Released several weeks ago, the Amnesty International Report 2005 documents the somewhat disturbing trends across the globe, as numerous nations and international organizations have failed to effectively act to avert a number of humanitarian crises. Many different parties will find the report helpful, as this site offers access to regional overviews and a list of countries that visitors can peruse...

Amtrak’s Board Derails Its President http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/09/amtrak-railroad-gunn-cx_vc_1109autofacescan12.html GAO: Amtrak Management: Systemic Problems Require Actions to Improve Efficiency, Effectiveness and Accountability [pdf] http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06145.pdf Amtrak http://www.amtrak.com Amtrak Unlimited http://www.amtraktrains.com/ Amtrak’s...

Getting a handle on what the phrase “globalization” means can be a bit like trying to lasso a fast-moving cloud. Does globalization mean the cross-pollination of different musical styles? Is it the vast geographical expansion of major multinational corporations into remote locales? Well, of course, it’s both of these things and quite a bit more. In a paper that appeared in the Autumn 2006 edition...

A number of policy-makers from around Europe and elsewhere have commented that the successful integration of Muslims into their respective countries will continue to be a critical issue for decades. This December 2004 report, authored by David Masci, addresses that very subject, and is part of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life publication series. In the work, Masci suggests that Muslim...

The researchers and scholars at the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) at the Universiteit Twente in the Netherlands have long been interested in the changing world of higher education within Western Europe. This latest 58-page report on the broader landscape of this system focuses on the latest developments in higher education's infrastructure, finance, governance and quality...

In many urban areas around the United States, certain neighborhoods have few, if any, traditional financial services available for local residents. This intriguing report, produced by the Urban Institute Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center (for the Fannie Mae Foundation), explores the alternative financial service providers (such as check-cashing outlets) that some 56 million adults...

The Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor houses the oldest research collection of 19th and 20th century radical history in the US, and there are now approximately 600 digitized pamphlets available on the library website. The documents from the international social protest movements found in the Collection are from the 19th and 20th centuries, and a few are...

As notions about ethnicity and ancestry have changed over the past, various government institutions have become more sensitive and more sophisticated in their efforts to collect data in this area. During the 2000 Census, the Census Bureau modified its questionnaire to allow individuals the ability to give one or two attributions of their "ancestry or ethnic origin." This 12-page Census 2000 brief,...

The quest to find out about one’s ancestors is, if you will excuse the expression, as “old as the hills.” It appears throughout human history with great regularity, and manifests itself in a number of well-known places, such as the extensive genealogies that appear in the Old Testament. A number of websites are specifically intended to help modern-day folk with the search for their own ancestors,...

Several thousands of years ago in the lower Mississippi River Delta, Native Americans began constructing mounds to bury the dead. For the next fifteen centuries, these various groups would build what may be called the first dense urban settlements in what would later become the United States. Today some of these former settlements and earthworks are overseen by the National Park Service, which has...