On Being Humans
There’s always a lot to think about when people die, and when people kill.
Articles By: Harvard Political Review 
The Harvard Political Review, founded in 1969, is America’s preeminent undergraduate journal of politics and public policy.
Literary Supplement Introduction
The Harvard Political Review strives to produce insightful and original articles in a pithy, precise package. However, some subjects require a far broader scope and greater degree of research to provide a truly effective analysis. Thus the HPR has compiled its Literary Supplement, a new project devoted to lengthier, more thorough pieces. Long-form articles of this sort have become a ... Read More
HPR’s 2012 New Hampshire Primary Live Blog
4 U.S. writer panelists cover the 2012 New Hampshire Primary with commentary from our staff and readers
HPR’s 2012 Iowa Caucuses Live Blog
4 U.S. writer panelists cover the 2012 Iowa Caucuses with commentary from our staff and readers
Fall 2009
Fog of War Volume 36, Number 3, Fall 2009 Letter from the Editor Front Section Bursting at the Seams IAN MERRIFIELD Drug incarcerations, prison overcrowding, and community corrections Escaping the Poppy Field IVANA DJAK, NEIL PATEL American anti-opium efforts in Afghanistan The Source of the Problem ANGELA PRIMBAS Confronting prescription drug abuse Decriminalization in Massachusetts MATTHEW S. MILLER, KATHERINE LEE ... Read More
New Online Only Articles
We have a new batch of web exclusive articles from the HPR: a review of books from Cass Sunstein and Tyler Cowen, a search for our generation’s protest music, a new perspective on European conservatives and the financial crisis, and a historical look at presidents and peace prizes. Take a look!
A Fatter or Skinnier Fed?
Below is a piece on financial regulation from HPR alum Rahul Prabhakar ’09. Rahul is now a Fellow at the Glover Park Group in Washington D.C. ——————————————————————————————————————- Over the past month, the U.S. Congress has held a series of hearings to debate the Obama Administration’s proposal to overhaul the American financial regulatory structure. The fates of the SEC, CFTC, and ... Read More
The Gates Arrest
I read the initial article in The Crimson confident that the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., would make waves far beyond Cambridge, Mass. Allegations of racial profiling mounted; the charges were ultimately dropped. But let’s not forget, as Stanford Law School professor Ralph Richard Banks wrote in The Times, that the police did exactly what we would hope they would ... Read More
Summer 2009
Urban America Volume 36, Number 2, Summer 2009. Letter from the Editor The Ten-Year Plan IAN MERRIFIELD Daring to end homelessness The Future of Urban Education Tiffany wen and jyoti jasrasaria The impact of new innovation on urban school systems Cities Without Limits Chris danello and ashley fabrizio How long-term factors drive municipal economies A New Approach to a Chronic ... Read More
Justin Cosby, Victim of America’s Misguided Drug Policy
This past Monday Justin Cosby, 21, was shot in the basement of Kirkland House, one of Harvard’s twelve residences for upperclassmen. The tragic events were a huge surprise to a campus neck deep in finals, papers, and graduation preparations. Basic facts such as why Cosby was in a Harvard residence, how he gained entrance, and the identities of the assailants ... Read More
Still Closing Guantánamo
After the Senate voted 90 – 6 against financing President Obama’s plan to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility by January 2010, the President spoke today to reaffirm his commitment to closing the facility. The speech made numerous good points, including an explicit refutation of the ridiculous notion, peddled by both Republicans and Democrats, that the government is incapable of ... Read More
Specter and the Rule of Law
After Sen. Arlen Specter’s (D – Pa.) switch to the Democratic Party yesterday, I decided to check out a piece he wrote for The New York Review of Books, “The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs.” In the piece Specter details his plans to reintroduce legislation designed to limit executive power that failed to pass during the Bush administration. ... Read More
On Blah: A Theory of Blah: And South Africa!
To begin with, the confusion is grotesque, not the inestimable Samuel Barr – I must post if only to stress that. Said grotesquerie is an innocuous, though unfortunate, consequence of progressivism, in the same manner that my ineptitude at mathematics (which could only charitably be called grotesque) is an unfortate consequence of being a social studies major. I think the ... Read More
