Kennedy School Review
Established in 1999, the mission of the Harvard Kennedy School Review (KSR) was to publish articles that offer compelling analysis and insight and put forward pragmatic and innovative solutions for the major issues of our time. KSR sought to publish timely, provocative, important articles that influence policymakers and practitioners, stimulate public debate, and showcase the best work of Kennedy School students. KSR provided an opportunity for students to challenge, change, and influence the policy debate on crucial policy issues.
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In the Face of Massive Social Challenge, Start Small
10.24.17
BY MARIE LAWRENCE The behavioral science revolution is officially underway. Nudge, one of the discipline’s most influential trade books, is now on more than 750,000 bookshelves worldwide, and its co-author Richard Thaler is a new Nobel laureate. The Behavioural Insight Team’s (BIT) successful effort to encourage Brits to pay £210 million in overdue taxes found […]
One Size Does Not Fit All: The Rise of Tailor-Made Economic Policies
10.20.17
BY HUBERT WU Many major shortcomings of economic policy making can be attributed to an over-reliance on “one-size-fits-all” policies that ignore differences in countries, industries, and individuals. Until the early 21st century, the accepted means to increase the wealth of developing countries centered on a set of largely standardized policy prescriptions. At the industry level, […]
It Takes the Planet: Why Collective Action on Climate Change Is More Important Than Ever
10.13.17
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 […]
A Rare Opportunity for India’s Congress Party
10.11.17
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 […]
Locked Up or Locked Out: How Housing Insecurity Undermines Criminal Justice Reform
10.10.17
“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 […]
Turkey in the Age of Trump: A Path forward for US-Turkey Relations
10.5.17
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 […]
How Germany Shifted To The Far-Right In Less Than Two Years – A Personal Journey
10.3.17
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 […]
The Focus on Integrated Schools Is Misguided
09.27.17
BY IVAN RAHMAN The cover of the most recent Nation magazine portrays a student about to cross a crosswalk, perhaps to a school in a different neighborhood than his own. The accompanying story examines the secession movement in education, a movement in white communities that effectively excludes black and Hispanic youth from majority-white schools. Against […]
Harvard Should Never Have Offered a Fellowship to Chelsea Manning
09.26.17
Thirteen days ago, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics offered a visiting fellowship to Chelsea Manning. Two days later, Doug Elmendorf, Dean of the Kennedy School, rightfully withdrew the fellowship. But the invitation should never have been extended in the first place. In 2013, Manning was convicted of espionage for leaking 750,000 sensitive military […]
Voice & Violence: Making Public Security Work for the Global Poor
09.20.17
BY GRANT TUDOR AND JUSTIN WARNER Last year, Human Rights Watch shared a story about Michelle, a 57 year-old Zimbabwean who had recently lost her husband. Soon after, she lost her harvest, her farm, and, finally, her home. Michelle’s in-laws had carried out the confiscations, physically restraining her while they ransacked her property. The event […]
How Democrats Can Win in 2018 with Behavioral Science
09.18.17
BY ROBERT REYNOLDS In 1840, Abraham Lincoln authored a plan for the Whig party to win the upcoming election: “watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to time have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence.” Democrats need a similar plan today. If liberals and conservatives voted at the […]
DACA Repeal Demands Our Action and Push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
09.15.17
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 […]