As Israelis flocked to the polls in last week’s elections, the West Bank remained calm. The 4.1 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza do not have the right to vote. Life went on as usual while only kilometers away, Israelis elected leaders who will determine policy affecting the Palestinians’ fate. Here are […]

“Can we get the successive generations to understand that we built this edifice, that this is a 100-storey building built on an extremely narrow foundation, but piled deep and structured in such a way that the winds won’t blow it down.” – Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew was a giant revered for his brilliant […]

Six weeks after a controversial postponement, the Nigerian presidential and National Assembly elections are set for March 28th, with the governorship and State House of Assembly elections scheduled to take place on April 11th. In spite of the volatile security environment, government officials have indicated that Nigerian citizens will be able to vote this Saturday, […]

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) was recently named a vice-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, a group focused on shaping policy issues impacting the LGBT community. The Harvard alum is in his first congressional term and spoke with the LGBT Policy Journal about the need for straight men, Latinos and veterans to advocate for the […]

As the Nigerian elections come around, the broadcast is out again and every pundit on Africa especially the western ones are on, once more, about Nigeria disintegrating.  This alarm and concern for Nigeria by outsiders seems to me not so much about caring but about perpetuating the myth of Africa’s failure in governing itself. In my […]

On February 26th, JMEPP Editor-in-Chief Nada Zohdy and Harvard Political Review staff writer Andrew O’Donohue interviewed Tunisia’s Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, before he delivered a public address at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, hosted by the Institute of Politics. You can watch his full speech, “Tunisia: A Start-Up Democracy,” here.   Mehdi Jomaa served as Prime Minister […]

ABSTRACT This article documents evidence of recent discrimination against LGBT public sector workers by analyzing employment discrimination complaints filed with state and local administrative agencies. We present information about 589 complaints of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination filed by public sector workers in 123 jurisdictions. We find that discrimination against LGBT people in the […]

BY HUGO ZYLBERBERG General Keith Alexander maintained in a 2013 speech that, as director of the National Security Agency (NSA) at the time, he was doing “everything [he] could to protect civil liberties and privacy,” then added a warning: “Everyone also understands that if we give up a capability that is critical to the defense […]

The following interview was conducted by APJ’s Ngozika Amalu on the occasion of HE Ambassador Ali’s visit to Harvard University, sponsored by the Center for African Studies and co-hosted by APJ, the Africa Caucus, and the Harvard African Students Association. Ambassador Amina Salum Ali is the African Union Ambassador to the United States. As the […]

ABSTRACT The Ibrahim Prize, the largest annually awarded prize given in the world, is meant to incentivize African heads of state to become better democratic leaders. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance, IIAG, a composite measurement, is used in a ranking order of African heads of States. This paper affirms the hypothesis- no consistent correlation […]

Christine Quinn was the first woman and first openly gay person elected Speaker of the New York City Council. Quinn is spending the semester as a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics where she is leading a study group on being ‘a first’ in politics. She is on the board of Athlete Ally, a […]

When it comes to climate change and its impact on U.S. Latinos, the facts usually tell a bleak story full of bad news and mounting threats. While there’s no question that climate impacts are real and growing, and that Latinos are on the front lines of those adverse impacts, the story doesn’t have to end […]