This moment offers a rare opportunity for foreign powers to help break Lebanon’s historical cycles of violence and support demands for a shift to a more robust and representative democracy.

Africa in the 21st century is young, urban, and digitally connected. More than half of all Africans are younger than 20. By mid-century, more Africans will migrate to cities than on any other continent in the world, seeking opportunity across both physical and digital spaces. Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced the highest growth in internet usage […]

On December 3rd 2019, the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers (HGSU-UAW) strike went on an indefinite strike. Despite steady snowfall through the day, students marched in Harvard Yard demanding a “contract now”. Speaking with The Citizen, Ege Yumusak, a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy and a member of the bargaining committee, said […]

Meritocracy is generally celebrated as an ideology that promotes equality of opportunity, and hence, seen as just. Xuan Yee interrogates this view by exploring the moral, psychological, and intellectual ramifications of meritocracy when taken to its extreme. He argues that an unquestioned belief in meritocracy is dangerous, for it encourages the successful to justify their own moral deservingness of their position in society, and thus, legitimizes inequality.

East Asia’s footprints in Africa over the past few decades have significantly evolved from mere diplomatic presence to encompass steadfast multilateral engagements. The growing engagements have been enabled by the two major East Asian countries – Japan and China. Both countries have supported Africa with investments and development aid. Japan, for example, through the Tokyo […]

It was an ordinary Monday afternoon when some of my colleagues and I at the United Nations Women’s Headquarters in New York suddenly disappeared from our offices in unison. We rushed to a small conference room at lunch with determination in our pace and long lists of ideas and demands in our notepads. After many […]

Listen Here! Welcome to our second HJHP Podcast for the 2019-2020 academic year. For the second episode of our series, Pain to Power, we interviewed Mayor of Topeka, KS Michelle De La Isla. In our conversation with Mayor De La Isla, we learned about her journey from New York to the Mayoral office in Topeka. […]

“Over the last few years many Negroes have felt that their most troublesome adversary was not the obvious bigot… but the white liberal who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice, who prefers tranquility to equality…Even in areas where liberals have great influence…schools…and politics—the situation of the Negro is not much better than in […]

The increasing humanitarian consequences of climate change and the global refugee crisis have disproportionately affected developing countries.

Singapore practices a brand of “accommodationist secularism” that is premised on the assumption that a separation between religion and politics is possible. Yong Han Poh argues that this assumption is flawed, and unpacks its implications on policy, political representation and religious harmony.

This is the first piece in our series, “The Food Project”, a collection of stories, essays, and opinion pieces on the food cultures from our diverse student body.  Students submit pieces expressing broadly their relationship with food and cuisine from their families and countries. These writings can range from a personal connection to a dish, […]

Since the dawn of the last century, progressive African visionaries have proffered that to achieve economic well-being, African nations must forge a path to prosperity that is independent of Western prescription. Yet, are the continent’s challenges so distinct as to be completely unique from those of the rest of the world? In July 1900, the […]