Democracy and Institutions

Last Monday, October 10th, will be remembered as the day the electronic judicial process was formally introduced within the Paraguayan legal system, which unquestionably constituted an unprecedented breakthrough for the judiciary in this country. Alberto Martínez Simón Judge of the Civil and Commercial Upper Chamber of Asunción, Paraguay. Source: ABC Color, Paraguay The HKS Latin American Policy […]

BY SEBASTIAN LEAPE We’ve heard a lot about Trump’s past recently, but less about what the future of a Trump presidency would actually look like. I went to a Trump rally in Laconia, New Hampshire on September 15 to hear his pitch in full to try and figure it out. Behind the bluster, there is […]

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 […]

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 MICHAEL ALTER Americans are bad at voting. Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but the U.S. ranked 27th among developed countries with only 53.6 percent of its voting-age population casting votes in the 2012 presidential election. Meanwhile, Belgium, the top-ranked country, had 87.2 percent of its voting-age population vote in its 2014 election. This […]

BY SUNAINA RAJANI Introduction Imagine an impulse to sneeze. Now imagine if it were illegal. While we don’t intend to sneeze and can’t suppress a sneeze, most of us can suppress other urges. One fundamental principle of jurisprudence is that humans have some ability to control their impulses and make decisions derived from an innate […]

BY BRYNNA QUILLIN On Monday night, the world finally got to see Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off for the first presidential debate. Watching the two candidates on stage together was striking. Hillary Clinton is one of the most, if not the most, qualified presidential candidates in history, with an extensive resume: First Lady, […]

BY BEN BLINK I was disappointed last week to learn that Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson was officially excluded from the three U.S. presidential debates. The two-term New Mexico governor, who cares equally about reducing budget deficits, protecting civil liberties, and improving the justice system, will not get a podium. I was frustrated, but hardly […]

Five years ago, Tunisians – after weeks of anti-government protests following the self-immolation of fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi – succeeded in ousting dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. In the months that followed, similar unrest would spread across much of the Arab world, in what came to be known as the “Arab Spring.” Since then, Tunisia […]

BY LAUREN VIEHBACHER In the span of three days this past March, bombs ripped through daily life in Istanbul and Brussels. Police flooded Istiklal Street in Istanbul, a famous pedestrian stretch usually humming with shoppers. Helicopters circled overhead, citizens scattered in terror, and yellow tape fluttered across the street. Five people were killed and close […]

  Along the porous border between Syria and Turkey lies the notorious city of Gaziantep — a city making waves in the media as a regional capitol for spooks and spicy kebabs. Called “Antep” for short (formerly known as Ayintab, the sister city to Aleppo in Syria), Gaziantep is also — surprisingly for some — […]

BY BRYNNA QUILLIN Crammed into a narrow hallway leading to the convention hall, I stood on my tiptoes to locate the podium on stage above the ponytails and tall “Hillary” signs. For months I had been eagerly awaiting Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. Clutching the “USA” and “Michelle” signs I had scavenged […]