Vox reporter Zack Beauchamp highlights a study co-authored by Prof. Ezra Zuckerman Sivan that finds voters often support a politician they recognize is lying when the politician is viewed as upholding a specific group’s best interests. Zuckerman Sivan explains that the lies are seen as “as a tool for expressing a larger truth.”
A Washington Post article co-written by MIT graduate student Marsin Alshamary notes that there is “no clear political authority to hold accountable” for recent protests in Basra, Iraq. “Basra’s protests are more about economic grievances than political ones. Although many of these grievances are shared by other Iraqis, they are felt most keenly by Basrawis,” Alshamary and her co-author explain.
Writing for USA Today, Prof. Barry Posen argues for ending the war in Afghanistan. “It is plain that we have no actual strategic policy in Afghanistan — no plausible purpose other than using taxpayer money, the lives of American soldiers and the deaths of Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire to protect U.S. leaders against the possibility of future blame."
A report co-authored by Prof. Charles Stewart calls for fundamental changes to the U.S. voting system to help ensure security, reports the Associated Press. Stewart noted that funds appropriated by Congress earlier this year to help states improve election security are a "down payment" on what’s needed to update the current voting system.
Prof. Vipin Narang writes for Foreign Affairs about the state of North Korea’s nuclear program following President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Narang argues that the U.S. should try to “establish a stable deterrence regime rather than pressing for immediate unilateral disarmament, ensuring that nuclear dangers on the Korean Peninsula are managed responsibly.”
Prof. Charles Stewart III writes for The Washington Post about a new report from the MIT-run Elections Performance Index (EPI) showing that election administration improved from 2012 to 2016. “The latest EPI shows that we can use objective metrics to chart any policy change aimed at improving voting, and that it’s not as difficult as we thought,” explains Stewart.
In an article for the Pacific Standard about dispelling rumors and conspiracy theories, Nathan Collins highlights research by Prof. Adam Berinsky examining how information sources impact voters. “People speaking against their interests [are] more credible,” Berinsky explains. “What’s more credible: the surgeon general or McDonald’s saying you shouldn’t eat French fries?”
In an article for Inside Higher Ed, Colleen Flaherty highlights a study co-authored by Prof. Kathleen Thelen, which examines the gender gap in publication rates for political science journals. “Beyond a general gender gap, Teele and Thelen also found that women remain underrepresented in terms of co-authorship,” writes Flaherty.
In an article for The New York Times, Prof. Vipin Narang writes that President Donald Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-un of North Korea legitimized North Korea’s status as one of the world’s nuclear powers. “North Korea’s nuclear power is politically complete, thanks to the legitimacy that comes from a handshake with an American president,” argues Narang.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has selected Associate Prof. J. Phillip Thompson to serve as his deputy mayor, writes Mara Gay for The Wall Street Journal. De Blasio praised Thompson as “one of the foremost experts on how to better serve and lift up low-income neighborhoods.”
Political science graduate student, Michael Freedman writes in The Washington Post about the increased influence of Israel’s religious political parties. Freedman argues that this change is due to the death of powerful moderate political leaders, and warns that it will become “difficult to build a stable coalition that relies on cooperation between secular and religious parties.”
Writing for The New York Times, Thomas Edsall highlights research by Profs. Daron Acemoglu and David Autor examining how automation and trade impacted the 2016 presidential election. “The swing to Republicans between 2008 and 2016 is quite a bit stronger in commuting zones most affected by industrial robots,” explains Acemoglu. “You don’t see much of the impact of robots in prior presidential elections.”
Writing for The Washington Post, Prof. Charles Stewart examines the disbanding of the election integrity commission and possible next steps for improving voting security. “The two most important issues right now are replacing the nation’s aging voting machines and making the information systems surrounding elections more secure and resilient in the face of mounting threats."
Prof. Barry Posen writes in The New York Times about the possible outcomes of different planned military strikes against North Korea. “A combination of diplomacy and deterrence, based on the already impressive strength of South Korean and United States conventional and nuclear forces, is a wise alternative,” concludes Posen.
According to Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post, MIT and Harvard are set to receive funding for a new foreign policy program from the Charles Koch Foundation. Prof. Barry Posen, who will lead the effort for MIT, notes, “This is not about politics. This is about policy and training graduate students and scholarship.”