Eleven years have passed since September 11, 2011. Where were you when you heard the news? Most can answer that question. Whenever an event rocks one’s world, the time and place becomes indelibly etched in one’s mind. The day was an epiphany for the American public in a long war that began many years before and will continue for many to come. Continue Reading
Negotiations at the United Nations conference over a proposed Arms Trade Treaty, which would regulate conventional arms sales across borders, ended in July without a report. The talks will likely resume, however, and many are concerned about the treaty’s implications for the Second Amendment. The concern is justified, given the treaty’s goal is weapons control. Its terms are vague and could be used to launch efforts to attack the constitutional right to bear arms. Continue Reading
For Rice University students, the path to the world of public policy often leads through the Baker Institute. In the 2011-2012 academic year, seven institute interns won prestigious grants, including scholarships from the Fulbright, Marshall and Truman foundations. Continue Reading
Food insecurity, or the inability to access sufficient food, affected nearly 50 million Americans in 2010. Although typically defined as a household-level condition, there is a growing consensus that the roots of individual and family-level hunger may also be a function of the communities in which food-insecure people reside. Continue Reading
The bipartisan “war on drugs” has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and produced an incarceration rate that is by far the highest in the world. And yet, the number of American citizens with substance abuse problems has remained remarkably stable over the last 30 years, and illicit drugs remain easy to obtain for those who want them. Continue Reading
We have already taken advantage of the Internet in various aspects of our society. For instance, people used to choose restaurants according to a few gourmet food critics’ reviews in newspapers or magazines. However, nowadays, everybody can read and write reviews as well as share ideas about restaurants via the Internet. This way of sharing knowledge and opinions also applies to cars, movies, stores and even websites themselves. Why can’t we transfer the public reviewing and sharing system to scientific research? Continue Reading
Hardly a day passes without new headlines from Greece. The country has been circling the abyss for some time now and, for many, it is only a matter of time before its demise. Wouldn’t that be the preferred option for everyone involved, after all? Not so fast! What would the European monetary union look like after a Greek exit? It is unlikely that speculators will declare the end of the crisis. They will simply concentrate on betting against the next weak link exiting the common currency. After all, if one country leaves the eurozone, surely it can happen again! Portugal, Spain and even Italy could be next. And where will it all end? Continue Reading