Anne-Maree Tiernan (Griffith) and James P. Pfiffner (George Mason): Chiefs of Staff to Presidents and Prime Ministers: A Comparative Perspective. Tiziana Andina (Torino) and Andrea Borghini (Holy Cross): Metaphysics and Ontology. Hannibal Travis (FIU): Patent Alienability and its Discontents. From the International Peace Institute, a symposium on Lessons from the Past, Visions for the Future: 1814, 1914, 2014. After Karzai: Afghanistan’s outgoing president helped heal a shattered country; he also winked at corruption and ruled like a tribal chief — his successor will inherit a nation that’s in better shape than you might think and a government with little power to keep it that way. Matthew Yglesias on the economics behind the protests in Hong Kong (and more). John Michael McGrath on Occupy Central, and the myth and misunderstanding of reform: Observers optimistically cast Xi Jinping as a reformer, but as Occupy Central protesters in Hong Kong are finding, you conflate "reform" with partisan ideology at your own peril. China's decision to expel journalists to Hong Kong is now blowing up in its face. Jessica Chen Weiss on what the protests mean for the future of a democratic Hong Kong. Utterly vile: Nick Holdstock on Ilham Tohti’s life sentence. Jason Guriel on why the Best American series is the ditzy cheerleader for American writing. Sky high, skin deep: Renata Lemos Morais on dark technologies of mediation. Celebrating 40 years of High Times: Samir Husni interviews Mary McEvoy. Martine Rothblatt, the highest-paid female executive in America, was born Martin; far more intriguing is that she thinks one day we will transcend our bodies — male or female or somewhere in between — completely.
