By John Dong, MPP 2018 On November 10, 2016, HKS Dean Doug Elmendorf hosted the annual All-School Reception at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse. The event gave student, faculty, and staff an opportunity to “come together as a community and enjoy each other’s company.” In his brief opening remarks, Dean Elmendorf expressed his […]

Embed from Getty Images With last week’s election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, the anxiety of Arab and Muslim Americans was perhaps the timeliest topic of discussion at the tenth annual Harvard Arab Weekend. In a panel on Saturday, entitled “Arab and Muslim America: Facing Today’s Challenges,” four activists and professors spoke passionately on the […]

Photo Credits: NBC News and LA Times By Hudson Leung (MPA/MBA Tuck, 2019) and Wilson Tong (MPA/MBA Wharton, 2018) It was 5:30AM on Election Day, and we were both awake and energized, with just a few hours to go before we could cap a long season of campaigning. One of us (Hudson) was preparing to […]

  In times of conflict, humanitarian organizations aim to meet the “basic needs” of those in crisis. But too often this model of emergency intervention ignores chronic conditions – and especially the pressing question of mental health, according to Fouad M. Fouad, a professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of […]

BY COURTNEY HAN The early 2000s was a heady time to be a researcher in Busia, Kenya. The town along Kenya’s western border was packed with young aspiring economists sharing group houses, waiting for roast meat at Chauma, the local eatery, and practicing Kiswahili with their Kenyan host families. They worked on projects ranging from […]

Privatizing SMRT in July has longer-term implications for efficiency and resilience of our public rail network

BY BOBBIE RAGSDALE Thoroughly unexpected by nearly all on both sides of the aisle, Donald Trump defied the polls Tuesday and proved the existence of a Silent Majority, so often referenced, but whose existence is so often denied. They voted for a multitude of reasons, most of which had little to do with what the […]

Photo Credit: The Atlantic By Howard Cohen, MPP 2018 CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS—At the Harvard election watching party, students were shocked as Trump pulled ahead of Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential race. Students I spoke to were at a loss for words. Women dressed in all white Clinton outfits walked into the JFK Jr. Forum expecting […]

Election night—Tuesday November 8, 2016. Harvard students, faculty, and staff gathered in the JFK Jr. Forum to witness a historic event. The Institute of Politics, the event’s organizer, decorated the Forum space and served food and refreshments to anxious students late into the night. Jake Viola (MPP ’18), wearing patriotic colors from head to toe, […]

BY ALI WYNE There are two ways for those of us who supported Hillary Clinton’s campaign to react to Donald Trump’s victory: we can scream to high heaven, steeping ourselves in a toxic brew of anger and despair; or we can attempt to understand why he won and consider what we might have done differently. […]

BY CLAIRE CHAUMONT I consider myself a fairly engaged citizen. I have voted in all major French elections. I have demonstrated several times for causes I valued. I have participated in political debates, conferences, and forums. I am a Political Science major after all. But I have never joined any organized political action. Rather, I […]

In recent weeks, Ethiopia has been withdrawing its troops from the strategic Hiraan region in southern Somalia, where Al Shabab militants have battled the Somali army and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeeping forces. Reports indicate that Ethiopian troops have also withdrawn from Halgan, El Ali and Tiyeglow in Somalia’s Bakool region. The withdrawal paves […]