2018 In the News

This past month, the Humanitarian Innovation Initiative (HI2) hosted over 100 experts and officers from across the globe for a two-day workshop "designed to support civilians and militaries working together to develop solutions to some of the world's most deadly crises."

Professor Wendy Schiller offered perspective on issues and candidates in the Rhode Island gubernatorial race. "I think there is a broader perception among younger Democrats that government is not working well enough in providing essential basic services..."

In the first episode of a multi-part podcast series, Senior Fellow Chas Freeman discusses grand strategy and the current "strategy deficit" in U.S.-China relations.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer inThe Boston Globe, "Sitting in a distant capital, political leaders set out to assure that their favored candidate won an election against rivals who scared them. They succeeded... The year was 1996."

Colleges have long offered a pathway to success for just about anyone -- but new research shows that they're not doing enough to help students from poor families achieve the American dream. Economist John Friedman said children of well-to-do families are likely to stay that way, while children of poor families are likely to stay poor -- and "I think that's led to a real feeling that the American dream is slipping away from them."

This roundup of new biographies mentions Professor David Kertzer's "The Pope Who Would Be King," which details the exile, intrigue and double-dealing that marked Pius IX's papacy.

"During this Global Policy Experience students will explore the way that public policy issues in South Africa are deeply informed by debates about how to overcome South Africa's apartheid past."

Research by the Costs of War Project is cited in an article about the lack of anti-war messaging.

This article about the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on union membership focuses on its impact on teachers. It notes that economist John Friedman and his colleagues found that students of good teachers are less likely to experience teenage pregnancy, more likely to go to selective colleges, and end up earning more money as adults than students from comparable backgrounds who had worse teachers.

In a conversation with Professor Ashutosh Varshney, author Walter Andersen speaks of the changing nature of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, how it was influenced by its different sarsangchalaks and the challenges that lie ahead of the organisation.

An analysis of U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan argues that it is part of a long-term strategy to gain regional influence and access to resources. The article cites the Costs of War Project, which estimates that more than 100,000 people have died in the war in Afghanistan and about 200,000 people have died in the war in Iraq.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "Roman history teaches us that even the most powerful of empires cannot survive indefinitely if it insists on waging endless war in distant lands."

A team of university economists, among them Professor Glenn Loury, said Asian-American applicants to Harvard whose grades and test scores were in the top one percent fared worse in "personal" ratings from the school than white applicants in the top 50 percent.

Democratic candidate for governor Matt Brown faces high financial hurdles in his race to unseat Gov. Gina Raimondo this year. Professor Wendy Schiller said financial struggles in August of an election year can "indicate there isn't a groundswell of support."

Senior Fellow J. Brian Atwood joined WPRO to discuss President Trump's indication that he would consider turning over a former U.S. ambassador to the Russians for questioning.

In an article on the world's fastest-growing major economy, Professor Ashutosh Varshney has drawn a striking analogy between contemporary India and the United States in the late 19th century, a time similarly characterized by a heady cocktail of growth, inequality and corruption.

The Mega Millions jackpot is now $493 million ahead of Tuesday's draw at 11 p.m., the fifth largest jackpot in history. A study by economist Emily Oster found that the lottery jackpot only becomes "progressive" -- meaning high earners spend more on tickets than low earners -- when the jackpot is at least $806 million.

Richard Arenberg, Visiting Lecturer in Political Science, joined The Midday Briefing on SiriusXM's News & Issues to break down the Helsinki Summit and how the United States should move forward with Russia.

Ashutosh Varshney discusses James Crabtree's book The Billionaire Raj and how India is living out the same "gilded age" as America did in the 1800s.

Public Policy concentrator Michael Fuller '19, shares his experience this summer participating in the first Brown in Tulsa Kaiser Fellowship Program.

This article features amusing archived documents from the Cold War period that scholars have come across during their research. Professor Jeff Colgan chose a 1975 report by The Church Committee that revealed a play related to Fidel Castro's beard.

The WomenStats Project links the status of women to the security and behavior of countries, offering insights into women's lives all over the world. The database helped uphold a ban on polygyny in Canada when Professor Rose McDermott submitted empirical research that used WomenStats numbers to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar joined The Dan Yorke Show to discuss the 2018 Helsinki Summit, describing it as one of the worst days for a U.S. president in history.

Anthony Levitas in The Wilson Center's Kennan Institute, "The fact that Ukraine's constitution does not yet reflect the reality of governance throughout the country is troubling."

Professor Ashutosh Varshney in The Indian Express, "A true meritocracy would place equally meritorious students from rural or urban settings, richer or poorer provinces, on an equal footing...China modifies the principle in the opposite direction. Its quota system gives preference to the privileged."

Earlier this year, the U.S. tried to weaken a World Health Organization proposal encouraging the benefits of breastfeeding. Economist Emily Oster pointed out that it's "impossible to disentangle" the most commonly cited benefits of breastfeeding, such as higher IQ and lower obesity rates, from socioeconomic factors.

An online survey of 1,000 people conducted by the Taubman Center showed that one in five distrust the federal government and that Democrats hold a nine-point lead heading into the midterm elections.

Progressive political candidates motivated by Bernie Sanders' insurgent run against Hillary Clinton in 2016 are advocating for Medicare for all as part of their platforms. Professor Eric Patashnik said that the political viability of the idea will ultimately depend on its details -- such as whether the program would eliminate the private-insurance system altogether.

In an article on India's capital, Ashutosh Varshney, Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia, calls the country an improbable democracy -- poor, impossibly heterogeneous and multicultural, and heavily reliant on its colonial history.

More female candidates than ever are running for political office in Rhode Island this year. Political scientist Wendy Schiller said the establishment party's endorsement controversy and recent pushback against pay equity, abortion rights and new sexual harassment laws has received stinging national media attention, and outrage among far-left-leaning voters could spur big wins for progressive candidates.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer comments on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and the widespread discontent with leadership in the Central American country.

Jeff Colgan in Global Policy Journal, "At the moment, property values and stock prices generally seem unaffected by the prospect of climate change, which generates a comforting illusion that our current trajectory is sustainable. But the idea that that markets rapidly update prices with all available information – an idea for which Eugene Fama won a Nobel Prize in 2013 – relies on a strict set of assumptions. In a world of climate change, those assumptions bear re-examination."

The must-have accessory at the 2018 World Cup is the digital Fan ID, part identity card and part all-access pass. Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar says the Fan ID is "part of a surveillance economy where you are offered something that sounds enticing in exchange for valuable personal information."

Professor Peter Andreas argues in a column penned on the eve of the Fourth of July that Americans should consider the fact that the U.S. founders were relentless lawbreakers -- particularly of laws meant to restrict who and what was allowed to cross borders.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar joined WPRI's Dan Yorke State of Mind to discuss the week's pressing security issues, including immigration policies, North Korea, and the Russian election meddling investigation.

A new study by the Costs of War Project examines the relationship between the United States' war-related debt and societal inequality.

Senior Fellow Chas Freeman joins Legal Talk Network's Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast to discuss the summit meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "The prospect that the United States would allow Hawaii to resume its place as an independent nation seems far-fetched."

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar in The Washington Post, "A warrant requirement dooms collection in bulk because mass surveillance programs involve billions or trillions of records."

Reviewer Tim Norton says Faculty Fellow David Kertzer's new book, The Pope Who Would Be King, is an "important contribution in understanding the many ways that the Catholic Church, cloaked with unquestioned power in the Papal States of Europe, conspired to keep it."

Sociologist Michael Kennedy joined WPRI's Dan Yorke State of Mind to discuss the Singapore Summit between President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un, and raise questions about the state of moral leadership in America.

Senior Fellow Chas Freeman joins WBUR's Radio Open Source to discuss President Trump's summit meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

An opinion piece co-written by Eric Patashnik, argues that the law's political vulnerabilities and Republican electoral dynamics drive conservative efforts to uproot it and yet conservatives are unlikely to be able to repeal it.

A May 2017 report from the Costs of War Project indicated that military spending creates fewer jobs than the same amount of money would have if it had been invested in other sectors, such as clean energy, health care and education.

As sanctions restrict the legal flow of goods, people grow accustomed to the black market. In a 2005 study, Professor Peter Andreas noted that sanctions often breed "a higher level of public tolerance for lawbreaking and an undermined respect for the rule of law."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "Repressive rule was imposed on Nicaragua slowly, one outrage at a time. For more than a decade Nicaraguans grumbled but did not act. This spring they finally erupted."

Professor Ashutosh Varshney compares his studies of villages in the Gujarat state of India, where Muslims and Hindus coexist more harmoniously than in other parts of the country, to that of Galilee, where Jews and Arabs interact daily, primarly economically.

Economist Emily Oster recently published a new book on why much of the conventional pregnancy wisdom is wrong and what expecting mothers really need to know.