Announcements

Check back here regularly to learn about Luskin Center activities, new reports, and other noteworthy updates about our work.

LCHP Releases Collection of Articles on US Foreign Policy in the Middle East

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UCLA Students Examine U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East throughout History


The Middle East Research Initiative (MERI) originated in a series of meetings in late 2019 and early 2020. A dedicated team of undergraduates worked under the guidance of three dedicated UCLA Ph.D. candidates to examine the long-term motives and effects (both domestically and internationally) of American foreign policy in the Middle East. In parallel, the three graduate students researched U.S. support of ethnic minorities in Iraq. The results of their important work are below.


U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East: Changes in the Neoliberal Age

The UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy is pleased to release a new collection of articles about U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East, researched and written by an exceptional group of UCLA undergraduate students.

This volume features articles by Mariam Aref, Leila Achtoun, Jessica Brouard, and Karina Ourfalian. It includes an introduction edited by Firyal Bawab.

The project was edited and compiled by UCLA graduate students Philip Hoffman, Lily Hindy, and Monica Widmann.

To read the paper, click [HERE].

Listen to Mariam, Firyal, and Philip discuss the volume in the podcast episode below:



Skewed Recovery: Minority Assistance Programs to Iraq in Historical Perspective

The following report by graduate students Philip Hoffman, Lily Hindy, and Monica Widmann situates current trends in American humanitarian aid in Iraq within a broader history of Western intervention.

To read the paper, click [HERE].

Listen to Philip, Lily, and Monica discuss the paper in the podcast episode below:

From Student Politics to Capitol Insurrection: The Intensification of Extremism at UCLA and Beyond

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On January 6, 2021, hundreds of far-right protestors, many of them wearing white nationalist clothing and insignia, stormed the U.S. Capitol building. On February 16, UCLA student Christian Secor was arrested for his participation in the riot.

This report tracks the intensification of this extremist activity on national, state, and local levels, and tracks how white nationalism made its way to the UCLA student body. It was researched and written by a team of UCLA undergraduates and recent graduates – as a follow up to a report on white nationalism in Southern California that LCHP released last year. The authors are Grace Johnston-Glick and James Nee (National section); Lacy Green and Gavin Quan (State section); Brandon Broukhim and Talla Khelghati (UCLA section). It was edited by Erin Onarecker.

Read the report [HERE].

LCHP Releases Report on the History of Homelessness in LA County

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The Making of a Crisis: A History of Homelessness in Los Angeles County

A new report by the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy takes a historical view to understand the historic roots of the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles County.

This report was researched and written by Dr. Kirsten Moore-Sheeley, Alisa Belinkoff Katz, Andrew Klein, Jessica Richards, Fernanda Jahn-Verri, Marques Vestal, and Zev Yaroslavsky.

To read the paper, click [HERE]. The fact sheet can be found [HERE], and the executive summary can be found [HERE].

Find the UCLA Newsroom announcement [HERE].

Find Vestal and Klein’s LATimes Op-Ed, “What we should have learned from L.A.’s long history of homelessness,” [HERE].

LCHP is covering the report findings in a series of podcast episodes on homelessness in Los Angeles. Listen to Vestal, Klein, and Jahn-Verri discuss the report below:

Listen to Moore-Sheeley and Richards interview Dr. Jonathan Sherin, the director of the LA County Department of Mental Health, below:

LCHP Research Fellows Release Report on History of Traffic Congestion in Los Angeles

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A Century of Fighting Traffic Congestion in Los Angeles (1920-2020)

LCHP Research Fellows (2019-20) recently completed their report tracking the history of fighting traffic congestion in Los Angeles.

This report was completed by Martin Wachs, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering and City and Regional Planning at the University of California, UCLA PhD candidate Peter Sebastian Chesney, and UCLA Master of Urban and Regional Planning Candidate Yu Hong Hwang. Read more about the research team here.

To read the paper, click [HERE].

To see a timeline of attempts to solve the “congestion problem” in Los Angeles, click [HERE].

To listen to the podcast episode with the authors, click [HERE].

LCHP Releases Report on the History of Voter Access in California

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Reckoning with Our Rights: The Evolution of Voter Access in California

A new report by the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy takes a historical view to understand why, in 2020, the electorate in California specifically remains so demographically and socioeconomically skewed.

This report was spearheaded by Alisa Belinkoff Katz, LCHP fellow and associate director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. The research team also included Zev Yaroslavsky, a senior fellow at the center, UCLA PhD candidate Izul de la Vega, undergraduate Saman Haddad and recent graduate Jeanne Ramin.

To read the paper, click [HERE].

To read the UCLA Newsroom announcement, click [HERE].

To watch the Why History Matters event discussing this report, click [HERE].