Schar School of Policy and Government

Joe Russell might just run for public office one day. For sure he will be an advocate for civil and voting rights.

Dr. Justin Gest, assistant professor and expert in minority political behavior, embodies the Schar School’s commitment to the pursuit of academic research directly relevant to the world’s policymakers. Two of his most recent publications illustrate well how our faculty have a foot in the realms of theory and practice.

There’s a long list of Syrian officials with blood on their hands -- but the culpability goes all the way to the top.

Within months of President Barack Obama taking the oath of office in January 2009, he was confronted by a novel strain of H1N1 influenza spreading throughout North America and then the world.

Last fall, over a single week in the battle for Aleppo, 96 Syrian children were killed. Across Syria in 2015 and 2016, at least 1,200 children were killed (but possibly many more).

The United States Government invests billions of dollars to advance economic development and civil society in post-Soviet Central Asia. Despite this commitment, public perception of the U.S. in these countries is in decline.

Presidential candidates promise to change policies“with the stroke of a pen” as soon as they get in office. Schar School scholars explore how often that actually happens.

Global efforts to combat bioterrorism and strengthen international health security face a major crisis: The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention is in dire financial straits.

The first weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency saw the new U.S. administration initiating changes likely to reshape the policy environment—perhaps quite drastically—around many issues at the intersection of religion and international affairs.

It was “old home evening” at the Schar School on March 30 when Francis (Frank) Fukuyama returned to the site of his early career successes (1996-2000) to provide the annual Harold Gortner Lecture in political science. As such, many friends and former colleagues joined in welcoming Dr. Fukuyama back to where he started his academic career.