Maxwell School News and Commentary

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells Newsweek that Trump will continue to use his legal difficulties to rile up his MAGA base. However, Reeher adds that it remains to be seen if this will ultimately damage Trump's White House ambitions.

"The ongoing attacks by the Houthi fighters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, increased activity by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and the steady attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Syria and Iraq represent a clear risk of escalation throughout the region," says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

With little indication that the U.S. will attempt to assert leverage over Israel, Blinken’s latest trip to the Middle East is fundamentally “performative,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. “There is a face-saving domestic consumption element for [the Biden administration] and a separate face-saving element to allow Israel to claim some kind of victory,” he says.

He is the fourth recipient of the Dominic F. Mazza County Management Fellowship, named in honor of a 1985 alumnus. 

Simon Weschle, associate professor of political science, contributed a chapter titled "Campaign Finance" to the book "The Political Economy of Lobbying: Channels of Influence and their Regulation" (Springer, 2024).

"The contrast with today's youth highlights broader economic and global trends, namely China's current economic slowdown, which has led to reduced hiring, stagnating wages and a general sense of job insecurity in many industries. This environment naturally makes the stability and predictability of government jobs more appealing," writes Yingyi Ma, professor of sociology.

Encouraged by Associate Professor Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, the group of mostly MPA students used public data to address city transportation challenges.

Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, warns that the attacks in the Red Sea could easily drag on for the whole of 2024. “In the mind of the Houthi, this is all connected to what’s happening in Gaza,” says Murrett. “And the operations in Gaza could last for the rest of this calendar year.”

“The independents that are part of the polling…don’t like either of them. And then, of course the Democrats in the polls are not going to give Trump any positive ratings, and Republicans are not going to give Biden any positive ratings,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

"Examining the Smart City Generational Model: Conceptualizations, Implementations, and Infrastructure Canada's Smart City Challenge," co-authored by Austin Zwick, assistant teaching professor of policy studies, was published in Urban Affairs Review.