Regine A. Spector, political science, is interviewed about her new book “Order at the Bazaar: Power and Trade in Central Asia.”

Paul Musgrave, political science, comments in a story about how understaffing at the U.S. State Department is damaging the foreign policy apparatus and he says Secretary of State Rex Tillerson bears much of the blame.

Sheldon Goldman, political science, says President Donald J. Trump is doing very well at getting his judicial nominees confirmed by the U.S. Senate, despite his claims that Democrats are obstructing his judicial picks. He also says it “strains credulity” to say that Democrats are responsible for obstruction because Republicans “hold almost all the cards” in the process. (Los Angeles Times,  Chicago Daily Law Bulletin)

Jane Fountain, Distinguished Professor of political science and public policy and chair of the department of political science, has been elected to the board of directors of the National Academy of Public Administration. The academy was established by Congress in 1967 as a non-partisan, non-profit organization to help government leaders address critical management challenges and to develop more “effective, efficient, accountable and transparent organizations.”