social and politics

Trump Will Reverse Biden's Israel Delusions

Donald Trump will embrace the truth Joe Biden has refused to countenance: Israel's enemies are America's enemies. And when Israel defeats its enemies, America wins.




social and politics

What Should Biden Do? Get a Peace Deal in Ukraine

The end to this bloody stalemate must come with negotiation, and Putin should not wait until Trump is in the White House, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins




social and politics

Should Trump Use DOJ Against His Enemies?

To restore the rule of law, Trump's Department of Justice must investigate those who subverted our constitutional order.




social and politics

The Election Depleted Us. Storytelling Can Revive Us

As we share our truths and witness each other's, we build unity and community.




social and politics

Dismantle the 'Environmental Justice' Juggernaut

Eliminating this pernicious policy should be on the Trump administration's first week to-do list.




social and politics

The Cost-of-Living Crisis Explains Everything

The Biden administration passed $3 trillion of legislation aimed at revitalizing the American economy and fostering green, equitable, "middle-out" growth.




social and politics

Demand Senators Publicly Support a Leader Who's Pro-Trump

Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the senate.




social and politics

Trump Builds New Administration

Friday on the RealClearPolitics radio show -- weeknights at 6:00 p.m. on SiriusXM's POTUS Channel 124 and then on Apple, Spotify, and here on our website -- Tom Bevan, Andrew Walworth, and Carl Cannon look at the latest count to determine the final popular vote and House majority.




social and politics

Pitiful Pollsters--Selzer, CNN, Marist, NYT/Siena

Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit. -George Carlin Every four years, presidential opinion polling reliably causes regime media to misplace...




social and politics

Harris' Home City Kicked Out Its Progressive Leaders

Oakland's mayor and district attorney were both sent packing in a recall vote. Leaders in other Democratic-run cities should take notice.




social and politics

The Case for Mass Deportations

It's hard to imagine opposing Trump's proposal. Who would want to help murderers and drug dealers who entered the country illegally remain in the United States?




social and politics

Too Many See the Democrats as a Hostile Elite

Even though that perception is partly the creation of right-wing media, the Democrats surely need to hone their identity.




social and politics

America Cured of the Woke Mind Virus

They were the ten words that sealed the comeback deal for Donald Trump.




social and politics

The Common Experience That Explains Trump's Gains

The most impressive aspect of Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last week was the uniformity of his gains across the electoral landscape.




social and politics

Vibeshift: Culture in the Age of Trump

Although I am loath to use the phrase, I don't think it's remiss to call Donald Trump's victory last week a vibeshift.




social and politics

What Universities Owe America's Future Leaders

Zeiger is president of the Jack Miller Center, an educational venture to advance the history, documents and ideals we hold in common as Americans.As a nation, we are failing to prepare citizens for leadership in our constitutional republic. According to a September 2023 Pew Research Center study, 72...




social and politics

Military Ranks Are Thinning But Revival May Be Coming

The woke and overcommitted military of the last couple decades has had a hard time recruiting. We are ripe for a change.




social and politics

Seth Moulton Does Democrats a Favor

Other Democrats lambasted him. The Tufts political science department spurned him. But Moulton is raising concerns the left needs to take seriously.




social and politics

Why Boeing Killed DEI

An insider reveals the famed aviation company's apparent change of heart.




social and politics

The Lamest-Duck Session

November and December will nominally be about confirming judges and kicking the can on must-pass bills. More ambitious efforts probably aren't happening.




social and politics

This Week's Elections, Upon Further Review

Upon further review, analyst Sean Trend may be right: There may be an emerging GOP majority nationwide.




social and politics

A Very Rough Day in New Jersey

My home state, the Garden State, is angry mercurial, and Trump came frighteningly close to winning there a week ago.




social and politics

GOP Can't Afford To Elect Another McConnell as Leader

Senate Republicans cannot be led by someone who is openly hostile to the agenda of their party's president and the base who elected him.




social and politics

Musk Backs Scott After Calling Thune 'Top Choice of Democrats'

Elon Musk has joined the chorus of conservative and MAGA voices online backing Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for Senate GOP leader - after calling Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) the "top choice of Democrats."




social and politics

'It's the Economy, Stupid.' Dems Chose Just To Be Stupid

The election is over and the economy had a huge impact. An AP analysis said 96% of those surveyed admitted that prices of gas and groceries had an influence on their vote.




social and politics

So Who Leads the Democrats Now?

Who Will Fill the Democratic Vacuum?




social and politics

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.




social and politics

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.




social and politics

Iran and Israel's Dangerous Gambit

Nicole Grajewski analyzes Iran and Israel's shift from a long-simmering shadow conflict to direct confrontation.




social and politics

Challenging Biases and Assumptions in Analysis: Could Israel Have Averted Intelligence Failure?

The human tragedy continuing to unfold in Gaza and Israel reminds us how important it is to get strategic forecasting right. While in no way excusing Hamas’ culpability for 7 October, we also cannot dismiss the fact that the failure to anticipate and prepare for such an attack has had grave consequences for communities on both sides of this conflict, undermined efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the region, and affected global interests through the expansion of the conflict to the Red Sea and potentially beyond. 




social and politics

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.




social and politics

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.




social and politics

Not So Innocent: Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe

Ethnic cleansing is not only a modern phenomenon. The medieval Catholic Church saw non-Christians as a threat and facilitated the ethnoreligious cleansing of Muslim and Jewish communities across Western Europe. Three conditions made this possible: The rising power of the papacy as a supranational religious authority; its dehumanization of non-Christians; and competition among Catholic Western European monarchs that left them vulnerable to papal-clerical demands to eradicate non-Christians. These findings revise our understanding twentieth- and twenty-first-century ethnic cleansing in places like Cambodia, Iraq, Myanmar, the Soviet Union, and Syria.




social and politics

Africa Beyond the Headlines: A Kaleidoscopic Exploration of Contemporary African Politics and International Cooperation

Dr. Gloria Ayee led a study group over the course of five sessions during the Spring of 2024, exploring the current pivotal moment on the African continent. Participants of the study group were invited to reflect on the role that international cooperation must play in supporting inclusive, sustainable development in Africa, as well as to move beyond outdated perspectives and learn about Africa’s profound transformation through trade, investments in clean energy and health, and youth empowerment initiatives.




social and politics

Beyond the Headlines: A Kaleidoscopic Exploration of Contemporary African Politics and International Cooperation

Dr. Gloria Ayee led a study group over the course of five sessions during the Spring of 2024, exploring the current pivotal moment on the African continent. Reflecting back, Dr. Ayee highlights the key takeaways from the study group.




social and politics

Building a Durable Peace in Ukraine

In June, Ukraine’s most powerful backers met at the G7 summit before attending Ukraine’s peace conference in Switzerland, which hosted representatives from nearly eighty countries. For one week, they met to discuss Volodymyr Zelensky’s ten-point peace plan, announced a plan to fund Ukraine using frozen Russian assets, and introduced a U.S.-Ukraine bilateral security agreement. As the United States and its allies are working to put Ukraine in the best position possible for eventual ceasefire negotiations, what should their top priority be?




social and politics

The Day After Iran Gets the Bomb

Stephen Walt explores possible scenarios if Iran acquires a nuclear capability.




social and politics

The Iran-Russia Friendship Won't Wither Under Raisi's Successor

Nicole Grajewski describes former Iranian President Raisi’s hardline stance and his willingness to deepen ties with Russia as assets. Collaboration with a like-minded authoritarian with a bent for confronting the West proved particularly valuable after Russia invaded Ukraine.




social and politics

Why Realists Oppose the War in Gaza

Stephen Walt argues that realists oppose Israel's actions in Gaza (and U.S. complicity in them) because the combination is undermining the United States' global position and bringing the United States precisely zero strategic benefits.




social and politics

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.




social and politics

When Foreign Countries Push the Button

Is there a norm against using nuclear weapons? Many policymakers believe that allied countries would severely condemn a state’s nuclear use. But survey research in the United States and India finds high absolute support for nuclear use, and that the public supports nuclear attacks by allies and strategic partners as much as those by the public’s own government. 




social and politics

Old and New Lessons from the Ukraine War

Joseph Nye Russia's war on Ukraine is still raging, and no one knows when or how it will end. Nonetheless, the past two years have borne out several predictions concerning what does and does not work in twenty-first-century conflicts involving major powers.




social and politics

Biden's Foreign-Policy Problem Is Incompetence

Stephen Walt argues that those who fetishize credibility typically assume all that is needed is sufficient resolve. This overlooks the other key ingredient— competence.




social and politics

AI and the Decision to Go to War: Future Risks and Opportunities

This short article introduces our Special Issue on 'Anticipating the Future of War: AI, Automated Systems, and Resort-to-Force Decision Making'. The authors begin by stepping back and briefly commenting on the current military AI landscape. They then turn to the hitherto largely neglected prospect of AI-driven systems influencing state-level decision making on the resort to force.




social and politics

The Terrorism Warning Lights Are Blinking Red Again

Two and a half decades [after 9/11], Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, is sounding similar alarms. His discussions within the Biden administration are private, but his testimony to Congress and other public statements could not be more explicit. Testifying in December to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Wray said, “When I sat here last year, I walked through how we were already in a heightened threat environment.” Yet after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, “we’ve seen the threat from foreign terrorists rise to a whole nother level,” he added. In speaking about those threats, Wray has repeatedly drawn attention to security gaps at the United States’ southern border, where thousands of people each week enter the country undetected.




social and politics

The End of Soft Power?

Joseph Nye argues that even as the hard power of weapons and armies resurges on the global stage, the cultivation and use of soft power will still hold currency in the twenty-first century.




social and politics

Morality Is the Enemy of Peace

Stephen Walt argues that once governments use moral arguments to justify their positions in international disputes, cutting a deal becomes much harder, even when it would be in everyone's interest.




social and politics

Africa In Focus Speaker Series

Africa in Focus, run by the Africa Futures Project, aims to create a forum for intellectual and critical analysis of processes and policies from the continent and its engagement with the international community. Through thoughtful and dynamic programming, Africa in Focus seeks to bring more African perspectives into broader policy conversations at HKS.

 




social and politics

Reducing Nuclear Dangers

Matthew Bunn argues that governments need help from scientists and engineers both in understanding the dangers that nuclear weapons continue to pose and in finding paths to reduce them.




social and politics

What the United States Can Learn From China

Stephen Walt argues that Americans who are deeply worried about China's rise should reflect on what Beijing has done well and what Washington has done poorly.