Issue 1
Issue 1 Digital MagazineIssue 1 of The Confluence features ten student articles on politics, economics, philosophy, and society. From the Civil Rights Movement’s impact on American democracy to Russia’s failures in Ukraine, the articles explore why institutions succeed or fail.
A Nation Divided
The Civil Rights Movement completed American democracy while also breaking apart the exclusionary bargain that had kept it stable, leading directly to today's polarisation.
Make America Great ‘Again’
Trump's second term is the latest turn of a recurring cycle in American politics that goes back to Hofstadter's writing on paranoid, anti-elite movements.
Can Philosophy Explain Politics?
Tests Bertrand Russell's claim that ties Hitler, Churchill and Roosevelt to Enlightenment philosophers, weighing how much of it is actually true.
The ‘Three-Day’ Special Military Operation
Russia's expectation of a quick fall of Kyiv fell apart under its own overconfidence and flawed planning, made worse by a military still built for an earlier kind of war.
The Climate Crisis Isn't a Science Problem. It's a Political One.
Decades-old scientific agreement on climate change has been held back by a lack of political will, and the piece looks at why.
A Tale of Two Scottish Cities
Uses Edinburgh's boom and Aberdeen's long-term unemployment, just 92 miles apart, as a case study in how growth clusters around a handful of cities.
Resource-Rich?
Looks at Asian mining countries and finds they actually do better on quality of life than non-mining ones, suggesting what matters is who controls extraction.
#SocialChange
Phones have changed centuries-old student activism, speeding its reach from campus petitions to protests that can topple governments in weeks.
Beyond the Bottom Line
Draws on the collapses of Enron and Carillion, both highly profitable on the surface until they weren't, to show how profit figures can be manipulated in ways cash flow can't.
An Eye for an Eye?
Defends capital punishment for the worst crimes, as long as it is carried out under strict legal limits.