Recent Headlines

Community policing in the Global South

November 29, 2021 Stephanie M. McPherson MIT News

Professor Fotini Christia is part of a team examining the challenges of implementing community policing across a range of countries.

Exploring the human stories behind the data

October 29, 2021 Alli Armijo MIT News

Senior Brian Williams has used bioengineering as a launchpad to combat racism in public health — and he doesn’t want to stop there.

Prof. Ben Schneider is among MIT's 2021-23 Committed to Caring honorees

October 22, 2021 Daniel Korsun Office of Graduate Education

Throughout the pandemic, numerous faculty members have stepped up to support and guide their graduate students in unique and impactful ways, through efforts such as championing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within their departments; respecting students’ mental health concerns and finding appropriate ways to accommodate them; and fostering community within their advising groups and departments.

Scene at MIT: MIT welcomes Chancellor Melissa Nobles

October 18, 2021 Stephanie Tran Division of Student Life

Nestled between buildings 12, 13, 24, and 31 is the North Corridor, an area coined as the “Outfinite” by students, where members of the MIT community gathered for an Institute community social hosted by President L. Rafael Reif to welcome MIT’s new chancellor, Melissa Nobles. After about 18 months of virtual Zoom meetings, for many it was their first time seeing and reconnecting with friends and colleagues.

Punishment for the people

October 12, 2021 Peter Dizikes MIT News

By some lights, it seems curious how authoritarian leaders can sustain their public support while limiting liberties for citizens. Yes, it can be hard to overthrow an entrenched leader; that does not mean people have to like their ruling autocrats. And yet, many do.

Citizens emerge from the slums

September 21, 2021 Leda Zimmerman MIT Department of Political Science

Research reveals that urban poor of the developing world are politically engaged and capable of lifting themselves up.

Data flow’s decisive role on the global stage

September 13, 2021 Leda Zimmerman MIT Department of Political Science

New research by a political science doctoral candidate illuminates the broad economic and political impacts of internet restrictions

Reflecting on September 11, 20 years later

September 11, 2021 Center for International Studies MIT News/Center for International Studies

Steven Simon, the Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies and an expert on US strategy and the war on terror, weighs in on 9/11 and where we can go from here.

Studying Community-Driven Development Projects in Indonesia

September 1, 2021 Will Sullivan, Ying Gao MIT GOV/LAB

Ying Gao, an MIT PhD student and MIT GOV/LAB researcher, is looking at how collaborations on service delivery between governments and communities impact leaders in informal communities.

MIT-Japan Program establishes the Patricia Gercik Memorial Fund

August 19, 2021 Center for International Studies

“Pat was one of a kind — truly a force of nature” says Richard Samuels, the Ford International Professor of Political Science, director of CIS, and the founding director of the MIT-Japan Program.

How authoritarian leaders maintain support

August 5, 2021 Peter Dizikes MIT News

How do authoritarian regimes sustain their popularity? A novel study in China led by MIT scholars shows that anticorruption punishments meted out by government authorities receive significant support among citizens — who believe such actions demonstrate both competence and morally righteous leadership.

Apekshya Prasai receives 2021 Jeanne Guillemin Prize

July 30, 2021 Michelle English The Center for International Studies/MIT News

Apekshya Prasai is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science. Drawing on original data collected through fieldwork in Nepal and secondary data from across South Asia, her dissertation analyzes the processes that trigger women’s inclusion in rebel organizations and examines how women themselves influence these processes.

Governance innovation boot camp culminates in pitch night

July 7, 2021 Will Sullivan MIT News

Designed by the MIT Governance Lab (MIT GOV/LAB) and Sierra Leone’s Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), the boot camp taught strategies for identifying and understanding governance problems and finding creative, evidence-based solutions.

Melissa Nobles named MIT’s next chancellor

June 17, 2021 Peter Dizikes MIT News

MIT has announced that its next chancellor will be Melissa Nobles, an accomplished scholar who has led the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences since 2015.

For the first time, NATO is focusing on China

June 15, 2021 Daniel Ofman The Worlds

Both the Trump and the Biden administrations have described China as an adversary, a rival, even a threat. China has been front and center when it comes to Biden's foreign policy agenda. Now, the NATO alliance is also zeroing in on China with laserlike focus.

Six MIT SHASS educators receive 2021 Levitan Teaching Awards

June 14, 2021 School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences MIT News

Six individuals have received the James A. and Ruth Levitan Teaching Award for 2021. The award, given annually by the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS), honors superlative teachers across the school, who have been nominated by MIT students themselves.

Searching for truth in data from authoritarian regimes

May 27, 2021 Hannah Meiseles MIT News

“Through my undergrad classes, I was introduced to many different international case studies. It helped me realize the need for action sometimes pushes people to settle for easy answers when searching for ways to improve the livelihoods of their fellow citizens.”

A searching discussion about being Asian American at MIT

May 24, 2021 Peter Dizikes MIT News

A broad-ranging panel discussion on May 18 examined the complexities of Asian American and Pacific Islander identity and acceptance at MIT, while underscoring the need for collaborative work among groups to combat prejudice and create equity.

Mobilizing the masses, one on one

April 29, 2021 Leda Zimmerman MIT Political Science

PhD candidate Gabriel Nahmias seeks to lower the barriers to political engagement.

Rt Hon. David Miliband SM ’90 receives the 2021 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award

April 26, 2021 School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

The MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) has announced that the Right Honorable David W. Miliband SM ’90, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), has been recognized with the 2021 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award.

A guide to when and how to build technology for social good

April 20, 2021 Will Sullivan MIT News/MIT Governance Lab

People frequently try to participate in political processes, from organizing to hold government to account for providing quality health care and education to participating in elections. But sometimes these systems are set up in a way that makes it difficult for people and government to engage effectively with each other. How can technology help?

Giving the people what they want?

February 21, 2021 Peter Dizikes MIT News

Research by MIT political scientist Devin Caughey shows that over time, elected politicians in the U.S. are generally responsive to the opinions of voters.

Political scientist In Song Kim receives the 2021 Levitan Prize

February 10, 2021 MIT SHASS Communications

In his new book, Kim aims to "provides a big data analysis of contemporary trade policy-making, facilitating not only academic research of trade with a new unit of analysis but also public awareness of product-specific trade negotiations such as the current China-U.S. trade dispute.”

To arms or to flight?

February 5, 2021 Leda Zimmerman MIT Political Science

Political science graduate student Aidan Milliff finds significant differences in how people in similar situations respond to threats of violence.

What must the US do to sustain its democracy?

January 20, 2021 Peter Dizikes MIT News

Recent months have been tumultuous for U.S. democracy, in ways that are both novel and yet also connected to conflicts seen throughout the country’s past. MIT News spoke to several of the Institute’s political scientists and historians, and asked them: What must the U.S. do to sustain the health of its democracy?

A new approach to studying religion and politics

December 20, 2020 Peter Dizikes MIT News

Associate Professor Richard Nielsen is an MIT political scientist with an innovative research program: He studies clerics in the Islamic world, combining textual analysis, ethnographic insights, on-the-ground research in the Middle East, and a big-data approach to charting online tracts.

For cultural and political conflicts, a humanizing imperative

December 14, 2020 School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Nasir Almasri heard so many discussions about the political struggles of Palestinians that by the time he was 7, he thought he’d heard enough to last a lifetime. He was wrong.