The Maturing of America

What a fabulous election result last night (well it was last night for us expats watching the returns from the other side of the pond!).

That is the way to win an election, but the result goes well beyond the confines of psephology, counting votes, campaign speeches, and money.

Barack Obama has managed to reach the pinnacle of American power and shatter the last vestiges of an America that simply had not wanted to confront its own demons since the founding.

It feels good to wake up today knowing that America has finally become a mature democracy and has lived up to the very ideals upon which it was founded. Obama has a huge portfolio and I only hope that the vested interests and the fearmongeres do not prevent him from achieving his many laudable goals for our great nation.

The ennergy and outpouring of support and joy last night reinvigorated me and my love of country. A new dawn has come to America and I for one am celebrating the arrival of our new president!

Why I am not voting for Obama

I have been so impressed with the Obama campaign from its early formation through to what looks like a significant victory on November 4. I watched the final debate in the Beijing International Hotel after a long day working with Chineses colleagues at an International Workshop on Governance Assessments. He was the statesman in that debate, rising above the fray and delivering a series of coherent, well-thought out, and sensible answeres to the array of questions that night.

And yet, I will not be voting for him...

Why?

Because for some reason, the state of Virginia has not accepted my application for an absentee ballot and it looks as though I have run out of time. So, I cannot vote in UK elections and now I cannot vote in the US election...as one of my students said today, 'you are man without a flag!'

It is a pity, but the rationalist in me knows that my vote does not matter in this instance since it appears Obama has Virginia locked up...the first time the state will vote for a Democrat since LBJ. That, it seems, is quite an impressive achievement.

I do hope Obama wins on the 4th, but I also worry about what happens after he wins. Will the special interests eat him alive? Will underlying suspicions and fears undermine his capacity to govern? Or will America finally grow up and embrace a man who embodies all that America stands for?

For the first time in a long time I am looking forward to this election and the promise of change that it brings. It is just a shame that I cannot take part as fully as I had wanted to...

Line of Destiny

As part of its 25th Anniversary Celebrations, the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex (which I Co-Directed between 2003 and 2005), the University of Essex Latin American Collection has assembled an exhibition entitled Trazoos Humanos, or Human Traces that links particular pieces of art to themes that emerge from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I was asked to comment on the exhibition for a roundtable discussion. I was particularly taken by Oscar Munoz's Line of Destiny, a small video installation that shows the palm of a hand with water that slowly seeps through the fingers, but within the little 'puddle' is an image of a face of a man.

Palmistry tells us that the line of destiny is a mark not only of where we are going in life, but also where we have been and that our hands 'never lie', since they contain the stories of our lives thus far and that the palmist can divine much from the tendencies that are apparent from the 'traces' of our lives contained withing our hands.

In this sense, Palmstry reminds us that truth is in the hand. For the Munoz piece this idea has much resonance and for human rights, even more so, since hands are the primary instrument used for carrying out human rights abuses. The hand tortures, the hand beats,the hand locks away, the hand hides a face in sorrow and shame...but the fading image of a face in a hand?

Perhaps it is the perpetrator, the victim, the dictator, the father, or the son...all are possibilities in this wonderful piece that like all good pieces of art,says so much with so little...moreover, the fading image reminds us that we need to hold on to the memories, truth, and history of particular moments of human rights abuse, but as in many things in life, memories and the truth can slip from our minds like the water seeping out of the palm of the hand...

Building Democracy

Over the last 10 years or so, my research and teaching has had a core commitment to understanding the value of democracy. Much of this work has come to fruition recently with the release of three new publications. I have been working with International IDEA on its State of Democracy project and we are pleased to have finalised two new publications:

1. Assessing the Quality of Democracy: An Overview
2. Assessing the Quality of Democracy: A Practical Guide

The first is a brief overview of the theory, methods, and experiences of nationally-led democracy assessments. The second is a complete guide of over 300 pages on how to carry out an assessment. Assessments have now been carried out in over 20 countries, and many more are and will take place over the next few years.

I also had the honour and the privilege to work with the Swedish Ambassador for Democracy on a high-level discussion and policy formulation debate on building democracy last year. A new booklet has been published that summarises the debate,which will inform Swedish democracy building policy.

I have also had the pleasure of working with the Danish government on its democracy policy this past Spring and look forward to the fruitful exchanges that will continue in the near future.

At Essex, my work with the Centre for Democratic Governance is focusing on new work devoted to assessing democracy and to developing materials for parliamentary strengthening for a new five year project in collaboration with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

Neil Robinson (Limerick University) and I have completed editing the Sage Handbook of Comparative Politics,which is now happily in production.

Briony Rose Landman

Nothing quite focuses the mind on the magic of life and the human condition than the birth of your own child. My new daughter, Briony Rose Landman was born on Monday 28 April 2008 at 9:40am, weighing in at 6 pounds and 12 ounces.

She is absolutely gorgeous and is now home and settling in well. The NHS in these matters is brilliant. We have had wonderful pre and post natal care, with a fabulous dedicated team in hospital that attend to all the concerns while maintaining a real sense of human dignity.

Briony enters a troubled world but one that holds promise for her as she makes her way. There is so much to teach her and share with her, and each day brings new surprises. But to behold such a perfectly formed little human being is so precious.

This has been a great week with the publication of the third edition of Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics (Routledge) and the news that I have been awarded the special achievement award from The Magic Woods forum for my work in setting up Psycrets: The British Society for Mystery Entertainers.

Tabula Mentis III

Tabula Mentis III was a grand success with another 50 participants, creative presentations and discussions, and wonderful demonstrations of mystery entertainment from the best in the business.

We had a two hour seminar with Enrique Enriquez, author of Act of Imagination, Invisible Gemstones, Invisible Tarot, Invisible Readings, and Notes on the Tarot de Marseilles. His 'optical' approach to Tarot opened up new thinking among our participants to move beyond the 'card as symbol' to relational approaches akin to the relational connections prominent in a lot of post-modern lingustic and political theory. Enrique was captivating and enthralled us with his straight forward yet deeply insightful method for giving readings.

Paul 'Alchemical Tools' Brook followed lunch with an hour of demonstrations and ideas on how to bring psychology to bear on mystery entertainment. Straight from a gig in Manchester the night before, Paul amazed us with some great effects that were sprinkled with his characteristic humour.

Marc Paul came after Paul with a 'right between the eyes' lecture where he presented strong, convincing, and commercial mentalism perfect for the corporate world. His approach differed from Enrique and Paul, and his ideas were welcomed by the group.

The day ended with a magnificant display of mental agility with David Berglas, who did some amazing stunts with very large numbers, all of which added up in strange ways and matched a prediction made earlier that happened to total to the day's date backwards. He finished with multiple effects using other people's cards and brought the house down with the impossibility of his feats.

We closed the day by awarding David Berglas with the Psycrets Griffin Award naming him Grand Master of Mystery.

An independent review of the day has been posted on the Home Counties Magical Society website!

Metaphysical Meanderings

China was a long time ago, and since October I have been teaching, traveling, writing and performing.

Another cohort of human rights and politics students have been through the rigours of my course The Comparative Politics of Human Rights, and I have given talks and seminars at the The Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, the Latin American Centre at Oxford University, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

Neil Robinson and I have finished off the Sage Handbook of Comparative Politics, and I have written several chapters for various book projects on the political science of human rights. I have published a chapter and a journal article on the US and UK responses to terrorism, and I am currently working on a new book with Edzia Carvalho called Measuring Human Rights.

On the magic side, the British Society of Mystery Entertainers continues to grow with over 55 members. We had a successful meeting in October with 50 participants, including a Grand Master of Mystery, David Berglas. Our next meeting is next weekend and should be great!

I released three new products: Luna (with Outlaw Effects), The Condemned, and Pass and Peek, all of which are for the mentalist community.I am working on a new and exciting book project, gave a lecture on magic and mentalism to the Home Counties Magical Society, and continue to perform and develop products.

My new website has been launched

The Metaphysical Magician

and is enjoying a surge in traffic thanks to the wizardry of my webmaster.