Maxwell School News and Commentary

"If history has given us any lesson, it is that the U.S. government should step aside and let the Venezuelan people—with the assistance of multilateral organizations—guide this much-needed opening for democratic change forward," writes Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and the Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.  

INSTEX is a a new channel with Iran intended to provide a means for the European parties to comply with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, of which the United States is no longer a party. "Based on the reservations expressed by major corporations, I doubt that too many big European firms would be willing to deal with Iran through this channel," said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science. 

Generally, people find workers and taxpayers to be deserving of government benefits,” says Christopher Faricy, associate professor of political science.

"What the shutdown reveals is that the Trump administration does not have a very specific game plan for what it wants," says Dimitar Gueorguiev, assistant professor of political science. "So what it is going to do is to give the Chinese negotiators reason to pause and wonder whether any sort of deal they reach would credibly exist in the future."

"More tariffs and failure to get a deal will ultimately seem to people like further failure of the government," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

"Opioids are a symptom and a symbol of far deeper issues in the U.S.," says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion. She points to deteriorating economic conditions, a lack of investment in schools, a quick-fix culture and a toxic mix of "pain, despair, disconnection and lack of opportunity" as upstream problems that have fed into the nation's current drug crisis.

According to Dean David Van Slyke, "The bigger and longer term issue is: What will be the capacity of the federal government to actually attract the best and brightest people to its work?"

"Most people are not being inundated with fake news," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science. "That is not to say that this isn’t a problem, but I don’t think this is the magnitude of a problem that people often think it is."

"For many government workers, it's still a chance to have real upward mobility but also be able to balance work and life," says Dean David Van Slyke. "It's 40-45 hours a week of work, but you still can have upward mobility, positive benefits and have purpose in your job."