"This can't continue as systems that become more unstable and unpredictable will harm more in chaotic ways," says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

Brian Taylor, professor of political science, says that the mutiny fallout has put Putin in a position he's neither familiar nor comfortable with—often using his pulpit to blast political enemies, both inside and outside of Moscow. "Now he's applying that very same language to one of his own guys, someone he elevated to a position of power and responsibility," Taylor says.

"Research in a Closed Political Context, COVID, and Across Languages: Methodological Lessons, Messages, and Ideas," co-authored by Darzhan Kazbekova, graduate research associate in the Center for Policy Design and Governance, and Rebecca Schewe, associate professor of sociology, was published in the International Journal of Qualitative Methods.

"I think Putin emerges from this significantly weakened," says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. "I think if you're a member of the Russian elite or are in fact a member of the Russian population, you're going to look at this and think, 'Wow, a private army just drove on Moscow for most of the day. No one stopped them and they're allowed to leave and no real consequences.'"

“The whole huachicolero [fuel theives] phenomenon, it’s been in play for a long time in Mexico,” explains Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

"He’s [Prigozhin] clearly trying to draw a sharp contrast between his presence directly on the battlefield, his engagement with his soldiers, and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, which he frequently attacks as being out of touch elitists who are damaging the war effort," says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

"So if we can pair climate decarbonization with more increased secure access to people's basic material needs, you could start to build a much broader popular base," says Matthew Huber, professor of geography and the environment. 

Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations, says Lopez Obrador’s recent actions reflect the “sort of populist demagogue persona that he’s carved out for himself,” and that it’s all been part of a perfect recipe “for him to be go out there in public and remind people that he is, above all, for Mexico.”

“Certainly, there’s not enough affordable housing,” says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. “You have a situation of high poverty and a really kind of outrageous rental market in Syracuse.”

“If the U.S. dismissed him wholeheartedly, it’s going to make these conversations—and again some of these are happening behind closed doors—a hell of a lot more difficult to be had,” says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair on Mexico-U.S. Relations, regarding the immigration talks between the U.S. and Mexico as Title 42 lifts this week.

“There needs to be greater regulation of the staffing industry,” says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. “And we need to make it a lot easier for workers to unionize. All of the research has shown that in unionized workplaces, workers are far less likely to experience injury or fatalities.”

“It’s a generational thing,” says Matt Huber, professor of geography and the environment. “A lot of younger generations are really fixated on climate and understand that nuclear is one our best options to deal with climate, so we gotta keep it on the table.”

"Simply put, secession is a political solution for an ethnonational problem among regionally concentrated populations. The problem in America is one of political polarization," writes Ryan Griffiths, associate professor of political science.

The One University Awards Ceremony, an annual event to honor members of the Syracuse University community who are making a difference through academics, scholarship, creative work and dedicated service, will be held Friday, April 21.

Erin Hern, associate professor of political science, has written “Explaining Success in Africa: Things Don’t Always Fall Apart” (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2023). The book focuses on normalizing the success of countries and analyzing their progress amid adverse circumstances. 

“This is not the end of what may happen,” says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. “It may in fact be the beginning. We've never seen this before, and I don't think we can dismiss it as a partisan political act. Certainly, there have been other presidents who have had strong opposition in the past and yet they have not faced this kind of jeopardy.”

The associate professor of political science will examine what constitutes a refugee crisis in her second book.

“Wagner was a very useful stopgap in that period between when [Russia] had so many of their regular forces attrited and Putin came around to the realization that he had no choice but to bring in hundreds of thousands of more people. That may, in some sense, prove to be that Wagner is at its sort of height of influence,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

"Putin’s War of Recolonization," co-authored by Maxwell professors Renée de Nevers and Brian Taylor, was published in the Journal of Democracy.