the politik press, volume xiii, issue 2

FEBURARY 11th, 2013Volume XIII, Issue II the POLITIK PRESS

1


2

the

POLITIK PRESS

A publication of

JHU POLITIKjhupolitik.org

MANAGING EDITOR Alex Clearfield

ASSISTANT EDITORS Julia Allen Colette Andrei

Ari Schaffer

LAYOUT EDITOR Victoria Scordato

HEAD WRITER Rachel Cohen

STAFF WRITERS Megan Augustine, Akshai Bhatnagar, Michael Bodner, Henry Chen, Virgil Doyle, Chris Dunnett, Cary Glynn, Archie Henry, Peter Lee, Daniel Roettger, Geordan Williams, Chris Winer

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Jeremy Orloff, Matt Varvaro

VOLUME XIII, ISSUE IIFEBURARY 11th, 2013

The views expressed within this publication reflect the personal opinions of each article’s author and are not necessarily endorsed by JHU Politik or the Johns Hopkins University.

FACULTY ADVISOR Steven R. David

Cover Image: The Battle of Bunker-Hill - Watching the Fight from Copp’s Hill, in Boston. Based on a painting by Winslow Homer. The National Gallery of Art

EVENTS CHAIR/PUBLICITY Randy Bell


3

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

WEEK IN REVIEW ................................................................ Page 4 Sam Harris‘16

READING LIST ..................................................................... Page 5 Ari Schaffer ‘14

CYPRUS BAILOUT IS A LESSON IN SOLIDARITY .................. Page 6 Christine Server ‘16

HERSMAN CLEAR CHOICE FOR DEP. OF TRANSPORT ............. Page 7Dylan Moses ‘14

THE NOT-SO-NEW GOP .......................................................... Page 9Peter Lee ‘14

WHAT EXPERTS THINK OF GUN CONTROL PROPOSALS ...... Page 8Christopher Winer ‘14

EVENTS CHAIR/PUBLICITY Randy Bell


4

WEEK IN REVIEWBy Sam Harris ‘16, Contributing Writer

China and Japan Continue to Spar Over Senkaku Islands Tensions between China and Japan flared this week as Japanese military officials accused China of lock-ing radar on a Japanese naval ship, threatening to destabilize the precarious relationship between the two nations. Both China and Japan have accused each other of escalating the conflict, which has already dragged on for many months. Meanwhile, the landslide victory of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative party in December and the increasingly tense rhetoric from Beijing do not bode well for future conflict in the region. Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific, pressed for new regulations regarding the conflict as miscalculated threats, such as this week’s alleged radar lock, threaten to turn the conflict violent. Speaking at a conference in Beijing Admiral Locklear said, “What we need in the South China Sea is a mechanism that prevents us turning our diplomacy over young majors and young naval commanders … to make decisions at sea that cause a problem (that esca-lates) into a military conflict.” Time will tell if measures such as these can prevent escalating tensions from overwhelming an already delicate situation. EU Leaders Settle on Spending Cuts for the First Time in History On Friday EU leaders unveiled their budget for the next seven years, bringing with it the first budget reduction in EU history. The €32 billion cuts were focused largely at cross-border transport, energy and telecoms projects as EU leaders still struggle to cope with declining revenues. The cuts came from a fund that would seek to promote “projects of common interest” which include measures to protect the environment and cross border projects such as gas pipelines. However, the new budget retains the re-quirement that at least 20 percent of spending will be on “climate action objectives.” The spending cuts have increased tensions between the UK and other EU members, most notably France, as Prime Minister Hollande sought to protect farm subsidies. Despite a push by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron, the budget still faces trouble in the European Parliament as lead-ers struggle to balance spending and austerity. Democrats and Republicans Struggle to Compromise on Spending Measures Obama sparred with Republicans this past week as he struggles to secure measures that would stave off the automatic spending set to take effect on March. Since his reelection, Obama has fought to avoid se-questration, or $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over the next decade. These cuts threaten to slow an already ailing economy. The first round of cuts was narrowly avoided in December as the new deadline was set for Mach 1. However, progress on a deal remains excruciatingly slow as Obama and Democrats fight against tax and spending cuts urged by Republicans. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell spoke out against Obama’s policies, retorting, “it’s time for Washington Democrats to get real [on taxes and spending].” Meanwhile, the CBO estimated this week that the deficit for the 2013 fiscal year will be $845 billion, the lowest in the past five years. However, markets and businesses remain concerned over the political uncertainty in Washington as leaders struggle to balance their own agendas and their effect on the broader U.S. economy. PP


5

Much of the recent news has focused on China and India largely due to their immense size and large populations. However, with well over a billion people, the world’s slums receive very little attention. Shadow Cities: A Bil-lion Squatters, A New Urban World, by Robert Neuwirth, is a compelling read for anyone who wants to know more about one of the world’s largest, and continuously grow-ing populations: the people of the slums.

Neuwirth wrote Shadow Cities to tell a story about the time he spent in four major urban slums around the world: Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, Kibera in Nairobi, Sul-tanbeyli in Istanbul and Sanjay Gandhi Nagar in Mum-bai. While living in each of these slums, Neuwirth gained a rare insider’s view of life in these areas. Throughout his book, Neuwirth defies common conceptions of the world’s slums as being centers of crime and corruption, and instead paints a picture of a thriving under-the-table economy where people who would otherwise be home-less have found a niche in the illegal marketplace of the slum. These four slums are some of the largest in the world, and are not nests of poverty and crime. Rather, Neuwirth demonstrates that many slums are safer than the cities within which they reside. For example, one world traveler he encounters actually moved from a le-gal neighborhood to the slum after being robbed in one of the main areas of the city.

Slums like Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, are sources of em-ployment and a decent living for millions of people who cannot find work or affordable housing in other places. While these slums are first and foremost squatter settle-ments built from the ground up on unused, usually pub-lic land, the slum-dwellers slowly develop an economy strong enough to meet all the needs of the masses of people who end up residing there.

Because they are living illegally on government land, slum-dwellers are not granted the social services and infrastructure investments that the rest of the city gen-erally gets. Especially as these slums develop, the citi-zens are left to themselves to come together and bring in water, electricity and even garbage collection. In Ro-

cinha, for example, many of these slums begin by steal-ing electricity from neighboring legal communities. However, as the communities develop and organize, or are granted some assistance by the government, they begin to build their own infrastructure. Larger slums like Sultanbeyli and Rocinha even have bus stops run-ning through the main thoroughfare of the neighbor-hoods.

The real factor that separates Neuwirth’s book from other reports on slum life is the personal experience and hands-on investigating that the author has done. He pro-vides the perspective of those natives living in the slums, how they feel about their lives, and how they feel about their situation. It turns out that many of the slum dwell-ers cannot see themselves living anywhere else. They truly love the slums they live in and the highly capital-ist environment that dominates there. Opportunity runs the day and those with the motivation to take advantage of the situation can create a life for themselves that they previously could not have dreamed of.

While the book on the whole is very well written and in-teresting, it does have one drawback. The author spends many pages throughout the book talking about property rights. While he does pose some interesting questions about the nature of property and its role in society, these particular sections were both repetitive and slightly preachy.

On the whole though, Neuwirth presents an important challenge for the future. As people living in slums be-come a larger percentage of the world population, na-tions around the world must cope with this change and figure out how to make them part of the legal world without undermining the sensitive economic ecosystem that already exists. The citizens must be made legal. The houses they have built and the places they call homes must be brought under the jurisdiction of the govern-ment without destroying the delicate balance upon which these vibrant communities are based on. As Neu-wirth demonstrates throughout his book, balancing all of these concerns will not be so simple. PP

READING LIST

By Ari Schaffer ‘14, Assistant Editor

Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World By Robert Neuwirth


6

Greece was first. Next to stumble was Ireland, then a slew of others followed--Portugal, Spain, and Italy. The origins of each crisis are as different as the nations involved, ranging

from real estate bubbles to plain old overspending, but the common thread running through the story of the Eu-ropean Union since 2008 is the same: one of great eco-nomic uncertainty. And now the island nation of Cyprus is presenting the latest challenge to the financial security of the EU.

Although Cyprus is just a drop in the bucket of the EU economy, accounting for a mere 0.2% of GDP in 2011, its financial troubles are disturbing an already precarious situation. Cyprus survived the early years of the global financial crisis, but finally succumbed when Greece’s second bailout drastically lowered the value of Greek government bonds, of which Cypriot banks held a con-siderable number. It’s been nothing but a downward spi-ral since; Cyprus has been barred from the international bond markets for the past year, and has been surviving on a lifeline from the Russian government in the form of a $3.5 billion loan. But that money is due to run out in June, and unless the government receives outside as-sistance, Cyprus will default. Cyprus would require an estimated $22 billion to recapitalize its banks. German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has questioned Cyprus’ need for a bailout, citing that the nation is of lit-tle economic and systematic importance.

So what that Cyprus has a smaller economy than oth-er countries like Spain or Greece? Spain’s GDP is half of Germany’s, and Greece’s is even smaller. Economic strength is relative and arbitrary. Where does one draw the line, when is a state too unimportant to be bothered to help? This mentality of picking and choosing, of favor-ing some states over others, is contrary to the spirit of the European Union and the community it seeks to create.

Cyprus needs help. The $22 billion estimated to bail out Cyprus pales in comparison to the $327 billion spent to bail out Greece. The EU has recently extended assistance for Greece, Ireland, and Portugal; it would be hypocriti-cal not to offer financial support for Cyprus. Cyprus is not acting irresponsibly, but taking steps to reduce its

CYPRUS BAILOUT IS A LESSON IN SOLIDARITY

debt. It has complied with the troika of European mon-etary authorities to enact austerity measures, such as slashing state salaries and pensions, and the government has forged an agreement with international creditors to implement measures that would generate a surplus of 4% of GDP by 2016.

The primary barrier to the bailout is not financial, but political. Germany, the de facto leader of the EU, is in an election year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has committed her country to keeping the Eurozone to-gether, has offered support for a Cypriot bailout on the condition that the country enact a range of austerity and privatization measures. But it is not the politically popu-lar thing to do. Support on the ground is thin for Cyprus, which is perceived unfavorably in the arena of German public opinion as a result of a series of widely-circulated articles portraying Cyprus as a hotbed for Russian tax evasion, money laundering, and covert transactions. Members of Merkel’s own coalition, sensitive to the un-favorable political clime, are hesitant to throw their sup-port behind an unpopular measure.

But the alternative--allowing Cyprus to default--would have greater ramifications. It would stir up speculation, lend the EU an air of financial neglect, and erode the ameliorative effect of the billions that have been spent to get the EU to the more solid ground it now rests on. Allowing Cyprus to default would hurt the security of the entire EU. PP

By Christine Server ‘16, Contributing Writer


7

HERSMAN CLEAR CHOICE FOR DEP. OF TRANSPORTATION

U.S. Secretary of the Department of Transpor-tation, Ray LaHood, has decided to step down from his tenured position after four years of service. The former Republican congress-

man from Illinois, most praised for his crusade against “distracted drivers”, handed in his resignation papers on January 29.

LaHood stated, “I have let President Obama know that I will not serve a second term as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It has been an honor and a privilege to lead the Department, and I am grateful to President Obama for giving me such an extraordinary opportunity.” The vacancy left by LaHood is only one of a number of cabinet positions that have been left open by various members of President Obama’s original cabinet. Of the 15 original members, seven have already decided to leave their office, including: Timothy Geithner, former Secretary of the Treasury, Dr. Steven Chu, former Secre-tary of Energy, and Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State. When LaHood took office, his prerogative was to increase public safety in the air and on the ground. He accomplished this by demanding tougher fuel require-ments for automakers and fighting to address the prob-lems of pilot fatigue. In addition to that, he was notably more successful and more popular than his predecessors due to his engagement with the public, traveling to 210 cities, 49 states, and 18 countries around the world.

There have been a number of candidates rumored to suc-ceed LaHood, however the White House has not made an official statement. Among these candidates are: Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania, Jennifer Gra-nholm, former governor of Michigan, and, until recently, the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa (who has since decided to withdraw from candidacy). Although, in this writer’s opinion, the candidate that has the most promise, political prowess, and technical know-how to fill this position is the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman, Deborah Hersman.

Hersman was appointed as a board member of the NTSB by President George W. Bush in 2004, and subsequently went on to head the organization in 2009 under Presi-dent Obama. The youngest person to fill the position, 42

year-old Hersman is a “veteran transportation accident investigator,” and sees the future of auto-safety being in collision-avoidance technology, especially in regards to Boeing’s new “787 Dreamliner” airplanes. Hersman stated, “[c]ollision avoidance technology ... will be the future of life-saving devices – [they will be] vehicles that can prevent, detect, mitigate, and minimize accidents.” Along with her expertise, she also comes with high refer-ences, like that of Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). This past week, the senator commented, “[o]ver her tenure as [chairwoman] of the NTSB, she has been a constant re-assuring presence during our most difficult transporta-tion accidents…[s]he is an articulate, proven leader who understands that safety comes first. Debbie also knows the importance of rebuilding our nation’s crumbling in-frastructure and would be an effective and persuasive advocate for investing in our roads, bridges, and aviation system.”

At this moment, Hersman has effectively dodged ques-tions regarding her acceptance of this position, even though she is rumored to be the White House’s num-ber one prospect. She has said that the NTSB is built to withstand transition due to its ”incredible design,” which might have some implication as to what her in-tentions might be.

For now, Hersman remains the number one choice. She has the political backing to be confirmed and experience working at the national level to be a success in this new role. Being the youngest person to fill the position, Hers-man would bring a more innovative and dynamic force to the Department of Transportation. All of these attri-butes combine to make Hersman the best candidate to take up the post. PP

By Dylan Moses ‘14, Contributing Writer


8

Last month, President Obama outlined four ma-jor legislative proposals to address what he called our “epidemic of gun violence”: universal background checks for all gun buyers, cracking

down on gun trafficking, banning military-style assault weapons, and prohibiting ammunition magazines hold-ing more than ten bullets.

The 1994 Brady Act required nationwide background checks for gun buyers to uncover possible criminal and mental health issues, but only for federally licensed deal-ers. A 2000 report from Jens Ludwig at the University of Chicago and Philip Cook at Duke University found that the law did not reduce the number of firearm homicides, partly because the background check requirement does not ap-ply to private sales between individuals. In a 1990s report, Ludwig and Cook found that around 40 percent of all gun transactions occur in this secondary market, including 80 percent of guns used in crimes according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report. “Anything that can add friction to that secondary market could prove very helpful,” Ludwig said in an interview with The Washington Post.

The effectiveness of such a bill depends on its enforce-ment. Given that at least 300 million guns are in circula-tion around America, and that the federal government does not have a national gun registry, enforcing this leg-islation will be a challenge. However, “most people who own guns are middle-class, law-abiding citizens,” Lud-wig said to The Post. “If you tell them to do a background check, I think they’ll do it voluntarily.”

Obama’s proposal to strengthen federal law enforcement power in order to trace firearms could also crack down on gun trafficking. According to a Washington Post analysis, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has a limited ability to share its data on the original location of guns and cannot keep computerized records. The Post also pointed out that until Obama’s executive order only a few federal agencies were required to trace all guns that they have recovered. In an interview with the newspaper, Mark Kleiman, a criminal specialist at UCLA, said: “The places where bad guys get guns are very concentrated...Better tracing can show us where those spots are. When a single store has supplied 200 crime guns, we ought to be able to act on that.”

However, researchers for the National Institute for Jus-tice question the effectiveness of Obama’s proposed as-sault-weapons ban, which is primarily modeled on the 1994 plan. The report found plenty of flaws in the law including the difficulty of defining the characteristics of an assault weapon, and the fact that there are millions of such guns already in circulation. A University of Pennsyl-vania study of the previous ban found that it led to “no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence.” Assault weapons also only constitute the weapon of choice in two to eight percent of gun crimes according to the University of Pennsylvania report. Fur-thermore, Senator Feinstein’s (D-CA) proposed assault-weapons ban lists at least 900 exempted weapons and manufacturers can easily tweak models to avoid the law, which would negate the effectiveness of any plan. The same 1994 assault-weapons law also banned maga-zines that held more than ten rounds of ammunition until it expired in 2004. According to the UPenn study, guns with high-capacity magazines were used in up to 25% of gun crimes, but there is an unclear relationship between the mortality rate and the capacity of the maga-zine. However, the researchers noted that criminals have terrible accuracy so the ability to fire more shots con-tinuously increases the likelihood of hitting someone. According to a 1999 report by the National Institute for Justice, the 1994 law didn’t apply to the 24 million mag-azines already in existence, and manufacturers ramped up production before the ban was put in place. Expert opinion is divided on Obama’s gun proposals. Re-search shows that universal background checks for all gun buyers and a crackdown on gun trafficking could be effective. However, there is doubt that this law will get tangible results from a watered-down ban on assault weapons and the prohibition of large capacity magazines. While the weakness of U.S. gun control laws breeds cyni-cism about the effectiveness of regulation, one law holds true according to Harvard researcher David Hemen-way: more guns equals more gun deaths. According to the CDC, 31,000 people a year in the United States die from gunshot wounds, putting firearm violence as one of the leading causes of premature mortality in the country. The solution is simple, but mustering the political will to change the situation is not.

WHAT EXPERTS THINK OF OBAMA’S GUN CONTROL PROPOSALSBy Christopher Winer ‘14, Staff Writer


9

2012 was, in short, an embarrassing year for the GOP. The presidential election saw a slew of candidates with far-right and often bizarrely controversial beliefs. In one debate, Senator

Rick Santorum responded to a gay soldier’s question, which was heavily booed by the audience, by stating that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would be “play-ing social experimentation” and that gay soldiers should “keep it to [themselves].” In another instance, Governor Rick Perry was loudly cheered by the audience after stating that he has “never struggled” with authorizing over 234 executions during his term as governor. Even the congressional races were filled with shocking con-troversies. Candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mour-dock were largely criticized after making comments which highlighted their ignorance of the causes and re-sults of rape.

In the week before Election Day, conservative political commentator Andrew Sullivan remarked that he hoped the GOP would lose, stating that a definitive loss might force the party to seriously reconsider its values and po-sitions. Along with Andrew Sullivan, I too felt a sense of hope when the GOP lost the Presidential Election in a near landslide. In the weeks following the election, there seemed to be a genuine sense of awakening within the party’s core leadership. Conservative commenta-tors took full notice of the lack of diversity within the Republican Party and acknowledged the demographic and ideological shifts that were occurring in America. In essence, there was hope that the close-mindedness and backward beliefs that had for so long stained the Re-publican Party would finally be reconsidered.

Yet, only three months after the election, the GOP is almost exactly where it started. Immediately after No-vember 6, Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan at-tributed their loss to the free “gifts” given out by Obama and the “urban areas” in America. Senator Marco Rubio, a potential candidate for 2016, remarked that it was an unsolvable mystery whether the earth was created in seven days or seven eras, and that schools should have the right to teach the theory of intelligent design. In the aftermath of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, former Gover-nor Mike Huckabee blamed the tragedy on the removal of God from America’s schools. Unfortunately, this list

could extend indefinitely with examples of congressio-nal Republicans denying aid to Hurricane Sandy victims, homophobic comments made by conservative radio talk show hosts, and misogynistic remarks about women on the topics of birth control and combat service in the mili-tary.

Following the election, Republican Governor Bobby Jindal stated that the Republican Party needs to stop be-ing the “stupid party” and needs to stop “insulting the intelligence of its voters”. He further added that the Re-publican Party “does not have to change its principles”. Governor Jindal makes a fair point. At its core, the GOP stands for limited government, civil liberties, free enter-prise, and personal responsibility. These are admirable and commendable values that Republicans should be proud to support.

Nevertheless, there is a loud and close-minded minority within America that many Republican politicians tend to cater to. Republican leaders should realize that there are certain ideological shifts occurring in America, and that they are quickly being left behind on the wrong side of reason, morality, and history. Furthermore, it is not enough to merely embark on a new marketing campaign for the GOP. Supporting a Hispanic or an African-Ameri-can candidate does no good if their beliefs are essentially the same backwards ideas of the past. There is a way to adhere to the party’s core principles while promoting a reasonable, intelligent, and well-thought out agenda to the American people. Republicans need to find and achieve that balance.

Granted, there has been some recent progress. Senator John McCain is currently spearheading an immigration reform bill in Congress. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich came out in favor of gay marriage in De-cember. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey recently took the bold move of rebuking his party’s leadership following the denial of a relief bill in the wake of Hurri-cane Sandy. In some corners of the party, there seems to be slow, but steady, stirrings of change. During a largely bizarre speech, Rick Santorum once said that the Re-publican Party will never have the “elite, smart people on [their] side.” Let us hope that the GOP proves him wrong. PP

THE NOT-SO-NEW GOPBy Peter Lee ‘14, Contributing Writer


10

WRITE FOR thePOLITIK PRESS

The Politik Press, originally founded in 2008 as JHU Politik, is a weekly publication of political opinion pieces. We believe that progress comes from conversation and that every voice deserves to be heard. Our staff is made up of students with majors that range from political science to bio-molecular engineering. We seek out the best political writers on campus and regularly interview professors and graduate students. In many ways, the Homewood campus is a microcosm of the American political landscape. We find our-selves at a crossroads defined by students from across the country, professors with disparate political theo-ries, and a city constantly confronting racial violence, political corruption and systemic economic problems. While we publish the Politik Press weekly, we work simultaneously on our special issues. These magazines confront a single topic from multiple angles. In 2011, with the Arab Spring fully underway, we interviewed five Hopkins professors whose expertise ranged from Archeology to US-Israeli relations, in order to provide some clarity on an immensely complex and constantly shifting situation. In 2012 we focused on the politi-cal issues of Baltimore, conducting interviews with professors and local politicians in order to shed light on the complexities of our school’s relationship to our city. Possible topics for our next special issue include the politics of financial aid and student debt.

If interested e-mail us at

[email protected] find us online at

jhupolitik.org

Photo Courtesy: United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs Division


11

the politik press, volume xiii, issue 2

Documents

issue week

politik press4week

politik press3inside

politik press1feburary

issue iifeburary

military conflict

china of lock

future conflict