Maxwell School News and Commentary

"Iran does not have the means to seriously help with Syria’s reconstruction," says Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science.

Tessa Murphy, assistant professor of history, has been awarded a long-term fellowship from the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Murphy’s current book project, "The Creole Archipelago," traces British and French attempts to assimilate or remake colonial societies that evolved beyond the boundaries of European empire in the early modern Caribbean.

Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations, explains (former) Mexican President Felipe Calderón's strategy to crack down on drug trafficking organizations was to eliminate drug kingpins. But rather than eliminating the cartels, the capture and death of cartel leaders have led to their members creating smaller organizations.

Dimitar Gueorguiev talks to Washington Examiner about the Trump administrations missteps to US relationships with North Korea, by pushing an effort to sign a trade deal with China. "The Trump administration, more so than any previous administration, has been willing to link security and economic issues," says Gueorguiev.

Chris Faricy, associate professor of political science, says  "You can tell people you gave them a tax cut, but if they don’t believe it and their refunds are smaller, it’s a hard sell politically," in an article for Bloomberg. 

"The U.S. government’s ties to humanitarian aid to Venezuela are deeply suspect and it’s common knowledge that it’s intended to fast track the military’s defection of current President Nicolás Maduro," writes Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. "If it truly is to be humanitarian aid, the Trump administration needs to decouple it from its aggressive, militaristic agenda," she adds.