Governance

Americans believe in meritocracy in principle. Polls show that significant majorities — between 67 percent and 70 percent since Gallup began asking the question in 2003 — believe that, when it comes to university admissions, “applicants should be admitted solely on the basis of merit.” Yet in practice Americans don’t believe in meritocracy at all. A significant number of wealthy Americans have no problem at all with the idea of hereditary privilege, so long as they are spared the social obligations of traditional aristocracy.

"Creating innovation universities can be pursued through three practical stages. The first is to formulate a policy framework under which such universities operate. The second state is to translate the policy into specific legislative reforms to support the new university species. The third stage is to experiment by upgrading a few research institutes that have strong foundations and potential to commercialize products and services."

Millions of Americans have served in the U.S. military and returned to civilian life since our nation was attacked on 9/11. Many more will join them in the years ahead. By 2019, America’s post-9/11 veterans population will exceed three million people.

Our nation owes an enormous debt to these new veterans. Indeed, they have earned recognition as America’s “New Greatest Generation.” And our universities need to support them to the fullest extent possible, including through the Yellow Ribbon Program, which removes financial barriers that often stand in the way.

As a Belfer Center International and Global Affairs (BIGA) student fellow, Orga Cadet sees every international affairs issue from two perspectives. Instead of right or wrong, prudent or risky, he sees the policy side and the law side: Cadet is a dual degree candidate, pursuing his Master of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, while also spending this semester in Beijing finishing his Juris Doctor degree through a study abroad program with Georgetown University.

Fredrik Logevall is the Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs and professor of history at Harvard Kennedy School, based at the Belfer Center. An expert on the history of international affairs, he was until recently a professor of history at Cornell University. He is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam (Random House, 2012). In 2014, Logevall served as president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.