Columbia Global Reports

Democracy works by compromise, but climate change is precisely the type of problem that seems not to allow for it. As the clock on democracies’ own self-imposed climate timelines continues to tick, a structural mismatch between politics and science is becoming increasingly exposed. And those concerned by climate change—some already with political power, others grasping for it—are now searching for new ways to close that gap, by any means necessary.   Learn more

Politics today doesn’t look much like it did fifty years ago. Campaigns have gone high-tech, hoping to use big data and sophisticated mathematical models to turn electioneering into a science. Meanwhile, a permanent class of political consultants has emerged, with teams of pollsters, message gurus, and field operatives. Taken together, all this amounts to a silent revolution that has transformed politics across much of the globe. Left Adrift is about that battle—and the world it has made.    Learn more

Hyper-partisanship has come to dominate American politics—but most people think the heart of the problem is partisanship itself, not how it is enacted. Not so, says political historian Julian Zelizer, in this fresh and deeply researched book. In Defense of Partisanship explores the fascinating and little-known history of efforts to reform the US political party system, and offers an entirely new way of thinking about how America governs.   Learn more

Losing Big
by Jonathan Cohen / March 2025

In 2018, a US Supreme Court ruling permitted states to legalize sports gambling. To date, 38 have done so. The nation is already facing a sports gambling crisis, one that will worsen in the coming years. In Losing Big, Jonathan Cohen argues that this burgeoning crisis is a product of public policy and could have been avoided if states had taken a more deliberate, careful approach to gambling legalization.

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