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Cornell Policy Review

The Cornell Policy Review is the official public policy journal of the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy.

The official policy journal of Cornell University's Brooks School of Public Policy, providing leading policy insights of Cornellians in Public Policy since 1996. Originally founded in the spring of 1996 as The Current, The Cornell Policy Review is published annually by Brook's MPA students who serve as both editors and contributors for the Policy Review, drawing upon their own research and professional experience. The editorial board also solicits book reviews, interviews, and scholarly contributions from public policy students and alumni from other programs across the country. Working on The Cornell Policy Review offers Fellows a valuable foundation in research and writing, as well as first-hand experience with the rigors of scholarship at the professional level. Disclaimer: This blog constitutes a personal perspective. Neither the content of this blog, nor the links to other web sites, are screened, approved, reviewed or endorsed by Cornell University, the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy, or any Cornell-affiliated entity. The text and other material contained in this blog is the opinion of the specific author and does not convey any statements of advice, opinion, or information on behalf of Cornell, Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy, or the Cornell Policy Review editorial board.

09/21/2026

The failures of September 11 were not just failures of intelligence collection. They were failures of policy, exposing an intelligence community too fragmented to connect the dots it already had.

Tracing the transformation of the U.S. Intelligence Community from the 9/11 Commission's findings through today's shifting national security priorities, Jon Garver argues that while post-9/11 reforms built a more integrated and capable enterprise, the lasting lesson of that day demands a policy framework that can adapt before the next breakdown not after it.
Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/from-fragmentation-to-fluency-policy-reform-and-the-transformation-of-the-u-s-intelligence-community-after-9-11/

#911

$On September 11, 2001, fractured communication systems between first responders, government agencies, and the public, co...$

09/14/2026

On September 11, 2001, fractured communication systems between first responders, government agencies, and the public, cost lives and exposed how dangerously unprepared America's infrastructure was for a crisis of that scale.

Tracing the evolution of emergency services, intergovernmental networks, and broadcast journalism in the 25 years since the attacks, Rose Kores argues that the reforms born from that day's failures from FirstNet to fusion centers to continuous news coverage have made America more resilient, and that continued investment in communication infrastructure remains essential to honoring those we lost.

Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/the-evolution-of-communication-systems-post-9-11/

#911

09/11/2026

Twenty-five years ago, the world watched as tragedy reshaped a nation and in the years since, America has grappled with grief, resilience, and what it means to stand together.

In this special edition, the Cornell Policy Review reflects on twenty-five years of loss, resilience, and unity in the wake of September 11, honoring those we lost while examining the policies, communities, and values that have carried us forward.

#911

08/31/2026

Cleaner air was never enough. The question of who bears the burden of pollution, and who benefits from the clean energy transition, has become just as urgent as whether emissions are falling.

Comparing the federal Clean Air Act's pollution control framework with New York State's Climate Action Council Scoping Plan, Xinyi Liang argues that while New York's approach represents a meaningful expansion of environmental policy toward labor, equity, and public health, its ambitious goals risk remaining aspirational without stronger enforcement mechanisms, coordinated implementation, and realistic pathways for displaced workers to access green jobs.

Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/from-emissions-to-equity-assessing-the-policy-expansion-from-the-clean-air-act-to-new-yorks-climate-scoping-plan/

08/24/2026

America is pouring trillions into AI infrastructure but without the institutional architecture to deploy it, the result is stalled projects, drained water tables, rising utility bills, and growing public backlash.

Analyzing the AI infrastructure boom through the lens of institutional economics and systems architecture, Christian Bolden argues that the U.S. is regulating AI as software while deploying it as infrastructure and calls for a governance doctrine of responsible growth built on nested coordination, circular resource management, and a digital infrastructure dividend that makes host communities stakeholders rather than casualties.

Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/ais-dirty-secret-the-ai-economy-has-no-operating-system-the-governance-crisis-beneath-americas-hyperscale-ai-infrastructure-boom/

08/17/2026

The world lost 420 million hectares of forest in just three decades and how governments structure conservation policy may determine whether that trend reverses or accelerates.

Comparing Costa Rica's incentive-based Payment for Environmental Services program with Indonesia's community rights-based Social Forestry Programme, Mirnayanti Jayasari argues that durable forest conservation requires aligning financial incentives, institutional coherence, and secure land tenure and that each country has critical lessons to offer the other.

Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/from-incentives-to-rights-what-costa-rica-and-indonesia-teach-us-about-forest-governance/

08/12/2026

Rural hospitals across the U.S. are closing not because they are failing patients clinically, but because the rising cost of regulatory compliance is pushing them past the point where delivering care can be financially sustained.

Examining the financial architecture of rural hospital distress through the lens of Critical Access Hospitals and existing federal regulatory frameworks, Benjamin D. Parker argues that no new healthcare mandate should be implemented without a cost-impact assessment and calls on federal and state agencies to adopt volume-based exemptions, targeted funding, and scaled requirements to keep rural facilities viable.

Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/terminal-quality-cost-point-and-the-rural-hospital-crisis-why-cost-impact-assessments-must-become-federal-policy/

08/06/2026

Syrian Kurds, long among the West's most reliable partners in the fight against ISIS are now facing genocidal violence, territorial loss, and near-total abandonment by the international community in post-Assad Syria.

Surveying the governmental responses of Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and the United States to the crisis in Rojava, Olivia Babcock argues that symbolic gestures toward Kurdish cultural recognition fall far short of meaningful protection, and urges the international community to hold Damascus and Ankara accountable for coordinated attacks on Kurdish autonomy and identity.

Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/no-friends-but-the-mountains-kurdish-autonomy-in-post-assad-syria/

07/13/2026

Every same-day delivery comes with a hidden cost, one paid not by the platform, but by the driver navigating algorithmically enforced speed under fragmented accountability and inadequate legal protections.
Examining last-mile delivery through the lens of labor policy and occupational safety, Samantha K. McGovern argues that regulators must align legal responsibility with operational control, mandate transparency in algorithmic management systems, and modernize safety standards to reflect the realities of high-density urban delivery work.

Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/built-for-speed-the-hidden-costs-of-last-mile-delivery/

06/29/2026

Across the United States, a wave of new state legislation is quietly reshaping who can vote, how they vote, and whether their vote is counted with restrictive laws outpacing expansive ones in 2025.

Surveying recent changes to voter registration, mail-in ballots, and ballot administration across all 50 states, Rose Kores urges citizens to research their local election laws, consume verified information, know their legal rights, and engage with their communities to protect their access to the ballot.

Read More: https://www.cornellpolicyreview.com/staying-informed-in-an-ever-changing-election-law-landscape/

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