Democracy and Institutions

BY JAMES PAGANO The Democratic National Committee is in trouble. Revelations by former Interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile have re-aggravated still-open wounds from the 2016 primary battle. If the DNC can’t quickly re-establish itself as a neutral arbiter of party functions, current suspicions that the party systematically favors specific candidates will metastasize in voters’ minds, depressing […]

BY LIZ HANSON Governor Dean is not interested in rehashing the 2016 election. There are a range of reasons he believes contributed to Secretary Hillary Clinton’s loss on November 8th, but that is all, as he puts it, “hindsight.” While he rattled off a few—globalization, populism, Russian influence, Jim Comey—he was more interested in looking […]

Tunisia celebrates 160 years of constitutionalism.

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico causing widespread destruction, including the total loss of the power grid and potable water systems. It was the most powerful hurricane to hit the island in almost 90 years. “Make no mistake — this is a humanitarian disaster involving 3.4 million US citizens,” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo […]

The rise of Mohammad bin Salman raises the question of Saudi Arabia’s future relationships with the US and Russia.

While members of the Palestinian diaspora occupy a precarious social position and are often subject to successive removals from new homes, refugees have nonetheless put down roots and sought to secure their new homes in a number of ways.
Dr. Nadya Hajj, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College, shows how this is the case.

Has the possibility of an independent Kurdistan forced the governments of Turkey, Iran, and Iraq to overlook their intersecting rivalries in the Middle East?

BY RIJU AGRAWAL In the last few months, the carefully-curated narrative of the BJP’s economic successes has finally started to unravel. The unilateral pursuit of demonetization, the premature roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST), and poor implementation of both policies have crippled GDP growth, increased unemployment, and reduced exports. Even leaders within the […]

“My apartment is everything I prayed for when I was locked up,” Morgan[1] says, his brown eyes twinkling. “Do you want to see it?” Morgan pulls his phone from his back pocket, turns the screen toward me, and opens a photograph of a bright galley kitchen with a couple of pots resting on the electric […]

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico, leaving 3.4 million people without power and with scarce access to potable drinking water and food. Two weeks later, less than 50% of people can access clean water and only 5% have power.  Due to the slow response, it is unclear when electricity will be restored, let […]

BY KIRSTEN RULF Two years ago, exactly one week before Angela Merkel opened the German borders to more than one million refugees, I started my first term at the Harvard Kennedy School. Every time I have gone home since, the Germany I left behind seems altered—and with it, my friends. After the federal election on […]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that President Trump has decided to rescind DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, came as a shock to some and is disappointing to us. Although DACA recipients come from places as wide-ranging as Jamaica and the Philippines, the vast majority of them are from Latinx communities. (Latinx is […]