Joseph A. Harriss

However the French vote Sunday April 22 in the first round of their presidential election, or in the runoff May 6, the long-term winners in terms of real political change will be neither the putative conservative Nicolas Sarkozy nor the…

Eyebrows up in feigned sincerity, shoulders hunched against the damp cold, Nicolas Sarkozy glanced at a mutilated statuette of a medieval girl warrior missing one arm and ducked through the low door of a rundown little house in the remote…

The French, who do things differently, believe that Friday the 13th is a lucky day. Key rings and other amulets often sport a 13, sales of lottery tickets soar on that day—newspapers have already published the happy information that there…

Those self-appointed guardians of world culture, the international functionaries at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris, surely know that popular folklore story, the Tar-Baby. It figures in over 200 tales in societies of all races, ancient…

We have all heard the jocular remark about the inmates taking over the asylum. But I had never actually witnessed that unnerving event until last October 31, when I spent an afternoon in the press gallery of the United Nations…

The French, who do things differently, believe that Friday the 13th is a lucky day. Key rings and other amulets often sport a 13, sales of lottery tickets soar on that day — newspapers have already published the happy information…

What kind of year will 2012 be? To be sure, for news junkies, policy wonks, and the chattering class, it will be the year of important elections in the U.S. and Europe, more financial cataclysms, and the usual coups and…

The balcony press gallery in UNESCO’s cavernous, flag-bedecked main conference hall was only half full when I arrived Monday. The usual speeches His Excellencies the Permanent Representatives made praising its splendid, nay, heroic, efforts to build a culture of peace…

In fine old American families where tradition holds an honored place, the wisdom of the ages is passed down from father to son. One early dictum, when sonny is still in short pants, is the time-honored, “Never pass up the…

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the tubby, leering, former International Monetary Fund director accused of sexual harassment or rape over a period of years by women of several nationalities on two continents, disappointed even his broad-minded compatriots Sunday evening. Thirteen million, a new…