Michele C. Perles, Staff Member On September 9th 2018, Sweden had one of the most unique elections in its history. In the highest voter turnout since 1985[1], the Swedish people destabilized their own government by not electing a majority party. One of the driving forces of the result was the rise of the Sweden Democrats,…
Continue ReadingBy Gillian Gilbert, Staff Member As Brexit negotiations reach critical mass, the possibility of a second referendum on the Britain’s exit from the European Union has re-emerged. In 2016 British citizens voted, by a narrow majority, to leave the European Union.[1] Both the political and economic challenges of leaving the Union have proved daunting during…
Continue ReadingBy Charlie Ryu, Staff Member In 2017, Amazon had a great year; it announced the opening of a second headquarters, inviting numerous biddings from many city governments and officials[1], bought Whole Foods for approximately $14 billion[2], and its stock price grew by 56%[3].[4] However, despite having such a successful year, Amazon paid zero in federal…
Continue ReadingBy Emily Ortlieb, Staff Member In 1978, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) ruled in Ireland v. United Kingdom that the five interrogation techniques used by the British government on Northern Irish nationalist detainees amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment, but not torture.[1] Ireland had claimed that said torturous acts had been authorized at…
Continue ReadingTariq Miller, Staff Member The United Kingdom’s (“UK”) 2016 “leave” vote on Brexit was a significant disruption to the status quo. Both the Conservative and Labour parties underwent major leadership changes.[1] Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron resigned[2], and Labour’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, continues to struggle to maintain party control following his unenthusiastic support of the…
Continue ReadingFatjon Kaja, Staff Member This past week Albania and Greece announced that they have decided to reboot their diplomatic relations.[1] At this rate, even Sisyphus might pity them, as the two countries have not been able to agree about almost anything that they fundamentally disagree.[2] So a reboot was necessary, just as necessary as the…
Continue ReadingBy Jack Koepke, Staff Member Standard Contractual Clauses, a mechanism to transfer data from Europe used by American companies, is being threatened while the newest law protecting the privacy of European citizens is itself under scrutiny. If this mechanism is ruled to be in violation of European law, American companies will be unable to transfer…
Continue ReadingBy Lara Williams, Staff Member Following an emergency cabinet meeting last week, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy detailed plans to apply Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution in Catalonia, escalating the country’s most serious constitutional crisis since the restoration of democracy in 1977.[1] The article, that has never before been used, enables the central government…
Continue ReadingBy Hadley Simonett, Staff Member On August 31, 2017, France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to reform the Code du Travail, France’s contested labor laws.[1] Macron, accompanied by Labour Minister Muriel Pénicaud, and government spokesman Christophe Castaner signed five decrees on September 22, 2017, implementing thirty-six changes to France’s labor law.[2] By adopting the Ordinances,…
Continue ReadingBy Rebecca Rosefelt, Staff Member Childhood is a relatively new concept,[1] and juvenile justice systems like those in Western democracies gained steam with the industrial revolution.[2] However, one issue has been of contention since at least the fifth century: at what age does society hold a person criminally liable?[3] Standards still vary across the globe,…
Continue ReadingThe copyright of these individual works published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing remains with the original creator or editorial team. For uses beyond those covered by law or the Creative Commons license, permission to reuse should be sought directly from the copyright owner listed in the About pages.
