Public policy is a professional discipline, combining the spirit of academic inquiry with the enthusiasm of political activism. As the year comes to an end and we each disappear into exams, it is easy to forget why it is fun to be a student of public policy. As we launch this semester’s PolicyMatters – today in its fifth year! – I would like to highlight the efforts of some past and current colleagues to both push, develop and challenge their ideas in the classroom and then put them into practice. We are in an election year and several GSPP students...

Last week, CNN aired ‘Czar Putin”, a report on Vladimir Vladimirovich’s accumulation of power since his ascension to the Kremlin in 2000. Coinciding with the Russian Parliamentary Elections held over the weekend, the program gave attention to something many engaged in that region have known for a long time – Russia’s window of opportunity for a healthy democracy is closing fast, if not already shut tight. While Putin has methodically morphed fledgling democratic institutions into something much closer to dictatorship, the scarier aspect of Russia is the popular approval of his Presidency, fueled by resurgent Russian nationalism. A recent...