Maxwell School News and Commentary
Filtered by: Commentary
Coffel Weighs In on the Effect of Extreme Heat on Airplanes in Bloomberg Article
Hot air is less dense than cold air meaning planes have less lift when the mercury rises. “This is a physical restriction related to air density, and there are not a whole lot of direct technological fixes for it,” says Ethan Coffel, assistant professor of geography and the environment.
See related: Climate Change, Infrastructure, United States
Gadarian Quoted in Christian Science Monitor Article on Trump’s Indictment Over 2020 Election
“These indictments aren’t endearing independents to Trump,” says Shana Gadarian, professor and chair of political science, noting that in the last election, independents were key to Mr. Biden’s victory in pivotal battleground states.
See related: Law, Political Parties, U.S. Elections, United States
BBC News Features DeCorse’s Field Work in Ghana, Discovery of ‘First English Slave Fort in Africa’
See related: Africa (Sub-Saharan), Archaeology
Huber Weighs In on Tennessee Valley Authority’s Small Nuclear Reactor Program in Canary Media Piece
“This is a perfect sweet spot for a public power entity to take on some of that risk, to try to really get a technology that we need off the ground,” Matt Huber, professor of geography and the environment, says of TVA’s small modular reactor program. “They have the resources and the social mission to do that, where private capital wouldn’t.”
See related: Climate Change, Energy, United States
Weschle Discusses the Parliamentary Behaviors of Politicians with Second Jobs on The Bunker Podcast
"Typically, you would expect a decrease in voter attendance because they’re [members of Parliament, MPs] working in the private sector. What you find among Labour MPs is no difference whatsoever. Among Conservative MPs you actually find that attendance increases when they have a second job. So they are more likely to attend votes," says Simon Weschle, associate professor of political science.
See related: Europe, Government, Labor
Banks Quoted in The Hill Article on Trump’s Indictments
“Going forward I think there’s almost no doubt he’s going to be indicted in Washington. And because he’s going to be indicted in Washington and the potential for a jury that would sit and judge him in Washington, his prospects for remaining free got a lot darker,” says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.
See related: Crime & Violence, Federal, Law, State & Local, United States
Barton Article on Eliminating Partisan Primaries Published in The Fulcrum
"Given how partisan and ideologically extreme most politicians still are, are nonpartisan primaries really enough to save American democracy? While we’re already seeing improvements in the states that have them, the tide won’t fully change until a critical mass of politicians are freed from partisan primaries at the state and national level," writes Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of policy studies and public administration and international affairs.
See related: Political Parties, State & Local, U.S. Elections, United States
Thompson Discusses the Legacy of Far-Right Women’s Groups in the US on WORT 89.9FM
"There have been women involved for a long, long time. For example, there was a very active women’s branch of the Klu Klux Klan in the 1920s. And many of those women, but not all, had been members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy," says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science.
See related: Gender and Sex, Media & Journalism, Race & Ethnicity, Social Justice, United States
McFate Offers Perspective on the NATO Summit and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in USA Today Article
Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs, thinks Zelenskyy is in trouble. McFate says Zelenskyy kept pushing NATO countries for increasingly sophisticated weapons on the promise that Ukraine would have a decisive spring offensive. "When the offensive happened, it was summer and failing,'' he says.
See related: Defense & Security, NATO, Ukraine
Ueda-Ballmer Weighs In on Japan’s Mental Health Crisis, Gender Inequality in The Nation Article
“Suicide was always a men’s issue,” says Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, associate professor of public administration and international affairs. During the pandemic, “suddenly, women’s suffering became visible.” For the first time, “the government was forced to confront an approach to suicide prevention that had previously focused exclusively on middle-aged men.”
See related: East Asia, Gender and Sex, Health Policy, Income, Labor, Mental Health