me

Kuwait’s Suspended Parliament: Where Does the Public Stand?

MEI Fellow Yuree Noh assesses public opinion in Kuwait following the suspension of its parliament.




me

From the Frontlines to the Future: Assessing Emerging Technology in Russia's Invasion Strategy and NATO's Next Moves

This piece is a series in the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy (DETS) Program’s analysis on the war in Ukraine, including a corresponding policy brief on Ukraine’s Battlefield Technologies and Lessons for the U.S. published in July 2023. 




me

Is This a Sputnik Moment?

Kari A. Bingen and Heather W. Williams write that if Russia plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space to target satellites, the threat is definitely serious—and the U.S. should act fast.




me

Let’s Not Make the Same Mistakes with AI That We Made with Social Media

Social media’s unregulated evolution over the past decade holds a lot of lessons that apply directly to AI companies and technologies.









me

Germany's government coalition breaks apart










me

Mexico to boost, control renewables expansion





me

Appeasement Is Underrated

Stephen Walt argues that rejecting diplomacy by citing Neville Chamberlain's deal with the Nazis is a willfully ignorant use of history.




me

The Protest to Parliament Pipeline

In the lead up to the October 2021 federal elections, the streets of Baghdad were lined with posters of female candidates. Some were familiar faces with clear political baggage and history, like Sara Iyad Allawi, the daughter of Iraq’s former prime minister. Others were former members of parliament from entrenched political parties. What drew the most excitement from observers, however, were the campaigns of civil activists who had participated in the October protest movement. Locally known as the “Tishreen Movement”, the October protest movement was the largest sustained protest movement in post-2003 Iraq’s history, which took place between October 2019 and February 2020 and involved the participation of hundreds of thousands across multiple cities. The protest movement succeeded in pushing for a new electoral law and in holding early elections, though the elections were only six months ahead of the traditional schedule by the time they were organized. These women represented a new type of female candidate, one without ties to the entrenched elite and who represented. Iraq’s youthful society. Their participation, like the protest movement itself, heralded to many a new era of Iraqi politics, one where younger women were confident enough to run for office and who relied on grassroots campaigning and social media.




me

The Government Isn't Ready for the Violence Trump Might Unleash

Juliette Kayyem argues that the Biden administration should lay out transparent plans to safeguard the electoral process no matter who is ultimately sworn in.




me

Is America in Decline?

Joseph Nye argues that episodes of "declinism" say more about popular psychology than geo-political analysis, but they also show how the idea of decline touches a raw nerve in American politics. China is not an existential threat to the United States unless U.S. leaders make it one by blundering into a major war.




me

A Message from Ukraine: Do Not Provoke Putin—with Weakness

Mariana Budjeryn writes that despite, or perhaps because, of this ever-present shadow of war, the 16th annual Kyiv Security Forum, which was held in March 2024, was a display of camaraderie and solidarity with Ukraine, with sincere dues paid to Ukraine's bravery, sacrifices, and resilience, as well as in recognition that Ukraine belongs in the transatlantic security architecture.




me

Database on U.S. Department of Energy Budgets for Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration (1978–2025R)

The July 2024 update to our database on the U.S. government investments in energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment (ERD3) through the U.S. Department of Energy.




me

Biden's Frailty Doesn't Endanger America

Stephen Walt writes that doubts about Biden’s ability to do the job over the next six months must be balanced against the qualities that Trump exhibited when he oversaw U.S. foreign policy. Insider accounts of Trump’s first term portray him as erratic, mercurial, uninterested in details, and incapable of giving most foreign-policy problems sustained attention.




me

Constructing Climate Change: Exploring How Cities Frame Climate Change in the Arctic

Framing climate policy actions to be acceptable by various stakeholders in cities poses a critical task for urban governance. This paper draws on the literature on climate change discourse to analyze the content of framing and its reasoning in the two municipalities located in the Arctic: Murmansk, Russia, and Tromsø, Norway.




me

America Should Aim for Competitive Coexistence with China

Joseph Nye writes that Washington's strategy towards Beijing should be to avoid either a hot or cold war, co-operate when possible and marshal its assets to shape China's external behaviour. This can be done through deterrence and a strengthening of both alliances and international institutions.




me

Don't 'Jeopardize Free Speech That Is Fundamental' to Harvard, Says Prof

In this Q&A, Joseph S. Nye talks about his advice for the interim and future president of Harvard in the wake of Claudine Gay's resignation, which countries should be highest on our radar to prevent the threat of nuclear war, what role the U.S. should play in the Russia-Ukraine war, the significance of U.S. alliances in the Middle East, and more.




me

Politics and Prosperity: Examining Economic Development in Africa

On April 9, the study group met for the third time to examine economic development in Africa. The group explored connections between politics and economic growth trajectories across the continent, and analyzed the role of political instability and policy decisions in fostering development. Discussions covered the impact of factors like commodity markets, foreign aid, trade deals, and regional integration initiatives on development indicators. The study group counted with the presence of external expert guest H.E. Patrick Achi, former Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire. Prime Minister Achi shared about his experience at the highest level of government and presented the story of Côte d’Ivoire’s post-independence development as a microcosm of the broader challenges and opportunities facing African nations.




me

America Fueled the Fire in the Middle East

Stephen Walt argues that the tragic irony is that the individuals and organizations in the United States that have been the most ardent in shielding Israel from criticism and pushing one administration after another to back Israel, no matter what it does, have in fact done enormous damage to the country that they were trying to help.




me

Iran is Willing to Take the Risk that a Larger War Will Develop, Says Harvard’s Meghan O’Sullivan

Meghan O’Sullivan, Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs director and former Deputy National Security Advisor, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East conflict, the potential impact of new sanctions on Iran, what a possible retaliatory strikes from Israel could look like, and more.




me

What America's Palestine Protesters Should and Shouldn't Do

Stephen Walt advises protesters that people who haven't made up their minds yet are usually attracted by facts, logic, reason, and evidence. In his experience, they are turned off by anger, rudeness, intolerance, and especially by anyone who interferes with their own desire to learn more.




me

America Still Retains a Soft Power Advantage over China

Joseph Nye posits that an open civil society that allows protest can be a soft power asset.




me

Putin’s Latest Nuclear Messaging: Softer Tone or Threat of Use?

On March 13, President Vladimir Putin granted an interview, in which he again delved into the conditions under which he says he would initiate the use of nuclear weapons. His remarks were so ambiguous that it caused mainstream Western media organizations—which tend to agree on what to emphasize in news out of the Kremlin—to put divergent headlines on the news stories that they ran about this particular interview. “Putin, in Pre-Election Messaging, Is Less Strident on Nuclear War. The Russian leader struck a softer tone about nuclear weapons in an interview with state television,” was the NYT’s headline. In contrast, the FT’s headline was “Russia ‘prepared’ for nuclear war, warns Vladimir Putin. President resumes bullish rhetoric over use of atomic arsenal if west threatens Moscow’s sovereignty,” while CBS News ran with “Putin again threatens to use nuclear weapons, claims Russia's arsenal ‘much more’ advanced than America's” and WSJ led with “Putin Rattles Nuclear Saber Ahead of Presidential Elections; Raising specter of nuclear confrontation.” So, which is it? Has Putin just struck a softer tone about nuclear weapons or has he rattled his nuclear saber yet again? The answer is both.




me

Remembering Memorial Day: We Must Avoid World War III

We must avoid the successor to the grand reapers of the past century: World War I and World War II. We must avoid World War III. We should reflect on this during this Memorial Day.




me

A War Without a Name: The Iran-Israel Relationship in Historical Perspective

The defining tension in Middle Eastern politics today—and the most combustible pile of tinder—is between the State of Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The antagonism between the two countries has existed for more than forty years. It has played out across the region for more than twenty years within the context of the Middle East’s wider tumult. It has not been restricted to diplomacy, either, but has played out through various means: covert, proxy, political and psychological warfare. Observers of this conflict have as a result tended to describe this state of affairs with obscure terms: “cold” war, “shadow” war, or other words that allude to the existence of an active and geopolitically consequential antagonism but imply an ambiguity that plain old “war” never could.




me

Event Debrief: Advancing Equitable Clean Technology Investment Through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

Harvard Kennedy School hosted Jahi Wise, Senior Adviser to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to discuss the design and implementation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a historic investment in American clean energy technology finance.




me

Is Fusion Commercialization in Sight? Not Yet, Says John Holdren

Great progress on nuclear fusion has been made, but commercialization of the technology before 2050 is unlikely, said John Holdren during a United States Energy Association press briefing. 




me

Energy, Geopolitics, and Climate Change: A Conversation with Meghan O'Sullivan

International relations expert Meghan O'Sullivan, the Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, expressed her hopes for achieving successful international climate policy solutions in the latest episode of “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.”




me

Heat Pumps Can Help Meet Climate Goals but Can Hurt Pocketbooks

Massachusetts has set aggressive targets for heat pump installations for over 100,000 homes by 2025 and over 500,000 homes by 2030. But the high price of electricity in Massachusetts — the fourth highest in the nation — relative to natural gas or oil makes achieving these targets very challenging unless there is a major change in electricity policy.




me

Harvard Project Director Robert Stavins Moderates Climate Action Week Panel on “Strategies for Mitigating Global Methane Emissions”

Efforts to measure and mitigate the impact of methane emissions was the topic of discussion last Monday (June 10, 2024) at a panel convened as part of Climate Action Week in the Northwest Building, sponsored by Harvard’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and moderated by Harvard Environmental Economics Program and Harvard Project Director Robert Stavins.




me

The New Influencers: A Primer on the Expanding Role of Middle Powers in Africa

This original primer, conducted as research for The Africa Futures Project, is an initial exploration into the evolving roles and increasing influence of “middle powers” in Africa. It covers a diverse array of existing and aspiring middle powers, presenting key points for each nation under four distinct analytical lenses.




me

Blu� Homes Partners with Real Simple and This Old House to Launch the �Design Smart, Live Beautifully� Home Tour and Announce the Selection of Blu�s L.A. Breezehouse as the First-Ever 

The �Design Smart, Live Beautifully� Home Tour coincides with the launch of the 2014 model of Blu�s award-winning�Breezehouse, which is�packed with luxurious features and an even more spacious floor plan





me

Former Residents of Huronia, Rideau, and Southwestern Regional Centres Could Receive Compensation from Class Action Settlements - Settlement Overview Video

Settlement Overview Video. If you lived at Huronia, Rideau, or Southwestern Regional Centres, you may be eligible to make a claim.




me

International Automakers Now Account for 45% of U.S. Auto Production and 59% of U.S. Vehicle Sales - Redefining the American Auto Industry

Redefining the American Auto Industry. - The Growing Impact of International Automakers on the U.S. Economy.