Democracy and Institutions

BY BENJAMIN LUXENBERG President Obama should offer the Merrick Garland nomination to the Supreme Court in the form of a “forward contract” to Senate Republicans. As defined by Investopedia, forward contracts are “a customized contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a specified price on a future date.” One of the […]

For many, the Iranian elections on February 26, 2016 were a first test for the Iranian public’s reaction to the nuclear deal signed in July 2015. For those who anticipated a dramatic result, either in favor or against the regime, the elections tempered these notions. The main conclusion to draw from the formal results is […]

Black, White, Republican, and Democratic voters know and care about issues affecting the Black community more than ever before. In this unique election, candidates from both parties can’t afford to ignore these issues. This election cycle is unlike any other in American history. Black people have experienced endemic police brutality since 2012. In fact, according […]

BY MARINA ZHAVORONKOVA AND JONATHAN HUI If you are born poor in America, the way up is through a good job. Low-income workers are disproportionately minorities or women, and both groups are historically underrepresented in the middle-income workforce. More than 54 percent of African American and almost 60 percent of Latino workers make less than […]

Kanhaiya Kumar’s arrest for sedition in Delhi is a violation of his constitutional rights. BY UZRA KHAN The actions of the Indian Government and the Delhi Police last week against students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi violated the fundamental principle of free speech and expression in the world’s largest democracy. JNU student […]

BY DANIEL TOSTADO Among all the numerous Latin phrases that I have picked up at law school, today this one is most apt: “De mortuis nihil nisi bonum,” –Do not speak ill of the dead. A war of words started innocuously enough on Sunday, when Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor issued a statement on behalf […]

BY TOM TRAILL Nobody has ever catcalled me.  God knows I’ve tried: short shorts, no top, the whole caboodle.  But however much I’m “asking for it,” it never happens. I can’t experience it.  I have to believe the reported accounts I’m given that it does happen to women. *** Another thing I haven’t experienced and […]

BY ANDREAS WESTGAARD This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Republican presidential debate in Manchester, New Hampshire. Just five days after the Iowa caucus, this past Saturday’s debate was important for the current frontrunners and even more crucial for those contenders hoping to remain relevant after the Granite State’s primary on February 9. […]

  BY LUCY BOYD Driving from Boston to Manchester, N.H., on Friday through the blistering blizzard weather, I had no idea what to expect. As someone from New Orleans, this was my first primary election (and first drive through a snow storm, I might add). We arrived at the Hilton Hotel to news crews, volunteers, […]

BY JEN SMITH Mr. Bloomberg, What message are you sending undecided Democrats with this notice of your presidential aspirations?  You don’t want to run for the presidency.  If you did, you would have hired that consulting firm you were paying way too much money long ago.  You also wouldn’t run as an independent.  I might […]

BY WILL EBERLE Democrats have long prided themselves on being the big tent party, representing minorities and women to a greater degree than Republicans. It has become such an ingrained part of the party mentality that it is hard to conceive of an alternate future in which Democrats lose the support of such groups in […]

In Fall 2015, JMEPP Co-Editor-in-Chief Kevin Moss interviewed Amb. Francis Riccardione, the former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Atlantic Council Vice President and Director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Below is an excerpt from the interview on the role of Turkey in serving as a model for democracy in the region. For the full interview, please listen […]