Mormon Politics: Is Change in the Air?
By Stephen McIntyre

Utah is often described as the “reddest” state in the Union, an appellation that is apparently well-deserved. A 2005 study ranked Provo, where 88% of the population is Mormon, as the nation’s most conservative city. In Utah County, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by 10 to 1, nearly 86% of voters favored George W. Bush in 2004. Although President Bush’s approval rating recently dropped below 50% in the Beehive State, the Decider-in-Chief has consistently been substantially more popular among Utahns than among Americans in general.
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Election Reform: A Lesson from France
By James Cragun

The primary elections and caucuses will soon be over and each party will be selecting a candidate to represent it in the presidential election. This, therefore, seems as appropriate a time as any to discuss the issue of election reform. Last year’s French presidential election presents us with an important lesson. In that race the conservative candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy of the “Union pour un mouvement populaire”, defeated the “Parti socialiste” candidate, S‚golŠne Royal. While the rivalry between Mr. Sarkozy and Ms. Royal was one of the dominant news stories during the weeks leading up to the election, the lesson I wish to emphasize stems from the story of the lesser candidates. A third candidate, Fran‡ois Bayrou of the “Union pour la d‚mocratie fran‡aise”, received an impressive 18% of the vote, and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the “Front National” managed a respectable 10%. As an American, what’s impressive to me about these election results is that candidates from four different political parties each achieved more than 10% of the total vote. Such outcomes are unheard of here in the United States. In our last presidential election, we had only two reasonably competitive candidates, who jointly received a domineering 99% of the total vote. The last time we had a “third party” or independent candidate with more than 10% of the vote was 16 years ago, and the trend has been steadily worsening.
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Sex Scandals and the Metaproblem
By Carl Brinton

Bill Clinton. Larry Craig. Mark Foley. Gary Hart. Now add Eliot Spitzer…men who have sullied their names and in some cases destroyed their careers through sex scandals.

Last week the Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer resigned after he was found not just to be involved in an elicit affair, but soliciting a call girl possibly as many as eight times and transporting her across state lines, an additional felony. Allegations from the federal sting operation are that he spent more than $80,000 from his daughter’s college trust fund on hiring prostitutes and possibly used state personnel to aid him in doing so. Once known as “Mr. Clean,” tough on corruption, sex trafficking, and crime, Spitzer is now “Client 9″ in a federal investigation of an international prostitution ring.
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A Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, Inside an Enigma: Why Political Reform in Russia Will be Slow and Difficult.
By Jon Neville

Deciphering the relationship Russia maintains with the world, and particularly the West, can be a daunting task. Espionage, murder, Chechnya, Kosovo, oil, corruption - anyone who follows Russian politics is likely to - as W.C. Fields once said - “Smile first thing in the morning and get it over with.” But if America is frustrated by the lack of progress in Russia’s attitude toward the West, it is not alone. Although increasingly assertive, recent rhetoric from the Kremlin has not been exclusively anti-American, as the European Union and particularly Great Britain have borne the brunt of the latest dissonance.
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German Irresponsibility
By Brigham Wilson

In response to the 75th anniversary of Adolph Hitler’s ascent to power, the New York Times recently published an article about Germany’s continued efforts to remember the worst events from its past. Germany has built many museums and memorials to the Jewish Holocaust. Avi Primor, former Israeli ambassador to Germany, was quoted as saying, “where in the world has one ever seen a nation that erects memorials to immortalize its own shame?” The article mentioned how the issue is important to German youth as well: “the younger generation has tackled it as a source not of guilt, but of responsibility on the world stage for social justice and pacifism, including opposition to the war in Iraq.”
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Why Europe is Losing the Fight Against Trafficking
By Matthew Colling

Trafficking in human beings is one of the most horrific blemishes the modern era has been forced to confront. It is a stain no less concealable or shameful than the legacy left us by the transatlantic slave trade. It is a more modern but no less gruesome form of slavery; something Western society has, for decades, felt proud to claim it had eradicated long ago. Slavery now is a barely clothed underage girl locked up in a basement cellar for weeks and months and even years. Perhaps she is in England, perhaps in Holland, or perhaps somewhere deep in the slums of Istanbul or Mumbai. Slavery is a father locked up in an illegal work camp perhaps in Russia or somewhere deep in the Romanian forest glades, barely fed enough to survive and forced to work 18 and 20 hours a day. He sleeps in the field in which he works only after his shift is complete. (more…)

Adoption and Corruption in Guatemala
By Tristan Call

I arrived in Guatemala in the spring of 2005 for a four- month study on the traditional kinship and adoption practices of the Maya-K’iche’ Indians. Like much anthropology, my research was self-directed; I couldn’t understand why people separate themselves into families and ignore their obligations to others, and I wanted to understand how (through adoption) people are able to bridge the genetic divide. (more…)