Myths From Mumbai

By Arvind Panagariya
Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy, SIPA

Following the Mumbai terror attacks, politicians, pundits and the press have created many myths, confusions and falsehoods. These deserve to be exposed in favor of clearer thinking.

Whose Conceptual Foundations?

By Mohini Datt
MIA 2010
Amidst the din of Hobbesian chest-beating and Neoconservative bugle calls you might have failed to notice the near silence from the women’s camp.  A core requirement for all students in the Master’s of International Affairs program here at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs is the classConceptual Foundations of International Relations Theory [...]

The Conflict in Congo: Violence Against Women and What We Can Do About It

By Rebecca Laks
MPH 2009
Mailman School of Public Health
Last week I listened to Stephen Lewis ask rhetorically, “Why isn’t the Secretary-General of the United Nations hollering on a daily basis about what is happening in the Congo?”
Stephen Lewis, co-director of AIDS-Free World and former UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for HIV & AIDS in Africa could have [...]

Democracy in East Asia is in distress

By Lena Bjornsen
Exchange from Aarhus University, Denmark
Masters in Journalism 2009
Democracy in East Asia is in trouble. This is the conclusion of a survey recently published by the East Asia Barometer (EAB). The people simply aren’t satisfied with their democratic regimes. Most recently political disputes in Thailand led to thousands of demonstrators from the anti-government People’s [...]

Single Malt Scotch: SIPA Students Taste the “Aqua Vitae”

As the fall semester of 2008 comes to a close and SIPA students are no longer crammed into Lehman Library studying for their final exams, we’d like to joyfully remind ourselves and our peers that educational pursuits can also go beyond the classroom and textbooks.  Happy Holidays, and safe drinking – from the editors of [...]

New York City is just like Tehran – only better

By Lena Bjornsen
Exchange from Aarhus University, Denmark
Masters in Journalism 2009
Tehran is a large city like so many others around the world. It has countless cultural offerings, coffee places which are open 24 hours and it has a large degree of freedom – but only behind closed doors. This is why close to 2,500 Iranian students are [...]

The World According to Joe Stiglitz’s Movie (And Me)

By Ben Colmery
MIA 2009
Last week, I took in the screening of “Around the World with Joseph Stiglitz.” It’s a film following Stiglitz around, um, the world, as he visits assorted winners and losers of globalization, and breaks down for us what it means to win and lose the globalization game. I have to say, I [...]

Blogging the Economy

By Courtney Doggart
MIA 2009
In the void caused by our merry writers buckling down for exams, I’m going to do what blogs do best–link to other blogs.
Topic of the day: The Role of New Technology in the Economic Crisis…. I don’t know of anyone tweeting at Lehman, though it probably did happen.  But blogging, as we [...]

Canadian Politics Implode

By Andrea Wong
MPA 2010
Canadians are reeling this week from the announcement that three opposition parties have formed a coalition agreement in an attempt to overthrow the current government, which is run by the Conservative Party of Canada.   That’s right, less than two months after Canadians went to the polls in the 40th Canadian General Election, [...]

Maximum Terror, Mumbai

By Mohini Datt
MIA 2010
Mohini is a first-year student from New Delhi, India.
Drive-by shootings of random passers by, a synchronized attack on multiple venues, a 60-hour siege of top hotels and the deliberate targeting of US, British and Israeli nationals: India has never seen terrorism of this kind. The body count continues, but so far at least [...]