In the News

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer joined KPFA to analyze the latest international affairs news.

Research by the Costs of War project is cited in a plea by the New York Times Editorial Board to end the war in Afghanistan. "The price tag, which includes the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and increased spending on veterans' care, will reach $5.9 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2019, according to the Costs of War project at Brown University."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer joined WNYC's On the Media to discuss "how journalists in [Venezuela] are struggling to cover the standoff between two men who claim to be president."

Research on corporate social responsibility that was co-authored by Provost Richard M. Locke is cited in an article. "Distelhorst and Locke studied one factory that fell out of compliance yet gained no new business afterward, while another won additional contracts when it achieved compliance."

Political scientist Ross Cheit offered commentary on President Trump's appointment of Elliot Abrams as envoy to Venezuela, saying "I'd certainly heard reports that he had been nixed for top positions at the State Department, and I would certainly say his Iran-Contra days are infamous."

Political scientist Wendy Schiller comments on the "special bipartisan committee of lawmakers from the Senate and the House" that's meeting today to hash out a deal on border security. "...blame for the next shutdown, if there is one, 'will probably be shouldered more equally by Democrats and President Trump.'"

Tuesday, January 29th's event, Critical Conversations: Experiences of Incarceration in the United States & Syria, hosted by Middle East Studies, was featured in The Providence Journal. "We also wanted to bring into the academic environment the perspective of people who have been imprisoned."

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Senior Fellow Richard Arenberg comments on the government shutdown, saying "Government shutdowns for any substantial period are reliably disastrous for the party which the public winds up blaming."

Research by the Costs of War Project is cited in Nation of Change. "...U.S. forces are engaged in an open-ended war on terror in 80 countries, a sprawling commitment that has cost nearly $6 trillion since the 9/11 attacks (as documented by the Costs of War Project at Brown University)."

Political economist Mark Blyth discusses the creation of the European Union and the Brexit referendum. "An interesting aspect of the story is how the United States itself was not just present at the beginning, [but] was actually quite generative of the project."

Political scientist Wendy Schiller in The Boston Globe, "Getting back to the basics of governing is the road best traveled in a democracy, and New Englanders can once again pave the way while also regaining our lost influence."

Professor Wendy Schiller comments on Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and the state's politics, saying "Raimondo has to worry about protecting Rhode Island's economic resurgence, and that will prove challenging with an ever-increasing state budget and municipal pension problems at the local level..."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "Sometimes weakening unfriendly countries is in the national interest. In today's Middle East it is not."

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Professor Michael Kennedy joined WPRI's Dan Yorke State of Mind to discuss the government shutdown.

U.S. Representative David Cicilline will teach a Master of Public Affairs class this semester called "Public Policy and Politics in Partisan Times."

Professor Peter Andreas offered his thoughts on President Trump's promise to build a wall along the United States-Mexico border, saying "The whole border in a sense has become more militarized and more difficult to cross by any measure."

In an address to The Institute of International European Affairs, Associate Professor Jeff Colgan "argues that the liberal order, though successful in many ways, has become self-defeating – in part by contributing to a deepening economic inequality and the politics of outrage that follow from it."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in Politico, "Now a group of exiled Turkish writers, journalists and political reformers has launched a campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize for their country's most prominent cultural activist."

"But another reason why Loury extols the virtue of a benign kind of nationalism can be discerned in a question he frequently asks himself: What are his duties as an African American intellectual?"

Amid the longest government shutdown in US history, who are President Trump's most trusted advisers? Political scientist Wendy Schiller says "Stephen Miller has become the singular voice on immigration in the White House. It does appear he has achieved the role he was blocked from by Steve Bannon, John Kelly and to an extent Jim Mattis. Now there is no one to block him."

Stephanie Savell, co-director of the Costs of War Project, appeared on BBC to discuss their recent map that shows the U.S. combatting terrorism in 40% of the world's nations.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "Pedro Joaquín Chamorro was the most outspoken dissident in Nicaraguan history. He relentlessly attacked the Somoza family regime, which ruled the country for four decades beginning in the 1930s. The regime returned his animosity."

Fellow Marc Dunkelman offered commentary on the changing landscape of social interaction in the U.S. "Naturally, the desire to find people who fit our niche will expand to include people who have a different viewpoint, a different experience."

Associate Professor of Economics John Friedman, sat down with WPRI's Ted Nesi to discuss the interactive mapping tool he co-created called the Opportunity Atlas.

Professors Peter Andreas and Mark Blyth are mentioned in an article published by the Cambridge University Press that "identifies the 100 currently most-cited scholars, the 25 most-cited in each PhD cohort and subfield, the 40 most cited-women scholars, and the 25 most-cited emeriti."

Mark Blyth, director of the Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance, spoke with the Financial Times about the politicking of central banking, the hurdles to finding a U.S.-China trade war resolution, and how China can manage the financial risks building in its economy.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar joins Dan Yorke on WPRI's State of Mind to discuss the impacts of the government shutdown and the border wall.

Political scientist Wendy Schiller joined Minnesota Public Radio to discuss what the Democrats will do now that they have control of the House.

A new infographic released by the Costs of War Project reveals that the United States is now combatting terrorism in 40% of the world's nations.

Senior Fellow Brian Atwood is among the authors of a letter to the OECD/DAC on efforts to give countries Official Development Assistance (ODA) credit for private development expenditures.

Recent research by the Costs of War Project is cited in an opinion article in the New York Times. "The total cost of the war could reach as high as $2 trillion when long-term costs are factored in, according to Brown University's Cost of War Project."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer makes his government and foreign relations predictions for the new year.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "If Trump sticks to his peacemaking guns — if he indeed withdraws American troops from Syria and scales back American ambitions there — the next step should be to apply the same approach to the entire Middle East."

A recent study by the Costs of War Project, which estimates that the U.S. has spent nearly $6 trillion on wars post-9/11, is cited in an article on the U.S. military's activity in 2018.

Political Scientist Wendy Schiller offers comments on Nancy Pelosi's political experience and influence in Washington. "She has the political force of character, and she has the temperament and the strategic instincts that come with being very experienced in the Democratic Party leadership."

Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon comments on U.S. oil, saying "We're giving away oil that is potentially much lower-emitting oil, and we're importing oil that is very carbon-intensive."

This explainer piece on the implications of Qatar's departure from OPEC was written by Jeff Colgan, an associate professor of political science.

Nina Tannenwald comments on the current state of U.S.-Russia relations saying, "I think there's going to be no dialogue on arms control with Russia as long as John Bolton is the National Security adviser."

James N. Green, Director of the Brazil Initiative, comments on a bill pending in Brazil's National Congress that would go as far as to bar the use of "gender" in teaching, saying "with the election of Bolsonaro and a more conservative Congress, there is a possibility the bill might get traction."

James N. Green in Inside Higher Ed on a bill pending in the National Congress would go so far as to bar the use of the term "gender" in teaching: "...with the election of Bolsonaro and a more conservative Congress, there is a possibility the bill might get traction."

This column by Stephen Kinzer argues that one of the most important and overlooked factors fueling Central Americans' desire to leave their home countries for the United States is gender-based violence.

Nina Tannenwald joined a panel with Foreign Affairs for a discussion on nuclear weapons and prevention of their spread to other nations.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar received the 2018 Chicago-Kent College of Law/Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize for his book, Beyond Snowden: Privacy, Mass Surveillance, and the Struggle to Reform the NSA. The Prize "honors exemplary works of scholarship exploring the tension between civil liberties and national security in contemporary American society."

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Senior Fellow and President Emerita of BakerRipley, Angela Blanchard, in the Houston Chronicle, "Houston was welcoming the world — albeit haphazardly and without much self-awareness. Families were arriving daily from places gripped by misery and struggle."

Associate Professor Jeff Colgan joined St. Louis' KTRS After Show to discuss the impact of oil and the United States' reliance on Saudi oil.