Research Library

Nonresident scholar David R. Brockman examines the role of Christian nationalism in Texas state officials' response to the COVID-19 pandemic between March and July 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25613/q0td-0989

More than a decade after G20 representatives pledged to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, significant barriers to a full retraction remain. This paper examines the political and social rationale behind fossil fuel subsidies, the factors that make them so difficult to retract, and offers policy recommendations aimed at easing the path to subsidy reform.

In this study, the authors surveyed students in 80 Harris County schools, as well as their parents, to identify external factors that influence academic performance, particularly among students living in poverty. Their findings can be broadly used to better understand the unmet needs of students under current systems of support, and to develop solutions that can give every child an opportunity to succeed.

Through an examination of crime patterns in a major urban center in Latin America — Mexico City— this study contributes to the development of a theoretical and empirical understanding of criminal activity and its correlation with space and time.

David R. Brockman, nonresident scholar in religion and public policy, identifies the major religious and political proponents of Christian Americanism in Texas since 2008 and explores how they promote the ideology.

This research paper examines how underlying shifts in security dynamics in the Persian Gulf may evolve as regional states respond to the perception of receding U.S. leadership by further diversifying security relationships and internationalizing what until the 2010s had been a solidly Western-centric web of partnerships. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25613/n8xe-hj20

Religion nonresident scholar David R. Brockman examines an attempt to force the removal of Tarrant County GOP vice chair Dr. Shahid Shafi because he is Muslim. The paper places the controversy within the context of Islamophobia in politics and outlines the challenges the case presents for the Republican Party both nationally and statewide.

The authors examine a unique and anonymized dataset of complaints about government corruption in an urban Mexico district. The trends they found are transferable to other urban districts across the country and Latin America, they write, and may help anticorruption agencies in Mexico and beyond direct their efforts. https://doi.org/10.25613/cqgc-xv79.

This report highlights the results from an expert survey carried out as part of a two-year research project on pluralism and inclusion in the post-Arab Spring regional landscape, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The survey generated policy-relevant responses that provide nuanced insight into key public policy challenges in Gulf countries that — Bahrain apart —did not experience significant political upheaval after 2011 but nevertheless could see economic (un)sustainability develop into major determinants of political (in)stability in the years ahead.

Nobody can ensure that the economic gamble underlying the 2013–2014 energy reform will achieve the desired or expected success. However, the author presents evidence demonstrating that Mexico has gradually been building the institutions that will be able to perform governmental operations with reasonable effectiveness.