Nation & World

All Nation & World

  • The revolution continues

    In a conversation that ranged from the recent parliamentary elections to the ongoing sexual abuse of women to a new wave of journalists, panelists at the Feb. 2 Harvard Kennedy School Forum on Egypt expressed both fear and hope for a country still in the midst of a revolution.

  • Experts assess impact of Citizens United

    At an event sponsored by the Harvard Law School (HLS) American Constitution Society on Tuesday, HLS Professor Lawrence Lessig, author of “Republic Lost,” and Jeff Clements, author of “Corporations Are Not People,” reviewed the impact that Citizens United has had on the political process.

  • Up by his bootstraps

    Cambodian writer Tararith Kho, who grew up amid war and pushed relentlessly to be educated, is now a Harvard Scholars at Risk fellow. His weapons are well-turned words.

  • Not your average road trip

    Harvard Business School just sent all 900 first-year M.B.A. students into the field to solve real-world problems in emerging markets from Buenos Aires to Mumbai, in the most ambitious element of an experimental new course. HBS, pioneer of the celebrated case-study method, is working to craft a business education model for the 21st century.

  • Peace in our times?

    A Harvard Kennedy School panel assembled to discuss “Is War on the Way Out?,” the oddly counterintuitive notion that violence, among both individuals and states, is on the wane, or at least on a downward trajectory.

  • Measuring effective teaching

    Reports of an ongoing study examine the role of classroom observation in helping to determine effective teaching.

  • Harvard’s ties to India

    Over the past several years, Harvard University has been ramping up its involvement in India and South Asia, a trend catalyzed by Harvard’s South Asia Initiative, which was founded in 2003 to foster the University’s engagement in the region. Harvard’s understanding of the region’s importance is highlighted by President Drew Faust’s January visit to India.

  • Education’s future, globally

    Students in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education convened last week to examine how to address some of the world’s educational challenges.

  • North Korea: Country behind a curtain

    Many nations are watching the succession of Kim Jong-un to the leadership of North Korea, hoping a smooth transition will lead to economic reforms and opportunities to limit the further development of nuclear weapons, a Harvard panel said.

  • Choice management

    In a paper published last year, Harvard professors David Laibson and Brigitte Madrian argued that employers should design investment menus for their employees that facilitate good choices, “rather than assuming that giving people every option under the sun will lead to the right decision.” The report, co-authored with James Choi of Yale, was recently honored with the TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award.

  • Your grandparents’ Tea Party

    To conservatives, the Tea Partiers are patriots; to liberals, they’re a scourge on progress and civil society. Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, used different terms to describe the activists to undergraduates: grandma and grandpa.

  • Putting yourself out there

    Sponsored by the Harvard Club of Boston and the Harvard Alumni Association, “Networking NOW: The Learn-How-to-Network Event” was a multifaceted event, underscoring how business networking is a skill that can be learned, practiced, honed, and perfected.

  • A symposium on teaching, learning

    The Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, created with a $40 million gift from Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, will host a symposium to explore excellence and innovation in the field.

  • India, front and center

    Harvard is increasing its engagement in India and surrounding South Asian nations in an effort to better understand a part of the world that is growing in global importance. Harvard President Drew Faust visits India this month.

  • Women as peacemakers

    Activists from across Africa and the Middle East drew from on-the-ground experience in a discussion of women’s role in peace efforts at John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.

  • India sees gains from gender quota

    A new research paper co-authored by Harvard Kennedy School Professor Rohini Pande finds that the system designating female leaders for selected village councils in India has resulted in substantive gains for girls in those villages — both in terms of aspirations and educational outcomes.

  • An echo of Harvard in New Mexico

    The purpose of the trip was to generate interest for Harvard among Native American students, as well as to host a Harvard booth at the National Indian Education Association conference in Albuquerque. For many of the high school students we visited, the Harvard name was simply an abstraction.

  • Lights, Camera, Reaction

    Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) students learn to master the art of a live television interview in the On-Camera Interview Basics workshop, one of many hosted by the HKS Communications Program.

  • Harvard poll predicts Obama loss

    A new national poll of America’s 18- to 29-year-olds by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at the Harvard Kennedy School finds more millennials predict President Barack Obama will lose his bid for re-election (36 percent) than win (30 percent).

  • Rethinking work, beyond the paycheck

    Eighty years ago, the idea that workers were purely rational beings motivated solely by money dominated American business. But a famous study known as the Hawthorne Experiments, led by two men at Harvard Business School, helped to found the human relations movement.

  • Dateline: Classroom

    Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a Nieman Fellow, explains the dangers of his craft, and why he can’t return to Pakistan.

  • When to help a patient die

    Legal analysts at a Harvard Medical School forum differ over whether a law allowing death with dignity or assisted suicide for terminally ill patients is right for Massachusetts. But they agreed that similar laws in Oregon and Washington have not proven to be a “slippery slope” that endangered vulnerable patients.

  • The import of civic education

    Civic education, an important element for democracy to flourish, has fallen to public schools, universities, and colleges to provide in recent years. A Harvard panel discussed what’s required for the citizenry to be educated to make informed decisions.

  • Divinity School student in documentary

    Sonya Soni, a Harvard Divinity School student, is featured in the documentary “Keep a Child Alive with Alicia Keys,” which airs throughout December on Showtime.

  • Germany, again a linchpin

    For the third time in a century, Germany stands ready to change the fortunes of Europe — this time, analysts believe, for the better, said a founder of Harvard’s Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies.

  • Good works, and fine experience

    Harvard students made good use last summer of the Presidential Public Service Fellowship Program, a new initiative that supports good works through financial grants.

  • Dealing with inequality

    A panel discusses “The Growing Challenge of Inequality,” an issue easily described and summarized, but difficult to solve, the speakers said, given the political and economic climate that currently dominates the United States.

  • How to teach students about truth

    Professor Howard Gardner explored how to teach students the primal concepts of truth, beauty, and goodness during a lecture based on his newest book.

  • A spotlight on China

    Fund supports Harvard programs in everything from student activities to faculty research in rising Asian giant.

  • The ripple of fiscal problems

    Eurozone’s ongoing problems create a ripple effect in developing nations, says World Bank president.