Public Administration and International Affairs Department News, Media Commentary and Research

"There is an emerging dimension to the U.S.-China conflict which has worrisome echoes of that earlier [U.S.-Russia] conflict—the growing division of the world into two technological blocs, each of which seeks autonomy and self-sufficiency and strives to limit the other's access to its advanced know-how," says University Professor James Steinberg.

Uzbekistan Ambassador to the United States Javlon Vahobov and senior officers from the Uzbekistan Embassy met Monday with Syracuse University officials to discuss educational partnerships between their country, the Maxwell School, and the School of Information Studies (iSchool). The visit included meetings with leadership of both schools, a tour of campus, and meetings with students.

William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, believes there is no "clear, positive legal authority" for active-duty U.S. troops to be at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Denuclearization will likely be at the center of the meeting later this month between President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, says Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs. “Trade is going to be a part of [their talks],” Murrett says, adding Kim has expressed interest in “bringing their economy into the 21st century.”

Yilin Hou, professor of public administration and international affairs and senior research associate at the Center for Policy Research, has won a prestigious economic policy research award from the Pu Shan Foundation of China, for his paper "Real Property Tax: Ability to Pay, Distribution of Tax Burden, and Redistribution Effects."

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks says the precedent concern is legitimate and "one of the biproducts of this episode might be to impose on Congress the determination to revise the underlying law and make it more difficult for any president in the future to use the mechanism. One of the biggest open areas in the law is that there are no criteria to decide what constitutes an emergency."

Len Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, suggests eliminating a provision of current law in which assets that increase in value can go essentially untaxed across generations as a way to reduce inequality.

"This is a real institutional threat to the separation of powers to use emergency powers to enable the president to bypass Congress to build a wall on his own initiative that our elected representatives have chosen not to fund," says William C. Banks, professor of public administration and international affairs. 

"Most experts agree that there is no crisis at the southern border," William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, says about Trump's claim that a wall is needed because of a crisis at the border.

That will be just one question considered when a new Syracuse University institute, housed at Maxwell, addresses the policy issues and social impacts associated with drones, self-driving cars, and other autonomous systems.

According to Dean David Van Slyke, "The bigger and longer term issue is: What will be the capacity of the federal government to actually attract the best and brightest people to its work?"

"For many government workers, it's still a chance to have real upward mobility but also be able to balance work and life," says Dean David Van Slyke. "It's 40-45 hours a week of work, but you still can have upward mobility, positive benefits and have purpose in your job."

 The team, which includes Doug Wolf, professor of public administration and international affairs, Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology, and Jennifer Karas Montez, professor of sociology, will explore pre-emption’s effect on geographic inequities in health, focusing on labor and environmental policies.

To reconcile the differences between the Antideficiency Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, Todd Dickey, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs, suggests that the government "could make clear when the government could lawfully pay FLSA-required wages for labor performed during a shutdown."