Moynihan Institute News, Research and Commentary

"This can't continue as systems that become more unstable and unpredictable will harm more in chaotic ways," says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

Brian Taylor, professor of political science, says that the mutiny fallout has put Putin in a position he's neither familiar nor comfortable with—often using his pulpit to blast political enemies, both inside and outside of Moscow. "Now he's applying that very same language to one of his own guys, someone he elevated to a position of power and responsibility," Taylor says.

"I think Putin emerges from this significantly weakened," says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. "I think if you're a member of the Russian elite or are in fact a member of the Russian population, you're going to look at this and think, 'Wow, a private army just drove on Moscow for most of the day. No one stopped them and they're allowed to leave and no real consequences.'"

This monograph – written by Maxwell alumna and former Peruvian Defense Minister, Nuria Esparch – addresses two main questions. First, why did some Peruvians want to defend democracy with a coup? Second, what has changed in the military that used to intervene in politics and now does not? 

"He’s [Prigozhin] clearly trying to draw a sharp contrast between his presence directly on the battlefield, his engagement with his soldiers, and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, which he frequently attacks as being out of touch elitists who are damaging the war effort," says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

“Certainly, there’s not enough affordable housing,” says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. “You have a situation of high poverty and a really kind of outrageous rental market in Syracuse.”

“If they [Saudi Arabia] want to be able to guarantee their population food security, they know that they can’t really do that domestically,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. The Arizonan land was particularly appealing to the kingdom “because you can get more bang for your buck when you buy that farm,” says Koch.

“There needs to be greater regulation of the staffing industry,” says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. “And we need to make it a lot easier for workers to unionize. All of the research has shown that in unionized workplaces, workers are far less likely to experience injury or fatalities.”

The award was established in 2016 to recognize excellence in teaching and to appreciate indispensable contributions of our faculty to enhancement of knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa region.

What matters to China is consumer and investor confidence, "so it is not hard to see why Chinese officials are pushing back on the argument that a population decline spells economic decline," says Dimitar Gueorguiev, associate professor of political science.

“If you can invest the capital to drill a deep well that can get deep into the groundwater supply, then you can really pump as much as you want,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “This was appealing to the Saudis as well to go [to La Paz County], where they’re not being charged for water they extract because there’s no measuring of it.”

"China wants to get a sense, are you really serious about figuring out some way of turning down the heat or not," says Dimitar Gueorguiev, associate professor of political science. "And they have reason to be suspicious on where we're going with the electoral cycle in the U.S. and how risky it is."

"Returns to Scale in Property Assessment: Evidence from New York State’s Small Localities Coordination Program," co-authored by Maxwell professors Yilin Hou and John Yinger, was published in the National Tax Journal.

Michael Williams, associate professor of public administration and international affairs and director of the master of arts in international relations program, has been elected to the Governing Council of the International Studies Association and the Executive Committee of the Governing Council for 2023-24. 

“Wagner was a very useful stopgap in that period between when [Russia] had so many of their regular forces attrited and Putin came around to the realization that he had no choice but to bring in hundreds of thousands of more people. That may, in some sense, prove to be that Wagner is at its sort of height of influence,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

"Putin’s War of Recolonization," co-authored by Maxwell professors Renée de Nevers and Brian Taylor, was published in the Journal of Democracy.

Recent retiree Margaret ‘Peg’ Hermann greatly expanded the institute’s global reach and served as a mentor to countless students.

Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment, has written “Placing Islam: Geographies of Connection in Twentieth-Century Istanbul” (University of California Press, 2023). 

“The U.S. has always been promoting and setting up this entire thing,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “It’s not like the Americans are passive in this. We have absolutely helped sow the seeds for that Saudi agricultural industry that has come back to us now.”

Dimitar Gueorguiev, associate professor of political science, has contributed to and edited "New Threats to Academic Freedom in Asia" (Columbia University Press, 2023).