Skip to main content

Sam van der Staak

Sam van der Staak

1 commentaries

Sam van der Staak is Head of the Europe program at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).

Sort by: Show:
  3. op_burleigh2_LeemageCorbis via Getty Images_caesarassassination Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images

    Killer Politics

    Michael Burleigh

    The sheer volume of TV series and films about assassins speaks to our morbid fascination with this dark side of politics and political history. But the fact that real-world political killings are increasingly going unpunished should prompt us to do some soul searching.

     considers the history of assassination, its abiding place in popular culture, and its comeback as a tactic.
    2
  6. hclark13_ Erik McGregorLightRocket via Getty Images_war on drugs Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

    A Half-Century of Endless Drug War

    Helen Clark, et al.

    With his evidence-based, public-health approach to drug policy, US President Joe Biden is signaling that America’s longstanding strategies of repression and punishment have failed. The US should also champion a similar shift toward harm-reduction policies internationally.

     welcome the Biden administration’s emphasis on harm reduction rather than repression and punishment.
    0
  8. Drug War at 50 Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

    America’s Longest War

    Fifty years after US President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs,” America’s strategy of repression has succeeded only in increasing violent crime, corruption, preventable disease, and incarceration. But what should replace this tried-and-failed prohibitionist approach if President Joe Biden’s administration decides to abandon it?

    1

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification

To receive email updates regarding this {entity_type}, please enter your email below.

If you are not already registered, this will create a PS account for you. You should receive an activation email shortly.