Maxwell School News and Commentary

Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations, says Thursday’s apparent capitulation to the Sinaloa Cartel was "sending a loud message to other organized crime networks…that if they show up with enough firepower to a fight, they will win and get their way because the government does not have the wherewithal to fight back."

"What is incontrovertible is that the Sinaloa Cartel won yesterday’s battle," said Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. "Not only did they get the government to release Ovidio, they demonstrated to the citizens of Culiacan as well as the rest of Mexico who is in control."

"What's happening, at least in my research, is that young people have been organizing for a great deal of time. And what they've been saying is that, you know, enough is enough," says Jenn Jackson, assistant professor of political science.

"One of the risks for Democrats in 2020— specially at the presidential level—is that the impeachment process will suck up all the oxygen that otherwise might have been available to make the affirmative case for election," says Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher.

"If the allegations are true, the abuse of power is significant, and many members of Congress will be motivated to conduct impeachment proceedings," says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.

"It’s damning by any account just for the mere fact that he asked a foreign leader to investigate private citizens for potential personal political gain is egregious," says Christopher Faricy, associate professor of political science. "The question, what else is out there that we are not aware of, either with the Ukranian President or even other countries and leaders."

"The more moderate Democrats are recalculating, thinking they have to get on board with this [President Trump's impeachment] or face primaries" from left-leaning insurgents, says Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher. "The facts have also changed" since the Russia investigation, he adds.

University Professor James Steinberg explained how the parties involved were able to come to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, which allowed all of them to preserve their most important positions while finding space for compromise in order to end the violence.