BY ANDREA BLINKHORN AND JONATHAN HUI Driving down Puritan Avenue in the Martin Park neighborhood in northwest Detroit, it’s hard not to feel a sense of emptiness. Many houses are boarded up and crumbling, lying in a state of long-time disrepair that belies the ornate architectural styles that used to define the city. A short […]

In Spring 2016, JMEPP Associate Editor Satgin Hamrah interviewed Ambassador Dennis Ross, the special Middle East Coordinator under former US President Bill Clinton during his visit to the Middle East Initiative at Harvard’s Belfer Center. Below is an excerpt from the interview on diplomacy in the MENA region as well as his role in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.  

BY PITICHOKE CHULAPAMORNSRI During the first week at the Harvard Kennedy School, my orientation leaders encouraged us to download Venmo, a peer-to-peer money transfer app, which allows users to easily split bills at restaurants. Rather than giving the server multiple credit cards, one person can pay the bill, and the rest can just “Venmo” the […]

Earlier this month the Africa Policy Journal sat down with Herman J. Cohen, a former U.S. ambassador to several African countries, advisor to multiple U.S. Presidents, and a 38-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service. During his time in Africa, Cohen developed relationships with African leaders including South African President Nelson Mandela and Libyan leader […]

BY MARINA ZHAVORONKOVA Last year, Netflix made headlines by allowing all employees up to a year of parental leave. In March, Salesforce adjusted the salaries of its employees to the tune of three million dollars to ensure salary equity across genders. Year after year, companies that fall on Fortune or Business Insider’s lists of “best […]

By Alen Amini Harvard Kennedy School MPP1 candidates have spent the past two weeks addressing immigration reform in the United States as part of their first year capstone, spring exercise. Students, in diverse groups of 5-6 first year classmates, are tasked with analyzing employment, family, diversity, and refugee based visa allotments for immigrants seeking legal […]

Adam LaRose and Erika Ferguson The first time we sat in Steve Jarding’s course, we were very inspired by his appeal to the class; he offered a moving story about why we and our fellow classmates should accept the most demanding call to public service: running for office. He was not shy about the fact […]

Africa suffers from a pronounced infrastructure deficit, particularly in energy and transportation. Coupled with burdensome trade regulations, these deficiencies have constrained gains in domestic productivity and present a critical bottleneck to more regional integration. African countries need to focus on constructing efficient and secure national and cross-border physical infrastructure as well as a coherent system […]

BY SAMIK ADHIKARI Kami Chiri Sherpa had high hopes for himself and his family. He dreamed of leaving his job as a trekking guide in the Solukhumbu region of Nepal for a job in Poland, where he could make more money and provide his family with a better life. A couple of years ago, he […]

In 2009, Linsey Davis, a Black female correspondent for the ABC News, wrote a feature article for Nightline. She had one question: “Why are successful Black women the least likely than any other race or gender to marry?” Her story went viral, sparking a national debate. Within the year, social media, newsrooms, self-help books, Black […]

  The Harvard Kennedy School hosted Secretary Ernest Moniz as part of The Robert McNamara Lecture on War and Peace, co-sponsored by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs on April 14th, 2016. Dr. Moniz focused a large part of his discussion on the Iran negotiations, specifically the role science played in fostering an […]

BY TANIA DEL RIO The war on drugs is fueling conflict and destroying families. It is time for the global community to recognize that after 50 years of failure, the only practical and humane policy is to end the punitive approach by decriminalizing mild substances and controlling toxic ones. This week’s UN Special Session on […]