Nation & World

All Nation & World

  • Health care could swing voters

    A new analysis of 37 national opinion polls conducted by 17 survey organizations finds that health care is the second most important issue for likely voters in deciding their 2012 presidential vote. This is the highest that health care has been ranked as a presidential election issue since 1992.

  • Feminism without perfection

    Harvard Business School students gathered Tuesday evening to kick off a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first class of female M.B.A.s. But as Barnard College President Debora Spar reminded the group, women at the top of the ladder still face hurdles — including their impossible demands on themselves.

  • Inside the Supreme Court

    Political pundit, author, and Supreme Court watcher Jeffrey Toobin offered an inside look at the nation’s top judicial body during a discussion at Sanders Theatre on Thursday.

  • A peek behind the podium

    Veteran political strategists weighed in on the blood, sweat, and tears that go into prepping a presidential candidate, during a Harvard Kennedy School watch party for the first presidential debate. The vice presidential debate is 9-10 p.m. Oct. 11 from Centre College, Danville, Ky. The second presidential debate is 9-10:30 p.m. Oct. 16, Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

  • A trio of ideas for education

    Joel Klein, the former chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, spoke at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on Monday, outlining his plan for a “transformative” approach to the country’s ailing primary and secondary education system.

  • The housing industry, adrift

    Former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez called for innovative solutions to the nation’s housing crisis and proposed less government, more private-sector initiative, and clarity on Dodd-Frank financial reforms.

  • When Armageddon loomed

    A new website at the Harvard Kennedy School marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. In an interview, Belfer Center director Graham Allison outlines the lessons learned from the dangerous yet deft dance of diplomacy.

  • Startups, sped up

    Students from across Harvard’s Schools gathered at the Innovation Lab Sept. 28-30 for the StartUp Scramble, a mad-dash affair designed to take their business ideas from concept to pitch in just 48 hours.

  • ‘The Paper Chase’ at 40

    Author and Harvard Law School graduate John Osborn Jr. rose to fame in the ’70s with the publication of his book “The Paper Chase” about his experience at the School. He sat down for a Q-and-A session with Dean Martha Minow on the book’s 40th anniversary.

  • Inside-out look at election 2012

    Hosted by the Nieman Foundation, a panel of political journalists shared their insights with Harvard faculty members, including their predictions about the outcome in the race for the White House.

  • Freedom in motion

    Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi delivered the Godkin Lecture and took questions from students last night at Harvard Kennedy School.

  • Hope for continental recovery, in 2013

    A top European Union official says there are signs that reform measures taken in response to the economic crisis in Europe are working, and that a recovery could begin in 2013.

  • A firm voice on Europe

    Jan Fischer, former PM and current presidential candidate in the Czech Republic, talked to a Harvard audience about the debt crisis and the possibility of a full European federation.

  • Middle East in motion

    Speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School, journalist Rami Khouri presented an overview of the “bewildering and exhilarating changes” that have swept the Middle East since the Arab Spring.

  • Explaining the baby bust

    Postindustrial countries from Japan to Italy are experiencing startling low birthrates, but the entry of women into the workforce isn’t to blame, according to Sociology Professor Mary Brinton, whose research looks at more subtle factors, including attitudes toward men’s and women’s roles in the workplace and the home.

  • A warning from inside Tunisia

    A Tunisian constitutional expert said Sept. 17 that recent violence, coupled with moves by the ruling Islamist Ennahda party to enshrine religion in the nation’s new constitution, are a bad sign for a pluralistic, democratic future.

  • Suggestion of a married Jesus

    Four words on a previously unknown papyrus fragment provide the first evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus had been married, a Harvard professor says.

  • “Jesus said to them, my wife”

    Four words on a previously unknown papyrus fragment provide the first evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus had been married, Harvard Professor Karen King told the 10th International Congress of Coptic Studies, September 18, 2012.

  • Poverty in America, 2012

    Scholars from across the nation gathered at Harvard on Friday to examine the persistent problems of race, poverty, and economic inequality in the United States. The conference was focused around the 25th anniversary of the publication of “The Truly Disadvantaged” by University Professor William Julius Wilson.

  • Block the vote

    Should citizens have to show photo identification to vote? In recent years, many states have decided they do. A group of panelists debated the hotly partisan issue — and the possible implications for poor and elderly voters — at Harvard Kennedy School.

  • Syria in the crosshairs

    Murhaf Jouejati, a professor and a member of the Syrian National Council, a coalition of exiled opposition groups, offered his perspective on the crisis in Syria.

  • After 9/11, health lessons ignored

    The public health lessons of 9/11 and subsequent anthrax attacks haven’t been learned, said Pulitzer Prize-winning author Laurie Garrett during a talk at the Harvard School of Public Health.

  • An app aimed at transparency

    Super PAC App, the brainchild of recent Harvard Kennedy School graduate Jennifer Hollett and her MIT classmate, gives voters information on the big-money donors behind this season’s campaign ads in real time.

  • More than words

    Nieman Foundation welcomes 24 new fellows, including some who tell their gripping stories using tools beyond words.

  • Guides to the gallows

    The Harvard Law School Library’s “Dying Speeches” collection of English crime broadsides — street literature sold at public executions — is one of the largest in the world and the first to be completely digitized.

  • School vouchers’ greatest impact

    A new study on the impact of school vouchers on college enrollments shows that the percentage of African-American students who enrolled part time or full time in college by 2011 was 24 percent higher for those who had won a school voucher lottery and used their voucher to attend a private school.

  • Taking a stand on diversity

    After the Supreme Court announced it will hear a major case on affirmative action in October, Harvard joined 13 other universities to file a friend-of-the-court brief supporting considerations of race in college admissions.

  • Toward better aid

    Three Harvard specialist draw from field experience in a discussion of the past and future of humanitarian aid.

  • Inspiring as well as educating

    Led by members of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and faculty from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 83 teachers from around the world convened at Harvard last weekend for workshops and discussions to explore how the arts can help engage students across a range of subjects.

  • The long journey to asylum

    Behind the legal technicalities practiced at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, there are asylum clients with pain and persecution behind them, and hope ahead.