Earlier this month, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof chronicled the heartbreaking decline and ultimate death of his college roommate, Scott, from prostate cancer at age 53. Scott was uninsured, even though he could afford health insurance. He didn’t get… Continue Reading
President Obama has employed predator drones to target individuals associated with militant groups in the Middle East and South Asia, and has done so more often than his predecessor at any time. Looking at this strategy four years on, has it produced the results the administration was expecting? Continue Reading
Intelligence services in Mexico and the U.S. have identified a number of important drug trafficking leaders and placed them on the “Most Wanted” list. Many of the tactical efforts of the so-called war on drugs in Mexico have focused on these leaders. The administration of President Felipe Calderón now boasts it has captured or killed almost two-thirds of these most wanted criminals. This is one of the touted successes of the drug war that some claim has cost nearly 100,000 lives in Mexico alone. The question is whether targeting drug trafficking leaders is an effective strategy in the overall drug war. Continue Reading
Political analyst Bob Stein, Baker Institute fellow in urban politics, shows that it matters when Houstonians vote a straight ticket, but fail to vote for referendums at the bottom of the ballot: After every election the press reports how many… Continue Reading
On Thursday evening, Oct. 25, Baker Institute founding director Edward P. Djerejian spoke at Faneuil Hall in Boston for the third annual K. George and Carolann S. Najarian, M.D. Lecture on Human Rights. Djerejian’s address, titled “An American Ambassador’s Reflections on U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East and Caucasus,” discussed his experiences as a practitioner of U.S. foreign policy and the ongoing challenges for Armenia and the Caucasus. Download a transcript of his remarks after the jump. Continue Reading
Kingpin strategies have become one of the most hotly debated tactics in the “war on drugs” and the “global war on terrorism.” Kingpin decapitations, or strikes as they are often called, disrupt illicit networks — but create instability and therefore unintended consequences such as increased homicide and kidnap rates. Additionally, illicit networks adapt to the strategy and restructure themselves accordingly. While kingpin strategies can fragment cartels, the root causes of drug prohibition and weak state capacity must be addressed in tandem to effectively manage organized crime networks in Latin America. Continue Reading
One of the fundamental questions for the Mexican government under President Felipe Calderón has been how to develop its intelligence capabilities to defeat the narco-cartels that have sown so much internal insecurity in Mexico. There is a lesson to be learned from a 2009 challenge by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Department’s research and development arm. Continue Reading