BY ANA DIAMOND Syrians, not too long ago, were a nation known for their rich cultural heritage, commerce, and diversity. Their country was home to one of the world’s ancient civilizations, and even in the 20th century it was frequently featured as an exotic tourist destination. Today, only the remains of many historic cities and […]

The Tariff Act of 1930 in the United States precludes the purchase of goods made from forced labor. One would expect that this piece of legislation not only comports with American values, but also incentivizes producers to comply with international norms regarding labor practices. Nothing could be further from the truth. Modern-day slavery persists. The […]

By Anonymous As I am sitting here in the Harvard Kennedy School Forum looking at the new banners hanging around me announcing “You are HKS… You belong… We are all Harvard,” the first thought that runs through my head is, “I am not HKS… I do not belong here… We are not all Harvard.” I […]

By Natalie Kostich, MC/MPA 2017 Marta Milkowska, Alex Choi and Laura Oller—current MPA/MBA dual-degree students—have made us very proud.  They were one of 19 teams to compete in the preliminary round of the Hult Prize competition at Harvard in December.  They designed a unique and important project called Dignify to link refugees to microwork opportunities […]

By Howard Cohen, MPP 2018, CEO & Co-Founder of StudyBuddy The background story My childhood friend, Nathaniel Blumer, and I were in the library one day, struggling with assignments and had no way of knowing who else was working on the same class at the same time nearby. We sought to develop a mobile app […]

BY CHRISTIAN ASANTE The first time I spoke to Sandra, we were both studying in the library. President Trump had assumed office five days earlier, and his string of executive orders consumed student conversations. Sandra asked me to watch her things for a few minutes, and when she returned, I struck up a conversation. “What […]

Remarkable changes are afoot in Ireland: a government-appointed citizens’ commission seems poised to recommend pivotal reforms that would liberalize the country’s near-total ban on abortion. Ireland is a country where the anti-choice movement has remained fierce and powerful even as the rest of the world moves towards decriminalizing abortion and the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution […]

BY MAGGIE SALINGER Republicans are trying to seduce us by promising lower premiums and removal of the individual mandate. No longer will Obamacare encroach on personal freedom and financial stability, they boast. But let’s not be fooled by the ACA alternatives we’ve been seeing from the Hill. These plans are no better for us. In fact, […]

Fareed Yasseen, Iraq’s ambassador to the US, is optimistic about defeating ISIL – but sees several structural threats to Iraq’s stability.

From the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the policies that welcomed hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees to this country from the 1960s onward, federal immigration policy has had a tremendous influence on the migration history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). The most recent plan for immigration reform, the Reforming American Immigration […]

By Libby Whitbeck (MPP 2017) and Wilson Tong (MPA 2018), Co-Chairs of the HKS Democratic Caucus Welp…here we are everyone! Trump’s America. Now a month into the United States’ 45th and perhaps most unexpected presidential administration, we have witnessed a tornado of activity coming from the White House. From the Muslim ban to Betsy DeVos’ […]

By David Duesing, MPP 2018 On Wednesday February 15, the Kennedy School was honored to receive constitutional rights activist and Gold Star father Khizr Khan at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum in a conversation moderated by Harvard Law professor and Islamic Legal Studies Program director Intisar Rabb. Khizr, along with his wife Ghazala, are […]