How Hungray’s Conservative Wing Wrote a New Constitution for Itself In 2010, Hungary embarked on one of the most important tasks for the survival of their government by beginning to draft a constitution. Members of the parliamentary drafting committee wrote the document on their iPad. The “iPad” constitution attempts to completely undue the nation’s communist … Read more
Gary Johnson is a former two-term governor of New Mexico and current candidate for the GOP nomination for President. He is known for his low-tax libertarian views and is an avid mountain climber and triathlete. For an audio version of this interview, click here. Harvard Political Review: Where do you differ with fellow libertarian-leaning presidential … Read more
Christian minorities in the Middle East fear new regimes In early October of this year, 24 Egyptian demonstrators died in the country’s worst episode of violence since Mubarak’s fall in February. The clash between Coptic Christians and government forces highlights the religious diversity of region many assume to be monolithic. Copts took to the streets … Read more
The Antitrust Division strikes back “The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers…facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for mobile wireless services.” So declared Deputy Attorney General James Cole, bringing the Department of Justice (DOJ) into a national debate on government’s role in business. Previously, the Obama administration had proven relatively inactive in its enforcement of … Read more
Low revenues and high costs plunge states into crisis As America’s economic recovery crawls forward, its states suffer from depleted revenues and large spending commitments. Experts project between $30 billion and $40 billion in combined state budget deficits for fiscal year 2012. Though the federal government runs deficits during recessions to fund expansionary policies, many … Read more
The State of the Union has hindered the 112th Congress After Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives last November, they vowed to repeal major legislation passed by the previous Congress and satisfy the Tea Party, whose conservative votes and voices lifted them to victory. However, despite months of rancorous debate on topics ranging … Read more
Diana Henriques is a senior financial writer at The New York Times. She has been a Pulitzer finalist and was granted the first interview with felon Bernie Madoff upon his incarceration. She has authored four books, including “The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and The Death of Trust.” Harvard Political Review: How did you first … Read more
China’s history of supporting authoritarian regimes—from Kim Jong Il’s North Korea to Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela—is well established and widely criticized. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has outlined a policy of “oppos[ing] interference in other countries’ internal affairs under the pretext of democracy and human rights,” including trade sanctions in the category of “interference.” Amidst the country’s astronomic rise … Read more
When I first opened The Art of Fielding, an American novel that happens to be about baseball (and that happens to have been written by a Harvard alum, Chad Harbach), it was 2 A.M. in the middle of a school week, during what Shakespeare might have called a “long, dark night of the soul,” if … Read more
The Cold War between Saudi Arabia and Iran In the calculus of Middle Eastern power politics, Saudi Arabia and Iran stand on the opposing axes of power. The nations suffer an ongoing cold war, originating in the Iranian Revolution, and have recently waged a series of proxy wars. Changing levels of U.S. engagement in the … Read more