With the rise of the Islamic State, for the first time in nearly 100 years the call to prayer was heard in a caliphate. But the muezzin call of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was not merely incanted from a minaret in Mosul – in the ancient style his followers claim to espouse. Nor was it just […]

BY LAUREN WINDMEYER Last Friday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize for his long-running efforts to end Colombia’s 52-year civil war. Santos led negotiations between the Colombian government and FARC rebels for four years, ultimately coming to an agreement this August. To go into effect, the agreement needed a final vote […]

  By Neil Thomas, MPP 2018 John Cassidy at The New Yorker called the October 9th town-hall debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ‘the darkest and nastiest Presidential debate in modern history’. Trump was on the defensive after The Washington Post published footage of him ogling women and big-noting his sexual prowess. He accused […]

  By John Dong, MPP 2018 On Wednesday, September 28th, the JFK Jr. Forum warmly welcomed the President of Namibia, His Excellency Dr. Hage Geingob, for a public address moderated by HKS professor Calestous Juma. In his speech, President Geingob first recounted Namibia’s historical progress in improving freedom, equality, and democracy, and then went on […]

BY JEN SMITH, WITH CALEB GAYLE AND DAVID FRIEDLAND 24 days ago Terence Crutcher was shot and killed by a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His family grieved their loss in the public eye. CNN wrote an article titled “Why Charlotte exploded and Tulsa Prayed” contrasting the two cities. It ignored lingering historical tensions from […]

Photo Credit: Local 26 By Ivan Rahman, MPP 2018 While sitting in my last negotiation class with Professor Brian Mandell, I could hear the chanting and drumming of the Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) workers outside of Littauer. They officially started striking on Wednesday, October 5th, requesting $35,000 in minimum salary for all HUDS employees, […]

By Zouhair Mazouz, MPP 2017 Full disclosure: That night, I meant to stir the pot. In the 2015 academic year, I had made a point out of boycotting meetings organized by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Arab Caucus. As an Arab myself, I was outraged to learn that the Caucus explicitly described its events as “intended […]

In the last decade, Medellin made a decision that will mark its future: it changed its economic vocation. The city, known in the twentieth century as the “Industrial Capital of Colombia,” decided to move from a traditional industrial operation to a knowledge economy. Corporation Ruta N is articulating these efforts and boosting a true ecosystem […]

For the past 35 years, the United States has been militarily involved in the Middle East – from Lebanon to Libya, Iraq to Syria. Yet this extensive involvement in the region has failed to make any lasting positive impact or achieve the United States’ stated goals, according to Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares […]

BY ROBERT REYNOLDS Policy students interested in nudging must run experiments. Yet, rigorous experiments require substantial time, funding, and expert guidance. Because most students do not have this, behavioral enthusiasts rarely complete experiments while in policy school. This should change. So, how can policy students do this without succumbing to the difficulties of professional experiments? […]

For Republicans, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s Middle East policy has been a lightning rod. In addition to Clinton’s email scandal, Republicans have frequently criticized positions the former secretary of state took during the 2010-11 Arab Spring uprising and the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The Arab world’s pundits have their […]

BY CHARLOTTE HALL The 600+ employees of the Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) are now on strike. The outcome of this strike has as much to do with the future of Harvard as it does with HUDS employee wages and benefits. At its heart, this labor dispute is about what kind of employer Harvard is […]