2014–2015 Kenneth I. Juster Fellows

The Weatherhead Center is pleased to announce its 2014-2015 class of Juster Fellows. Now in its fourth year, this grant initiative is made possible by the generosity of the Center’s...

The Weatherhead Center community and Fellows Program mourn the recent loss of three former Fellows:

Paul Stewart...

Behind the Cartoonist’s Drawing Board

By Shreyas Navare

The cartoonist’s daily hunt for an idea is not unlike a cat and mouse game. It boasts of the same elements—nervous excitement, sharp focus, loads of patience, ridiculous scramble, and maddening chases (often fruitless) before the final jump for the kill.

For both the cat and the cartoonist, the first stage involves scanning and studying their respective environments. For a cartoonist, the “environment” literally involves everything under the sun—news, blogs, opinions, TV debates, tweets, Facebook posts, etc....

Africa’s Development in Historical Perspective

Edited by Robert H. Bates, Nathan Nunn, James A. Robinson, and Emmanuel Akyeampong

This edited volume addresses the root causes of Africa’s persistent poverty through an...

Weatherhead Center Faculty Associates Honored with Imperial Decoration by the Japanese Government

Weatherhead Center Faculty Associates and Program on U.S.-Japan Relations Faculty Advisory Committee Members Andrew Gordon and Joseph Nye were honored with Imperial Decoration by the Japanese government for their contributions to Japanese studies and promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and the United States. Professor Gordon received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, and Professor Nye received the Order of the Rising...

Sixteen Harvard College students received summer 2014 travel grants from the Weatherhead Center to support their thesis research on topics related to international affairs. Since their return in August, the Weatherhead Center has encouraged these Undergraduate Associates to take advantage of the Center’s research environment. Early in the 2015 spring semester, February 5–7, 2015, the students will present their research in a conference that is open to the Harvard community. Four Undergraduate Associates write of their experiences in the field:

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By Ashley Anderson

The completion of Tunisia’s second democratic election on October 26, 2014, marked a watershed moment in the history of Middle Eastern politics. Amidst a litany of Arab Spring “failures”—resulting in state collapse in Libya, civil war in Syria, renewed military rule in Egypt, and autocratic persistence in countries from Bahrain to Morocco—the execution of free and fair elections, and particularly the victory of the secular left over Islamist incumbents has lead many to laud Tunisia’s progress in consolidating the region’s first true democracy. Yet despite...

From its earliest days, the Center for International Affairs (CFIA) included Fellows, practitioners of international affairs, near the core of its community. Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean McGeorge Bundy stated in a 1962 report on the Center that founding Director...

The fall 2014 issue of Centerpiece focuses on the Center's recent activities, including a profile on Fellow and cartoonist Shreyas Navare, tributes to three former Fellows who have recently passed away, and a student program update. The feature, “The 2014 Tunisian Election: More than a Secular-Islamist Divide” by Ashley Anderson, examines the recent Tunisian elections. And finally, our annual “Dispatches” highlights the summer research of four Undergraduate Associates who traveled to Beijing, Cape Town, Ghana, Texas, and Peru.... Read more about Fall 2014, Volume 29 Number 1