Maxwell School News and Commentary

“If they had strictly stuck to doing technocratic policy and formulated this as a matter of bureaucratic procedure, avoiding terms to which the Republican administration is allergic, maybe that executive order could have stood a chance,” suggests Johannes Himmelreich, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs.

Michah Rothbart, associate professor of public administration and international affairs, and co-authors examine the ways in which county fiscal constraints may be associated with responses to the opioid epidemic. Published in Social Science & Medicine.

Members of the MPA Class of 2010 came together to support the Maxwell School with a fundraising campaign.

Professor of Geography and the Environment Natalie Koch examines how sustainability spectacle ultimately obscures Gulf state leaders’ refusal to shift their economies and political systems away from fossil fuels, while simultaneously justifying yet more unsustainable development—just with a new green label. Published in Current History.

“If all of a sudden HHS is now in the business of passing more regulations on the food industry, on agriculture, we might see that a Republican Senate majority and a Republican House is less interested in allocating a budget to HHS that then would be under a different leadership,“ says Shana Gadarian, professor of political science.

In this study, Associate Professor of Economics Monica Deza and her co-author find evidence that a prevalent and transitory exogenous health-shock, namely pollen allergies, increases traffic fatalities. Published in the Journal of Health Economics.

“In theory, the U.S. could station U.S. nuclear weapons in Ukraine and maintain command authority of them, like it does in several NATO member states,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. “But it's extremely difficult to imagine that happening.”

Professor and Russia expert Brian Taylor offers an up-to-date overview of the key forces that drive Russian politics. This book explores the primacy of the state over society, the role of the “West” in Russian political development, and the effect of the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union on the Russian political and economic system. Published by 
Oxford University Press.

“I don't think COP29 delivered the way many developing countries wanted. It was called the finance COP but you could call it a cop out in terms of how well the countries pledged a fraction of the needed finance. That goal of $1.3 trillion a year becoming only $300 billion a year now,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.