Mar 5“No Such Thing as Political Violence”: A Poststructural Lens for Understanding State Responses to TerrorismWhen heads of state, broadcast journalists, public intellectuals, and other figures who are lended authority write and speak on contemporary issues, their language works to construct an objective interpretation with distinct bounds of reason and a set of good and bad actors. …Terrorism4 min read
Feb 26Turkish Cabinet Session Addressing PKK Violence Reveals Tensions, Questions of Kurdish IntegrationAuthor’s Note: This journalistic piece is from a Model United Nations conference and does not reflect actual events Friday, February 18: Turkish President Erdogan’s cabinet met today to discuss multiple crises, including attacks by the Kurdistan workers party (PKK) on an Ankara military base during which twelve generals were taken…3 min read
Sep 7, 2021French Influence in the EU: Constructivism’s Contributions to Understanding France’s Role in the Future of European IntegrationPhoto: French President Emmanuel Macron (Louis) As the European Union’s two main powers, France and Germany, are to hold elections in April and September, respectively, the future of European integration and strategic autonomy remains open to a drastic shift. French president Emmanuel Macron has been a committed Europhile throughout his…France5 min read
Jun 4, 2021Why We Are Failing to Address Climate Change: an IR Perspective(Antarctic Sea Ice) Intergovernmental organizations such as the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) have not been able to produce a framework for the effective mitigation of human-caused climate change (Otto). The most recent accord adopted by the UNFCCC, the Paris Climate Accord, establishes the goal of limiting…International Relations7 min read
Mar 5, 2021Feminism in International Relations: Better IR Practice is Gender Equitable*Image 1 When using the lens of gender to assess global politics, it is clear that women are largely missing from roles of world leadership. If gender equality is to be achieved on a global scale and a diverse set of voices are to contribute to conflict resolution and problem…International Womens Day5 min read
Jan 24, 2021Dual Crises: Putin, Biden, Navalny, and Russia-US Relations in 2021As Joe Biden took the Presidential office on January 20th, 2021, he faced a domestic crisis with uniquely international implications. The siege of the US Capitol Building was widely agreed by world leaders to be a backsliding of democracy. To some, it was a concerning sign of an ally in…Navalny3 min read
Jan 8, 2021Ba’athist Iraq: Past, Present, and FutureIntroduction Bilateral and multinational history is often viewed through the lens of interactions and clashes. The historiography of the 16th to 19th centuries largely focuses on maritime exploration and its interactions and conflicts with people around the world, as well as consequential imperial pursuits, weighing of the exploitative versus beneficial…Iraq War29 min read
Nov 30, 2020COVID 19 and Globalization: The Trend Towards Nationalized ResponsesEditor’s note: This article was originally released in July, 2020; Statistics used reflect the date of creation and may not be current The COVID 19 pandemic is undoubtedly one of the most globally impactful crises the world has seen to date. The pandemic presents a plethora of threats, not only…Covid 1910 min read
Nov 23, 2020We’re Looking at Putin’s Russia WrongThe American narrative on Russia has rarely been one of cooperation and friendship. Especially recently, though, attitudes have shifted towards competition and global power politics on a new level. Among academic, public, and political spheres, it seems a near consensus has been reached that Russia’s posture towards the United States…Russia5 min read
