Dear readers,
We are thrilled to introduce this year’s edition of the Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA). Each edition of the journal represents a year’s worth of work from dozens of contributors. In the fall of 2024, our returning editorial board interviewed many candidates to select five new members, whose leadership has been instrumental in preparing the edition you are reading now. We then solicited submissions from graduate policy students across the world and received over 60 articles. With the vital help of 30 visiting and associate editors from fourteen schools across the globe, we selected seven exemplary pieces for publication. Our team also created JPIA’s first-ever faculty advisory board, whose input in assessing articles’ methodological rigor was invaluable.
It is JPIA’s mission to publicly provide impactful scholarship on policy and politics from outstanding graduate students and recent graduates. Now in its 36th year, JPIA’s 2025 edition includes seven articles on a wide variety of public affairs and policy issues. Several of our authors consider opportunities for energy policy reform in a variety of countries, highlighting ongoing energy transitions across the globe. Some authors take a more local view, exploring the effects of drug decriminalization and questioning the utility of public comment opportunities for affordable housing development. Others unsettle gendered norms surrounding conflict-related sexual violence and argue that Hurricane Sandy revealed the historical production of vulnerable populations in New York City. These articles utilize varied qualitative and quantitative methods in their contributions to domestic and international policy literature.
We would like to extend enormous thanks to our many peers and supporters who made this year’s journal possible. To our authors, thank you for trusting us with your work. We are immensely appreciative of the 35 Visiting and Associate Editors who came to Princeton for Reading Weekend to help us narrow down dozens and dozens of submissions to those we are publishing today. Tâm Lê Rovitto and Ameet Doshi, we could not have done it without your support and that of SPIA Student Life and Stokes Library. To our inaugural faculty advisory board members, we are so grateful for all your revisions and suggestions.
Caroline, Stefan, Patrick, Paco, Michelle, Mera, and Sophia - it has been the highlight of our time in graduate school to work alongside such a kind, bright, intrepid, and thoughtful editorial board. We leave knowing the journal is in excellent hands.
To our readers - enjoy! We hope you find these articles insightful and thought-provoking.
Ariel Munczek Edelman & Diana Chavez-Varela, Editors in Chief
Jennifer Williams, Managing Editor
JPIA is an academic journal showcasing exceptional policy papers and articles from policy graduate students. Our focus spans U.S. domestic policy, international relations, development studies, and economic policy. JPIA selects articles on the merits of each piece’s academic rigor and contribution to policy discourse, our editorial board does not endorse any opinions expressed therein.