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Violence as Strategy: The Sinaloa Cartel and the Assassination of Mexican Mayors
By: Carolyn Adkins, Nicholas Gelston, and Georgia Nelson Executive Summary Mayoral assassinations represent a critical intersection of political violence, governance, and societal instability in Mexico. Despite municipal policing and security efforts to protect mayors, municipal governments face an exorbitant number of assassinations carried out by cartels who seek to gain control or impose retaliatory measures…
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Slowing the Pentagon’s Revolving Door
When Special Interests Quietly Undermine National Security This article was published anonymously. (Image Source: Washington Post; https://tinyurl.com/mtph6nsy) This research paper examines the Pentagon’s “Revolving Door” phenomenon and its impact on defense acquisition, oversight, and national security outcomes. It analyzes how the movement of senior officials between government and industry reinforces cost inflation, weakens regulatory enforcement,…
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Coercing Peace: The Use of Tariffs in Conflict Resolution
(Image Source: Pexels; https://tinyurl.com/8jfs8jf8) By Rachel Silverboard The Trump administration’s use of tariffs to coerce countries to end conflict marks a distinct application of the trade tool with ineffective outcomes. Introduction The Trump Administration’s use of tariffs in conflict resolution represents an unprecedented deployment of the trade remedy in compelling third parties to resolve interstate conflicts. Historically,…
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Seeding Resistance Against Settler Colonialism: The Geopolitics of Palestinian Seed Libraries
Jadu’i Watermelon harvested from heirloom seeds native to Jenin in the occupied WestBank, grown as part of a collaboration between the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library and Ujamaa Farming Cooperative Alliance. (Ranganathan, 2025) By Masha Kazantsev This article discusses how seed libraries, seed keeping, and heirloom seeds serve as anact of resistance and a way to…
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CSO Perspectives on Remedy Pathways for Fishers and Fisher Involvement in IUU Reporting
Image Source: Pexels; https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-anchor-17485780/ By Carlye Goldman, Natalie Leonard, and Elizabeth Parker This report outlines research gaps and best practices in recruitment oversight- drawing on case studies and interviews with civil society organizations (CSOs)- and explores how CSOs help fishers exercise their voice and agency, and how fishers with a stronger voice in their sector…
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The Militarization of Queer Sexuality: Is Sexuality an Assemblage of National Security Regimes?
Image Source: Stanford University Digital Stacks; https://tinyurl.com/bdfx6f5j By Christopher Belden The mainstream conception of national security renders gender identity and sexual orientation as irrelevant; however, states imbed sexuality as part of their national security agendas creating a circular assemblage through the dichotomous informant-security threat identity mapped upon queer bodies. In the existing analyses of Cold…
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Pushed Into Precarity
Costa Rican Anti-Asylum Migration Decrees’ Impact on Nicaraguan Migrants & Development Image Source: Pixabay; https://tinyurl.com/3r9sxrnw By Amanda Clark Once praised for its humanitarian approach to migration, Costa Rica now risks that reputation as decrees turn Nicaraguan asylum seekers into a vulnerable labor force, exposing the growing gap between the country’s ideals and its practices. Migration…
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The 2013 Egyptian Coup d’État: A Watershed for Repression
Image Source: The Guardian; https://tinyurl.com/369779az By Caleb Helsel Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s 2013 coup in Egypt marked the end of Egypt’s brief democracy and the birth of a new, more violent autocracy. Abstract In 2013, Egyptian Minister of Defense Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a military coup against the democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, restoring autocratic…
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The Eradication of Human African Trypanosomiasis in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Colonial Shadows and Global Responses
By Natsuko Matsukawa National Flags of DRC and Belgium. (Image Source: Alamy; https://tinyurl.com/mr36jtyz) 1. Introduction Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as African sleeping sickness, is a vector-borne parasitic disease primarily transmitted by the tsetse fly. It is caused by two subspecies of Trypanosoma brucei, which is a protozoan, a single-celled parasitic flagellate: T.…
American University: Journal of International Service
Great Writers Make Great Leaders
