In The News

The Secret Eye Inside Mosul

Robin Wright November 2, 2016
The coalition fighting the Islamic State has reached the outskirts of Mosul, an Iraqi city seized in 2014. A clandestine blog, Mosul Eye, has documented life in Mosul under the terrorist group in terse lists and describes a city in ruins. Scholars suggest that the blog is written by someone in Mosul, providing details that could helpful coalition forces. ISIS has sent messages to the account,...

Top-Down, Bottom-Up Urban Design

Elizabeth Greenspan October 25, 2016
The United Nations Habitat III conference on urbanization in the developing world, the first in 20 years, convened in mid-October. Three sociologists – motivated to reshape the Athens Charter, a set of rigid guidelines crafted in 1943 to standardize urban design across the world – presented what they call the “Quito Papers,” a comprehensive guide and “more flexible way to design cities,” writes...

Study: Decline of Traditional Media Feeds Polarization

Ricardo Gandour October 3, 2016
Most citizens have access to more community information than ever before, especially online. But the struggle of traditional news outlets, especially the community newspaper with declining budgets and staff members, contributes to fewer informed voters. “[P]eople today are exposed to news mixed with gossip, opinion, hot takes, and branded content, from a variety of sources but often through a...

The Growing Gap Between Town and Country

Ronald Brownstein September 26, 2016
The industrialized world is experiencing a growing divide between “diverse global cities” and the rural “places that feel left behind,” according to Ronald Brownstein of the Atlantic. Sadiq Khan, mayor of London and the first Muslim mayor of a major Western city, pointed this out during a visit to Chicago. Alongside Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Khan celebrated immigrants and increased opportunity...

Consumer Giants Court Muslims with Halal Face Creams, Shampoos

Martinne Geller and Randy Fabi September 15, 2016
Not waiting for a new law to take effect, multinational corporations such as L’Oreal and Unilever are embracing a mandate on halal labeling. “The law, the first of its kind, requires food to be labeled halal or not in 2017, followed by toiletries in 2018 and medicines in 2019,” explain Martinne Geller and Randy Fabi for Reuters. Such products, free of pork and alcohol, are made at production...

The Battle of the Burkini

Ian Buruma September 6, 2016
French coastal communities went too far with rules targeting Muslim women who visit beaches in the so-called burkini – a bathing suit that covers most of the body but not the face. “A grotesque photograph soon appeared in newspapers around the world of three French policemen, one of them with a machine gun slung across his back, forcing a woman to undress on a beach in Nice,” explains Ian Buruma...

Internet or Splinternet?

Joseph S. Nye August 11, 2016
The internet connects nearly half the world’s people, though political censorship and cybercrime could reduce public trust, explains Joseph Nye for Project Syndicate. He urges common rules to avoid fragmentation, based on a report from the Global Commission on Internet Governance. The report urges that openly developed standards, good user habits to discourage hackers, system design centered...