The Conversation

Successful businesses need proactive leadership – and so does Congress

Written by Thomas Bateman, Professor of Management, University of Virginia

Congress could learn a thing or two about acting proactively from Elon Musk, seen here with his Dragon space capsule.AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Imagine you’re speeding along on a highway. Suddenly, the traffic ahead of you slows, forcing you to hit the breaks. Eventually you arrive at the source of the bottleneck: a mattress lying in the right...

Is it time for a 21st-century version of 'The Day After'?

Written by Marsha Gordon, Professor of Film Studies, North Carolina State University

It’s beginning to feel like the 1980s all over again.

Already this year, we’ve seen Donald Trump tweeting provocative nuclear threats about North Korea. A terrifying (but false) incoming missile alert set Hawaiians on edge, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention planned (and then postponed) a nuclear attack preparedness...

Is a unified Korea possible?

Written by Ji-Young Lee, Assistant Professor, American University School of International Service

North and South Korean athletes will march under one flag during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The “Korean Unification Flag” is both a highly symbolic marker of reconciliation and a reminder of a divided Korea, a condition that has lasted since 1945.

As a scholar of East Asian international...

Unrest in Iran will continue until religious rule ends

Written by Haidar Khezri, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS), Indiana University

The two-week protest movement that rocked cities across Iran earlier this year has largely subsided, but the fallout from the government’s harsh response has just begun. More than 3,700 people were arrested and 23 were killed in sometimes violent nationwide marches that started on Dec. 28, 2017, in response to an austerity budget proposed by...

Spanish use is steady or dropping in US despite high Latino immigration

Written by Phillip M Carter, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Florida International University

Hidden just beneath the surface of the ongoing heated debate about immigration in the United States lurks an often unspoken concern: language. Specifically, whether immigration from Spanish-speaking countries threatens the English language’s dominance.

Language and immigration have long been politically linked in the U.S. When Farmers...

When it comes to your health, where you live matters

Written by Jessica Young, Assistant Professor, American University

Shoppers browsing vegetables at a farmers market.Pixabay

According to a recent report, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia have the worst health in the U.S. These states have higher rates of premature deaths, chronic diseases and poor health behaviors year after year.

Why are people in some places in the U.S. consistently...

Medicaid work requirements could cost the government more in the long run

Written by Diane Dewar, Associate Professor of Health Policy, Management and Behavior, University at Albany, State University of New York

Tammie Jackson, looking at the prescription drugs she could not obtain before enrolling in Montana's expanded Medicaid program, in the summer of 2017.AP Photo/Bobby Caina Calvan

After the Trump administration gave states permission to impose new restrictions on Medicaid eligibility, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin wasted no time.

Within days, Kentucky...

Another continuing resolution won't solve the real problem within the Republican Party

Written by William B. Heller, Associate Professor of Political Science, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Senator Mitch McConnell walks to the chamber on the first morning of a government shutdown.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Republicans can’t agree on a budget.

That lack of agreement has made it necessary for Congress to pass a series of continuing resolutions to keep the government open.

There’s no budget agreement because factions within...

Healthy to eat, unhealthy to grow: Strawberries embody the contradictions of California agriculture

Written by Julie Guthman, Professor of Social Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz

Suspected infestation of Macrophomina phaseolina, a "novel" soil pathogen, in the non-fumigated buffer zone of a strawberry fieldJulie Guthman, CC BY-ND

Agricultural abundance is a pillar of the California dream. In 2016 the state turned out more than US$45 billion worth of meat, milk and crops. Long before nutritionists agreed that fresh fruits...

There are better ways to foster solar innovation and save jobs than Trump's tariffs

Written by Edward Barbier, Professor of Economics, Colorado State University

Sights like this Brooklyn rooftop covered with solar panels with a view of the Manhattan skyline have become more commonplace amid a U.S. renewable energy industry boom.AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

President Donald Trump’s decision to impose punitive duties on imported solar panels and related equipment is rankling most of the industry.

This was the...