Maxwell School News and Commentary

"Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt Beyond" (Oxford University Press, 2020), written by Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs Catherine Herrold, was reviewed in Democratization.

"Gold has become an attractive hedge against sanctions risk for central banks at risk of such penalties. While there are limitations to gold's usefulness compared to, say, U.S. Treasuries, its unique appeal is found in its physical form, unquestioned value, and the ability to store bars in national vaults, safe from foreign seizure," says Daniel McDowell, associate professor of political science.

"Here we have yet one more opportunity to fully flesh out and understand what went wrong with the drug war in Mexico and why it could arguably be considered to be a colossal failure," says Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

With [Chinese President] Xi now signaling a shift to less rancorous bilateral ties, “I expect [Xie Feng, China's new ambassador to the U.S.] to be more kumbaya-ish,” says Dimitar Gueorguiev, associate professor of political science and expert on Chinese elite politics.

In her recently published book, “Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia” (Verso, 2023), Maxwell School faculty member Natalie Koch explores the exchange of colonial technologies between the Arabian Peninsula and the United States over the last two centuries. 

“When interest rates were very low, companies basically had endless money—and investors were telling them to focus on growth, not profitability,” says Aaron Benanav, assistant professor of sociology. “But because interest rates are rising, there’s a shift from big investors to say, ‘No, now you really have to focus on profitability.’ And the big way to do that is through cuts.”

"People in the Balkans are trapped in ethnic grids, in a monstrous bureaucracy that doesn't work, brought to a 'status quo' that is paralyzing," says Azra Hromadžić, associate professor of anthropology. 

A paramilitary outfit is making gains for Russia in eastern Ukraine. The Wagner Group, as the militia is known, is operated by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin. Mark Jacobson, assistant dean for Washington programs, discussed the situation with MSNBC.

“Trump starts off with a huge advantage in terms of name recognition and money in the bank—not his own money, but money from 2020 and money that he’s raising now,” says Shana Kushner Gadarian, professor and chair of political science. “So there is absolutely the case that he could be the nominee.”

"If people decide that they will vote for somebody, regardless of what they may have done in their past, that's one thing," says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. "But if they vote under the misconception that somebody is what they say they are and then they find out later when it's too late that [it] is wrong. That's a very different situation."