For a government accused by opposition and rights advocates of reverting to an authoritarian past, the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been surprisingly inept at image control, a situation all the more strange given the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) strong ties with the media.

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By Sandy Yeh 葉毓蘭
Following Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing’s (張銘清) fall to the ground in Tainan during a scuffle last month, the National Police Agency deployed a massive number of police during ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin’s (陳雲林) subsequent visit.

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By Wu Yi-cheng 吳易澄
More than 20 years after the lifting of martial law, we find ourselves in an era exploding with information and ruled by the logic of business.

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New studies show that academics do not influence their students’ politics in the US. But fears run deep
By Joanna Walters
The urban legend held dear by many conservatives that liberal academics at universities routinely — indeed, systematically — indoctrinate their students with leftwing politics has been dismissed as myth by a sheaf of new studies.

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One third of the planet’s population was not represented at the G20 meeting in Washington. They should not be ignored
By Ban Ki-moon
The world does not need to be reminded of the urgency of this historical moment. We sense it every day in the news. One day a major bank, insurance company or automaker announces a record loss. The next brings word about the impact on nations and peoples least able to cope with these blows — the poorest of the world’s poor.

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By Beth J. Harpaz
Places that US presidents call home often become major tourist attractions, from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate in Virginia, to Hodgenville, Kentucky, where Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin once stood, to former Bill Clinton’s boyhood home in Hope, Arkansas.

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