Where do we stand with the Millennium Development Goals?
Established at the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are eight international development goals that member states and international organizations have committed to help achieve by the year 2015. With the 2013 Millennium Campus Conference being held at Northeastern University eight days from today, let us refresh ourselves […]
The Carbon Crunch
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be remembered as one of the few politicians to extend term limits in office, but pragmatism will be his ultimate legacy. If Mayor Bloomberg is the ideal pragmatist in politics then meet Dieter Helm, his counterpart in the climate change arena. Like Bloomberg who’s known to champion social […]
Buying Our Security: The Actual Risk of Terrorism
The United States is in a perpetual state of alert, forced to contend with a question that never seems to receive an answer: are we safer than we were before the fall of the Twin Towers changed everything? The effort to provide a positive response to this question comes with considerable cost. The Department of […]
GOP 2016: Looking to the Past, Present, and Future for the Republican Strategy
With the 2012 election firmly in the rear view mirror, Republicans have spent the better part of 2013 reflecting on their loss in the presidential race and rebranding the party image. Despite retaining a majority in the House of Representatives, the GOP has conceded that the landscape for a presidential election is entirely different. In […]
Rethinking Democratization: Authoritarian Reformism in Post-Revolutionary Egypt
On February 11, 2011, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt resigned after almost thirty years in office. The culmination of eighteen days of protest and demonstration across Egypt, this resignation brought an end to an age of authoritarianism and inspired hope for a new era of democracy, egalitarianism, and economic prosperity. Parliamentary elections were scheduled for […]
Is Greece’s Economic Future Destined for Failure?
The current situation in the Eurozone and its reception throughout the world remains twofold: while many people claim that the European economy is gaining momentum, skepticism largely dominates the Greek economy, which has carried heavy financial burden and wavers on the verge of collapse. Therefore, it is no surprise that when most people think about […]
H&M: Fashion’s Human Rights Faux Pas
In the midst of a thick smog and blistering heat, they stand in huddled masses on overcrowded trucks. The young women, in groups of around 20 or 30, are on their way to a new day at work in the Kandal province, only a short trip from the heart of Phnom Penh. Noticeably in pain, […]
Next Stop Taxachusetts: Finding Funds for a 21st Century Transportation System
“In light of the significant financial challenges the MBTA is currently facing, specifically its tremendous debt burden, the precipitous decline in the receipt of projected and dedicated revenues since the inception of Forward Funding, and perhaps most importantly the inability to finance billions of dollars worth of critical state of good repair projects, the MBTA’s […]
How the UK Can Finally Decide on its EU Commitment
The formation of the modern European Union did not occur at a single identifiable point in time, but rather through a gradual process over several decades that some now claim has progressed too far. This sentiment is particularly audible in the United Kingdom, where controversy regarding the nation’s membership in the EU is substantial and […]
Bike Sharing the Benefits: An Evolution of Municipal Bike Sharing Programs
The winter cityscape of Boston is peppered with snow banks and heavy coats. The Hubway stations you see popping up overnight are a sure indicator that warmer weather is on the way. About to start its third season of operation, Hubway launched in the summer of 2011 as Boston’s first bike sharing program. Hubway may […]