World news, edition 1 2016
Campus news is important, but let’s be well rounded, shall we? Each week we’ll be providing you with a few contextualised snippets of world news to make sure you don’t sound like an idiot when they inevitably come up in the chitchat at the start of your tutorials.
U.S. Presidential primary season heats up
It’s not clear who has the upper hand in either the Republican or Democratic presidential primaries. On the Democratic side, self-described “socialist” Bernie Sanders is taking on establishment favourite Hillary Clinton. The Republican field is no clearer, led by caricature businessman Donald Trump, but with a well-developed middle of the pack behind him, and a number of people who had been expected to do well trailing behind.
The primaries and caucuses are the mechanism by which the two main U.S. political parties (the right-wing Republican party and centre-left Democratic party) choose who they will nominate to run in the U.S. Presidential election. That election is 8th November 2016; but the primaries, which run state-by-state, take place throughout the year. The next major group is eleven states holding primaries on “Super Tuesday”, the 1st of March.
Will the UK leave the European Union?
The European Union is a group of 28 nations (of whom 19 share the Euro as their currency), with an internal single labour market (any EU citizen can work in any EU country), internal freedom of movement, and a €120b ($190b) budget.
The United Kingdom has always been a somewhat sceptical member of the EU, joining in 1973 and variously flirting with or threatening to leave since then. As part of its election promise, the governing Conservative party promised a nationwide-wide referendum on whether or not to leave at the end of next year. The UK and EU are negotiating a reform package, in the hopes of achieving a more harmonious relationship. In the meantime, as the EU grapples with Greek and other debt crises, a British exit, or “Brexit”, only adds more uncertainty to the mix.
What’s the process for appointing a judge to the U.S. Supreme Court?
Widely reported over the last two weeks has been the death of Antonin Scalia, one of nine judges on the Supreme Court of the U.S., and one generally held to take conservative positions in his rulings. Nominating a replacement falls to U.S. President Barack Obama, who will be very conscious of what impact that choice will have on the U.S. Presidential race.
After the U.S. President nominates a replacement, the Republican-dominated U.S. Senate must vote to confirm the choice. Normally a difficult task, the impending election is likely to make this a protracted and bitter process. Historically, the longest confirmation process lasted 125 days; with 260 days left in Obama’s term, waiting out the term might require bureaucratic theatrics only U.S. politics can provide.
So far, Republican legislators claim they’ll stand firm and block any election before the nomination, and Democratic President Obama says he will nominate someone as soon as possible; but it’s too early in the game of political posturing to have a good idea of what will happen.
Campus news is important, but let’s be well rounded young ladies and gentleman, shall we? Each week we’ll be providing you with a few contextualised snippets of world news to make sure you don’t sound like an idiot when they inevitably come up in the chitchat at the start of your tutorials.