All Articles
Taking Aim at Neutrality: Upholding the Principle of Medical Non-interference in Syria
Today, violations of medical neutrality constitute a war crime under the Geneva Convention. Yet, as an international norm, the principle has had minimal influence mitigating violence in the Syrian conflict.
A Fatal Feud - Colonial Roots of Kenya’s 2007 Post-election Violence
Since its independence in 1963, Kenya has been hailed as an island of peace and stability within Africa. It therefore came as a surprise to the international community when violence rocked the country starting December 28, 2007, barely twenty-four hours after the conclusion of a highly contested presidential election. What could have caused the 2007 post-election violence?
Identity Theft? An Exploration of Ukrainian National Identity in the Conflict with Russia
Despite falling out of the headlines of Western news sources, the bloody conflict in Eastern Ukraine is ongoing. This feature of two interviews and a personal piece look to ex- plore deeper questions of Ukrainian national identity and how it relates to Russia, the West, and the politics—both cultural and strategic—of the current conflict.
Burning Up and Burning Down - Tracing the Flames of Ethnic Conflict in Côte d’Ivoire and Burundi
Once praised as West Africa’s “beacon of stability,” Côte d’Ivoire shocked the world when its bloody civil war erupted in 2002. The unrest ultimately killed over 1,000 people, according to Freedom House. What sparked this conflict and propagated the violence?
Kyotastrophe - the Kyoto Protocol’s Inequitable Failure
In 1997, government representatives from 170 states convened, and negotiated their way to form a single plan of action: the Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol called for thirty-eight states to reduce greenhouse gases emissions to 5 percent below their emission levels in 1990 between 2008 and 2012.
US-China Power Play, and the Fiscal Play
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), launched on October 24, 2014, is the latest item on China’s Silk Road agenda that reflects the country’s increasing willingness to establish financial instruments for itself and by itself.
What Delayed Peru's Leftist Turn: Neoliberal Policy Stickiness and Sociopolitical Situation
Senior Thesis Series (5)
The People’s Constitution: How Shifts in Public Opinion Affect the Supreme Court
Senior Thesis Series (3)
Finding Fungibility: Loans, Grants, and the Fiscal Response to Aid
Senior Thesis Series (1)
Unhealed Wounds
On Thursday morning, March 5, South Koreans were in consternation at the sight of the bleeding American ambassador, Mark W. Lippert, played and replayed on TV. The attack occurred at a restaurant at the Sejong Center for performing arts, where Lippert was to deliver an address for the breakfast event sponsored by the organization Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation.
Nigeria: The New Pakistan or the End of Boko Haram?
Nigeria’s army has been long recognized as one of Africa’s most well equipped and organized, but events over the past years including its failure to quell Boko Haram have called this into question. The case of Nigeria echoes that of the Pakistan and the Islamists in the Waziristan tribal regions, with both states having effectively lost control over large portions of their territory to Islamic extremist groups.
Charge of the Right Brigade
European countries have traditionally had political parties that range from the very liberal to the very conservative, stretching further in both directions than, say, the two political parties in the United States. Historically, the more conservative parties remained firmly on the fringes of society and did not gained much power politically. The recent changes in the ethnic distribution of European population, mainly due to a massive influx of immigration, have popularized the furthest-right parties, most of which have an aggressive anti-immigration stance.