Politics

Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science, has been awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by Rutgers University, an honor presented to her at the 2022 Rutgers Commencement by the 21st president of Rutgers, Jonathan Scott Holloway. 

"The halls of academia may appear to be overrun by battles over academic freedom, free speech, identity politics, cancel culture and overreaching wokeness. But why does it look that way? And what are the real causes? The influential political theorist Wendy Brown has spent her career studying the very ideas — those of identity, freedom and tolerance — that are central to current debates about what’s happening on college campuses across the country, as well as to the attacks they’re undergoing from within and without."

Matias Zaldarriaga, Richard Black Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, and Wendy Brown, UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science, have been elected as members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAA&S), an honor that recognizes accomplishments and leadership in academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research. 

By Didier Fassin, James D. Wolfensohn Professor in the School of Social Science:

The French president’s first term, with his neoliberal and authoritarian policies, has situated him on the right of the political spectrum rather than in the center as he had announced prior to being elected. But his shift has progressively gone even further with the decision to put immigration control and hardline secularism on the agenda.

By Angelos Chaniotis, Professor in the School of Historical Studies:

"For years the European Union has been confronted with visible threats to its cohesion: Brexit, populist anti-European rhetoric, the violations of democratic principles and corruption in former socialist countries, the widening economic gap between member-states, the different reactions to the refugee crisis and to climate change."

By Jonathan Haslam, past George F. Kennan Professor (2015–21) in the School of Historical Studies:

"Just a few weeks before Vladimir Putin launched what he intended as a two-day Blitzkrieg in Ukraine, taking by surprise even some of his inner circle, he met Xi Jinping for a summit in Beijing. It appeared to the world as if the Chinese might have been implicated in what is the foreign policy gamble of Putin’s political career."

By Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science:

"'A conqueror,' wrote the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, 'is always a lover of peace. He would like to make his entry into our state unopposed; in order to prevent this, we must choose to fight.' The crime of aggression is to force men and women to make that choice."

"Published in 2015, Wendy Brown’s Undoing the Demos was a major theoretical contribution to the study of neoliberalism. Since then, the neoliberal order has been rocked by a series of crises: among them the rise of right-wing, authoritarian regimes across the world; rapidly intensifying ecological devastation; and the COVID-19 pandemic that is now entering its third year."

As we witness with horror the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, I want to express my sympathy for all who are suffering, and to reiterate the support of the Institute for Advanced Study for its Scholars, Staff, and Friends whose lives have been touched. From the outbreak of the war, the IAS community has rallied to offer logistical assistance to scholars and their families affected by the violence. I am grateful to the Institute staff and our legal services for the expertise they have provided. Please know that we are available in any case of need.

By Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science:

"Condemnation has mostly been based on an entirely correct reading of international law. The Russian war is an unprovoked attack on a neighbor, an independent and sovereign state. It is clearly illegal. It is also, and this is more important, unjust."