Breaking News, Business, Financial and Economic News, World News from EconoTimes

Become a contributor

Bookmark Econotimes

Wed, Jan 15, 2025 01:31 AM All times are UTC

Follow Series

©Econometrics LLC . All Rights Reserved.

Monica Duffy Toft

Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Monica Duffy Toft is the Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a professor of International Politics.

Before joining The Fletcher School, Professor Monica Duffy Toft taught at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. While at Harvard, she directed the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs and was the assistant director of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies. She was educated at the University of Chicago (MA and PhD in political science) and at the University of California, Santa Barbara (BA in political science and Slavic languages and literature, summa cum laude). Prior to this, she spent four years in the United States Army as a Russian linguist. Monica’s areas of research include international security, ethnic and religious violence, civil wars and demography. Her most recent books include: Securing the Peace (Princeton, 2011); Political Demography (Oxford, 2012); and God’s Century (Norton, 2012). In addition she has published numerous scholarly articles and editorials on civil wars, territory and nationalism, demography, and religion in global politics.

Toft is a research associate of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She is a supernumerary fellow at Brasenose College, University of Oxford, a Global Scholar of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Minorities at Risk Advisory Board and the Political Instability Task Force. In 2008 the Carnegie Foundation of New York named her a Carnegie Scholar for her research on religion and violence, in 2012 she was named a Fulbright scholar, and most recently served as the World Politics Fellow at Princeton University.

US secretary of state has an expansive job that could make or break peace deals and key foreign alliances

Jan 14, 2025 05:20 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Donald Trumps nominee for secretary of state, will testify before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee as part of his confirmation process on Jan. 15, 2025. Rubios nomination is...

Israelis and Palestinians warring over a homeland is far from unique

Dec 13, 2023 13:46 pm UTC|

The ongoing horrors unfolding in Israel and Gaza have deep-rooted origins that stem from a complex and contested question: Who has rights to the same territory? I am a scholar of international affairs, as well as...

Global Geopolitics Series

US will give military tanks to Ukraine, signaling Western powers' long-term commitment to thwarting Russia

Jan 26, 2023 12:04 pm UTC| Politics

President Joe Biden announced on Jan. 25, 2023, that the U.S. would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys repeated requests for more military tanks to help wage its war...

The US isn't at war with Russia, technically – but its support for Ukraine offers a classic case of a proxy war

Oct 21, 2022 06:13 am UTC| Insights & Views

The United States and European countries continue to pledge their support to Ukraine as Russias invasion drags on into its ninth month and have backed their alliance with recurrent deliveries of advanced weaponry and...

America now solves problems with troops, not diplomats

Oct 04, 2019 14:42 pm UTC| Insights & Views

Is America a bully? As a scholar, under the auspices of the Military Intervention Project, I have been studying every episode of U.S. military intervention from 1776 to 2017. Historically, the U.S. advanced from a...

Identicide: How demographic shifts can rip a country apart

Apr 27, 2019 06:20 am UTC| Insights & Views

What happens to a country when its core national identity its preferred image of itself in terms of race or religion doesnt match its demographic reality? Say a Sunni-dominated Arab country is actually a majority Shia...

Economy

China's Tightened Export Controls Disrupt U.S. Tech Firms' Production Plans

China is intensifying scrutiny of exports by U.S. tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Dell, delaying their production shifts to Southeast Asia and India, according to Nikkei Asia. Since December, dual-use technology...

U.S. Stock Futures Rise Amid Tariff Speculation and Key Data Focus

U.S. stock index futures gained on Monday evening as reports eased fears of disruptive trade tariffs under President-elect Donald Trump. Bloomberg reported that his team may propose a gradual tariff increase of 2%-5%...

UBS Predicts Potential Fed Rate Cut Amid Strong US Economic Data

UBS strategists foresee the Federal Reserve implementing an additional 50 basis points (bps) rate cut later this year, despite persistent inflationary pressures. Last week, US stocks dipped as a robust December jobs report...

Cleantech Investments to Surpass Oil and Gas in 2025: Key Trends

SP Global Commodity Insights projects cleantech energy investments will reach $670 billion in 2025, surpassing oil and gas spending for the first time. Solar PV alone will comprise half of these investments, representing...

Global Markets React to Strong U.S. Jobs Data and Rising Yields

Global markets tumbled Monday following a robust U.S. jobs report that pushed Treasury yields to 14-month highs, challenging equity valuations as earnings season begins. European futures dipped, with EUROSTOXX 50 down 0.3%...

Politics

South Korea Faces Political Turmoil Amid Yoon's Impeachment Trial

South Koreas Constitutional Court adjourned the impeachment trial of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol shortly after its opening session on Tuesday, as Yoon failed to attend. His lawyer stated that attempts to detain Yoon...

Jack Smith: Trump’s Criminal Effort to Overturn 2020 Election Revealed

A Department of Justice report revealed Special Counsel Jack Smith found President-elect Donald Trump engaged in an unprecedented effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat. The investigation, which scrutinized Trumps...

China Tightens Export Scrutiny, Disrupting U.S. Tech Giants' Production Shift

China has intensified customs checks on U.S. tech companies, including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Dell (NYSE:DELL), delaying their efforts to relocate production to Southeast Asia and India,...

Trump to Meet Putin Quickly After Taking Office

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly after his inauguration next week. The meeting would mark the first interaction between the leaders since Russias invasion...

North Korea Fires Missiles Amid Rising Tensions Ahead of Trump’s Return

North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, South Koreas military reported. The missiles, fired from Kanggye, Jagang Province, near the Chinese border, traveled approximately...

Science

Bill Gates’ Shocking New Malaria Solution Unveiled as Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Turn Into Flying Vaccinators

In a groundbreaking and controversial move, researchers funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at Leiden University Medical Center have developed a revolutionary approach to combat malaria. The team has created...

Explosive CIA Whistleblower Claims Havana Syndrome Victims Face Cancer, Dementia, and Government Betrayal

A former CIA operative has come forward with alarming allegations, claiming that victims of the mysterious Havana Syndrome are now battling devastating health issues, including cancer, dementia, and Parkinsons disease. The...

FDA Approval of Opdivo Injection Sparks Hope for Cancer Patients with Revolutionary Treatment Update

In a significant advancement for cancer care, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an injectable version of Bristol Myers Squibbs blockbuster cancer drug Opdivo. Branded as Opdivo Qvantig, the new...

Public Health Experts Warn of ‘Quad-Demic’ as Flu, COVID, RSV, and Norovirus Threaten Winter Surge

Public health experts are raising alarms over a potential quad-demic this winter, with flu, COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and norovirus all expected to surge simultaneously. This unprecedented convergence of...

Philippines' 'Missile Acquisition' Plan Provokes China's 'Arms Race' Warning

The Philippines has announced plans to acquire the U.S.-developed Typhon missile system to bolster its maritime defense capabilities. This decision has elicited strong reactions from China, which warns that such a move...

Technology

Global Smartphone Market Sees Shifts as Chinese Brands Gain Ground

Smartphone shipments for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung (KS:005930) declined in Q4 as competition from Chinese companies like Xiaomi (OTC:XIACF) intensified, according to preliminary data from IDC. Despite a rebound in...

Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket Launch Delayed to Thursday

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos rocket company, has rescheduled the inaugural launch of its New Glenn rocket to Thursday, Jan. 16. Originally set for Tuesday, the launch was delayed after a technical issue arose on Monday. The...

NVIDIA to Establish Asian Headquarters in Taiwan

NVIDIA Corporation will set up its Asian headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, according to the Central News Agency (CNA). The tech giant plans to hire over 2,500 employees as part of the expansion, as confirmed by National...

NVIDIA to Establish Asian HQ and R&D Center in Taiwan

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is planning to set up its Asian headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, according to the Central News Agency. The tech giant will reportedly hire over 2,500 staff as part of the move, as stated by...

EU Reassesses Big Tech Probes Under Digital Markets Act

The European Commission is reassessing its probes into major tech firms, including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Meta (NASDAQ:META), and Alphabets (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, as reported by the Financial Times. This comes after the...