Politics
-
Apple at 50: How Cupertino’s tech giant changed what technology feels like
When Apple unveiled the App Store in 2008 with 500 apps, it helped launch a new economy, said UC Santa Cruz lecturer Nolan Higdon, who studies the tech industry. Tech companies had struggled to make money from the internet after the dot-com bust, but the App Store and the iPhone’s booming popularity fueled an explosion…
-
Misinformation swirls online following White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting
Nolan Higdon, a professor of political history and media education at UC Santa Cruz, says several factors have created this environment. He noted that the “media diet” from legacy journalism, independent media, and social media influencers often prioritizes content that appeals to a divisive nature.
-
Trump’s SAVE Act, government shutdown and Iran war dominate weekend political news
Nolan Higdon, a political history professor at UC Santa Cruz, said the bill’s prospects are dim even among Republicans. “I don’t think a lot of Republicans will say it publicly, but I don’t think they’re too excited about it,” Higdon said, adding that provisions targeting mail-in voting could hurt the GOP’s own voters. “This would…
-
Bay Area gas prices spike following Iran conflict
Nolan Higdon, a political history professor at UC Santa Cruz, says the numbers spell potential trouble for the Trump administration. “The Trump administration is going to have some serious difficulties in the midterms keeping the House or the Senate,” Higdon said. “And if this economy persists, this could be an issue as late as 2028.”
-
Immigration Enforcement in Minnesota: Not Just a Political, also a Public Health Crisis
Politics Ph.D. student Lucia Vitale argues that immigration enforcement in Minnesota is leading to deteriorating access to health care, widespread psychological distress, and the displacement of protective responsibilities from the state onto communities themselves.
-
Making Sense of the U.S. Invasion of Venezuela
Sara Niedzwieck is a professor of politics at UC Santa Cruz and studies South American politics. She offers her analysis of what is currently happening in Venezuela, a developing story.
-
Sen. Mark Kelly vows to fight for First Amendment amid Pentagon threats
Kelly remains subject to military rules known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice. “These regulations have been used to restrict political expression as well as other activities,” University of California Santa Cruz professor Elizabeth Beaumont wrote in a column for Middle Tennessee State University’s Free Speech Center.
-
World Cup draw in Washington is one more play in Trump and FIFA’s long game of politics
Jacqueline Gehring, an expert in the politics of sports at the University of California Santa Cruz, pointed out that FIFA has long drawn criticism for getting friendly with contentious regimes.
-
Local promotores trained on climate change impacts are now teaching fellow farmworkers.
UC Santa Cruz has been working with local organizations for two years on Campo-Sano, a research project investigating the impact of climate change on the well-being of farmworkers. That work included development of a bilingual app with an anonymous tipline about unsafe conditions. Professor Matthew Sparke, leader of the project, says adoption of the app…
-
Explainer: What sparked Sudan’s civil war and humanitarian crisis
Politics Professor Mark Fathi Massoud gave a 15-minute interview about the ongoing conflict in Sudan, including the history that led to the current civil war.
-
How to Help Build Peace in Sudan
Politics Professor and Legal Studies Program Director Mark Fathi Massoud wrote for Internationale Politik Quarterly about the steps EU policymakers must take to support Sudanese civil society, cut off weapons supplies to militias, and prevent a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
-
You should call House members ‘representatives,’ because that’s what they are − not ‘congressmen’ or ‘congresswomen’
Politics Department Professor and Chair Daniel Wirls wrote an article for The Conversation explaining that the gender-neutral term "representative" is actually the most constitutionally correct way to refer to members of the U.S. House of Representatives.