Professor Jeremy Friedman | Harvard Business School Archives - JURIST - Commentary

Commentaries by Professor Jeremy Friedman | Harvard Business School

Russia’s Recurring Policy Error: Why Putin Still Doesn’t Understand American Democracy

Professor Jeremy Friedman | Harvard Business School

August 15, 2025 12:08:27 pm

As the leaders of the US and Russia prepare to meet in Alaska, analysts are trying to predict the potential policy implications of the historic summit. In contrast to the normal patterns of analysis of opaque autocracies and transparent democracies, the tricky part of this equation is not Russia’s Vladimir Putin, but US President Donald [...]

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Four Misconceptions About Demographic Decline That Hinder Policy Solutions

Professor Jeremy Friedman | Harvard Business School

July 15, 2025 01:45:41 pm

Demographic decline, once dismissed as a niche obsession of “pronatalists” on the right, has increasingly gained mainstream media and scholarly attention in the United States. In this way the US is somewhat behind the curve; falling birthrates have long obsessed policymakers abroad, particularly in East Asia and Europe. Nevertheless, in popular US discourse, demographic decline [...]

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President Lincoln offered amnesty to Confederates

On December 8, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation offering amnesty to all citizens of the Confederacy who swore an oath to uphold the US Constitution. Because of confusion over who was to administer the oath, Lincoln issued another proclamation on March 26, 1864, empowering "any commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval in the service of the United States", as well as those persons in the territories which were "not in insurrection who were by the laws therefore qualified for administering oaths." Both Proclamations specified that military prisoners and others held for crimes against the United States were ineligible for amnesty, although Confederate deserters could volunteer to take the oath.

South American Union formed by Cusco Declaration

On December 8, 2004, the leaders of all 12 countries in South America signed the Cusco Declaration, creating the Union of South American Nations. The organization is intended to evolve into a union similar to the European Union with a Presidency, Parliament, Central Bank and eventual single currency.