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Health & Social Policy

The “Wicked” Problem

An Excerpt from Building Effective Collaborative Governance in Juvenile Justice: A Framework for Success in Social Policy Reform By Rylee Pluta and Tracy Johnson In 1973, theorists Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber revolutionized public management through the introduction and analysis of a new term, “wicked” problem, that highlights the complexities of public policy problems. According […]

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Uncategorized

Coding Standards: How education and policymakers can prevent coming tech catastrophes

By Alejandro Hernandez & Anna Krolikowsk In 1846, the rate of women who died shortly after giving birth in a hospital in Vienna was higher in the physician’s clinic than in the midwives’ ward. Doctors attributed the deaths to random cases of childbed fever. That was until Ignaz Semmelweis, assistant professor at John Hopkins School […]

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Uncategorized

The Case for Public Digital Infrastructure

By David Freid What do the 24-hour outages of Meta-owned services like Facebook and WhatsApp, the lockout of Russian civilians from using their Visa and MasterCard credit cards tied to the SWIFT system, and the massive outflow of users from one of the world’s most crucial mass communication platforms due to its hostile takeover by […]

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Health & Social Policy

A Golden Opportunity

By Afnaan Qayyum A hundred companies in the UK recently announced four-day workweeks without pay cuts. Meanwhile, there is an emerging debate in the U.S. over labor rights and workplace wellness. “Better late than never,” they said about the world’s richest economy.  The business motivation for introducing employee wellness programs lies in increased productivity, reduced […]

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Global Op-Ed

How the United Nations Can Rebuild Trust with the People

By Alejandro Hernandez Amidst the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the Ukrainian counter-offensive in September, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 77th session went mostly under the radar. Citizens around the world usually ignore these sessions, even though the UN is the largest international organization in the world working on the most important challenges […]

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Politics and Governance

The Unknown Political Power of New Texans

By Sabrina Page You can learn a lot about population change in Texas simply by entering the parking lot of your local HEB. When I moved to Austin from Seattle last fall, I started noticing the high out-of-state representation by playing a game called “How many different license plates can I spot today?”: Illinois, Massachusetts, […]

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Climate Change Energy & Environmental Policy Global

No Requiem for Earth… Yet

By Kathleen Hillery Human-accelerated climate change is the most urgent crisis of our time. Each successive iteration of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change hammers home the increasingly desperate environmental come-back necessary to prevent cascading disruption to ocean currents, biodiversity, and humanity’s way of life.  Scientists have published robust studies confirming human activity has caused […]

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Global Policy Studies & International Security

Why You Should Care About Taiwan

By Nicholas Whelan An octopus almost prevented me from existing— at least indirectly. My grandmother, Kuei-Mei, frequently shares the story of her near-death encounter with the octopus, offering a glimpse into her childhood in Taiwan. My grandmother was scavenging for food along the shore outside her home, doing everything she could to feed a family […]

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Politics and Governance

What Can Policy Actually Control?

By Connor McMann Before kickoff of every Michigan football game versus Ohio State, my father used to light a large wax candle, emblazoned with a blue Block M, and place it in the room for good luck. By the time Michigan lost to our bitter rivals for the eighth straight year, the middle of the […]

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Global Policy Studies & International Security

Twitter Diplomacy: Ukraine and The End of Fancy Dinners

By Alejandro Hernandez In December 2021, when President Vladimir Putin was still threatening to invade Ukraine, the official Ukrainian Twitter account published a meme describing how being Russia’s neighbor can give you the worst type of headache. Two months later, when Putin invaded, the tweets and memes did not stop. The account continues to be […]