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The Prestigious Pakora: a Remedy for a Rainy Day

02.28.20

When you wake up on one of the many grey, rainy days we have had in Cambridge this winter, you might curse the conditions, slam the snooze button, bury your head in your blanket, and try to dream away another ten minutes of this dreary weather.  But not me. When I wake up to the […]

From Prudence to Recklessness: Erdogan’s Risky Plays with International Law

02.28.20

Amidst abundant signs of turmoil and challenges in Turkey’s seemingly rudderless foreign policy, the country apparently needs a more diplomatic approach and legal expertise in international law rather than aggressive military posture in its immediate vicinity. As Turkey lurches into one crisis after another in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, the prudent invocation […]

Organizing for power: the new labor movement and big politics in 2020

02.27.20

Francis Garcia walked into work at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas one morning in late 2007. A migrant from Honduras, Garcia had crossed through Mexico after Hurricane Mitch devastated her country, leaving almost one million Hondurans homeless. She joined the Grand as a housekeeper earning $14.50 an hour; far more than she could expect […]

F-35s Are Not A Magic Weapon: Why Taiwan Should Admit Conventional Military Defeat To Defend Its Sovereignty

02.25.20

Time is running out for Taiwan. Under the leadership of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been increasingly aggressive in both poaching Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies and using the growing proficiency of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for messaging the inevitable: reunification with the mainland.[i] Xi […]

The Case For Incorporating Social Analysis Into Policy Design

02.24.20

Paul argues that policymakers need to move beyond numbers-driven, utilitarian logics of decision-making and incorporate a human-centered approach to policy-making. Drawing from Teo You Yenn’s seminal work on the need to understand issues like inequality as lived experiences rather than just statistical data, Paul considers the benefits of a social analysis approach and examines the ways in which it can be implemented in Singapore.

Democracy and Governance

Citizens of HKS: Susan O’Malley

02.21.20

Susan sent this photo to us with the caption, “Big smile”, which cracked us up and put an (actual) big smile on our faces. Susan sat down with The Citizen for the inaugural Citizens of HKS post, where we chat with HKS staff who we see every day, who make our education possible, but who […]

Taming Tech Giants Requires Fixing the Revolving Door

02.18.20

Public opinion of big tech is at an all-time low. Just a few years ago, many viewed Silicon Valley as holding the promise to a better world, whereas today its largest companies generate levels of public distrust usually reserved for investment banks. This is good news for those hoping to see public policy in the […]

A circular economy for all: The case for integrating the informal waste sector in developing countries

02.17.20

To outsiders, Minh Khai Village in Vietnam is an assault to the senses; bales of plastic waste line its streets, waterways are deluged with litter, and toxic fumes permeate the air. Minh Khai is believed to be the largest plastic waste importer in the country[1]. It is made up of more than 1000 households, which […]

First Institutional Anti-Racism and Accountability Conference Dissects HKS

02.14.20

[googleapps domain=”drive” dir=”file/d/1wO1zLupXfb88Ypp6mswGRtQnE-MsVg2q/preview” query=”” width=”640″ height=”480″ /]   On October 16th the Institutional Anti-Racism and Accountability project (IARA) hosted its first conference on the topic of “Truth and Transformation: the First Step Towards Institutional Change.” The conference’s goal was to explore and examine how understanding and engaging with institutional history impacts organizations when forging a […]

S3E4: (Th)interventions for (Th)inspiration? Policy Responses to the Rise of Pro-Anorexia Websites

02.13.20

Listen Here! We know about the dangers of the Dark Web, but what about the Thin Web? First Year Kennedy School Students Lucy O’Keeffe and Nagela Nukuna sit down with Andrea Alvarez Marin to discuss vulnerable corners of the internet where eating disorders such as Anorexia (“Ana”) and Bulimia (“Mia”) proliferate. Some of these “pro-Ana” […]

Health

A Prescription for Change: Voter Registration in Emergency Rooms

02.13.20

Marginalized patient populations in the United States use emergency rooms at disproportionately higher rates than the average patient population. This high rate of utilization is due largely to a lack of accessible alternative options rather than an actual increased need of critical care. In other words, patients who are young, people of color, and have […]

Health

Toward an LGBTQ+ Inclusive History Curriculum in Massachusetts

02.12.20

  In my senior year of high school, I spent months gathering everything I could find on LGBTQ+ history for a research presentation. As the day approached, I panicked. It wasn’t that I feared my classmates would explicitly belittle me during the presentation, but rather a feeling of isolation. No one had ever spoken about […]

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