doors

Written by Matthew Smith, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Miami University

Immigrant children at Ellis Island in New York, 1908.National Archives/Wikimedia Commons

One hundred years ago, the U.S. Congress enacted the most notorious immigration legislation in American history. Signed by President Calvin Coolidge, the Immigration Act of 1924 dramatically reduced immigration from eastern and southern Europe and practically...

United Auto Workers’ defeat at Mercedes’ Alabama plants underscores challenges for organized labor in Southern states

Written by Stephen J. Silvia, Professor of International Relations, American University School of International Service

Mercedes employees rally for union support in Alabama on May 5, 2024.AP Photo/Kim Chandler

A majority of the workers at two Mercedes plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, rejected an opportunity to join the United Auto Workers union in an election that concluded on May 17, 2024.

UAW supporters lost 2,642 to 2,045, just one month after the workers at a...

TikTok law threatening a ban if the app isn’t sold raises First Amendment concerns

Written by Anupam Chander, Professor of Law and Technology, Georgetown University

TikTok users worry about losing their social media platform, but First Amendment rights are on the line, too.AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey

TikTok, the short-video company with Chinese roots, did the most American thing possible on May 7, 2024: It sued the U.S. government, in the person of Attorney General Merrick Garland, in federal court. The suit claims...