Moynihan Institute News, Research and Commentary

Professor of Geography and the Environment Natalie Koch examines how sustainability spectacle ultimately obscures Gulf state leaders’ refusal to shift their economies and political systems away from fossil fuels, while simultaneously justifying yet more unsustainable development—just with a new green label. Published in Current History.

“In theory, the U.S. could station U.S. nuclear weapons in Ukraine and maintain command authority of them, like it does in several NATO member states,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. “But it's extremely difficult to imagine that happening.”

Professor and Russia expert Brian Taylor offers an up-to-date overview of the key forces that drive Russian politics. This book explores the primacy of the state over society, the role of the “West” in Russian political development, and the effect of the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union on the Russian political and economic system. Published by 
Oxford University Press.

“I don't think COP29 delivered the way many developing countries wanted. It was called the finance COP but you could call it a cop out in terms of how well the countries pledged a fraction of the needed finance. That goal of $1.3 trillion a year becoming only $300 billion a year now,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

Although Chinese-student enrollment at U.S. universities has rebounded since the pandemic, China’s best and brightest might be shying away, says Yingyi Ma, professor of sociology. Soaring anti-China rhetoric probably plays a part, she says, but so do expanding opportunities for Chinese graduate students at home, and the growing challenges to obtain work visas.

Professor of Political Science Daniel McDowell and his co-authors find that priming Americans to think about inflation reduces approval of the Biden-Harris administration and lowers confidence in the Democrats' ability to manage the economy. Published in SSRN.

“Russia clearly interfered in this election,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science and expert on Russian politics. He says Russia’s objectives were to “help Trump and to sow chaos more generally—although there is no evidence that their activities changed the outcome.”

Daniel McDowell and co-author explore whether the representation of Black people in international organization leadership positions influences perceptions of legitimacy among Black and white individuals. Published in International Organization.

“He has to go cap in hand to push the plan, sort of carve out a position and then say at home, having asked, that this is now what we have to do,” says Michael John Williams, a associate professor of public administration and international affairs, adding, “At least he can say he’s tried. He’s exhausted the possibilities.”

“She both inherited a crisis as well as the commitments AMLO made to a range of stakeholders like the National Guard,” says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations, referring to the former president by his initials. 

“I can’t imagine Donald Trump rolling up his sleeves and digging into the nitty-gritty of the words of this conflict,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. “That’s not who he is [but] that’s what it takes to bring about ceasefires and peace settlements, lots of detailed, nitty-gritty negotiation on a whole host of issues. It’s not simply tell both sides to stop.” 

“When you are looking at the Gulf countries, you see that a lot of these sustainability projects are very large, and they’re very loud about them, but they hide the fact that, in fact, the rest of society is not at all sustainable,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

“North Korean troops in Ukraine would be another confirmation that the Russian war in Ukraine is not a local or regional conflict,” says Tetiana Hranchak, visiting assistant teaching professor in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs. 

“North Korea and Russia signed a joint military assistance agreement last June and they are pursuing cooperation...In terms of what North Korea might get in return, I think the big fear is that Russia would be sharing more advanced nuclear technology, perhaps submarine technology or other conventional weapons technology with North Korea,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

The archaeology professor will give four lectures about his findings on England’s 17th century-involvement in the West African slave trade.

Using a 40-year panel dataset from Texas, Yilin Hou and co-author identify leader municipalities in changing sales tax rates and examine how municipalities asymmetrically respond to multi-tiered rate changes. Published in Fiscal Studies: The Journal of Applied Public Economics.

One element is “the return...of class politics, which takes the form of a series of important legislative measure that includes raising the minimum wage, facilitating the formation of unions, but also more specific things like, for example, recognizing the labor rights of domestic workers for the first time in the country,” says Edwin Ackerman, associate professor of sociology. 

“By growing the use of the RMB in cross-border trade settlement directly between China and Russia, U.S. financial sanctions cut targeted actors off from using the dollar system, which forces targets into alternative currencies that are exchanged outside of the U.S. financial system,” says Daniel McDowell, professor of political science.

“The type of damage that you'll see is to property, to infrastructure, to roads and highways, but also to critical infrastructure like hospitals and power stations. And this will be devastating. It will be in the many billions of dollars,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment. 

Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment, has edited and contributed to this collection, which exposes how legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism co-produce and exacerbate the climate crisis, create disproportionate impacts on those who contributed the least to climate change, and influence global and local responses. (Routledge, 2024).