Drug incarcerations, prison overcrowding, and community corrections America’s prisons are overflowing. According to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2007 over 1.5 million people were imprisoned in state and federal jails, up from 320,000 in 1980. Twenty-five percent of current prisoners were convicted of drug crimes – possession and distribution – compared to … Read more
Brett McGurk on American Counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan Brett McGurk is the former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Senior Director for Iraq and Afghanistan. He was also the Director for Iraq on the National Security Council. The HPR sat down with him at the Harvard University’s Institute of Politics where he is … Read more
Rory Stewart on the current state of politics in Afghanistan Rory Stewart is the author of The Places in Between, a book about his solo walk across Afghanistan. He is also the founder of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation and currently the Director for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Harvard Political … Read more
Howard W. Gutman on Brussels and working for President Obama Howard W. Gutman is the current U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. Before this position he worked for over twenty-six years as a partner at the law firm Williams and Connolly LLP. In an interview with the HPR, the ambassador spoke about his new position. Harvard Political … Read more
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina, and where we stand today On Aug. 29, 2005, one million people were displaced overnight when Hurricane Katrina assaulted the Gulf Coast. “We plan for what we’ve experienced, but you don’t even begin to understand [a worst-case scenario] until it is upon you,” Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA employee who took refuge … Read more
The problem of too-big-to-fail “Greed is good,” said Gordon Gekko in the iconic 1987 film Wall Street. Yet while such attitudes may have contributed to economic growth in some sectors, now national and international economies are experiencing a recessionary hangover. The causes of the worst financial crisis since the Depression are many and it is … Read more
Reforming foreign aid at home In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, President George W. Bush made a sweeping commitment to global economic development. In early 2002, he declared, “We fight against poverty because hope is an answer to terror. We fight against poverty because opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity.” Development … Read more
And what it may mean for the U.S. strategic dilemma With fraud-ridden elections, a growing insurgency, and expanding Taliban influence, Afghanistan is at its most critical crossroads since the overthrow of the fundamentalist regime eight years ago. A report leaked last month revealed that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of U.S. and international forces … Read more
A closer look at shifting power dynamics in Iran The election crisis in Iran this summer riveted the world with scenes of dramatic demonstrations and a brutal crackdown that left hundreds dead. But the aftermath of the elections marked a subtle shift in the regime’s power structure: the ascent of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard … Read more
Trouble Ahead If Democrats Cannot Deliver to Labor In a speech to the AFL-CIO convention on Sept. 15, President Obama reminded his labor allies that any public insurance option “would just be an option.” Two days later, the AFL-CIO unanimously endorsed single-payer Medicare for all. Clearly a mere option is not the union’s preference when … Read more