Moynihan Institute News, Research and Commentary

Oxana Shevel’s lecture reflects the Maxwell School’s ongoing scholarship, policy engagement and support for those affected by the conflict. 

The war likely won't end anytime soon, says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. “The simple reason is [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is not interested in a deal, he wants to control Ukraine and Ukraine wants to remain free and independent and sovereign. And there's no real overlap between those two positions at this point,” Taylor says.

Co-authored by Yilin Hou, professor of public administration and international affairs, the study was published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

“The Iranians have indicated...that they are willing to have a deal. What they want are their rights to enrich uranium that are guaranteed under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), that any country who signed on the the NPT has. But the Trump administration is insisting that there be no enrichment at all,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history.

The death of El Mencho may trigger a much wider onslaught of violence, says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. “He was a key leader of one of the most violent criminal groups in Mexico. As with the captures or killings of other drug cartel kingpins, we are likely to see violence in response to the sudden power vacuum.”

“This EU-level response is being replaced by individual country responses, which is withdrawing support,” says Lauren Woodard, assistant professor of anthropology. “In Poland, where many people live, the Polish government this month announced that they would not be extending that temporary protection status to Ukrainians.”

The Maxwell professor will receive the honor at the Society for Applied Anthropology’s annual meeting in March 2026.

”The president’s decision to shrug off dollar depreciation fits within a broader pattern, suggesting that the White House is comfortable with a weaker dollar because they view it as a tool to address global trade imbalances. However, this strategy carries risks: it could help rebalance the U.S. trade deficit but would also likely erode returns for foreign investors,” says Daniel McDowell, professor of political science.

The award is given by the Eastern Sociological Society to recognize sociologists whose innovative research is paired with meaningful public engagement. 

Today’s election is “the first genuinely competitive national vote in nearly two decades,” making it a “historic” moment for Bangladesh, and today's polls “mark a real break from the era of contested, non-credible polls and authoritarian entrenchment,” under Sheikh Hasina’s rule, says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

“Now she [ Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi] doesn't have to worry about any elections until 2028, when the next upper house elections will take place,” says Margarita Estévez-Abe, associate professor of political science. “So the best scenario for Japan is that Takaichi kind of takes a deep breath and focuses on amending the relationship with China.”

The Howard F. Cline Book Prize in Mexican History recognizes outstanding scholarship and will be presented in Paris this spring. 

Published in Social Work in Public Health, the article was co-authored by Robert Rubinstein, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Sanda Lane, professor emerita of public health; and Brittany Kmush, associate professor of public health.

There’s been “a real rupture in the way we think about how the world order, if we want to call it that, functions,” says Daniel McDowell, Maxwell Advisory Board Professor of International Affairs. In moments of instability, he explains, buying gold has historically been a sort of “psychological reaction” for some hoping to find a safe place for their money.

The Maxwell associate professor was an invited lead discussant for the organization as it prepares to update its Social Institutions and Gender Index, a widely used measure of international gender inequality.

“For Bangladesh, water is far more than a resource; it is the vital pulse of our ecological resilience and the primary determinant of our human vulnerability. Yet, in the high-stakes geopolitical landscape of South Asia, our rivers are increasingly being reconfigured from lifelines into instruments of hydro-coercion,” writes Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

“Any mass sale of Treasurys like that would likely cause severe disruptions that not only impact the U.S., it would also impact European banks and the entire global economy,” says Daniel McDowell, Maxwell Advisory Board Professor of International Affairs.

The study, authored by Professor of Geography and the Environment Farhana Sultana, was published in Human Geography.

Robert Rubinstein, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and professor of international relations, has co-authored the textbook Cultural Awareness for Peace Operations Personnel to accompany a course of the same name offered by the Peace Operations Training Institute in Richmond, Virginia. 

Drawing from material in the Maxwell School’s Introduction to Archaeology and World Prehistory course, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Christopher DeCorse offers an overview of archaeology’s theories and methods and traces human history from early ancestors to the emergence of agricultural states across the globe.