Stretching from the Atlantic coast in the west to the Red Sea in the east, the region of north-central Africa known as the Sahel has rarely figured as a focus of international geopolitics. Yet this semi-arid band of territory, spanning some 14 countries and home to numerous ethnic and religious groups, is emerging as a new arena in the sprawling global battle between governments and jihadist groups.

BY MATTHEW CROSS The days after an election bring feelings of happiness or sadness with the illusion that the victory or defeat is permanent. Since November 2016, the Democrats I speak to still wonder if their party will ever be competitive again. I too have experienced this, but from a different viewpoint. As an idealistic […]

Angela Irvine and Aisha Canfield The authors of this article partnered with seven juvenile detention centers across the country to obtain an unprecedented snapshot of youth in custody to determine if lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning, gender nonconforming and transgender (LGBQ/GNCT) youth are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. Specifically, the authors were interested in understanding […]

BY MARIYA ILYAS AND CASSIE RASMUSSEN Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States—more commonly known as the “Muslim Ban”—which restricts immigration from several Muslim-majority countries. For a year now, the United States, a country founded on religious freedom, has been […]

The stimulant Captagon has been portrayed as a super drug underlying the violence in Syria and Iraq. But the emphasis on the drug’s side-effects, in conjunction with a fear of narcotics bred by the war on drugs, has detracted from a proper analysis of the foundational causes of that violence.

For as long as I can remember, January 26 has been one of my favorite days of the year: Australia Day. Typically, I, and many other Aussies, spend the day with family and friends overloading BBQs with meat, carefully extracting beer and wine from ice-filled eskys, playing backyard cricket, and listening to Triple J’s Hottest […]

BY BEN YUNMO WANG A massive government effort to build thousands of commercial-themed towns across China is off to a rockier start than expected. Still largely overlooked in Western media, “Characteristic Small Towns” (CSTs) have become the championed model of urban development in China over the last two years, littered across ambitious initiatives by central […]

After 30 years of implementing the Arabization policy, the challenges with language education in Morocco, if not with the education system as a whole, have yet to be fully addressed. To effect true change and movement towards multilingualism, the entire approach towards teaching language must shift from a grammar-oriented approach to a meaningful competencies-based approach.

BY NAMRATA RAJU Chile, 2006: Jim wiped the blood from his eyes and gingerly picked his body off the ground. He had been idling down an empty street when, suddenly, several young men pounced on him and beat him to a pulp. “Why do you walk funny, you pansy?” they bellowed, between punches. India, 2010: […]

BY BENJAMIN CLAYTON I have always thought that commencement ceremonies come at the wrong time. This coming May, around 550 of us will graduate from the Harvard Kennedy School, and celebrate by sitting through speeches on how to “go out into the world”, “be the change” and “ask what you can do.” This is fine. […]

Russia joined the war in Syria in October 2015, sending shockwaves around the world and adding another dimension to the conflict. A closer analysis of Russia’s interests in the Middle East reveals a superpower itching to dominate the world stage.

BY ROBERT REYNOLDS Let’s say “Debbie the Democrat” is running for the US House of Representatives. Debbie knows she can win votes through personal contact with constituents. However, because doing this through typical methods like door knocking is time-intensive, her consultants insist she prioritize using TV ads and mailers to reach voters at scale. As […]