On November 11, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a breakthrough agreement between the two nations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and curb global warming. The two leaders, representing states that have not always seen eye-to-eye, stood side by side against a backdrop of the star-studded flags of both countries as they … Read more
Nineteen thousand cheering fans. Holograms. Brilliant lights and blaring music. Rock concert? Nope. EDM show? Not quite. On September 28, newly elected Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi took to the hallowed ground of Madison Square Garden to hold a victory rally in the United States. Thousands of Indian-Americans turned out for the event, many … Read more
I walked up eight steps, I hugged a gold statue of St. James the Apostle, and I walked down eight steps. As simple as it sounds, it was the symbol of the end of an inspiring month-long pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. During this month, walking mostly alone, I thought, I … Read more
It’s taken until now—in the wind chill of late October—for me to come to terms with the fact that it’s not summer anymore. I’m usually not subject to delusions about when one season ends and another begins—we have solstices and equinoxes to make easy work of that—but for the first time in 22 years, I … Read more
In a recent poll for the French presidential election in 2017, far-right politician Marine Le Pen is polling ahead of the president of France by a whopping eight percentage points. This is the continuation of a long trend that has skyrocketed her party to the top of French politics. Mrs. Le Pen’s numbers indicate that … Read more
While working in Hong Kong over the past summer, I took the same route back from my office everyday except one. On July 1, I reached Hennessy Road and was met with the sight of thousands marching for democracy. As the anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from the British to the Chinese, July … Read more
HPR writers weigh in on the response of the United States and the international community to ISIS. Image source: Business Insider Australia
In Johannesburg in April 2008, Eudy Simelane’s naked body was found face-down in a ditch. She had been stabbed nine times. She had been raped. Eudy had also been one of South Africa’s foremost female soccer players. She had dreamed of becoming the first female World Cup referee, and through her successes on the field, … Read more
“We know how to deal with them,” said Vice President Joe Biden on the issue of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant earlier this month at the Harvard Institute of Politics. The United States has dealt with many terrorist organizations in the past, and ISIL is merely the latest iteration, he said. Though … Read more
It is often expected that democracies impose term limits on presidential candidates. Such is the case in Bolivia, where the current term limit is set at two terms and general elections are set for October 12, 2014. So why is the incumbent, Juan “Evo” Morales, running for the third time? The simple answer is that … Read more