Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation

05/20/2026

Each year, tens of thousands of people in the United States are shot by a criminal assailant. But in most of those cases, police fail to arrest the shooter.

In this latest report from HFG, Philip Cook of Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy argues police departments should invest more in improving their investigations of fatal and nonfatal shootings and provides examples of what has worked in Boston, Chicago, and other cities.

Read the "Unsolved Shootings: Why and How to Boost Clearance Rates” report here:

https://www.hfg.org/hfg_reports/unsolved-shootings-why-and-how-to-boost-clearance-rates/

04/29/2026

Approximately 75,000 people in the United States were shot by a criminal assailant in 2024, yet most of those shootings did not result in an arrest.

In this latest HFG Research and Policy in Brief report, Philip J. Cook, professor emeritus at Duke University, explores the gap between solved and unsolved shootings.

“There is a strong argument for improving police performance in investigating serious crimes of violence,” Cook argues. “What is at stake is public safety and the basic duty of the police to serve the public.”

Read "Unsolved Shootings: Why and How to Boost Clearance Rates" here:

https://www.hfg.org/hfg_reports/unsolved-shootings-why-and-how-to-boost-clearance-rates/

“There is a strong argument for improving police performance in investigating serious crimes of violence," writes criminologist Philip J. Cook in this HFG Research and Policy in Brief. "What is at stake is public safety and the basic duty of the police to serve the public.”

04/16/2026

This week, Professor Marc Lynch of the Elliott School of International Affairs appeared on The New York Times's "The Ezra Klein Show" to discuss statehood in Israel and Palestine.

Lynch is currently an HFG 2026 Distinguished Scholar receiving support for his project "Battle Scars: Violence and the Middle Eastern Warscape."

Listen to the podcast episode "Reckoning With Israel's 'One-State Reality’” below:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-lynch-telhami.html

Visit www.HFG.org to learn more about the Distinguished Scholar Awards, which support established academics and researchers examining contemporary issues of violence.

https://www.hfg.org/distinguished-scholars/

The political scientists Shibley Telhami and Marc Lynch discuss Israel’s continued expansion into the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon.

04/01/2026

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation had a busy start to the new year. From co-organizing a panel with Salzburg Global on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, to revisiting research on reputation theory amid the ongoing Iran war.

HFG’s grantees have also had a productive season, publishing books and articles on their research, and winning prestigious awards for their work.

Check out these latest updates from HFG and its partners, and visit www.HFG.org to sign up for our next newsletter.

03/26/2026

“For what reasons should countries be willing to go to war, risking the lives of thousands or even millions?”

That’s the question Joshua Schwartz, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology, asks in this new article from The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.

Amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran war, “Reluctance to Back Down Is No Reason to Fight” revisits Schwartz’s HFG-supported research on how reputation factors into a state's decision to wage war.

Read it here:

https://www.hfg.org/insights/reluctance-to-back-down-is-no-reason-to-fight/

As the US-Israel-Iran war continues, The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation revisits the research of 2021 HFG Emerging Scholar Joshua Schwartz, who examines how reputation factors into a state's decision to wage war.

03/11/2026

HFG Welcomes Distinguished Scholars Megan Turnbull of the University of Georgia and Kathleen Klaus of Uppsala University.

Turnbull and Klaus will investigate how narratives that justify violence, and the social networks that sustain them, shape how civilians in the US come to see political violence as legitimate.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards recognize leading researchers proposing to make a significant contribution to illuminating an issue of violence.

Learn more at: https://www.hfg.org/2026-hfg-distinguished-scholars/

03/09/2026

HFG Welcomes Distinguished Scholar Gail Super of the University of Toronto.

Super will research how penal violence, by both the state and civilians, reduces or amplifies future violence in the Xhora Mouth area of South Africa.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards recognize leading researchers proposing to make a significant contribution to illuminating an issue of violence.

Learn more at: https://www.hfg.org/2026-hfg-distinguished-scholars/

University of Toronto Mississauga

03/06/2026

HFG Welcomes Distinguished Scholar Marc Lynch of The George Washington University.

Lynch’s research conceptualizes the Levant as a ‘warscape,’ and examines how the recurring potential for violence has fundamentally shaped the political and socio-economic conditions in the region.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards recognize leading researchers proposing to make a significant contribution to illuminating an issue of violence.

Learn more at: https://www.hfg.org/2026-hfg-distinguished-scholars/

03/05/2026

HFG Welcomes Distinguished Scholars Sandra Ley and Radha Sarkar of Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Ley and Sarkar will research organized criminal violence against religious leaders in Mexico, and examine how these religious leaders respond to organized crime in their communities.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards recognize leading researchers proposing to make a significant contribution to illuminating an issue of violence.

Learn more at: https://www.hfg.org/2026-hfg-distinguished-scholars/

03/04/2026

HFG Welcomes 2026 Distinguished Scholar Amira Jadoon of Clemson University.

Jadoon will examine how different stakeholders in Pakistan’s conflict-affected regions of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa perceive the underlying drivers of the insurgencies, the legitimacy of political violence, and pathways to meaningful reconciliation between the state and civilians.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards recognize leading researchers proposing to make a significant contribution to illuminating an issue of violence.

Learn more at: https://www.hfg.org/2026-hfg-distinguished-scholars/