Esraa Abdel Fattah Ahmed Rashid is a leading member of the April 6 Strike Group, which protested in support of workers in 2008. Called the “Facebook Girl” for her organizing role on social media, she was subsequently imprisoned for her activism. She reappeared during the 2011 Arab Spring protests both on social media and on … Read more
Since ROTC was welcomed back to campus in 2011, the once raucous debate over the matter has given way to a year and a half of silence. I’d like to re-spark the chatter by submitting a simple, provocative thesis: the program has no place at Harvard, nor at any other liberal arts college. When the … Read more
A wall of televisions occupies the stage. Each screen plays its own clip, from Hurricane Katrina news coverage to Survivor episode segments. Then, the screens synchronize to play a single video. George W. Bush, in his 2001 address to a joint session of Congress, steps up to the podium and proclaims, “Either you are with … Read more
There are two very different narratives about Sri Lanka. There’s the kind you read in the New York Times, the story about how now, even four years after the civil war has ended, the international community persistently demands that the Sri Lankan government more effectively investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes that took place at … Read more
Ben Smith is the editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed. He spoke with the Harvard Political Review at the Shorenstein Center of the Harvard Kennedy School. Harvard Political Review: In 2011, you moved from Politico to BuzzFeed. What was tough transitioning to BuzzFeed? Ben Smith: The thing is, I was able to hire a whole political team. It wasn’t … Read more
Osaremen Okolo interviews Spring 2014 IOP Fellow Bob White, the founding partner of Bain Capital and political wingman of Mitt Romney, to discuss his personal career and involvement in supporting Romney’s political campaigns. Bob White’s IOP study group, called “The ‘Wingman’ in the War Room: A Private Sector Perspective on Presidential Politics” takes place … Read more
Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, Egypt has undergone intense political turbulence and reshuffling as various parties vie for political control of the nation. The political landscape is dotted with myriad different organizations and groups—the military, the police force, the secularists, the Coptic Christians, the Islamists, the non-aligned Muslims, and many others—which … Read more
HPR writers analyze the situation in Egypt following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. What comes after protests, constitutional reform, and governmental transition?
[LETTER FROM CAIRO] I was there on the third anniversary of Egypt’s revolution, as thousands of Egyptians flocked to Tahrir Square, homemade flags and faded banners in hand. Faces, bright and shining from excitement and the hot desert sun, were decorated with cheap, flaking paint, the words “Al-Sisi” hastily scrawled across their foreheads. As I … Read more
Standing on my apartment’s balcony over Tahrir, I imagine what someone would’ve thought, staring at the exact same spot in the middle of “Liberation” Square three years earlier. With Mubarak finally removed, the square’s circular roundabout, usually crammed with cars and microbuses, would have been filled with civilians and soldiers alike, a mixture of uniformed … Read more