St. John's Political Union

11/19/2014

The Union's continuing the Fukuyama discussion! This Saturday at the BBC from 5 to 6, we'll discuss two interesting modern responses to the "End of History" thesis — one by Pankaj Mishra questioning it, the other by Fukuyama himself. Links to both readings are below.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/at-the-end-of-history-still-stands-democracy-1402080661

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/14/-sp-western-model-broken-pankaj-mishra

Twenty-five years after Tiananmen Square and the Berlin Wall's fall, liberal democracy still has no real competitors, writes Francis Fukuyama.

11/12/2014

There will be a discussion this Saturday at the King William Room at The BBC, from 5 to 6, on Francis Fukuyama's 1989 article, "The End of History?"

11/02/2014

The Union will have a discussion November 15th, from 5 to 6:30 in the BBC's King William Room, on Francis Fukuyama's influential article, "The End of History?" Join us as we deliberate whether Fukuyama was, and is, correct about the spread of liberal democracies. The link to the reading is below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2oVe0FqTZ-Qa2RvUTlmM1BpT3c/view?usp=sharing

10/19/2014

Next week, the Union is hosting a discussion on the right to privacy. We will use Louis Brandeis and Samuel Warren's seminal article on this very subject in the Harvard Law Review as a starting place. The link to the article is below. We will be in the King William Room at the BBC from 5 to 6:30, Saturday the 25th. Come one, Come all.

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/privacy/Privacy_brand_warr2.html

Thus, with the recognition of the legal value of sensations, the protection against actual bodily injury was extended to prohibit mere attempts to do such injury; that is, the putting another in fear of such injury. From the action of battery grew that of assault.[1] Much later there came a qualif…

10/18/2014

Hello everybody,

As a heads-up, we still will hold our meeting on the McCutcheon decision, today.

Hope to see you all there!

10/07/2014

09/29/2014

The Union will have a discussion on the Supreme Court's Citizens United Decision, and the role of money in politics, this Saturday from 5 to 6:30 in the King William Room at the BBC (top floor, room #307). We ask participants read a (very) abridged version of the decision, accessible in the link below. Come one, come all.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2oVe0FqTZ-QUVhqWkVzYy04NDg/edit?usp=sharing

09/24/2014

The two excerpts from Rawls and Nozick for Saturday's discussion on the role of government are available here in this publicly viewable Google Docs page. The link is below. We ask that you only read the sections, "Is the Dominant Protective Association a State?" and "Institutions and Formal Justice." Hope to see you there!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2oVe0FqTZ-QcnFOakF0ZUhUZzg/edit?usp=sharing

09/24/2014

This Saturday, from 5 to 6:30 at the BBC, the Union will hold a discussion on the role of government, based on passages from John Rawls' "Theory of Justice" and Robert Nozick's "Anarchy, State, and Utopia." Contact Daniel Belshaw for access to the readings. Come one, come all.