Despite the international community’s efforts to shape governance in Syria, moderate opposition groups have failed to gain a foothold in the country’s political sphere. This is largely related to the international community’s strategy in Syria, which has shifted from demanding the departure of Bashar al-Assad to providing humanitarian assistance and countering the Islamic State. As part of this shift, the international community has emphasized the promotion of a “good” rebellion and governance training for rebel groups in Syria.

BY LIZ HANSON With each passing year, the fight against climate change becomes more critical to our success in maintaining livable communities around the world. In December 2015, 195 nations recognized the urgency to take action and joined together to adopt the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).[1] The […]

Yet again, a refugee crisis in Southeast Asia has concerned the world. In Singapore, however, the Government’s usual rejection of an asylum policy has hardly been questioned- unusual for a nation with thriving and critical online discourse of issues. Theophilus Kwek argues that other options are possible- and questions the assumptions that make us shy away from them.

BY TYLER RODGERS Shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day, a lone ISIS-inspired gunman launched an attack at a popular Istanbul nightclub that killed thirty-nine and injured sixty-five more. The rampage signaled an inauspicious start to 2017 in Turkey and offered evidence that the tumultuous events of the previous year—including an attempted military coup and […]

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 […]

BY NATALIA COTE-MUÑOZ, MEREDITH DAVIS, AND KRISTELL MILLÁN This piece was written by the Co-Chairs of the Harvard Kennedy School Latinx Caucus and can also be found on the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy blog here. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that President Trump has decided to rescind DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, came […]

Agile, iterative, pilot, scrum—these phrases may be common in the world of software development, but one would hardly expect to hear them tossed around the austere marble corridors of state government.  Yet they are common parlance in the Massachusetts Governor’s Office, where a nimble squad of problem-solvers is using every cutting-edge tool in the toolbox […]

BY MICHELLE LIU The placards are subtle. I missed the first small signs with dates on the Exit Glacier Trail. I was rushing to hike the Harding Ice Field and I was preoccupied anticipating Alaska’s unpredictable weather and my next eight miles. However, even I noticed placards with random numbers 1891, 1899, 1917…along the rainforest […]

BY ANDREW SUGRUE More than most states, Nevada suffered greatly during the recent recession. Unemployment peaked at 14 percent in 2010, housing prices had fallen 60 percent by 2011, and as of last year, GDP per capita remained at 20 percent below its pre-recession high. The state’s economy relies heavily on gaming, tourism, entertainment, hospitality […]

BY AMY ZHOU Even non-Californians took notice of what Governor Jerry Brown has been up to this summer. Following through on his public denouncement of President Trump’s stance on climate change, Brown traveled to China for a high-profile meeting with Xi Jinping and signed an extension of his landmark cap-and-trade program to 2030 into law. […]

On July 26, 2017, President Trump took to Twitter to proclaim that transgender individuals are prohibited from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The directive caused a flurry of activity at the Pentagon. LGBTQ news sources began reporting on Friday, August 4, that a guidance document was on its way to Secretary of Defense Mattis […]

By TOMÁS INSUA “I commend His Holiness [Pope Francis] and all faith leaders here, for raising awareness of the urgent need to promote sustainable development and address climate . . . Your influence is enormous. You speak to the heart of humanity’s deepest hopes and needs.” Ban Ki-moon, former UN secretary general, addressing an interfaith […]