Nation & World

All Nation & World

  • America, still at top

    Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye talks about America’s future as a global superpower in the 21st century.

  • Explaining ‘Capital’

    Acclaimed French economist Thomas Piketty discusses his landmark text, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” one year after its publication in English.

  • After Ferguson, the ripples across Harvard

    Students across Harvard channel energy and anger from last semester’s “Black Lives Matter” protests into a call for discussions and changes at home.

  • Again, Obamacare under siege

    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Professor John McDonough looks at the latest Supreme Court challenge to Obama’s signature health care reform law, being argued in court this week.

  • Evil in the making

    Dutch sociologist Abram de Swaan spoke with the Gazette about his new book, “The Killing Compartments,” ahead of a lecture at the Center for European Studies.

  • Tough days for MBTA

    Jose Gomez-Ibanez, a transportation and infrastructure policy expert at Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, talks about the political and financial hurdles to smoothly running public transit systems.

  • Making sense of Congress

    A pair of Harvard seniors, aided by Harvard’s innovation environment, have launched a company that helps people make sense of Congress by gathering in one place diverse information on representatives, districts, bills, and legislative proceedings.

  • The teetering Greece

    With talk of austerity and bailout terms as the backdrop, experts gathered at the Center for European Studies to discuss the Greek debt crisis in depth. They were not optimistic that a solution is near.

  • From prison to poverty

    Harvard sociologist and Radcliffe fellow Bruce Western recently completed a study tracking 122 incarcerated men and women in the Boston area who were released back into society. Western’s research helps shed light on how poverty, along with unaddressed problems, helped shape his subjects’ lives.

  • The talented Georges Doriot

    Exhibition at Harvard Business School’s Baker Library celebrates the rich career of one of the School’s most influential faculty members, Georges Doriot.

  • Lessons learned in astronaut school

    In a recent EdCast, NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson shares her thoughts on women and STEM education, her personal journey as a student, and her time in space.

  • Code like a girl

    HGSE panelists outlined ways to counter the shortage of women pursuing careers that require a STEM education, particularly in computer science.

  • A different kind of drug research

    In a question-and-answer session, the leaders of a Radcliffe Institute seminar on America’s long “war on drugs” shared why they are looking back at history and ahead for fresh answers.

  • The makeover of Mexico City

    With Harvard experts helping, clever and dynamic Mexico City is dealing with global megacity challenges like traffic and housing, and could be a template for a flexible, functioning urbanism of the future.

  • 2016 issues: Voter anger, distrust

    Public opinion analyst Peter Hart sizes up the country’s mood and the primary field during a talk at the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy.

  • Death penalty, in retreat

    Harvard Law School Professor Carol Steiker is devoting her Radcliffe Fellowship year to working on a book with her brother about the past half-century’s experiment with the constitutional regulation of capital punishment in America.

  • The politics of jurisprudence

    New political science research from faculty at Harvard Kennedy School and Stanford University quantifies the political makeup of the nation’s judiciary.

  • Escalating the fight against breast cancer

    Harvard had a role in creating Mexico’s decade-old comprehensive health plan for the poor — and now University researchers are helping close stubborn gaps in breast-cancer care.

  • Answering the bell

    U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren returned to Harvard, along with others, to advocate that undergraduates consider careers in public service, as part of the “Public Interested” conference.

  • The case for (community) college

    While seeking economic relief for the middle class during his State of the Union address, Obama formally proposes making community college tuition-free.

  • In the Civil War, roots of carnage

    It is often said that the modern era began in the death and devastation of World War I, but Harvard President Drew Faust said during a speech at the University of Cambridge that such destruction started in the American Civil War.

  • Democracy, debated in Parliament

    Harvard Professor Michael Sandel led members of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons and House of Lords, along with students and members of the public, through an intense discussion on the nature and importance of democracy, as part of a first-of-its-kind program held in the Speaker’s House in Parliament.

  • Making a case for democracy

    Michael Sandel, the renowned political philosopher and professor, will debate the meaning of democracy at the Palace of Westminster in London as part of the BBC’s “Democracy Day.”

  • My memories of Dr. King

    Harvard Divinity School Professor Harvey Cox was a longtime friend of Civil Rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The clergymen had similar interests and a desire for social justice and equality.

  • Paris tragedy provides an opening for conversation

    Following the attack in Paris, the Harvard Kennedy School asked Adjunct Professor Muriel Rouyer, a French citizen living in the United States, to provide her perspective on the events and what lies ahead for the citizens of France.

  • Some child, left behind?

    On the cusp of a new education bill from Senate Republicans, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called this week for repeal and replacement of No Child Left Behind, the signature education reform from a decade ago.

  • A new chapter for Congress

    Forty-seven Harvard alumni will be part of the 114th Congress, which began this week.

  • Truth vs. ‘truthiness’

    Developmental psychologist Howard Gardner discusses the time-tested values of truth, beauty, and goodness in a three-part lecture series at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

  • Vietnam, the ongoing memory

    For students so young, an old war — captured in a history and literature course on Vietnam this fall — continues to have resonance and to provide “a punch in the gut.”

  • U.S.-Cuba ties: In from the cold

    Harvard faculty members react to the surprising news from President Barack Obama that the United States plans to end 50 years of diplomatic and economic sanctions against Cuba.