In the News
News media from around the world rely on the expertise of Watson Institute faculty and researchers to help make sense of current world affairs and public policy issues. On this page, you will find articles that cite research done at Watson, opinion pieces by our faculty, interviews, podcasts and more.
In the News
News media from around the world rely on the expertise of Watson Institute faculty and researchers to help make sense of current world affairs and public policy issues. On this page, you will find articles that cite research done at Watson, opinion pieces by our faculty, interviews, podcasts and more.
In The Hill, J. Brian Atwood wrote about Russia’s military actions and their implications for the U.S. and Europe.
Stephen Kinzer writes in The Boston Globe that while Trump may see Panama’s 1989 invasion as a model for ousting Nicolás Maduro, a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela would be far riskier and could spark a prolonged conflict.
War on the Rocks
The Coercive Assurance Dilemma (interview with Reid Pauly)
On the Thinking the Unthinkable podcast, Reid Pauly discussed the challenges of making promises as credible as threats in global security dynamics, from the Korean Peninsula to Taiwan.
Ohio Capital Journal cites a study led by Robert Blair that found little evidence to support the idea that military policing reduces crime.
Mark Blyth told Newsweek, “For normal people, it means next to nothing. For large borrowers or Wall Street players, it’s meaningful.”
In a co-authored piece for Project Syndicate, Mark Blyth says cutting U.S. interest rates is justified to ease the burden on low-income households, even as Trump’s pressure complicates the debate.
Lyle Goldstein writes in The Hill that U.S. interests would be better served by supporting a China-India rapprochement rather than viewing it as a zero-sum loss, since cooperation between the two Asian powers could ease tensions, boost trade and stabilize the global order.
Lyle Goldstein told the Washington Examiner that Trump’s pragmatic approach to China, including resisting hard-line hawks and praising Xi, reflects the costly reality of U.S.-China interdependence.
Responsible Statecraft
Big, Beautiful trillion dollar war budget! (Costs of War research cited)
Responsible Statecraft reported that the Costs of War Project found America’s post-9/11 wars have cost $8 trillion, killed and displaced hundreds of thousands, and left veterans with widespread physical and psychological injuries.
The Washington Times
9/11 was 24 years ago and the U.S. is still at war (comments by Stephanie Savell)
Stephanie Savell told The Washington Times it’s possible the Trump administration could invoke the 2001 military authorization to retroactively justify the Navy’s actions off Venezuela.
Pitchfork Economics
Inflation: A Guide for Users and Losers (interview with Mark Blyth)
Mark Blyth told the Pitchfork Economics podcast that inflation stems from supply shocks, profiteering, and flawed economic theory, and argued for more equitable policies to address inequality.
Geri Augusto told USA Today the effort to expand Civil Rights Movement education is meant to keep the history from being erased.
Mark Blyth told the Drilled podcast that the Trump administration is pursuing a “carbon dominance” strategy to strand renewable assets, protect fossil fuels, and deepen the partisan struggle over energy.
John Friedman told The New York Times that the College Board’s decision to discontinue its tool identifying promising high school students from disadvantaged neighborhoods and schools could limit opportunities for those students.
Lyle Goldstein comments for Domino Theory, "We’re talking about, if not a revolution in naval warfare, then something approximating one."
A recent CounterPunch article cites a report from the Costs of War project on deaths related to the post-9/11 wars.
Mark Blyth told Cryptopolitan that the U.S. dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency provides a buffer against market fallout from Trump’s attempts to reshape the Fed.
Marc Dunkelman writes in the Financial Times that the rise of authoritarianism stems less from ideology than from democracy’s repeated failure to deliver effective governance.
In a Los Angeles Times interview, Marc Dunkelman discusses the reforms needed to enable California and the country to build the roads, bridges, water and transportation systems crucial for a thriving economy.
In the Boston Globe, Stephen Kinzer writes that Trump’s military escalation against Venezuela rests on discredited drug-gang claims, risks inflaming Latin America, and is pushing Caracas closer to China.
The New York Times
The Real Reason Americans Worry About Trade (comments by Mark Blyth)
Mark Blyth told The New York Times that trade backlash stems less from imported goods than from the community decline workers face when local jobs vanish.
Project Syndicate
Trump’s Global War on Decarbonization (co-authored by Mark Blyth)
Mark Blyth writes in Project Syndicate that the Trump administration is deliberately obstructing global decarbonization to preserve U.S. fossil fuel dominance, prioritizing short-term gains over long-term planetary damage.
Ashutosh Varshney writes in The Print that Trump’s tariff threats and shifting U.S. ties with Pakistan have pushed India into its greatest foreign policy crisis since 1998, leaving its relations with the U.S., Pakistan and China in disarray.
New Books Network
Reid B. C. Pauly, "The Art of Coercion" (interview with Reid Pauly)
In a New Books Network interview, Reid Pauly discussed his book The Art of Coercion, arguing that coercion often fails because targets fear punishment even if they comply.
John Friedman told the GW Hatchet, "In other words, a given test score predicts the same level of academic performance, even when students come from very different backgrounds."
The Hindu cites research by Patrick Heller, whose Citizenship, Urban Governance and Inequality project surveyed more than 30,000 Indian households and found Chennai residents face the biggest challenges in accessing water.
Lyle Goldstein told Business Insider that China’s risky confrontations in the South China Sea have increased over the past decade as Beijing flaunts its growing maritime and aerial power.
Mark Blyth told Rapid Response that outdated models shape economic debates, while China’s role and U.S. policy shifts remain misunderstood.
Stephen Kinzer writes in the Boston Globe that Trump’s steep tariffs on India over its Russian oil purchases risk driving New Delhi toward closer ties with Russia and China, undermining decades of U.S.-India cooperation.
Lyle Goldstein and Ella Corbett write in RealClearWorld that Washington should not view Russia’s and China’s growing ties with Afghanistan as a significant threat and should instead focus on humanitarian engagement.
Mark Blyth told NPR’s Marketplace that factors from climate change to labor shortages and tariffs could be driving a sharp rise in U.S. wholesale vegetable prices.
In The Hill, J. Brian Atwood warns that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s directive for U.S. diplomats to avoid commenting on the fairness of foreign elections marks a dangerous retreat from America’s decades-long role in promoting democracy worldwide.
Masters of Scale Podcast
Is it ‘economic Halloween’ in the US? (interview with Mark Blyth)
In the Masters of Scale podcast, Mark Blyth discusses outdated economic models, misconceptions about China, Democrats’ messaging struggles, recession forecasting challenges, and higher education’s reliance on federal funding.
John Friedman told The New York Times, "If you’re just trying to admit the students who were most academically prepared, you would in fact end up tilting a lot toward white students and toward richer students, because those are the ones who have had access to the schools that would get them prepared."
In an interview on the TLDR podcast, Mark Blyth explains how the U.S. is reshaping the global economic and political order and what it could mean for Canada.
Watson experts Lyle Goldstein and Stephen Kinzer reflect on the legacy of nuclear weapons 80 years after Hiroshima, weighing in on whether deterrence is the true outcome of the atomic age.
Mark Blyth comments on signs of an economic recession and the latest U.S. jobs report in an interview with ABC News.
Stephanie Savell told The Intercept, “What many people don’t know is that the United States’ post-9/11 counterterrorism operations actually contributed to and intensified the present-day crisis and surge of violent deaths in the Sahel and Somalia.”
U.S. Naval Institute
Lurching Toward Détente? (written by Lyle Goldstein)
In an article for the U.S. Naval Institute, Lyle Goldstein argues the United States should renew naval cooperation with Russia to promote maritime stability, strategic balance and humanitarian readiness despite ongoing tensions over Ukraine.
In Vox, Lyle Goldstein says Chinese scholars are now openly discussing limited nuclear war, framing it as a response to similar conversations in the United States.
In The Print, Ashutosh Varshney writes that Trump’s tariff threats to India reflect a return to power-based foreign policy, exploiting trade imbalances for political leverage, while India’s economic and strategic dependence on the U.S. limits its ability to push back.
In UnHerd, Lyle Goldstein argues that the U.S. is beginning a significant and necessary shift in its Taiwan policy—publicly reining in Taipei to reduce the risk of war with China and prioritize broader strategic interests under an “America First” framework.
In Asia Times, Lyle Goldstein writes that former President Trump’s approach to the Philippines signals a shift toward defusing U.S.-China tensions by prioritizing trade and counterterrorism over military alliances and confrontation.
In the Boston Globe, Stephen Kinzer writes that the Department of Homeland Security’s promotion of “American Progress” reflects a sanitized, nationalistic view of U.S. expansion.
Salon cites a report from the Costs of War Project that found the U.S. spent $23 billion on Israel’s military operations and related U.S. operations in the region during the first 12 months of the conflict in Gaza.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Interview with Brown economist: What about the American dream, Mr. Friedman? (interview with John Friedman)
John Friedman told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the American Dream has weakened, with children today having only about a 50 percent chance of surpassing their parents’ standard of living due to uneven economic growth and declining social mobility.
In an interview with the Firewall podcast, Marc Dunkelman discussed the central problem in American governance.
In a recent Bloomberg Opinion article, John Friedman noted that the data confirm a measurable decline in economic opportunity for white working‑class communities.
Ashutosh Varshney writes in The Print that new voter ID rules in Bihar risk weaponizing citizenship to disenfranchise the poor and marginalized.
In an interview with PBS NewsHour, Lyle Goldstein discussed tariffs and the Trump administration’s overall approach to Asia.