In the News

Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon comments on the future of petroleum refining, saying "Although the future energy supply mix is not expected to resemble the past, we are still going to need sulfur for many chemical products, asphalt and jet fuel, which are not easily replaced by non-fossil-fuel alternatives."

Professor Ashutosh Varshney comments on young people's willingness to vote for Narendra Modi in India's election. "In 2014, Modi undoubtedly represented hope...In 2019, Modi represents a mixture of fear and hope — fear that the state would punitively hurt and repress those who dissent and disagree, and hope for those who still think he can take India higher."

James N. Green, director of the Brazil Initiative, comments on Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's proposed defunding to federal university budgets, saying "These are excellent universities, some of the top universities; they also have people within them who have organized events criticizing Bolsonaro."

Assistant Professor Robert Blair in The Washington Post, " Beyond the lives lost and livelihoods destroyed, the Liberian civil wars shattered the already-strained relationship between citizens and the Liberian government, especially the police and courts."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, " If the US shares guilt for the Rwandan genocide, it lies not in our refusal to invade. It is to be found in the way ambition and politics came to obscure humanity, both in Washington and at the United Nations."

Professor Cathy Lutz comments on the number of security contractors that the U.S. military employs in Afghanistan, saying "The main problem with contractors of all sorts is there's just not enough attention to what they're doing. That's not been reported out in a clear way to anybody's satisfaction for all these years."

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar joins Llewellyn King and Linda Gasparello of PBS' White House Chronicle to discuss privacy in the era of megadata.

Senior Fellow Richard Boucher comments on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's "ethos" statement he made in hopes of boosting morale. "Nothing speaks like leading with diplomacy and if we are going to start doing that then we don't really need ... (a new) statement."

Economist John Friedman comments on how the recent college admissions scandal highlights the advantages some wealthy families have in the college admissions process. "The American Dream has been distressingly out of reach for a lot of people...The disparities in access are really quite striking."

Richard Arenberg comments on President Trump's vow to fight all congressional subpoenas following the Mueller Report, saying "I believe the Congress has the Constitution on their side, and in the end, they will prevail. But Trump may be able to just wait out the clock."

Jeff Colgan joined BBC's Business Daily to discuss "why he thinks sectors like insurance, property and oil and gas are overpriced given the threat of climate change."

Political Science Chair Wendy Schiller comments on the large amount of money that U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse raised for his re-election campaign. "So it was either overly cautionary on his part, or he was scared of something in that race, because the number is large for the size of the state and the fact that it was his second re-election campaign."

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, spoke on her foreign policy and the possibility of nuclear war at the Watson Institute on April 22.

Stephanie Savell, Co-Director of the Costs of War Project, joined C-SPAN to discuss "America's expanding role in the global war against terrorism."

Economist Emily Oster in The New York Times, "Parenting is full of decisions, nearly all of which can be agonized over. You can and should learn about the risks and benefits of your parenting choices, but in the end you have to also think about your family preferences — about what works for you."

Taubman Center Affiliate and Professor of Political Science, Corey Brettschneider in The Guardian, "Impeachment and prosecution of this president, of course, require building on Mueller's evidence. He has given us a huge head start. It is now up to Congress to look into whether his actions amount to obstruction."

Political scientist Wendy Schiller joined Bloomberg Daybreak to discuss the release of the Mueller Report.

Emily Oster, professor of economics, has written a data-driven parenting guide covering the first three years of life, Cribsheet, out this month from PenguinPress. "This is really a book about decision making and that is what economists study."

Anthropologist Sarah Besky comments on the tea garden workers in Darjeeling and the Indian elections. "...the importing of the 'kindly rhetoric of colonial plantation management into India's Constitution' was that these tea gardens function like states within states."

Senior Fellow Chas Freeman sat down with America Magazine to discuss the provisional Vatican-Beijing agreement and Pope Francis' engagement with moderate Islamic leaders. "Francis is pursuing a strategy of creative outreach across cultural differences typical of the Jesuits, fortunately. We need to have peace between religious entities. The consequences of allowing hatred to prevail are ruinous."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer comments on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's administration and crackdown on critics. "If we had a political system like 'Yes or no on your president,' Ortega would certainly lose. But that's not the way [it] works."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer joined Libertarianism.org to answer the question, what is America's role in the world?

Next week's Watson-sponsored event with Congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is mentioned. "Rhode Island will see one of its first visits by a presidential candidate next week, with a year still to go before the state's primary."

Professor Emily Oster sat down with Penny Johnston of ABC's Babytalk to discuss what advice is worth taking during pregnancy.

Providence Business News sat down with Provost Richard M. Locke, who was recently awarded a $100,000 grant for his project, "The Future of Work and Its Implications for Higher Education." "Understanding the shape and impact of technological change is a chance for universities to improve the education we provide to our students and the research that we produce to benefit society."

Jessica Bram Murphy '19, a student in Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer's International Journalism seminar, in Common Dreams, "The consequences of the tragedy of 9/11 have multiplied across continents. Guantánamo Bay is reflective of a false imperviousness, an illusion of immunity to the rest of the world."

Fellow Sam Wilkin joined the All Things Risk podcast to discuss populism and its reach around the world.

Research by Professor John Friedman's think tank, Opportunity Insights, is cited in an article on the recent college admissions scandal. "Research published by Opportunity Insights ... has found that roughly three dozen of the country's "elite" colleges enroll more students from households in the top 1 percent of the income scale than they do students from the bottom 60 percent of that scale."

Professor Ashutosh Varshney in The Indian Express, "In India, populism as a term has generally been used for fiscal handouts for the less privileged — loan waivers, poverty alleviation schemes, etc. But that is not how the term is analysed in political theory."

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James N. Green, Director of the Brazil Initiative, will be the guest speaker at Providence's Committee on Foreign Relations meeting. "Green will talk about the political and economic forces that have led to the election of Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro."

Postdoctoral Fellow Aileen Teague in The Conversation, "If Trump ever follows through on his threat and puts up a closed sign at the southern border, it wouldn't be the first time. Twice in the last half-century the U.S. has tried to use the border to force Mexico to bend to America's will. The ruse failed both times."

Research by the Costs of War Project are cited in an op-ed by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Mike Lee (R-UT). "It is time for Congress to ask whether, nearly 18 years after 9/11, we really want to continue to be involved in these wars for another 18 or more. According to a recent study by the Costs of War Project at Brown University, the War on Terror will have cost American taxpayers almost $5 trillion through Fiscal Year 2019."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "The delusion that Russians hate us and are working assiduously to rob us of our democratic birthright is dangerous."

Sociologist Andrew Schrank joined Phoenix's KJZZ to discuss disaster relief funding for Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

Wendy Schiller, Chair of the political science department, comments on recent damaging news reports about former Vice President Joe Biden. "It's a generational obstacle for Biden because the good stuff he's done is unknown and the bad stuff he's done is on video."

Re-Forming India: The Nation Today, edited by Niraja Gopal Jayal, was just released in India on March 27, 2019. The book discusses India's social and political landscape has, in recent times, witnessed many significant transformations. It offers a wide-ranging review of how India has, over the last few years, fared on the most critical dimensions of our collective life-politics, economy, governance, development, culture and society.

Professor Eric Patashnik's article on Obamacare is featured in this article on Republicans' new fight over the Affordable Care Act. "Well, political scientists have some interesting thoughts about the reasons the G.O.P. won't just throw in the towel on the A.C.A."

Professor Peter Andreas comments on the United States' history of intellectual piracy, saying "Only after becoming the leading industrial power did it become a champion of intellectual-property protections."

Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon comments on efforts to curb methane emissions from major oil and gas companies. "It is a really important problem, and we're just starting to get a handle on what it is and how to fix it."

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In The Gaurdian, James N. Green says, "Bolsonaro's position on the dictatorship made him the equivalent of a Holocaust denier."

Columnist praises the "vital work" of the Costs of War project at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

This article cites figures from the Costs of War project stating, "...the U.S. has spent approximately $6 trillion on related conflicts that have killed at least 500,000 people."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "American sanctions are intended to send a clear message. We are telling Venezuelans that they will live in ever-intensifying pain until they somehow rid themselves and us of President Nicolas Maduro."

Jeff Colgan is featured in CNN's video explaining the relationship between OPEC and oil prices.

Wendy Schiller, Chair of the Political Science department, comments on Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's visit to the White House, saying "Trump promised economic and military alliances and he treated Bolsonaro like a true equal leader in the public eye."

Yesterday's event"In Conversation with Tom Perez '83 and Michael Steele," co-sponsored by the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy is featured. "I reject the premise we can't have healthcare for all...The rest of the world has figured this one out and we're the only industrialized nation on the planet that hasn't," said Perez.