We are already seeing a degree of instability in the world because Obama seems to have consciously wanted to step back. Donald Trump is going to be "Obama squared," a more extreme version of the same thing.

One of the things that ultimately led me to leave mathematics and go into political science was thinking I could prevent nuclear war.

The Bernie Sanders phenomenon shows that it's not confined to Republicans. There is a general sentiment that America is on the wrong track.

If a cat sits on a hot stove once, it will never sit on a cold one either.

Sometimes corruption is slowed by shedding light into what was previously shadowed.

The American people are pretty impressive in their ability to keep after something if they think it is doable.

It would be a huge mistake to abandon democracy promotion. Peaceful political change has been enormously successful in the past years in Eastern European countries as well as in countries like South Korea, South Africa, Chile and Indonesia. However, if possible, the use of force is something to avoid except in cases where genocide is threatened, like Bosnia or Libya or with regimes that threaten our security, like the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.