In the News

Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "This war will only end when the government re-establishes its authority over all of Syrian territory and hostile foreign forces withdraw."

John Friedman cited in ProPublica, "It highlighted a 2013 study by Brown University professor John Friedman, a former Obama National Economic Council official, to make the point that the program had been successful in generating "Free Tax Returns Outside of Free File."

Rose McDermott offers commentary on the rise in prominence of youth advocates around the world.

Jayanti Owens reflects on past research revealing the dramatic, identifiable differences between boys and girls in the levels of self-regulation and social skills when beginning school at age four.

The new book by Brown physicist S. James Gates Jr. and Cathie Pelletier tells the stories of astronomers who worked for a decade to get images of a solar eclipse, which ultimately showed Einstein's theory of relativity was correct.

Michael Kennedy talks to Dan Yorke about the impeachment inquiry, Turkey launching a ground offensive in Syria and more.

Rich Arenberg in VICE, "If they are stonewalled now, they'll take it as further evidence of obstruction. And they can drop all that evidence into a second article of impeachment."

Catherine Lutz co-authors a piece in the Providence Journal, "Above all, the Afghanistan war has failed to achieve its goals."

Stephen Kinzer, Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University and former New York Times Bureau Chief for Nicaragua, Germany and Turkey discusses his new book surrounding the CIA's secret medical experiments of the 1950's and 60's. The book draws from original interviews, survivor testimonies and documentary research.

Stephen Kinzer in the Boston Globe, "War is lamentably part of the human condition, and although world peace is among the noblest of goals, it will never be fully achieved."

Mark Blyth offers commentary on the state of disaffection in the United Kingdom.

add intro

This opinion piece mentions that John Friedman, professor of economics and international and public affairs, contributed to research that used artificial intelligence to track large groups of people and determine the outcomes in their participation in various welfare programs.

Senior Fellow Tim Edgar joined WPRI's Dan York to discuss the declassified whistleblower, Trump's impeachment inquiry and more.

add intro

Chair of Political Science Wendy Schiller appeared on "Bloomberg Surveillance" to discuss the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

Deborah Gordon comments in the Washington Post, "We are locked in without knowing how locked in we are, which really does make it a crisis."

Increasingly, scholars at Brown are turning to podcasts to shed light on a broad spectrum of the groundbreaking research and original ideas emanating from College Hill.

Jeff Colgan talks to Ian Masters about Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the recent Abqaiq attacks.

Jeff Colgan talks to Al Jazeera about the Abqaiq oil attacks in Saudi Arabia and the geopolitical implications.

Stephen Kinzer in the Boston Globe, "Today we face the same temptation. It feeds government's impulse to do things secretly — whether that means spying on citizens, launching a cyber-attack, or deploying troops to a distant combat zone. Cover-ups fail, however, and secrets eventually leak out. That feeds Americans' suspicion that much of what shapes our lives is unseen."

In the Boston Globe, Stephen Kinzer writes, "Last month it was announced that the five surviving alleged plotters of the 9/11 attack will finally be brought to trial in 2021. If they are aware of what is happening in the world, they will arrive in court with a deep sense of satisfaction."

Stephen Kinzer talks to Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air about his new book, Poisoner in Chief, "The CIA mind control project, MK-ULTRA, was essentially a continuation of work that began in Japanese and Nazi concentration camps."

add intro

In the New York Times, "In a paper that parallels the work of Petersen and his colleagues, Rose McDermott and Peter K. Hatemi, political scientists at Brown and Penn State, argue that Trump and other right-wing populist leaders have tapped into evolutionarily based "tribal sentiments and drives."

This opinion piece by Stephanie Savell, co-director of the Costs of War project, cites its new report, which concludes that as long as U.S. military policy in Somalia targets al-Shabaab as a terrorist group, confronting it with the counterinsurgency tactics of U.S.-led war of terrorism, it won't work.

Stephen Kinzer in the Boston Globe, "Moments after midnight in the heart of Africa, a plane carrying one of the 20th century's greatest peacemakers fell from the air. The crash site was immediately sealed. A quick inquiry blamed pilot error. The wreckage was buried. Only now, more than half a century later, is a fuller truth beginning to emerge."

Review of Stephen Kinzers new book, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control, "It is also frightening to read . . . [and] compelling, not least in the way it illustrates how the law of unintended consequences in covert action can work with an almost delirious vengeance."

On Market Watch, Eric Patashnik recommends a list of questions to ask your doctor in order to minimize your risk of being offered treatments you don't need.

Senior Fellow Richard Arenberg on The Hill, "President Donald Trump and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) agree on one thing: the elimination of the filibuster in the Senate. And now former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has lent his weight to that demand."

A new report from the Costs of War project is cited in this piece about a potential U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Costs of War project is cited in the New York Times, "The military accounts for more than half of discretionary federal spending. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, the counterterrorism wars have cost an estimated $5.9 trillion, according to the Costs of War project at Brown University, thus adding to the ballooning national debt with which future generations will have to reckon."

Jeff D. Colgan, an associate professor of political science, wrote this column explaining that rapidly melting ice in Greenland will expose waste that has been locked in for decades.

Ashutosh Varshney in the Indian Express, "In short, only in one democratic sense — democracy as a system of electoral power — can the decision to change Kashmir's status be called potentially legitimate. In all other democratic senses, we have witnessed severely anti-democratic conduct. It was electorally-enabled brute majoritarianism."

Wendy Schiller, Chair of the Political Science department, comments on the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates' bill-drafting productivity, saying "Introducing bills is an especially attractive messaging tool for Democrats, who believe in the power of government programs and introduce more bills than Republicans."

Economist Emily Oster comments on the wave of new parenting tools, saying "Infants can be very overwhelming to be around, and these devices give you something to do...But it's really for you. Not for your baby."

Professor Glenn Loury provided commentary on slavery reparations, saying "Seeing blackness and African descent as some kind of subhuman category, that would legitimate in the land of the free and the home of the brave carrying on a commerce in human chattel... That was a deep and profound injury. It can't be made into a piece of cash."

Stephanie Savell, Co-Director of the Costs of War Project, in Military Times, "America is currently embroiled in counterterror wars stretching across the planet, and public discussions are largely ignoring them. It's good to see the Presidential candidates talking about ending the war in Afghanistan, but the American public deserves to know what these candidates plan for the rest of the wars as well."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "Power to direct American government has fallen to the corrupt and nefarious. Amid this collapse, it is cold comfort to know that some other countries are doing far better."

Professor Ashutosh Varshney comments on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "bold step" to revoke Artiicle 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. "Can Art. 370 bee scrapped with an executive order, or through a constitutional amendment?"

The well known "war on drugs" is only one episode in a long, multifaceted and often direct relationship between addictive drugs and armed conflict, says Political Science professor Peter Andreas, in this interview.

Research by the Costs of War Project is cited in an article linking employment and the Defense Industry. "$1 billion in military spending creates approximately 11,200 jobs, compared with 26,700 in education, 16,800 in clean energy, and 17,200 in health care."

Stephanie Savell, Co-Director of the Costs of War Project, sat down with Susan Coleman to discuss the Project and the war on terror, saying "it seems to be 'the biggest story in the United States that no one wants to talk about.'"

Research from John Friedman's Opportunity Atlas is cited. "Using data taken from the Opportunity Atlas—a collaboration between the U.S. Census Bureau, Harvard University, and Brown University that provides data on economic mobility throughout the country—one can see that the South has the lowest level of economic mobility for all demographics."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer comments on Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's presidential camapaign, saying "A lot of us in Tulsi world, we don't have the fantasy that she's going to pull ahead, but she serves a great purpose in this campaign because she is saying things that no one else is saying."

Senior Fellow Chas Freeman provided commentary on Steve Bannon's reforming of the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD) that named China an existential threat to American citizens. "The assault on China rests upon the assumption that everyone else has to be governed in the same way we are."

Professor Glenn Loury argues in The New York Times that by defending Al Sharpton, Democrats have "handed Trump an easy win and yoked themselves to a genuine bigot."

Research by the Costs of War Project is cited in an article ahead of the Democratic debates. "Whether it's in Syria or Afghanistan, Western or Eastern Africa, the US has spent roughly $6 trillion combating terrorism around the world, according to an estimate from Brown University's Cost of War program."