Maxwell School News and Commentary

"To present a useful and truthful picture, an accurate map must tell white lies," says Mark Monmonier, Distinguished Professor of Geography.

Steven White, assistant professor of political science, shows in his book "World War II and American Racial Politics" that the white public’s racial policy opinions largely did not liberalize during the war against Nazi Germany and Congress remained unwilling to act on a civil rights policy agenda.

"Even among his customary allies and supporters, there has been pretty blunt criticism, not only of the policy choice but of the way it was done and the way it is continuing to be done," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science, of the troop withdrawal in Syria.

"Rep. [Adam] Schiff is protected by the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution from being questioned 'in any other place,'" said William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs. "The protection clearly extends to the offending Tweets."

"Even with the enormous emphasis President Trump places on restarting U.S. agricultural exports to China, details about the pace of expected Chinese purchases of $40 billion to $50 billion of American farm products are murky," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

"Citizenship" (Polity Books, 2019), co-authored by Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science, takes the reader through the authors' approaches to the concept of citizenship and begins by highlighting how it is not always or often consistently applied and understood.

Leonard Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, says raising significantly more tax revenue to fund Medicare for All "is plausible in the sense that it is theoretically possible. But the revolution that would come along with it would get in the way." 

"We have to remember that every other country in the world will be doing business with China. That puts our companies at a severe disadvantage in doing business," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

Maria Zhu, assistant professor of economics, says that the University of California’s decision could be "a sign that the tides are shifting" on universities’ economic views of investing in fossil fuels. “If it has a positive impact, I do believe more schools will eventually divest for financial reasons, given that most of them tend to think social implications of divesting are positive or neutral at worst."