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3151. Trans[ition] in Iran

Author:
Rochelle Terman
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
TEHRAN, Iran—When Shadi Amin was growing up in pre-revolutionary Iran, she began experiencing sexual feelings toward other girls. "I thought there was something wrong with me," she says. "I thought, maybe I should change something." By "something," Amin was referring not to her identity or lifestyle, but to her gender. "If I was that young girl living in Iran today, I would have considered having a sex change operation," even though she has never identified with being male.
Political Geography:
Iran

3152. Latin Women Take the Helm

Author:
Silvia Viñas
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
SANTIAGO, Chile—Feminist sociologist Teresa Valdés was among a crowd of 200,000 men and women who turned Santiago's main avenue, the Alameda, into a party when Michelle Bachelet was elected Chile's first female president on January 15, 2006. "The Alameda was full—full of people, full of women and little girls wearing presidential sashes," she recalls. "It was glorious, like a party." And Bachelet's speech was inspirational—particularly when she asked the crowd, "Who would have thought... 20, 10, or five years ago, that Chile would elect a woman as president?"

3153. Timeline: Politicization of Sexuality

Author:
Meehyun Nam- Thompson
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
While international organizations and governments move to expand equality for all—regardless of sexual orientation—recent global developments threaten this progress. The timeline begins at a pivotal moment, the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York, widely regarded as a catalyst for the modern LGBT movement. Stonewall is considered the first instance of community solidarity against systematic, state-sponsored persecution of sexual minorities. While the struggle has been ongoing, the most significant developments have occurred in the last 25 years, including expansion of voting rights, social welfare benefits, and political power. We end our timeline, however, with a disturbing new trend—the passage of homophobic legislation in Africa, South Asia, and Russia.
Political Geography:
Africa, Russia, New York, South Asia, and Asia

3154. Women and the New Global Order: A Conversation with Anne-Marie Slaughter

Author:
Silvia Viñas and Jeff Danziger
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Anne-Marie Slaughter has helped shape global policy at the highest levels of government and academia—as director of policy planning in Hillary Clinton's State Department, as dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and today as president of the New America Foundation. She also has some provocative ideas on the role of men and women in shaping the nature of the contemporary world. World Policy Journal editor David A. Andelman and managing editor Yaffa Fredrick talked with Dr. Slaughter about the nature of global governance and, on a more personal level, whether women, or for that matter men, can have it all.
Political Geography:
America

3155. Mexico: Vigilante Justice

Author:
Judith Matloff and Katie Orlinsky
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
TIERRA COLORADA, Mexico—The main road on the mountain ridge had vanished in a landslide, and what was once the tarmac hung off the cliff like a ribbon. Construction workers hired by the government excavated boulders so vehicles could pass. But anyone trying to plough through faced another obstacle—farmers with shotguns manning a roadblock on a curve. A driver exited his car to talk with the men in beige uniforms, who asked for his name and mission. Assured no mischief was intended, the citizen policeman at the barricade waved him on. "If you get stuck in the mud, alert us," advised the man who appeared to be in charge, a corn farmer who volunteers for regular shifts to maintain order. "We control the path."
Political Geography:
Mexico

3156. South Africa: A Science Lesson

Author:
Melanie Smuts
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Xoliswa, 11 years old, was given a science assignment in class. The worksheet, written in English and handed to her on Monday, was due that Friday. The task was to build a model solar system using paper maché, newspaper, paint, wire, polystyrene, and balloons. Xoliswa's mother, who earns a precarious living through child-care and occasional laundry orders, speaks little English and could offer no assistance. Worse yet, Xoliswa had never heard of paper maché or polystyrene. She arrived with a small packet of water balloons at the Learning Center—an afterschool institution in the affordable housing apartment block where she lives—and wondered if the Center could help her complete the task at hand.
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

3157. Palestine: Children Laboring

Author:
Matt Surrusco
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
ZBEIDAT, West Bank—The electricity in the village went out for the third time on a warm July night. But the young men, some in their teens, didn't want to stop playing cards. A few took out their mobile phones to project some light on the patio's low table outside Amjad's house, the regular hangout for a dozen or so of the young men of Zbeidat, a village of 1,870 in the northern West Bank. Three minutes later, the lights flicked back on, illuminating the cards strewn across the table, the young men's grinning faces, and a few additional patio areas outside other Zbeidat homes, where men were drinking tea or coffee and talking. On Amjad's patio, Hamza Zbeidat, a Palestinian from the village, and Christopher Whitman, a New Englander from the United States, were sitting with the guys, some teenagers in high school, others in their twenties and working or in universities.
Political Geography:
United States

3158. Hunting Witches

Author:
Gary Foxcroft
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
LANCASTER, England—More than 400 years ago, King James of Scot-land amended Exodus 22.18to read: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
Political Geography:
England

3159. Romania: Land for Sale

Author:
Maurizio Bongioanni
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
BUCHAREST, Romania—Mauro, 28, and Adrian, 27, are two brothers from the southern Italian region of Puglia, who were sent by their father to cultivate 750 acres of corn in southern Romania, not far from the Bulgarian border. Their plot is small by Romanian standards. The two brothers are considered tiny landowners. Country life is hard, they confess, and they live in an area where they often go without electricity for days. “Here, the goal is quantity, not quality,” one of them says. “For months we have had a single young worker—young because the older ones have a concept of working that is light years away from farming as we understand it. At the same time, we know many of our people who were cheated, who have had all their possessions stolen. Because here, Romanian workers see us as rich western entrepreneurs from whom they can steal as much as possible instead of seeing us as people who can employ them, and offer them a future. Even the [Romanian] state shares the same point of view. Sometimes we must give a gift to someone, paying for attention.”

3160. Vietnam's Second Revolution

Author:
Elizabeth Pond
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
HANOI, Vietnam—The best way to feel the sheer energy of Vietnam's under-29 population is to ride pillion on Do Duyen's motorbike. Like most Hanoi drivers (except when they drink too much rice wine at Tet or at weddings), Duyen has a sixth sense of how others will react in the flood of motorbikes and intruding cars, trucks, buses, bicycles, and village peddlers balancing bamboo poles across their shoulders. Never mind that motorcyclists routinely make illegal turns at intersections by plunging left against traffic that is hurtling right. Everyone else simply swerves to accommodate this anomaly in his or her own way, and the collective streams of traffic glide on.
Political Geography:
Vietnam