Eight Big Questions US Mayors Faced in 2018
Key takeaways from annual BU-led Menino Survey on Mayors In general, the mayors surveyed in BU’s 2018 Menino Survey of Mayors said the so-called sharing economy was helping cities more than holding them back, but that concerns remain, especially about Airbnb, like this one in Boston, and its impact on hotels. Photo by Lisa Cranshaw […]
Leaders of US Cities Worried about Lack of Affordable Housing
IoC Menino Mayoral Survey finds cost drives people away Affordable housing and climate change were two of the biggest concerns addressed in the University’s Initiative on Cities 2017 Menino Survey of Mayors. Photo by iStock/RSfotography. If you want to get mayors of US cities talking, says BU political scientist David Glick, ask them about affordable housing. […]
Trump’s Top Intelligence Advisor Visits BU
Dan Coats speaks to Pardee School of Global Studies students and faculty Daniel Coats, director of national intelligence (standing), spoke with students and faculty at BU’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies on September 29. Photos by Jackie Ricciardi. The man responsible for briefing President Donald Trump daily on national and global security issues […]
Grad Student’s Website Makes Political Activism Easy
YouLobby does the homework, you make the call Kira Ganga Kieffer (GRS’19) and her husband, Aaron Eisman, at the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, which inspired them to create the website YouLobby.org. Photo courtesy of Kira Ganga Kieffer. In the weeks since Donald Trump’s inauguration, Americans seem to be riding a continuous wave […]
US-Russian Relations Under the Microscope
Pardee expert: Trump-Putin connection unnerves allies President Donald Trump has been criticized for his rosy assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but his administration’s contacts with that nation have been problematic so far. Trump photo by Flickr contributor Gage Skidmore; Putin photo by the Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images. Robert G. Loftis knows diplomacy after three decades in […]
IoC 2016 Survey of Mayors Finds Poverty a Top Issue
City leaders nationwide say minorities, immigrants being left behind The 2016 Menino Survey of Mayors, issued by BU’s Initiative on Cities, finds that mayors are increasingly worried about the lack of job opportunities for the middle class. Photo by Flickr contributor Lorianne DiSabato. The nation’s mayors say that poverty is the most pressing economic issue […]
Taking Stock of the New President’s Foreign Policy Proposals
BU experts predict “a ride like we… have never seen before” Rex Tillerson, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, has close ties with Russia, which concerns both senators who must confirm him and some BU foreign affairs scholars. Photo by Olivier Douliery/ABACA (Sipa via AP Images). rom vowing to pull out of last year’s United […]
A Historian’s View of American Politics, Circa 2016
Well-paid consultants, anti-party candidates, mass media–driven campaigns—they all go back to the turn of the last century The tumultuous 2016 Presidential campaign, shaped by unorthodox candidates, relentless media coverage, and hugely divided political parties, is often characterized by pundits as unprecedented. But according to Boston University historian Bruce J. Schulman, Americans experienced similar cultural and […]
CAS Political Scholar Decries Horse-Race Election Coverage
Offers insights on how this presidential contest is, and isn’t, different Dino Christenson, a CAS professor of political science and an expert on American political behavior, worries about the media trend to cover the presidential election as a horse race without focusing on issues and context. Photo by Dave Green. Few people have watched […]