D'Avila asserted that, “no political leaders are willing to promote cultural change and run political risk” in Brazil and that, “[p]opulism continues to be a recurrent binding constraint for promoting institutional changes."

Though the conversation covered a lot of ground during the two hour event, one theme that united all the speaker’s discussion of politics was the importance of a continuous progressive force in America.

The impassioned manner in which Zizek debates reminds us that this is what politics is supposed to be: real debate, real radicalism, and real ideas.

With the presidential election looming ahead and the economy considered unanimously to be the most defining issue, a debate between the senior economic advisers of the candidates could not have been more fitting for last night’s World Leaders Forum event.

Amid the discussion of credit default swaps, capital requirements, and mortgage restructuring, Bair stressed the importance of trust – not only that financial institutions need to gain trust from the public, but also that the public needs to trust regulators.

On a dark, cold Monday evening nearly a hundred students, faculty member, and union organizers sat together at Barnard in the group’s first sign of solidarity. The struggle, pitting Barnard President Debora Spar against 130 of the lowest paid employees on campus, will determine whether these workers get to maintain basic labor rights ranging from serious cuts to healthcare and maternity leave to controversial proposals like the elimination of sexual harassment claims and child care leave.

This past Thursday, Her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf spoke under Low Rotunda, in an event titled “Challenges of Transformation in a Fragile State; The Case of Liberia.”

Under the rotunda of Low, four of the biggest names in the fight against HIV/AIDS all voiced the opinion that the tide has turned in the struggle against the disease.

But being an elite is expensive. Fortunately, Spar and her Wall St. affiliated Barnard board members realized the best way to keep Barnard solvent would be to slash the health, pension, and tuition benefits of the lowest paid employees at the college-the clerical workers. And in order to empower women, Spar decided to drastically cut from the most basic female employment victories — maternity leave and flex time.

The future lies in “two vital principles,” which he delineated as good governance and the allowance of political freedoms ingrained in established rules of human rights. This, warned Ihsanoglu, “is no easy undertaking,” especially in a world with such a diverse scale of polities and ideological landscapes. Some Muslim regimes have the “strictest possible” interpretation of Islam, while others deny its role, and others seek a middle way.

Since her release from house arrest and her election to parliament, Suu Kyi is no longer just a symbol of hope but also a political figure. As a political figure, Suu Kyi has to navigate the treacherous waters of Burma's polity, and that means steering away from the tough questions.