Former NPR Kabul Correspondent and HKS alumnus Sean Carberry, here at HKS to lead a seminar at the Belfer Center's Future of Diplomacy Project as part of its South Asia Week, lays out the political situation in Afghanistan months after the official end of the war. He explains why Americans should still care about Afghanistan's stability, what difficulties the country’s new President Ashraf Ghani has encountered, and whether the conflict between the Taliban and ISIS could be a good thing for American interests.

Republican strategist Matt Lira, a spring 2015 fellow at the Institute of Politics, discusses the early days of a presidential campaign, the importance of primaries, how campaign management eventually influences governance and what technologies will likely emerge as critical to 2016.

Former Finnish President Tarja Halonen, currently in residence at the Kennedy School as an Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow, recounts the challenges she faced as a woman ascending the Finnish ranks of power. She also explains some of the factors behind Finland’s consistently high rankings in many quality of life metrics.

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, a spring 2015 fellow at the Institute of Politics, recounts the legal journey that ultimately led to the US Supreme Court’s 2013 decision to strike down a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act - a major victory for the LGBT rights movement.

HKS Adjunct Lecturer Jay Rosengard, faculty chair of the Ash Center’s HKS Indonesia Program, breaks down the political climate in Indonesia, just months after the election of a new, potentially transformational president. He explains how Indonesia’s still-young democracy will be put to the test as the new president seeks to work with a parliament controlled by the opposition.

Cyprus’ Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Yiorgos Lakkotrypis describes his country’s slow emergence from a deep economic recession following a 2013 EU bail-in that came with significant austerity measures attached. He points out bright spots in the country’s traditional industries as well as the promise of building a new energy industry through offshore gas exploration. He also speaks about negotiations with Turkey over reunification of the island of Cyprus and how Turkish exploration has, at least temporarily, scuttled progress in those talks.

HKS Mid-Career MPA Mason Fellow Fadumo Dayib recounts her story growing up as a Somali refugee and explains how her life’s experience has pushed her to mount a 2016 run for president in her homeland.

HKS Professor Robert Putnam explains how the United States has become a class-segregated society with a growing stratification between the educated and uneducated. He describes how upward mobility has nearly vanished over the last few decades and what can be done to turn things around.

Aneesh Chopra, a Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow at the Shorenstein Center who served as the United States' first Chief Technology Officer, describes how the federal government, historically a leader in new technologies, fell behind in embracing innovation. He details the challenges government agencies have historically faced and how a combination of new policies and tech-savvy leadership have the potential to set things back on course.

HKS Assistant Professor Maya Sen describes new research breaking down political leanings within the United States judiciary. The analyses exposes a partisan divide between lawyers and judges and finds a link between certain political leanings and specific law schools.