Why do politicians cooperate peacefully with organized criminal groups? Interactions between organized criminal groups and politicians are often either depicted as coercive or where the politician is a member of the criminal group. Using mixed-methods research on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a project by Jessie Bullock, PhD Candidate in Government, Harvard University, shows that there is a third explanation for cooperation: politicians willingly engage with organized criminal groups at arms-length when it is in their electoral interest to seek out these arrangements and when they have a low...
In recent years, several countries throughout the Americas have increasingly experienced concerning signs of democratic backsliding: Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, El Salvador, Paraguay and Peru have all seen varying degrees of deterioration of their democractic institutions such as independence of the judiciary or the right to free protest. Similarly, the United States, which has long prided itself as a champion of democracy in the region and the world, was shaken by an unprecedented threat to its democracy on January 6 when a mob of insurgents sieged the Capitol building in an...
Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mount Auburn St., Floor 2, Suite 200N
Please note this event has been postponed. Please check back for a future date and time for this event.
Join us for a discussion with Steven Brooke, Assistant Professor, Comparative Politics, University of Wisconsin; and non-resident fellow, Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative. The talk will be moderated by Tarek Masoud, Professor of Public Policy...
Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mount Auburn St., Floor 2, Suite 200N
Join us for a discussion with Ash Center Ford Foundation Mason Fellow Faniya Mussayeva. Mussayeva is an international development expert with over 18 years of experience working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in Central Asia, Eastern Europe...
CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Room S354
Despite a lull after the Soviet collapse, grassroots activism in Russia is growing. The protests for free elections that swept across Russia this summer may have captured international headlines, but many other grassroots groups have been organizing over the last decade. What types of civic movements exist in today’s Russia? What risks do activists face? How do they interact with the state or state-protected interest groups? Finally, what role could grassroots groups play in democratizing Russia? Yevgeniya Chirikova sheds light on these questions through her experience as an...
Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building, 4th Floor, Harvard Kennedy School
Please join us and the Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center for an evening with the writers of American Repertory Theater's We Live in Cairo, Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour, featuring live performances of songs from the musical and discussion with MEI Faculty Director Tarek Masoud on translating the story of Egypt's 2011 revolution and its aftermath for the stage, and the...
American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St, Cambridge
Presented by the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, the Ash Center and the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, theWe Live in Cairo Act II Series invites audience members to remain at the theater following select performances for a curated discussion. The discussions are free and open to ticket-holders of any...
American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St, Cambridge
Presented by the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, the Ash Center and the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, theWe Live in Cairo Act II Series invites audience members to remain at the theater following select performances for a curated discussion. The discussions are free and open to ticket-holders of any performance, subject to availability.Join us June 8th after the 2:00pm performance for a conversation with Nermin Allam, Assistant Professor of Politics at Rutgers University-Newark; and Vickie Langohr, Associate Professor of Political Science at the College of the Holy Cross.... Read more about "We Live in Cairo" Act II Series: A Discussion with Nermin Allam and Vickie Langohr
American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St, Cambridge
Presented by the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, the Ash Center and the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, theWe Live in Cairo Act II Series invites audience members to remain at the theater following select performances for a curated discussion. The discussions are free and open to ticket-holders of any performance, subject to availability.
Join us June 1st after the 7:30pm performance for a conversation with Soha Bayoumi, Allston Burr Resident Dean of Kirkland House, Assistant Dean of Harvard College, and Lecturer in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University; and Ahmed Ragab, Richard T. Watson Associate Professor of Science and Religion at Harvard Divinity School, Affiliate Associate Professor at the Department of the History of Science, and Director of the Science, Religion and Culture Program at Harvard University.