Word: gridlock
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Hong Kong is headed for political gridlock after a huge rally on Dec. 4 in favor of greater democracy for the city. The unexpectedly big turnout?250,000 claimed by the organizers, 63,000 by the authorities?has hardened the positions of both the pro-democracy camp and the Chinese leadership in Beijing. The democrats are emboldened, and more determined than ever to push for "universal suffrage": a Chief Executive chosen by the people and not a narrow electoral college; and for a fully elected legislature, not the mixed bag of members currently chosen by either popular vote or professional...
...Beijing may not be unhappy to see gridlock, because it would act as a delaying mechanism. To expect China's leaders to back down is wishful thinking. They don't want people in Shanghai, Guangzhou or any other mainland city to start asking: "If Hong Kong can, why can't we?" Letting democracy run amok in Hong Kong is simply too risky...
...constitution, no economic reform, and it looks like there is going to be no budget agreed," says Denis MacShane, Britain's Europe Minister until last May. "It is probably the unhappiest year in European construction since the end of World War II." And the malaise goes deeper than simply gridlock in E.U. institutions. The German election this fall satisfied few; Chancellor Angela Merkel presides over a fragile grand coalition that seems unlikely to turn around the country's ailing economy anytime soon. The eruption of riots across France this fall added to a sense that Europe's leaders...
...been hit on two fronts?devastating hurricanes and ballooning prices at the gas pump. What appears to be an incurable addiction to automobiles resulted in scenes of cars frozen in gridlock or moving in endless lines at a snail's pace, as residents of Houston fled Hurricane Rita. This could well be what regular rush-hour traffic will look like a decade from now as we continue to build more cars than mass-transit vehicles and more highways than mass-transit infrastructure. The Bush Administration seems to be in denial about global warming, as it continues to ignore the Kyoto...
...part of being a public official these days is vying for an appearance on Nightline, Souter is extremely publicity shy, pursuing a life of quiet introspection ... By choosing someone so hard to pigeonhole, indeed, someone from another era, [President George H.W.] Bush may have created the kind of philosophical gridlock he felt he needed to get his nominee swiftly approved. If Americans are lucky, they will also get the kind of Justice they need --someone who looks at the law of the land with reverence and the people it governs with respect. --TIME...