Habits of the Heart

Category: COVID-19

  • Interview with Dr. K.T. Connor on ethics and public life 

    Dr. K.T. Connor was a Senior Adjunct Professor with the MPPA program until recently, for over a decade and brings a wealth of experience in ethics, business as well as public leadership. She served as the Managing Director of Applied Axiometrics. She is the head of a virtual collaboration of consultants using decision-theory-based assessments in…

  • What does it mean to run an “efficient,” government?: Some quick thoughts…: Part 1

    Efficiency is good when you are ordering a pack of batteries on Amazon (which I did, just a few hours ago), but not when you are seeking better social outcomes like greater inclusion, democracy or economic justice/protection. Efficiency has an angle of lean. A direction, a purpose and a vision. When we say we want…

  •  Books you should read this summer, to understand our world…

    If you have been paying attention to what is going on in our world, you will realize that a LOT has changed in the past year. Both domestically as well as internationally, politics, society and social movements have thrown a lot of surprises (and disappointments) that have called into question the role of institutions, individuals…

  • Why more grad students should study/ travel abroad in 2023

    I took a small group of students to Tijuana, Mexico in December 2022. We visited the “most dangerous city in the world,” and a city that is often associated with crime, violence and all negative stereotypes, to learn about migration and the “migrant crisis.”

  • Have you learnt your crisis communications lessons, yet?

    Covid-19, economic recession of 2008, 9/11 attacks and a great many other events should have taught us one thing: crisis management. I firmly believe that if you have been paying attention to these events then you’d have picked up at least a few lessons in crisis management/ communications along the way. If you haven’t, no…

  • Amidst the Chaos and social strife lets ask “What would Gandhi do?”

     For those scholars and activists who are following India, there is not much good news coming out of the subcontinent. Day after day, there are reports of riots, planned attacks on minorities and institutional corruption that has forced many democracy watchers to downgrade India’s standing as a democracy. Amidst the silence of the leaders of…

  • Resistance to mask-wearing: Can wearing masks be seen as not macho enough/“effeminate” behavior?

    Resistance to mask-wearing: Can wearing masks be seen as not macho enough/“effeminate” behavior?

    The latest issue of Administrative Theory and Praxis has an interesting article titled “Street-level bureaucrats under COVID-19: Police Officers responses in constrained settings,” by Rafael Alcadipani,  Sandra Cabral, Alan Fernandes, and Gabriela Lotta. They point out, based on inductive qualitative analysis that in a major Brazilian metropolitan area, conflicts concerning political, occupational culture, and material…

  • How We Overcame the Fear of the COVID-19 Vaccine

    How We Overcame the Fear of the COVID-19 Vaccine

    ~Leonard Casiple The COVID-19 pandemic response has upended the very essence of humanity by constraining social interaction, mandating indoor seclusion, and making us flinch at the thought of outdoor bustle. Even the elegance of the lingering waft of perfume and cologne has been supplanted by the shock of quickly-dissipating rubbing alcohol and sanitizers. Every connection…

  • How do we find better leaders to lead us through crises?

    How do we find better leaders to lead us through crises?

    The Atlantic published an interesting article recently about the secret for Germany’s success in tackling the COVID-19 crisis: A scientist at the helm of political affairs, Chancellor Angela Merkle. This is an interesting argument to ponder. Why have countries/ regions that have scientists/technocrats as leaders done well, while those run by run-of-the-mill politicians done badly?…

  • The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Remittance Flow to Cuba: A Glance at the Use of Digital Platforms

    The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Remittance Flow to Cuba: A Glance at the Use of Digital Platforms

    Denisse Delgado Public Policy Ph.D. student UMass Boston During the COVID-19 crisis, Mexico and the Dominican Republic have been experiencing an unexpected increase in the remittance transactions. However, most of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean saw a sharp decline in their remittance receipts in April, before they began to rebound in June…

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