Democracy and Institutions

Note: This post assesses President Obama’s State of the Union Address in 4 policy ares: K-12 Education, Higher Education, LGBTQ and Military Affairs. It is a follow up to KSR’s SOTU coverage here and here. POLICY AREA: K-12 EDUCATION BY ADRIENNE MURPHY As an education reform enthusiast, I was excited to hear the President kick […]

A Note of Explanation: For the first time, the Kennedy School Review has tapped into the policy expertise of students across the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to collect their perspectives on President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union Address.  For two days, HKS students are providing their analysis on a broad range of policy […]

A Note of Explanation: For the first time, the Kennedy School Review has tapped into the policy expertise of students across the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to collect their perspectives on President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union Address. Over the next two days we will share student analysis on a broad range of […]

BY ELIZABETH A. KISLIK In a lecture at Harvard University in mid-October, New York Times columnist Gail Collins discussed how fundamentally women’s roles in American society have changed over the past half-century. Her talk reflected the theme of her 2009 book, When Everything Changed. Collins recalled the days of “executive flights,” on which young, unmarried […]

Latinos voted for Barack Obama in throngs in 2008. The landslide turnout of Latino voters was due in large part to the promise of comprehensive immigration reform. I was among those Latinos. Many of us knew that change would not come easily, but we did not expect the plight of immigrants to actually worsen—as it has under the radical expansion of the federal program Secure Communities

BY ADRIENNE MURPHY Anyone who follows recent political news knows that Texans like to talk. First, there was the stylish, hot-pink Mizuno sporting Wendy Davis and her fervent defense of abortion rights. Then came the fiery, Dr. Seuss-quoting Ted Cruz and his passionate opposition to Obamacare. Thirty-two hours and hundreds of thousands of words later, […]

On October 14, the Mo Ibrahim Prize Committee announced, for the second year in a row, that it had not found anyone to whom to award its Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The Prize is given to a recently-retired Executive Head of State or Government in Africa who satisfies the criteria of having been […]

BY TOMMY TOBIN Whatever you think about former Vice President Dick Cheney, his upcoming book Heart provides new fodder for debates around the 25th Amendment and America’s system of presidential succession.  Cheney’s imperilled health during his term in office demonstrated that the 25th Amendment and the nation’s procedures for handling inability, disability, and vacancy in […]

“I urge you to be more innovative. When it comes to emerging threats such as cyber- crime, environmental crime, and counterfeiting, we must stay one step ahead of the criminals,” affirmed Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, in a speech read by a representative at the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and […]

Abstract In response to anti-immigrant remarks made by District of Columbia City Councilman Marion Barry, a group of young progressive activists launched the “Say Sorry Barry” campaign to engage the city in a dialogue about respectful rhetoric. Barry’s comments contributed to a dangerously xenophobic narrative present throughout the 2012 election cycle. To combat this, the […]

Note: This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Read Brian’s first post here. Photo credit: Michael S. Williamson (source here). BY BRIAN CHIGLINSKY Yesterday, we introduced the concept of the Great Decoupling – the idea that middle class income growth is no longer connected to the growth of the broader American economy. Today, we look […]

BY JONATHAN HILLMAN Would you ask an ophthalmologist to remove your gall bladder? Would you pay a traffic cop for legal advice? Probably not — unless you happen to be that dashing, danger-seeking Dos Equis guy. Yet when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, Americans seem content accepting counsel from dubious sources. Who can blame […]