News and views from the Blavatnik School of Government community 
March was a big month for COVID-19 policies in the US. The one-year anniversary of the pandemic was marked by vaccination rollouts, the settling in of new federal leadership, and—in some states—the dramatic loosening of COVID-19 restrictions. More than ten states announced the lifting of various existing restrictions in the […]
COVID-19 has offered some tough but useful lessons about governance. Many wealthy countries did not manage the crisis as well as anticipated, whereas many poorer, populous, and vulnerable countries exceeded expectations. The difference raises important questions not just about public health management but also about the state of governance in […]
When citizens of the United States go to the polls next month, they will be engaged in an act of faith. They don’t know what will happen in the election or in the weeks, months and years after their election. Like believers lighting a votive candle in a church to […]
Huge amounts of time, effort, and frustration have gone into negotiating the terms of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. And with the UK set to hold a crucial parliamentary election on December 12, it still is not clear whether, when, and how Brexit will happen. But assuming […]
The strategic rivalry between the United States and China poses a sharp challenge to international organisations, which are now at risk of becoming mere pawns of either power. Whether multilateral institutions can retain a role in facilitating desperately needed international cooperation remains to be seen. The Sino-American conflict is already […]
Donald Trump’s pledge to withdraw US ground troops from Syria and Afghanistan has become one of the most controversial foreign policy decisions of his presidency. The political backlash following Trump’s abrupt announcement to immediately remove all 2,000 troops from Syria last December has caused a series of partial reversals, with […]
Earlier this month the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights hosted a conference entitled Confronting Illiberalism to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The day prior to the conference, Mansfield College erected a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt, the highly political US First Lady who, following her […]
It is often said that the US and China – superpowers at economic, geopolitical, and ideological loggerheads – are heading toward a new cold war. And the rhetoric – at least from one side – has come to resemble that of Winston Churchill’s 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech, one of the inaugural events of […]