The Citizen

Offensive realism, developed by Professor John Mearsheimer at University of Chicago, is the idea that great powers fear each other, and are always looking for opportunities to gain power at the expense of others. They do this to maximize its share of world power, regardless of domestic policy, foreign policy, and ideological differences on both […]

“I have killed many Arabs in my life, and there’s no problem with that.” “When you [Palestinians] were still climbing trees, we had a Jewish state here.” These are the words of current Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who 282 of our HKS classmates met with last month as part of the HKS Israel Trek. […]

The author made updates to this piece on April 18, 2022. The paragraphs added later are identified with an asterisk at the end. The author would like to acknowledge that the timing of publication coincides with the deadly terrorist attacks in Tel Aviv that have killed 13 Israeli civilans as of March 22nd. While this […]

Technology allows stories to be truly interactive. Yet the efforts of creative and experimental authors too often remain obscure. The start of a story is a leap into the unknown. Familiar rituals ease us into that uncertainty- the texture of paper, a book spine creaking, perhaps the comforting weight of a tablet reader. We rest […]

As I sat reading a book on a park bench in Cambridge Commons, a beautiful green space outside of Harvard University’s campus, a man experiencing homelessness began walking toward me, looking quizzically. He sat on the bench next to me and asked, “Do you go to Harvard?” I told him that I do. He explained […]

Written by Martin Luginbühl (MC/MPA) Longing for it when I’m away, but ready to leave soon after I’m back. How do I juggle homesickness and the call of the world? Home for me is a horse farm just outside of Geneva called “Veytay” which, translated from old French, means “Old Lime Tree”. Many such trees […]

My grandmother visibly worked to form words, her dry mouth—a sign of her body’s refusal to absorb even water—making it difficult to speak. I leaned into my computer screen, trying to make out what she was saying. “Please come to Japan,” she finally managed in English. I said I would, knowing that it was a […]

COVID-19, the Black Live Matter protests, a presidential election, the Capitol insurrection, the Atlanta spa shootings, and much more. A lot has happened during my two years studying abroad at HKS. As I lived through these experiences, they changed how I view the U.S. and myself. On June 27, 2019, my husband and parents came […]

Seventeen. I have seen the footage of the murder of George Floyd at seventeen times. I did not want to watch it even once, but it seemed that every major news outlet has had the video repeating in the background over the last year as they recounted the event and the trial. I could not […]

A deadly pandemic is gripping parts of the US. Local health officials are quick to pinpoint the living conditions of Chinatown as a main source of the contagion. Chinese and Chinese Americans are treated as unhygienic and disease-ridden, routinely banned from entering public hospitals, and city officials even propose sending Chinese and Chinese Americans to […]

It was the last day of class for DEV-130: Why Are So Many Countries Poor, Volatile and Unequal.  As I disconnected from Zoom, I sat back in my chair, stared at my computer screen and a deep sense of disappointment washed over me. I was disappointed because I felt invisible. My history and my very […]