According to a Caltech/MIT survey of both registered and unregistered eligible voters who did not cast a ballot in 2008, disapproval of candidate choices, busyness, illness, transportation, and registration/ administrative problems were the leading causes of non-participation, with considerable variation across groups...
...Taken together, the surveys suggest that white citizens who abstain from voting do so primarily by choice, while the majority of minority non-voters face problems along the way.
The Means Matter As Much For Democracy As The Ends →
One of the tricky things about democracy is that we think of it as being an end-state that a country can hopefully achieve and maintain – hold regular elections with peaceful transfers of power, establish rule of law, incorporate and protect civil rights – but the pathway to getting there matters. It matters for two main reasons. First, democracy is not only about substance, but also about procedure. Countries that have hollow democratic institutions, where you have parties and elections but ones that are rife with corruption, patronage, irregularities, may look democratic from the outside but are not because their process is fundamentally undemocratic. Elections themselves do not magically confer democracy. Second, people and governments are not inherently democratic. Democracy generally emerges as a way out of a political stalemate or as a compromise between parties who are not powerful enough to impose their will on everyone, and as democratic behavior is repeated and becomes habituated over time, genuine democracy takes hold. In other words, behaving democratically is not innate, but it becomes second nature as it is carried out.
Liberal Self-Identification Edges Up to New High in 2013 →
Seemingly at the expense of self-identified moderates, though intra-party trends are more complicated. Overall, more evidence of a widening political divide.
Security Risks of Embedded Systems →
Thinking this through to the future, assuming we don't find a way to auto-patch these systems, is scary as hell. The alarmist in me screams "SKYNET" and "shades of Battlestar Galactica".
The Women of Al-Qaeda →
Although the fighting in Syria has been accompanied at every stage by warnings about the spread and growing influence of jihadist groups, it has shone a spotlight on a development which has taken everybody by surprise: the increasing involvement of female militants in the activities of Al-Qaeda and its offshoots.
A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops →
“You just type ‘G.M.O.’ and everything you see is negative,” he told his staff. Opposing the ban also seemed likely to ruin anyone’s re-election prospects.
S Sudan talks stall again over political prisoners →
A lot of background, including ties surrounding states have to the conflict.
South Sudan rebels reject government plan to unblock peace talks →
South Sudanese rebels rejected a government plan on Wednesday to end a dispute over detainees and unblock peace talks aimed at halting violence that has killed at least 1,000 people in the world's youngest state.