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State-Building in Commercial States
A Comparative Study of Singapore and Panama By Ryan Sullivan Introduction This paper is a study of Singapore and its status as a globalized city-state that provides the most advanced linkages in international commerce. As one of the proclaimed “Asian Tigers,” Singapore has been an example for social scientists that exalt the city-state’s ability to…
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Towards a Depoliticized Belarusian State
By Helen K. McHenry Executive Summary Belarus, a former Soviet republic located between Russia and Europe, has been led by President Alexander Lukashenko for the past 27 years. Lukashenko has built a police state plagued by corruption and a weak rule of law; the vast majority of the state’s power resides in the executive…
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Who is Liberation For?
An Analysis of Gender and Sexuality Outside of the Western White Gaze By Adam Ropizar Preface and Introduction Early on in Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil, W.E.B. Du Bois writes about the modern discovery of personal whiteness, and how it has created a radical shift in the world.[i] To illustrate that point, he says,…
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Introducing our Spring 2022 Edition
The Journal of International Service is proud to present our Spring 2022 edition, featuring a variety of interesting and rigorously researched articles written by graduate students at the School of International Service. Here you’ll find an introduction to both our authors and their topics as well as an editor’s corner where some of our editors…
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Psycho-Social Media
How Cycles of Retaliation and a Perilous Information Space Drive the Northern Ethiopian Conflict and Jeopardize Future Reconciliation By Benjamin Stevenson Man-made famine, massacres, and chilling episodes of sexual violence; these have defined Northern Ethiopia across decades of protracted ethnic conflict. A new war was launched on November 4, 2020 under the ironic leadership of…
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Resolving the Tigray Conflict: Transforming Ethno-Political Identity in Ethiopia
By Samantha A. Sloane One day, a woman threw a bone out of her house. Two dogs started fighting for it. A wise old man called Robele Megerra saw them. “Stop those dogs!” he called out. “If you don’t, the boys will start fighting too.” Nobody listened to Robele Megerra. A few minutes later, a…
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Tracing Protracted Refugee Encampment: Lessons from Kenya’s Kakuma and Dadaab
By Lia Russell Introduction Refugee camps are meant to be temporary facilities that provide immediate protection and assistance to people forced to flee their home countries. When refugees’ countries of origin remain too volatile for safe return, however, camps designed to be dismantled become permanent.[i] As of 2020, 15.7 million refugees were in protracted refugee…
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Land Reform in the Caucasus Region and the Relationship to Developments of Post-Soviet Grievance
By Wiley Carter Reid Introduction Following the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991, numerous former constituent states moved towards land reform, shifting away from Soviet policies of state-owned collectivized agriculture towards privately-owned farms. Among these constituent states to initiate de-collectivization measures were the three Caucasus nations of Georgia, Armenia,…
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Media Coverage of Afghan and Uyghur Women Post-9/11: A Comparative Case Study
Madeline Moreno Introduction In the wake of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, many Americans came to associate Islam with terrorism. Politicians and American media companies used stories that painted Afghan women as helpless victims and Islam as oppressive to women to bolster support for the US invasion of Afghanistan.[i] Twenty years later, abounding evidence has…
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Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Ethiopian-Tigrayan Conflict
By Rachel Crocker Background The Conflict In November 2020, Ethiopia was thrust into the international spotlight with the emergence of a civil war between the national government and political leaders in the Tigray region. After years of political unrest between the government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), violence broke out when TPLF forces…
American University: Journal of International Service
Great Writers Make Great Leaders
