The Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program: Latest Articles

Latin America has seen independent candidates run for office before. They have won in countries like Peru, with Alberto Fujimori and then Alejandro Toledo, and Colombia, with Álvaro Uribe. Caudillos like Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa have bucked entrenched but sclerotic party systems. And leaders of broad movements have brought an end to decades-long single-party rule, as Fernando Lugo did with his victory in Paraguay over the Colorado Party. But something unusual is happening in Chile. In its upcoming presidential election,

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita wants you to buy his book. He wants royalties and he wants fame. He wants the book to promote his consulting business. The text may well be full of self-promotional tall tales and calumny -- unless the author calculated that the costs of dishonesty (potential intellectual disrepute) outweighed the benefits (more fame, royalties and consulting). When he walks into bookstores, he probably moves his book from the back shelves to the front. If he knew I… more

In 1994, after Democrats lost control of the Senate, Senator Joe Lieberman called a press conference with his colleague Tom Harkin to announce their plan to reform the filibuster. "[People] are fed up--frustrated and fed up and angry about the way in which our government does not work," Lieberman said. "And I think the filibuster has become not only in reality an obstacle to accomplishment here, but it is also a symbol of a lot that ails Washington today." Lieberman and Harkin's proposal to weaken the filibuster… more