International Relations Review, Fall 2014

The International Relations Review at Boston University

Fall 2014

Deconstructing ISIL: Interviews and Analysis Afghanistan’s Transformation Decade Special Report: Looking to South Asia

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BRIEFINGS SPECIAL REPORT INTERVIEW ESSAYS OPINIONS

Photo by Morgan Peterson, CAS ‘17

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BRIEFINGS 8

One Country, Two Parties

By Sam Wong, COM ‘15 Student protests ignite in Hong Kong after unrest over governmental interference in municipal elections.

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Putting a Price on a Natural Wonder

By Natalie Schultz, CAS ‘18 Australia works to formulate a policy regarding the preservation of the Great Barrier Reef.

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Until They Are Found

By Caitlin Hemdal, CAS ‘16 Government corruption in Mexico has prompted massive demonstrations after the dissappearance of 43 students.

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Crisis in the Ukraine

By Ben Thesing, CAS ‘17 A ceasefire in the Ukraine has been reached, but over 1,000 have died since the signing of the agreement. Now the West is planning more sanctions on Putin’s Russia.

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The International Relations Review

One Country, Two Parties Protests ignite in Hong Kong

By Sam Wong, COM ‘15

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our weeks of unrestrained protests is not a common sight in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has enjoyed a system of “one country, two parties” since its handover from Britain to China in 1997. As a result, the nation is able to enjoy a fair amount of autonomy from Beijing. The people of Hong Kong are afforded civil liberties that are unheard of in the Mainland, including freedom of speech and assembly.

In the last month Hong Kongers, both locally and internationally, have unified to show support for universal suffrage for Hong Kong’s 2017 elections and subsequent disapproval for China’s Communist Party-controlled legislature.

Initially, the protests were galvanized by Beijing’s decision to let eligible Hong Kong voters (read: most of its population of 7 million) vote from a pool of chief executive candidates vetted and approved by China’s Communist Party. The chief executive in Hong Kong is akin to a leader or a president. The movement of Occupy Central (formerly Occupy Central with Peace and Love and inspired by Occupy Wall Street) is the former British colony’s unsurprising response to a fake democratic environment. The protesters range from Hong Kong nationals to other ethnicities that have taken residence in Hong Kong and claim Hong Kong as their home, such as Indians, Filipinos, Thais, and Indonesians.

The “umbrella revolution” – coined when umbrellas were used to protect the peaceful protestors from the riot police’s pepper spray – began on September 28, 2014 and on October 1, the 65th anniversary of China’s communist rule, the protests swelled to around 100,000 people. This revolutionary show is China’s biggest since the protests in Tinanmen Square in 1989, when peaceful student protesters were literally shot down by the local Chinese government.

Communist Party leaders in Beijing have long feared

radicalism from the political system employed by Hong Kong.

China’s president Xi Jinping believes that total control over Hong Kong will secure autocratic rule. However, complete autocratic control appears to be the last thing on the minds of Hong Kong protesters.

Xi Jinping has stated that he will not tolerate a Westernstyle democracy. The Economist reported that Xi had a meeting with 70 affluent Hong Kong nationals to ensure their support for the Chinese president’s anti-democratic stance. Xi has kept mum on the subject but the Communist Party’s newspaper, the People’s Daily, called for the residents of Hong Kong to support the police’s “resolute” action.

Censors in China from the Communist Party have even gone so far as to blocking Instagram. Similarly, Chinese police have rounded up the activists in the Mainland who sympathize with Hong Kong’s protesters.

Hong Kong’s current chief executive, Leung Cheunying, is at the center of scrutiny for his “puppetry.” Leung is defiant against multiple calls by the protesting public for his resignation. Leung’s opinion echoes that of Chinese business tycoons that the unrest in Hong Kong is spearheaded by “foreign forces.” He also openly dismissed the idea of genuine democracy.

Leung himself was voted in, not by Hong Kong’s people, “but by an exclusive 1,200 member committee stacked with tycoons and pro-Beijing figures,” as reported by the Washington Post. The chief executive was also reported to have said “if it’s entirely a numbers game and numeric representation, then obviously you would be talking to half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than $1,800 a month... you would end up with that kind of politics and policies.”

The economic inequity is another root for Hong Kong’s protests. Hong Kong’s young people are not satisfied with its economic state, a system that is thought to be rigged by

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Photo by Sam Wong, COM ‘15

the nation’s billionaire tycoons. The plutocracy in Hong Kong guarantees these tycoons a bloc of seats in the legislative assembly. There is also resentment over the Mainland’s educated creeping on jobs sought by local graduates.

There are sects of Hong Kongers, however, who do not agree with the ongoing protests. Some believe that the protests are for nothing, that protestors are chasing a dream. Older generations who saw the Tiananmen Square protests two decades earlier do not wish for civil unrest.

The police, on the other hand, are supposedly reigned in by former British colonial ruling. They are not meant to use full-scale violence to stop protests as their goal is simply to “maintain peace” in the city. They have since scaled back their presence after using tear gas and pepper spray and hardening the stance of protesters, the protesters’ respective response to the unnecessary police violence being “shame on you!”

Even then, protests and protesters were

peaceful. The protesters have respected civil obedience, even going so far as to pick up and collect trash post-protests.

There are three main protest encampments in Hong Kong: Occupy Central, Occupy Admiralty and Occupy Mong Kok. All are located in business districts around the heart of Hong Kong.

There was even a small camp in shopping district Causeway Bay for two days until the streets were reopened by police. The camps are led by nationals such as lawprofessor Benny Tai and 17 year-old Joshua Wong, who in addition to leading the protest also leads his own high school protest group called Scholarism.

The Occupy Mong Kok camp is known for a more riotous environment than its counterparts. On October 3, there were men who violently attacked the protesters; they ripped tents, assaulted students, and allegedly sexually assaulted women. There was also a police raid conducted by 500-600 police at dawn. However, this only succeeded in protesters returning to the camp in larger numbers the next day.

57-year-old Carrie Lam, Leung’s deputy, and other government officials were in a two-hour debate with students on Tuesday, October 21. The officials in the debate offered no promises but said they were there to listen to the students. The talk was conducted in Hong Kong’s national, most prominent dialect, Cantonese, with some English translation.

The student leaders from the Hong Kong Federation of Students called for officials to guarantee civil liberties for future elections. There were multiple citations of Hong Kong’s constitution to back each side’s points and made for a civil discussion.

Lam told the students that the government would be willing to submit a report to Beijing on the discontentedness of Beijing’s election decision. Lam also said that the rules might change for subsequent elections. The students, however, stuck to their guns and requested for the chief executive elections in 2017 to be open to all candidates.

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The International Relations Review

Photo by Julia Case, CAS ‘14

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Putting a Price on a Natural Wonder Australia works to preserve the Great Barrier Reef

By Natalie Schultz, CAS ‘18

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his September, the Australian government released its Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan concerning the Great Barrier Reef’s deterioration.

This draft, however, proposes a strategy that is “inadequate to achieve the goal of restoring or even maintaining the diminished outstanding universal value of the reef,” serving as an overwhelming disappointment to leading scientific academia.1 The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system.

Stretching about 2,500 kilometers long, it houses “one of the richest and most complex natural ecosystems on Earth.”2 In 1981, UNESCO listed the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site. Today, the reef risks being listed as endangered. According to a 2012 study conducted by the United States National Academy of Sciences, the Great Barrier Reef has already lost more than half of its coverage since 1985.3 The loss of this reef would not only act as a $5.7 billion detriment to Australia’s GDP, but it would also signify the loss of one of the world’s seven natural wonders.4 A pressing strain on the ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef, and a subject strategically left ambiguous in the Australian government’s draft, is the mining and transportation of the coal surrounding it.5 “The science is quite clear that you can’t keep the Great Barrier Reef in good condition if you’re going to develop huge coal reserves,” said Professor Hughes, director of the Australian Research Council Centre of

Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. He continues, “We have stewardship of one of the world’s premier reef systems and also stewardship of a huge reserve of fossil fuels – it’s a conflict of interest, really.”6 Coal has been beneficial to Australia’s economy. The industry invests around $40 billion a year and provides tens of thousands of jobs in Queensland alone, Australia’s leading coal-producing state.7 Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott warns against the “demonization of coal.” In early October he stated, “coal is good for humanity, coal is good for prosperity, coal is an essential part of our economic future, here in Australia and right around the world.”8 The Australian government shows no signs of reducing their coal production, either. On top of exporting around a million tons of coal every day, in early July the government approved a project that will lead to the creation of Australia’s largest coalmine.9 The Carmichael Mine, owned by the Indian conglomerate Adani, will cover an area seven times the size of the Sydney Harbor.10 The plan is to export 60 million tons of coal each year to India for the next sixty years.11 BBC correspondent Jon Donnison wrote, “the coal industry believes India, with its massive and fast-growing population, is the new China.”12 The only means of getting coal out of the Carmichael mine is through the Great Barrier Reef, further amplifying animosity from environmentalists.

Millions of tons of seabed will have to be dredged and dumped in the World Heritage Area to make way for port expansions.13 “At dredging sites, we found more than twice as much coral disease than at our control sites,” says Joe Pollock, a marine scientist from James Cook University. “Corals require both light and food to survive and unfortunately, dredging impacts corals on two fronts: increased turbidity means less light for photosynthesis, while increased levels of sediment falling onto the coral can interfere with their ability to feed.”14 The mining industry denies these claims, maintaining that non-governmental organizations are overplaying dangers to the Great Barrier Reef. Michael Roche of the Queensland Resources Council argues that “the NGOs are putting out stories about the reef. They’re not trying to save the reef. They’re trying to stop the coal industry.”15 Roche’s claims are further defended by Australian Environmental Minister Greg Hunt, who says the government has “a clear plan and a strong commitment to ensure the reef is healthy and resilient.”16 With the final reef plan due in December, the Australian government faces conflicting needs from both environmentalists and capitalists. “An icon under pressure” serves as the government’s opening description of the reef in its 2014 Outlook Report and, over the following months, this icon’s fate will be decided.17

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The International Relations Review

Until They Are Found Abduction of students in Mexico sparks unrest

By Caitlin Hemdal, CAS ‘16

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rug cartels, and the intricate system of political corruption and organized crime that surrounds them, have become a growing issue for many nations. Mexico has been no stranger to this particular problem; for years, the country has dealt with corrupt public officials, organized disappearances and a political system seemingly inextricably interwoven with that of powerful drug operations. Recently, a new round of unexplained disappearances has sparked nationwide protests that call for accountability for these crimes and productive government action.

Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos, a small teachers’ college in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico, has a long history of activism and protest, especially when arguing for workers’ rights and unions. Created after the Mexican Revolution in 1926, the school became dedicated to keeping social activism and social justice alive. The first week of school is dedicated to a “boot camp” meant to foster a strong sense of community and unity between the students, where they plant crops and clean the academic buildings. As the portraits of Che Guevara and other socialist figures look on, classes study Marxist philosophies, watch leftist political documentaries, hold weekly discussions and partake in other activities meant to engage students in the fight for social justice everywhere. “We have a popular saying here that goes, ‘If you found the door slightly open, try to open it a bit more, never close it,’ ” says a student leader who chose to remain anonymous. Not all students who attend are prospective revolutionaries; some simply see the school as an option that can lead to a job with a higher wage, as opposed to farming.

On September 26, many students from the school were preparing to travel to Mexico City for a demonstration on October 2, in remembrance of a 1968 student massacre in Mexico. A group from the school traveled to Iguala, hoping to collect donations for the school as well as steal two buses for transportation to the demonstration. Pushing the boundaries is not uncommon for these students, who locals attest commonly block highways and take over tollbooths asking for donations and championing their causes. These actions

have not helped to improve an already strained relationship with the local police authorities. The students readily admit to relying on what some would call radical tactics, viewing them as necessary in order to call attention to the needs of the school. “We fight for our rights, and this is often considered ‘guerrilla’ in this country,” says student Ricardo Jacinto.

Mayor José Luis Abarca, who is alleged to have close ties to the drug gang who infiltrated the police force, discovered that the group of students were coming and was worried that they would interfere with a speech his wife was giving. He allegedly ordered police to “teach them a lesson,” according to Mexican news media. The police opened fire on the students, killing six people in total; eyewitness accounts describe others being put into police vehicles and driven away. In total, members of the community estimate that forty-three students were abducted, and authorities believe that these students were handed over to the local gang, Gurerreros Unidos, and most likely murdered and dumped in a mass grave. The search for the bodies of the students is still ongoing. In the process of searching, authorizes have uncovered several mass graves containing a total of thirtyeight bodies, however, DNA tests indicate that none are those of the missing students, prompting even more questions and accusations. Mayor Abarca, after fleeing briefly with his wife, is now detained.

In a country where 20,000 people are officially counted as missing, these disappearances are sadly not unusual or unexpected. However, this event has sparked a protest movement that is gaining momentum quickly, and has broadened to oppose all forms of government corruption and their lack of accountability or improvement. Thousands of marchers have traveled to the Zócalo plaza in Mexico City, demanding answers. Images of Molotov cocktails and the burning doors of government offices in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, have gone viral. At the 43rd minute of the Mexican national team’s game against the Netherlands, the crowd shouted “Justice! Justice!” Several hashtags, including #YaMeCansedelMiedo (I am tired of fear) and #HastaEncontrarlos (Until they are found) have spread

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Photo by Jose Romo, CAS ‘16

across social media platforms.

President Enrique Peña Nieto sat down with family members of the missing students in late October, but for many, the meeting was not productive and was more about creating the image of progress than actually working toward a solution. “They don’t say anything new,” Jacinto said.

On November 20, thousands of protesters, including students, members of teachers unions, celebrities, artists and more, marched to Zócalo and congregated in the square there.

An effigy of the president was burned, accompanied by shouts of “Peña Nieto out!” “Gracias jovenes, por gritar lo que tus padres y yo callamos por miedo” (Thank you young people for shouting what your parents and I silence out of fear) read one sign. “Democracy in Mexico is a lie,” read another.

To those in the streets, these protests feel particularly poignant.

Initially about the missing students, the outrage has expanded into protests

about the president’s economic decisions and his challenges to teachers’ unions. Support spans across demographics, including teacher and student unions, members of the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference, and rural farm workers who have never before participated in political protest. “This time, it’s deeper,” asserts Mojica, a teacher from Acapulco.

In response to these protests, Nieto is promising a complete overhaul of the local police system in order to stamp out corruption and crime. In a thirtyminute speech, he promised to disband the more than 1,800 municipal forces and place them under state government control, with the federal government to decide which will be dissolved due to corruption. He also promised to install a national 911 system, as well as clear up confusion about police jurisdiction. “These acts of violence demand that we redouble efforts to achieve the full application of rule of law,” he said. Whether the public will

believe these promises and whether they will actually come to fruition is not clear, especially considering that the president has also been involved in various scandals recently, including the seven million dollar home his wife was planning in the midst of the conflict.

“He needs to give the message, it starts with himself,” says Fernando Dworak, a political analyst.

This is not the first time there has been an uprising due to heinous crimes in Mexico. In just the past few years, the country has seen various marches and protests due to inequality and injustice, with little to no proactive changes or solutions from the government. Only time will tell if the nature of these protests really is different or if, in the aftermath, Mexico will settle into a familiar pattern of corruption and crime.

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The International Relations Review

Crisis in the Ukraine Crisis-triggered sanctions touch private enterprise

By Ben Thesing, CAS ‘17

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n an effort to push back against Russia’s military aid to rebels in Ukraine, the U.S. and the EU have laid out more sanctions aimed at halting drilling in the country’s arctic oil reserves and slowing major loans to their banks and large firms. These actions occur in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk’s recent statement that his country is “still in a stage of war and the key aggressor is the Russian Federation…[Putin’s] aim is not just to take Donetsk and Lugansk. His Goal is to take the entire Ukraine.”1 Despite the ceasefire on Sept. 5, the open presence of Russian rocket launchers seen moving through the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk has kept Ukraine, the EU and the U.S. on edge.2 Further fighting even after the ceasefire and the Kremlin’s move to employ a complete military base in Crimea could have catalyzed the decision to impose the sanctions.3 In June 2014 Ukraine asserted economic independence from Russia when the nation signed a free trade agreement with the EU.4 Ukraine is of special interest to the EU because of its wealth of mineral resources and its fertile wheat fields. 5 Assuming the free trade agreement goes through in November, Ukraine could be one step closer to joining the ranks of the EU. As President Poroshenko stated, “after [all Ukraine has gone through] who can close the door?”6 While waiting for the trade agreement to go thrugh, analysis of the sanctions reveals Russia’s profitable oil industry will be significantly affected. This round aims directly at development spearheaded by ExxonMobil and BP who contracted with the Russian government-owned Rosneft corporation.7 These firms work with the Russian government to search for oil. Only more developed countries in the West have the technology capable of drilling into the fields found deeper in the sea, meaning Russia must work with these countries in order to develop drilling stations in these remote areas.8 Although the country is home to the most oil and gas reserves on earth, they are inaccessible without combined efforts with western firms.9 The problem for Russia arrived when the sanctions banned these transfers

of technology and halted early drilling stages by Exxon.

Estimated market profits have deemed the project worth $894 billion due to a potential of nine billion barrels of crude oil that could be extracted.10 Russia earns a hefty $425 billion from oil annually and projects of this type ensure the state will be able to retain that revenue in the future. 11 These sanctions pose a clear threat to one of the country’s strongest economic staples.

However, the adverse effects of these sanctions have extended beyond Russia. Almost immediately after the sanctions were imposed, both BP and ExxonMobil felt the repercussions in the drop in their stock prices. BP’s stock prices fell 3 percent while Exxon’s fell 1.3 percent.12, 13 Much like Russia, these companies depend on finding and tapping new oil reserves in order to remain profitable.

BP even stated that “further sanctions ‘could adversely impact our business and strategic objectives in Russia.’” 14 This shock occurs because BP represents the most foreign direct investment in all of Russia, owning nearly 20 percent of Rosneft. 15 Here the sanctions become a double-edged sword. President Obama refuses to interfere militarily and in turn has relied on sanctions to curb Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Unfortunately for the U.S. and the EU, oil sanctions affect future oil supplies.

The projects started in Russia would hit consumers for another five or ten years.16 Since oil still functions as a societal necessity, consumers will undoubtedly suffer if higher prices hit the market as a result of lower supply, making these sanctions unsustainable in the long-run.

While BP and ExxonMobil cannot be happy with the limits from the West, should they not look into their business models and question who and where they rely upon for profit? In this age of globalization, collaboration between firms and states and free trade allows for technology sharing which in turn helps supply meet demand and keep markets in relative equilibrium. Yet, the repercussions that BP and ExxonMobil face from these sanctions are not unlike the losses any large firm meets when they have invested unwisely, demonstrating clearly a moral hazard.

The result is evident. Regardless of their losses after the initial announcement of the sanctions, ExxonMobil’s

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Photo by Sophie Jancsurak, SMG ‘16

stock prices continue trending down.

Consumers today are more aware than ever of how a company operates and who they affiliate with and receive funding from. Over the past year as Russia militarized and began attacking the Ukraine, BP and Exxon could have profited by holding off their agreement to work with Rosneft.

With a delay in the deep-sea drilling project, neither of the firms should expect any major payout soon. Russia’s future oil production

relies on their success and the project is not feasible without the technology only available through EU countries.

Along with the sanctions, this dilemma has Russia looking at tapping its reserve capital fund in 2015. 17 These realities should have firms like BP and Exxon questioning their future involvement with Putin’s government. They will either realize that the sanctions imposed by the EU and the U.S. let them out of a trade agreement potentially harming their

image, or they will return to working with Rosneft in search of profits.

Companies relying upon corrupt states may not face losses like those invested in junk assets, but they surely have the ability to pull out of business decisions before government institutions force them out. Next time around BP and Exxon would fair better making the decision to leave Russia on their own.

SPECIAL REPORT

LOOKING TO SOUTH ASIA

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The International Relations Review

Protests Rock Islamabad Demonstrators call for PM resignation

By Mustafa Shezhad, ENG ‘18

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emonstrators have occupied the streets of Islamabad, the capital city of a country marred by decades of political corruption. Led by Imran Khan and Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, the otherwise peaceful demonstrations recently became violent when protesters made attempts to enter governmentowned buildings. The protesters are calling for the resignation of Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s democratically elected Prime Minister.

The successful completion of the 2013 parliamentary elections was a significant step for Pakistan. It marked the first transfer of political office between two democratically elected governments in the country’s history.1 The outgoing regime, Pakistan’s Peoples Party (PPP), headed by President Asif Ali Zardari, was notorious for being the cause of growing public frustration, a stubbornly stagnant economy and severe energy shortages. Moreover, the party was under criticism for its failed attempts at handling the flooding that occurred in the northern regions of the country during the monsoon season of 2010. Throughout the PPP’s regime, there were also constant rumors of an imminent military coup.2 Following the elections in 2013, and having fallen just short of an absolute majority in the National assembly, Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) swept into power.3 The party, with it’s two-time former prime Minister promised economic and energy sector reform and managed to hold its own against the fading People’s Party, as well as rising politician Imran Khan.

Sharif wanted to use his political position to reestablish civilian authority over major foreign policy

decisions that were previously strictly under the mandate of the Army and its powerful intelligence unit—the ISI.4 The most serious of these decisions involve Pakistan’s relations with India.

Improved relations could potentially open the pathway to greater economic integration in the region; this would undoubtedly be seen as an insult to the military. Any transition Sharif makes would be a highly criticized one.

On a personal level, Sharif also has a problem with the power the military currently has in state affairs. In 1999, he was unceremoniously forced out of political office by his then-Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf.5 After being removed from power himself, Pervez Musharraf made an ill-advised decision to return to Pakistan to contest the 2013 elections. He was promptly arrested and charged with treason for violating the constitution during his own power grab.6 The military establishment, not keen on seeing one of its own brought down by a civilian government, has certainly taken note of Sharif’s decision regarding the matter.

However, for Sharif, holding Musharraf accountable for his actions is a chance to establish civilian power.

This summer protests began when Imran Khan and Tahir-ul-Qadri called on supporters to join them in forcing the ousting of the Sharif government.7 The protesters also demanded justice for the killing of fourteen Qadri supporters by police this past June in Lahore, as well as electoral reforms and investigations into voter fraud allegations in 2013.

The Sharif government has agreed to all these conditions save for stepping down. Khan and Qadri, however, refuse to call off their protest and it seems they are trying to create as much instability as they can in order to force

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the government to resign.8 Contrary to what one would expect, the protests lack the support of any of the other opposition parties and even though the numbers peak at an estimated 30,000 individuals (in a country of almost 180 million), they have failed to live up to organizers’ claims yet. Nevertheless, they are still likely to have considerable consequences for Pakistan and the region.9 Although an outcome is yet to be seen, one could safely reach a few conclusions.

While facts may be ambiguous in

Pakistan’s civilian-military relations, it has become very obvious that the Army has a role in the current state of affairs.10 Speculation on both Khan and Qadri’s military connections has been widespread since they emerged on the political scene. The Wall Street Journal recently issued an article pointing at efforts between the military and government leaders to forge a deal in which Sharif would agree to allow Musharraf to leave the country and relinquish control over key foreign policy issues in exchange for an end to

the protests.11 This would, of course, fit perfectly into the historical pattern of military interference in politics through the manipulation of opposition parties and the fueling of political unrest. Indeed, one need only look to the 1990s and the maneuvering of opposition parties by the ISI to repeatedly topple both the governments of the People’s Party and the Muslim League.12 By exploiting the current state of unrest in the country while playing the role of the “mature” mediator, the army may be attempting

Photo courtesy of Mustafa Shezhad, ENG ‘18

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Photo courtesy of Mustafa Shezhad, ENG ‘18.

to use the situation to back Sharif into a corner and extract concessions.13 An all out coup, however, is highly unlikely due to the strong opposition to a military dictatorship expressed by all political parties and civil society groups (excluding Khan and Qadri’s followers) within the country.

The Sharif government’s strong desire to expand civilian authority is a direct threat to the army’s influence over foreign affairs, as well as their social and financial largesse they gained by being the state’s most powerful and venerated institution. Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) holds no seats in the parliament and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) fell short of the leader’s national ambitions, which shows that both politicians would stand to gain by being the army’s partner of choice.

Despite rhetoric, the repeated calls for Sharif’s resignation are obstacles to the vision of a stable democracy in the country. There is limited evidence to back the claims of the supposed massive election fraud that would justify the removal of the present government.14 Khan and Qadri are making every move to exploit the growing frustration among the populace with the widespread corruption and careless governance provided by the ruling class. However it must be kept in mind that efforts to overthrow a legitimately

elected government will not only further weaken Pakistan’s civilian institutions, but also further strengthen the role of an overly powerful military in state affairs.

Even though it appears that the early reports of Sharif’s downfall may have been unjustified, Khan, Qadri, and the army have all clearly demonstrated how exposed even the strongest political mandates can be in a country where civilian institutions are still largely outmatched.15 Even if Sharif manages to stay in political office, he will be in a significantly weaker position. No doubt, as the protests begin to die down and table talks commence, Pakistan’s army will look for concessions from the Prime Minister—including renewed authority over key foreign policy matters—as well as guarantees that Musharraf be spared from treason charges.16 In any case, this is bad news for Pakistan’s long-term stability because it provides a strong justification for the Army’s continued political supremacy. This, in turn, weakens civilian institutions.

As a result of the current situation, chances for progress in Pakistan-India relations have been greatly reduced. The army has used its national reputation of defending Pakistan’s civilians from their former countrymen to justify massive budget allocations and its own pseudo-private ventures. Without a paradigm shift in the relations between

the two rivals, it is highly unlikely that any of this will change.17, 18 As the Army continues to launch military campaigns in Northern Waziristan to uproot antistate militants, its support for “friendly” Islamist elements will undoubtedly continue as long as Pakistan continues to consider its neighbor a threat.19 Continued political instability is greatly detrimental to Pakistan’s needs in its efforts to revive a struggling economy. Indeed, both PTI and PAT can attribute their success in garnering what support they have to the utter frustration and disillusionment Pakistanis have with the ruling class’s seeming incapacity to address the country’s problems. Every Pakistani has a right to be outraged at the current government’s ineptitude. However, the ousting of a democratically elected government at the bidding of opportunistic political rivals offers very little in the way of positive reform.

As the United States prepares to leave Afghanistan, Pakistan’s primary incentive for continued engagement with India may indeed evaporate altogether—as it did following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988. Granted, the US government has shown a short-term willingness to work together with Pakistan’s military.

However, history has shown time and again that long term stability, economic development, and greater regional integration most likely depends on the expansion of civilian oversight over all areas of governance, especially foreign relations.

It is important to note that had these events occurred in the past decades, Pakistan would most certainly be looking at a military intervention. Both Pakistan’s civilian government and civil society are against the overthrow of a democratically elected government—a rhetorical change from the early periods of political instability.20 In the face of such widespread pessimism, this reason for cautious hope deserves mention. Nonetheless, today’s protests are a disturbing reminder of the fragility of Pakistan’s democratic institutions and the dark political underworld in which the biggest political decisions are often made.

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The Changing Nuclear Triad Nuclear powers of East and South Asia forge their own doctrine

By Julie George, CAS ‘15 Photo by Adonai Sebastian, CAS ‘17

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rom 2008 to 2011, military officials and policymakers from India, China and Pakistan negotiated with one another on nuclear policies through the Trilateral Nuclear Strategic Dialogue conferences. Beginning with the first round of dialogue from Dec. 6-7, 2008, India, Pakistan and China met in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to address the subject of a Nuclear Weapon free world.

The participating nations discussed at length global nuclear dangers and threat perception, examination of nuclear doctrines, existing nuclear CBMs, fissile material stockpiles and control and production bans, and issues hindering nuclear weapons.

In the second round of dialogue, held in Shanghai from Aug. 8-9, 2009, experts and leading strategists from China, India and Pakistan met again to hone the "Asian view" on four sub issues: Global Nuclear Strategic Trends; Asian Nuclear Stability and Security; Asian Security in the Context of Global Trends and a Secure Global Nuclear Future.

Former Chinese Ambassador to India Cheng Ruisheng and Indian Ambassador K.C. Singh were a few of the prominent leaders who critically considered the meaning of a "tipping point" in the South Asian area.

Academics, policymakers and military officials from India, China and Pakistan once again convened in Singapore from July 31-Aug. 1, 2010 for the third round of dialogue. This trilateral meeting was a historic event, given the participants continuation of their progressive agenda from the second meeting, and their awareness of The Nuclear Security Summit; the United States Nuclear Posture Review and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, which all occurred simultaneously.

Individuals at the third round of dialogue debated the credibility of the "No First Use Policy" (held by India);, the rapid nature of Iranian nuclear developments and a realistic time frame for the goal of non-nuclear proliferation.

Held in Bangkok from Jan. 28-29, 2011, the fourth round of dialogue narrowed down many of the aspirations formulated in the past rounds to the safety, security and

stability of Asia in terms of nuclear weapons. Unlike the other meetings, Indian, Pakistani and Chinese leaders first focused on understanding each other's nuclear policies before pinpointing mutual policies, doubts and concerns. They then looked to possible mechanisms and options for the issues discussed, including establishing reliable risk reduction measures and enhancing dialogue for future sessions.

The fifth round of dialogue among the three countries took place in Beijing from Sept. 29-30, 2011, and consisted of policymakers and respected academics condensing the points and possible solutions from the past four rounds under the umbrella theme: "Towards a More Secure Asia and the World." Participants strived for transparency, awareness and clarity of each other's doctrines.

These high level meetings focused on pertinent issues such as the differences in each country’s nuclear doctrines, potential solutions in establishing a safer South Asia and attempts to strike a balance between national security and nuclear policies. However, in 2011 these Trilateral Nuclear Strategic Dialogue conferences came to a halt. By the end of 2011, India’s intelligence agencies had detected at least 25 international breaches of security, both by land and sea, aimed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, India’s premier nuclear facility in Mumbai. Fortunately, in 2013 these discussions resumed with delegations from India, China and Pakistan all participating.

India is one of the three countries that have never joined the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, along with Pakistan. India maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. Based on the amount of fissile material of uranium and plutonium currently present in these countries, India is estimated to have between 90 and 110 nuclear warheads whereas Pakistan is estimated to have between 100 and 120 nuclear warheads.

China’s supply of nuclear warheads far exceeds these two estimates at approximately 250 total warheads. While many countries in the international arena scrutinize India’s stance on its nuclear program, Indian officials have recently approved an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to increase the oversight

Fall 2014

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Photo by Gayle Miner, CAS ‘16

of its civil nuclear program. This effort reveals India’s movement toward a more “responsible use of nuclear power” as stated by Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. However, there have been reports by defense research groups that state one of India’s nuclear facilities will be expanding and increasing its supply of weapons-grade uranium beginning in mid2015.

According to Chapter 3, “India and the Rest of the World,” of the Global Attitudes Project by Pew Research, when looking at 2008 (the first round of the Trilateral Meeting) only 29 percent of Chinese citizens and 27 percent of Pakistani citizens viewed India favorably.

Comparatively, in 2012, these figures fell even further to 23 percent in China and 22 in Pakistan.

There is clearly distrust from China and Pakistan concerning India. In her article “India’s Relations with China: The Good, The Bad, and the Potentially Ugly,” Tanvi Madan of the Brookings’ Institute argues that China-Pakistan relations is one of the root causes of tension between India and the two countries.

Despite China being one of the India’s leading trading partners, with trade in goods reaching $66.57 billion in 2012, China still engages in questionable trading with Pakistan regarding their nuclear capabilities. For instance, in 2010 China agreed to supply Pakistan with two nuclear reactors. Even more recently, China has provided Pakistan infrastructure and development materials, a topic that is controversial for relations between Pakistan and India.

However, Pakistan is not the only country benefiting

from China’s assistance; countries such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka are also now politically and economically intertwined with China.

From 2011 to 2012, bilateral trade between China and India decreased by approximately 10 percent. To further highlight the deteriorating relations between China and India, the “overall trade deficit has gone from $28 billion in 2010-2011 to $40.8 billion in 2012-2013.”

Many have speculated that the recent cyber espionage on India’s government and military has been carried out by Chinese sources. Tanvi Madan expands upon her previous claims by emphasizing China’s unwillingness to support India’s desire for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council as well as China’s opposition to India potentially receiving membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The issue of nuclear security among the South Asian triad is undeniably complex, and outside influences such as economic aid from other countries, alliances between countries and long held rivalries over contentious lands have significantly impacted the triad’s relationship over nuclear policies. Yet India, Pakistan and China view trilateral negotiation as a movement towards the right direction for South Asia. These multiple round table conferences create legitimacy for the three countries in the international arena. Nonetheless, the triad will continue to face the issue of nuclear security for many years to come, as well as the rest of the world’s scrutiny of their doctrines.

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The International Relations Review

Stuck in Darkness How solar-powered microgrids and the BOP model can change billions of lives

By Rhea George, CAS ‘17 Photo by Adonai Sebastian, CAS ‘17

I

magine over 400 million people in the rural-most corners of the Indian subcontinent plunged into darkness every time the sun sets.

Lack of grid power means that women must struggle to make clothes at night and men are forced to close their stores early due to dependency on kerosenefueled lamps and long trips to town to simply charge a cell phone. In “How to Use Technology to Spur Development,” authors Daniel Kammen, Renee Kuriyan and Ray Isha explain that the inability of these poor areas to afford simple goods and services is due to the “poor penalty,” a phenomenon where the poorest people in the world, at the “bottom of the pyramid” (BOP), have to pay much higher rates for basic commodities than those at the top of the pyramid. One solution to reduce the “poor penalty” is through

entrepreneurship, which can bring high-quality products at a much lower cost to the BOP while still making a profit for companies involved. One of these companies is Mera Gao Power (MGP), which has implemented solarpowered microgrids in poor states like Uttar Pradesh to provide five to six hours of cheap, renewable energy for light and cell phone charging ability.

MGP and similar companies around the world can bring basic technology to the BOP at much more affordable prices, but they can also boost the country’s economy by opening up a whole new market for the private sector.

The BOP, those suffering from the “poor penalty” comprises $5 trillion of the global market, but most of these consumers are not integrated into the global economy. This means that there

is a huge market out there that can be utilized for economic benefit on both sides. The idea of merging philanthropy and profit to cater to the BOP and minimalize the “poor penalty” has been known as the “BOP model.” The model favors the idea that entrepreneurship and the private sector should provide technology and development to the poor and treat them as consumers, rather than have the government and the public sector allocate funds through development programs and treat the poor as beneficiaries. Catherine Dolan, Professor at Green Templeton College, says the BOP method is based on the belief that “development can best be achieved by pursuing a business agenda in which neoliberal market values will revitalize flagging economies, expunging a culture of aid dependency and empowering the

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Fall 2014 marginalized through opportunities for enterprise and entrepreneurship.”

Essentially, Dolan argues that rather than relying on foreign aid to fund development projects, the BOP model can be used as a sustainable alternative that will foster enterprise and entrepreneurship.

The United Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency of International Development and the International Finance Corporation have joined forces to promote a range of grassroots business projects that support development with viable economic prospects for the BOP. Their support is due to the fact that the BOP model has tremendous appeal to both the public and private sectors.

Normally, the government is assumed to take care of the poor with non-profit services while for-profit businesses cater to the middle and upper classes.

With the BOP model, the public sector no longer has to subsidize basic goods and services, like lighting, for the poor.

The private sector benefits because it has a new market for its products, roughly four billion people if you count the entire BOP. Overall, the notion is that “increasing the well-being of the poor, while increasing the profits of the private sector can simultaneously be a sound development and business strategy.” BOP initiatives also create partnerships between “philanthrocapitalists, NGOs, and business schools.” For example, “cash-strapped” NGOs can tap into the expertise and funds of companies to provide the resources needed for their development projects. In the end, both the public and private sectors can

benefit by working together through the BOP model.

Currently, India is the fourth largest consumer of energy in the world. However, 400 million rural Indian homes lack access to electricity for lighting. These rural Indian homes provide a prime example of the BOP’s struggles to gain basic technology. A large amount of the rural population that lacks access to electricity lives in Uttar Pradesh, which is located in north India and is the country’s most populous state, with 78 percent of the population living in rural areas across 100,000 villages. Because the state’s main source of income is agriculture, Uttar Pradesh remains one of the poorest states in India. So far, the state has experienced its fair share of development programs and initiatives with a large allocation of funds to alleviate poverty. However, little impact has been made using these methods.

Mera Gao Power, a small startup company, provides an example of the BOP model taking effect in Uttar Pradesh. Nikhil Jaisinghani and Brian Shaad, two U.S. born entrepreneurs, founded the company in 2010.

Jaisinghani and Shaad originally met in Nigeria, interested in helping Nigerian villagers use the natural gas exposed in oil recovery that is usually wasted. The two eventually decided to go to India with the little knowledge they had of solar technology to bring an electrification product that is sold as a service and paid off over time, rather than with an upfront fee that requires a loan. With the falling cost of solar panels and LEDs, the eleven-person

company installed its first solar microgrid in the summer of 2013.

Since then, eight villages have been added in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

With a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), MGP plans to add 40 more villages.

The company focuses on the use of solar-powered microgrids to provide affordable grid power to the light-deprived state of Uttar Pradesh.

By definition, MGP’s microgrids are collectively all of the distributed energy resources (DERs) for a rural setup as well as the “various components that participate in the conversion, transmission and utilization of power within a closed system.” Shown in Figure 1 below, MGP’s microgrids obtain their energy from distributed energy sources, but they also pull from various other areas to transmit and use the DER’s power. Specifically, the DER used by MGP is solar power.

For $2,500, a hundred households in groups of fifteen can be hooked up to two generation centers, each of which have solar panels and batteries that utilize inexpensive aluminum wiring.

The design and set up of the solar microgrids is arguably one of Mera Gao Power’s greatest achievements.

With their set up, each household can get up to seven hours of clean energy a night, which allows them to power two LED lights and have the ability to charge one cell phone at a time. The microgrids can also be set up in a day’s time and operate by generating, storing and distributing power completely on it’s own.

The solar microgrid plan is prepaid

26 with a monthly fee of 100 rupees, roughly two dollars, while kerosene lighting normally costs 150 rupees per month. With this plan, each house that signs up for the service pays the subscription and a small connection fee, which allows them access to the system and two LEDs. Also, since the microgrid is shared by a number of households, the financial burden is evenly distributed. Jaisinghani explains that the microgrids are not meant to completely replace grid power, but they are meant to be a cheaper, cleaner and an desirable alternative.

However, solar-powered microgrids do have their flaws. The most serious issue with the system is the pr oblem of debts. Since most of the population in Uttar Pradesh gets their income from agriculture and farming, they are normally dependent on the seasons and when they can best yield their crops. With liquidity as an issue, regular monthly or weekly payments are hard for the locals to keep up with. At the beginning of MGP’s work, Jaisinghani and Shaad trouble-shooted a tremendous amount with figuring out a price point and payment system.

In one of the first villages, they negotiated the price and amount of power with the villagers, which resulted in villagers fighting to get more power for lower prices. The two co-founders gave up this system and instead used a method of using a local villager to act as a collection agent to obtain weekly fees. However, this failed as well because the local villager felt guilty about disconnecting his own neighbors from the system if they didn’t pay their fees.

Overloading and organization are other problems that the company struggles to deal with. If villagers decide to hook up an extra light or phone charger, they end up robbing the company of needed revenue and threaten to trip the entire system and bring the village to complete darkness.

Also, since caste and communal divisions are an important part of the society in many of these villages, separate microgrid set ups often have to be made because the villagers refuse to share a system with someone outside of their caste or community.

The International Relations Review MGP has been responding to these issues by changing up their business models with innovative solutions.

For example, they want to try and create tighter management controls and possibly enact village-level entrepreneurs so that the plant can be owned and operated by a local villager.

This would allow the company to focus on creating cheaper models and possibly adding in TV and fan-power while leaving village-level problems to someone who is more familiar with the culture and local people living there.

Even with these flaws present, the impact of solar microgrids is incredible.

While there are critics like Sanjoy Sanyal, director of New Ventures India, who argues, “it is impossible to significantly impact livelihood in these villages just by the provision of a few lights,” the truth is that access to electricity in rural villages makes life more comfortable and helps the community economically. For example, it allows them to keep their stores open longer and gives children the ability to study at night. Since a microgrid set-up can light up an entire village at once, it can spread light much more quickly than kerosene, or even solar-powered lanterns. Microgrids can also multiply quicker than traditional power lines, and since the power grid in India is already overloaded, it is unlikely that power lines will show up in these rural areas any time soon. Microgrids also provide a clean source of renewable power since they are powered by solar panels, unlike kerosene lamps. This helps India and the rest of the world considerably decrease their impact on the world’s carbon budget.

MGP provides cheap, clean lighting to rural areas due to falling solar panel prices and their innovative ways of cutting costs, but a huge reason for their success is through utilizing entrepreneurship and the BOP model.

Those in Uttar Pradesh lacking electricity are among the BOP suffering from the “poor penalty.” Traditional power lines and grid power are too expensive for them to afford, while an innovative new product provided by a private company can be offered to them at a much cheaper price. With MGP and similar companies diminishing

the hardship of the “poor penalty” in places like Uttar Pradesh, they are aiding in bringing these people out of the BOP and at the same time opening up a whole new market of consumers to the Indian economy. By opening up this market, more and more companies can come in and start providing for these consumers as well. If companies like MGP can tap into rural Indian areas suffering from the “poor penalty” and provide them with basic technologies, like lighting services, they are developing the area while also making a profit. This reflects on the idea of making the poor as consumers rather than beneficiaries. Instead of having the Indian government subsidize grid power and overtax the grid system, the private sector can bloom with a whole new market of consumers and boost the overall Indian economy with massive amounts of new economic activity.

Since its founding, Mera Gao Power has made huge strides in bringing affordable, dependable lighting and electricity to the BOP population in Uttar Pradesh, India. Even though the company has faced problems with collecting fees, overloading and dealing with cultural differences, it has also seen huge impacts in making the lives and economic situations of these villagers much easier while benefiting India economically and environmentally. As MGP expands, it will soon bring more services like TV and fan power, which will only benefit these areas more. A big factor in MGP’s success has to do with their similarity to the BOP model. MGP has been able to reduce the “poor penalty” in Uttar Pradesh by providing lighting that is normally too expensive for the population to afford. By using the BOP model as a template for their business plans, MGP and similar companies can continue to decrease the “poor penalty” with new, affordable technologies.

As time goes on and these companies continue to see increasing success, more countries will start embracing the BOP model. This will not only develop much of the BOP with sustainable growth, but also boost the global economy by reeling in hoards of new economic activity.

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Fall 2014

VISIT BUIAA.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION

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The International Relations Review

Deconstructing ISIL: A Conversation with Professors Lori and Arreguin-Toft

By Colie Cofield, CAS ‘18, Victoria Reynolds, CAS ‘18 and Vincent Jordan, CAS ‘15 Over the past six months, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has become a major focal point in U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. After a military campaign that took large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq and caught many analysts off guard, the battle has been stabilized at key locations such as the Mosul Dam. In August, the U.S. began airstrikes in the region, yet many have called for further involvement - a ground campaign. We sat down with Professors Noora Lori (L) and Ivan Arreguin-Toft (AT) to deconstruct the current state of affairs.

What tactical methods are being used

by ISIL forces and why hasn’t the Iraqi army been able to handle them?

AT: In a lot of places, they take over towns with loud speakers, and just guys in trucks with small arms. There’s very little fighting and the fighting that there is is sort of house to house, young man on young man fighting, and in places where they run into resistance or where the loudspeakers don’t work and people don’t just give up and come out and join them, they bring heavier weapons in- some of which they’ve taken from the Iraqi army, some of which they’ve purchased with money that they’ve captured. Those are the ones that are actually vulnerable, so paradoxically the more resistance they encounter and then the more mechanized they get to try and overcome it, the better targets they are for this sort of preferred U.S. and coalition strategy of “standoff technology”- technology that doesn’t put your people at risk, but that has a high capacity to kill on the ground.

The US has sent advisors in, they don’t need advisors, they need air support and the kind of logistical support their own military hasn’t been able to manage.

Was that response a result of Western powers being caught by surprise, or is that the prepared response that they expect success from?

AT: What we’re seeing now are the consequences of bad U.S. policy in the past. So some were caught by surprise and others weren’t. I think the big surprise was just how quickly the Iraqi army collapsed - everyone thought there was an army there, and there turned out not to be. The U.S. clearly

sees most of these problems through the military lens - they talk about what kind of gear or equipment or killing power they have to stop ISIS, and they try and encourage their neighbors to do the same thing. But if what I told you earlier is correct, you don’t fight loudspeakers with bombs, you fight loudspeakers with legitimate jobs for young men. You fight ideas with better ideas.

Do you think that is the best strategy that the West could take right now?

AT: That, along with covert action, is the best strategy the West could take right now. We supported the ouster of Maliki and now we have [al-Abadi], who doesn’t really have much credibility. But he’s supported by the US because he’s going to change the laws to allow us to pour in all kinds of equipment and gear. We’re gonna pour all this stuff back into there and possibly stabilize the situation short-term, but [it looks like] just as the first two efforts (1991, 2003) we’re not going to be able to address any of the underlying causes.

ISIL has declared itself a caliphate.

How have the other Muslimmajority countries responded to this declaration?

L: I’m not sure that the caliphate holds the sort of resonance that it used to within the Muslim world. I believe the key difference between ISIL and other groups like al-Qaeda and the Taliban is that really no other Muslim group in control of territory has attempted to proclaim a caliphate since the modern Turkish republic abolished the last caliphate in 1924. This is because niether Osama bin-Laden nor the

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Fall 2014 former Taliban leader could argue that they could trace their lineage back to the Quraish tribe, which is the tribe that of the Prophet, and al-Baghdadi ostensibly can.

So it’s a legitimacy thing?

L: It’s a legitimacy thing. Even though in some sense I’m not sure that ISIL is doing anything other than setting up a modern state, claiming to establish a Caliphate allows ISIL to pretend to give an alternative to the current world system, and in that sense recruit people who have a sense of vigilante justice or a feeling of being excluded from current world system.

How are foreign fighters from other countries influencing the conflict in Syria and ISIL forces, such as Salafis from Lebanon?

L: The interesting thing about the Salafi movement and others like it is that they’re quite modern: they’re modern critiques of current political situations. The Salafist movement has a lot of overlap with the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia. It’s basically a kind of puritanical, cleansing ideology, very much about returning to the time of the prophet and his early followers, the “Golden Age” of the 7th century. They have this sort of obsession with trying to mimic those movements and the initial foundation of this monotheistic religion.

What’s genius about the Salafist movement is that you can effectively call jihad on other Muslims by claiming that they’ve veered from this straight path and that they’re no longer monotheistic. They’re polytheists and therefore infidels.

So that’s the strategic gain from [adding] this kind of radical monotheistic tradition.

How has the issue of forced migration affected the political landscape in the region?

L: The scale [of forced migration] has been quite profound, across the region. The last time I checked we had 1.2 million refugees out of Iraq and 2.5 million out of Syria, this year alone.

The bulk of Syrian refugees are going to four main receiving countries: Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. All of these countries had large pre-existing refugee populations.

Many if not most of those existing refugee groups live in very desperate situations, as most countries simply don’t have the capacity to meet the demand for assistance.

Jordan is the fourth most water stressed country in the world… so now you’re adding all of the Iraqis and Syrians. Then on top of it, you have Turkey bearing the brunt of the crisis,

where they’ve spent close to $3 billion already on assistance to the refugees, which exceeds the entire EU contribution. So we’re seeing that part of this crisis is that other countries have closed their doors, and these four countries are left bearing the brunt of it.

In general, how does migration in the Middle East impact the region as a whole, and how does it contribute to the insecurity ISIL arose from?

L: Much of the research on migration, security and stability focuses on ethnic diversity as being a source of conflict and insecurity, and you just assume that population controls are always about keeping those who are ethnically different out.

But if you look at the Middle East, on the one hand you have oil-rich countries that have some of the largest demographic imbalances in the world, meaning that they have way more non-citizens than citizens. In the UAE, 96 percent of the labor force is made up of non-citizens. We see that this is a trend across the Gulf, and we never think of that as being political or affecting the political development of a country like Egypt, Jordan, etc., except in all those countries you have these massive demographic bulges and people aren’t allowed to come in, because there’s so many restrictions on – especially Arab – migrants. Arab migrants are seen as being more politically dangerous: they come with ideas of Arab nationalism, it’s harder to get them to not intermarry, it’s harder to keep your citizenry from swelling. So from the 1990s onwards we see a movement within the Gulf to recruit economic migrants, mostly from Asia. I think that these migration controls play a huge, intervening role in understanding the conditions that allow something like ISIL to recruit from among the unemployed youth of these overpopulated Arab states in massive numbers.

Ivan Arreguin-Toft is an Assistant Professor International Relations in the Pardee School of Global Studies, and specializes in asymmetric conflict, gender and war, Russian foreign policy, and cyber security and strategy..

Noora Lori is an Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Pardee School of Global Studies, and specializes in Middle East and comparative politics as well as immigration and citizenship issues.

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The International Relations Review

ESSAYS 31

Ebola Ravages West Africa

By Ines Bousseba, CAS ‘17, COM ‘17 West Africa was ravaged by the worst Ebola outbreak in history, yet the crisis provides a rare opportunity for multilateral international cooperation.

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21st Century Loss of Innocence

By Morgan Peterson, CAS ‘17 While much of the focus in South America is on the drug trade, sex trafficking remains an overlooked part of international crime.

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Sanctions and the Two Faces of Central Europe

By Michal Trusz, CAS ‘17 As the economic impact of sanctions between the U.S., Russia, and the EU remains to be fully seen, some Central European countries have already begun to a feel devestating impact.

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Afghanistan’s Transformation Decade

By Sarah Manely, CAS ‘15 After over a decade of violent conflict, Afghanistan prepares to move forward, both politically and economically.

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Fall 2014

Ebola Ravages West Africa Health crisis provides opportunity for cooperation

By Ines Bousseba, CAS ‘17, COM ‘17

T

he world is in the midst of the largest Ebola epidemic in history.

Though the outbreak is largely concentrated in West Africa, four cases have been reported in the United States, leaving many terrified of the fast-spreading illness. As a result, travel and trade are decreasing to the affected regions, economies are slowing down, and fears of social unrest are increasing; however, this type of crisis is not new. In the past, there have been mass outbreaks of H1N1, SARS and MERS, and it is likely that more diseases will breakout in the future. Such viruses ignore borders and affect people of all nations. As a result, governments that may not agree on certain policies must work together to protect their people. Despite the tensions between Russia and the European Union spawned from the Ukraine crisis, the two nations are cooperating. Cuba has asked to work with the U.S. on their efforts to combat the outbreak, using the crisis as a way to improve its global reputation; however, the U.S., usually a leading country in traditional security issues, is lagging behind in the effort to help the affected regions. The U.S. and the EU can both benefit from partnering with commonly excluded countries. Through partnership, better relations are forged and experience in handling the disease is acquired, instilling a sense that Ebola can be stopped. Despite the negative implications of Ebola spreading from country to country, there are positive implications in the international political system.

Ebola virus is a fatal illness that is easily spread through human-to-human contact, specifically through bodily fluids.

The current outbreak is the largest since the disease was first discovered in 1976 in West Africa. Both urban and rural areas have been affected. Doctors Without Borders epidemiologist Kamiliny Kalahne explains “outbreaks usually spread in areas where hospitals have poor infection control and limited access to resources such as running water.” Ebola has no specific treatment and because of this, fatality rates vary from 25 to 90 percent.

Common symptoms of the virus include fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and unexplained hemorrhaging. Ebola is very destructive to the human body and has caused huge devastation among communities in rural and urban areas in West Africa.

Efforts from governments to stop the spread of Ebola have been slow, leading to international criticism. Liliane Ploumen, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, criticized the international community as well as the countries affected for not acting sooner. UK Prime Minister David Cameron and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called for countries to increase efforts to combat Ebola. As the disease continues to spread, more countries are becoming involved. In an act of support, the U.S. and the UK donated $35.5 million and $10.5 million, respectively. Despite the large amounts of money donated for Ebola treatment and research, there

continues to be a lack of practical and physical assistance in the form of medical personnel and materials in areas suffering from the outbreak. In response, the Dutch government is currently encouraging doctors throughout the Netherlands to help Ebola victims. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) are both leading efforts to control the outbreak. Ploumen said, “They have pooled their resources and delegated tasks efficiently; WHO flags new cases, monitors the outbreak’s progress, and offers medical expertise, while the UN offers logistics support and ensures that aid workers and resources can get to where they’re needed.”

The spread of Ebola through Africa has had negative consequences on the affected countries’ infrastructures.

According to the WHO, “Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have very weak health systems, lacking human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability.” Hospitals cannot admit other patients that have treatable diseases, and as a result those people die.

The outbreak of Ebola not only affects hospitals and people’s health, but also a country’s security which can lead to social unrest. In Liberia the government decided to shut down schools in order to decrease the risk of disease transmission.

In response, students took to the street to protest and to vent frustrations of their minimal roles in dealing with such crises.

In Monrovia, the capital, police fired

32 tear gas on protesters who attempted to break an imposed quarantine. Protesters were frustrated at how much money was invested in hospitals while the rest of the country was suffering in poverty.

With an increase in globalization, the effects are not limited to the countries where the disease has broken out in. Planes make it easier for the disease to spread and as a result, international companies active in West Africa and various airlines have suspended some services to the region. The EU and the United States have increased screening of individuals at airports, and other countries have placed higher restrictions on border movements.

As a result, there are shortages of food, fuel and other basic supplies. Trade is declining and economies are becoming strained. Increased restrictions on travel and trade could also limit necessary aid.

According to a UN briefing statement, restrictions do not always have the desired effect. President Obama, in a speech addressing the issue, encouraged others to limit the amount of restrictions placed on West Africa.

If proper actions are taken, the Ebola crisis could have positive implications for the global system. The international community and governments are working together to slow down the spread of Ebola and putting aside previous points of conflicts. Russia, which historically has not agreed with the West on several issues, is now working with the West.

After Yeltsin, Putin came into power and bit-by-bit returned to the “strong man” authoritarian system and “directed democracy.” Putin disagrees with the West on how issues in the near abroad, countries that surround Russia, should be dealt with, ultimately leading to the current Ukraine crisis. Despite the sanctions placed on Russia by the EU and the resulting tense relations, Russia is also showing a willingness to cooperate with European countries and the U.S. to solve the Ebola problem. The Russian Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM) has pledged to help European states cooperate and coordinate efforts to handle Ebolainfected people. EMERCOM has also created a Russian plane meant to transfer those infected with Ebola. The West and Russia are able to place aside other conflicts to deal with a large crisis that ignores borders. The more issues Russia

The International Relations Review and the West agree on or have in common, the more interrelated they will become.

As the stakes become higher, it is likely that mutual support on certain topics will develop, leading to better relations. The Ebola crisis can be used as a diplomatic tool to garner closeness between countries, and in turn help resolve both current and future conflicts.

Another country that can benefit from this situation is Cuba. Since Fidel Castro took power in 1959 and instilled a communist state so close to U.S. borders, relations between the U.S. and Cuba have been tense. Tensions arose when America imposed economic sanctions against Cuba and when the CIA sponsored an invasion

by Cuban exiles, known as the Bay of Pigs.

In 1962, Castro let the Soviet Union build nuclear missile sites in Cuba, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the resulting lack of international political support, Cuba has fallen into economic stress. Despite these issues, the country is currently taking steps to fight Ebola, such as sending 165 doctors and nurses to affected regions, and has offered to cooperate with the United States.

In response to Cuban efforts to combat Ebola, the New York Times editorial board wrote, “Cuba’s contribution is doubtlessly meant at least in part to bolster its beleaguered international standing.”

Castro encouraged collaboration with other countries in a speech, stating, "We will gladly co-operate with American personnel in that task, and not in search of peace between the two states that have been adversaries for so many years, but...for peace in the world, a goal that can and should be attempted.” Because Ebola travels over borders, this issue must be solved through cooperation and coordination between countries. The New York Times wrote, “American and Cuban officials are not equipped to coordinate global efforts at a high level. This should serve as an urgent reminder to the Obama administration that the benefits of moving swiftly to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba far outweigh the drawbacks.”

While cooperating to remedy the issue of Ebola will not immediately relieve the long-standing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, it is the first step in gradual rapprochement that might lead to an eventual relaxation of economic and political blockades against Cuba.

The U.S., on the other hand, is taking a much slower approach to stop the spread of Ebola. On August 8, the WHO declared Ebola an international health emergency, but the U.S. did not send troops until several weeks later. While troops help with the infected countries’ infrastructures, personnel are desperately needed, as there is a large health worker shortage due to fear of contracting Ebola and the weekslong quarantine that entails.

On September 26, 2014 Obama addressed the global health security problem. He referenced other virus outbreaks, such as H1N1, SARS and MERS, and how “Each time, it’s been harder than it should be to share information and to contain the outbreak. As a result, diseases have spread faster and farther than they should have…” By taking on a leadership role and acting faster, the U.S. might have been able to slow down the spread of Ebola.

As a result, the U.S. has received criticism for reacting slowly . Obama continues, saying “…it is unacceptable if, because of lack of …global coordination, people are dying when they don't have to.” He refers to biological threats as a security issue, and that “no nation can meet these challenges on its own. Nobody is that isolated anymore.” Outbreaks will continue to occur, and cooperative international systems should be implemented in order to keep them under control. Partnering with internationally isolated countries can be an effective way to deal with widespread diseases, improve relations and create stronger global organizations with faster reaction times.

While there are obvious negative aspects of the spread of disease, such as a high strain on countries’ infrastructures, possible social unrest and a weakened economy, there are advantageous qualities as well. The world is an anarchic system, full of actors that must work together in order to solve problems and avoid conflicts.

Ebola is a crisis that crosses borders and forces governments who may not agree on certain policies to work together. In an increasingly globalized world, working together can set precedents and improve relations. Ebola should be used as a tool for bettering the world system as well as controlling future outbreaks. It is time for international powers to come together and take advantage of such crises.

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The International Relations Review

21st Century Loss of Innocence Why combatting the sex-trade in South America requires more effort

By Morgan Peterson, CAS ‘17

S

ex trafficking involves millions of people, attracts billions of dollars in revenue and is considered the fastest growing illegal trade in the modern age.

It is estimated that over one hundred thousand Latin Americans are victims of sex trafficking each year. Recently in Mexico the drug cartels have branched out into sex trafficking due to increased international pressure on the drug trade. The low-risk and high profit sex trafficking industry run by the cartels is now one of the largest problems facing the Mexican government.

While governments are paying increasing attention to the problem of sex trafficking in Latin America, the elevated participation by cartels across the region such as Los Zetas in Mexico prove a stronger international effort is needed to combat the illegal trade.

The U.S. Department of State defines sex trafficking as: “a commercial sex act [that] is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or ... the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.” Latin American victims are typically women plagued by unemployment, poverty, gender-based violence, partner abandonment, ethnic conflict or a lack of education. Machismo continues to play a prominent role in Latin American society, limiting the economic and social opportunities available for women. Thus false promises of good pay or an exotic life in a foreign country, typically the United States, lure unknowing women into the sex trade industry. Upon arrival, the traffickers prevent women attempting to flee through violent measures: “…These women are often stripped of their passports, held against their will in slave-like conditions, and sexually abused. Rape, intimidation, and violence are commonly employed by traffickers to control their victims and to prevent them from seeking help,”

commented Senator Paul Wellstone of the Minnesotan Democratic Party, once an advocate against trafficking.

Trafficked women are at a greater risk of violent crime or mortality than any other group of women studied, averaging 204 homicides per 100,000 individuals.

Trafficked individuals, specifically younger women, are at a high risk for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) due to the elevated demand for unprotected sex by clients and threat of violence by pimps: “Most men I know want younger girls, the younger the better, because they can scare the hell out of us. Older girls can set a price, can set conditions, but younger girls can’t do that…I’d prefer safe sex. But it’s hard to insist that a man wear a condom.

I’m small and I’m alone and I can’t do anything about it if he doesn’t want to,” divulged a fourteen year-old female trafficking victim. Impoverished Latin American women are at a high risk for trafficking with minimal hope of escape upon entrance.

Trafficked women are kept in brothels through a method known as debt bondage; their sex-work is used as payment towards their ever-accumulating debts of transportation, food and daily needs. Debt bondage is also another method of coercion into the sex trafficking industry targeting impoverished women unable to pay back their debts to local drug lords or leaders. Fear of arrest or abuse by the local authorities further traps them in the trafficking web, along with the possibility of being ostracized by their own communities upon return.

The traditional economic and social hindrances that have plagued women for centuries influence the level of vulnerability towards unconsented entrance into sex trafficking.

The recent takeover of the sex trafficking industry by drug cartels prompts the need for a serious discussion on finding ways to combat demand to thus eliminate the associated cartel dominance. Criminal gangs from Mexico and abroad have branched out into the trafficking industry due to international pressures on limiting drug

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The breakdown of recruitment into the sex trafficking industry. The personal category refers to personal contacts facilitating the trade.

Graphic by Jess van der Westhuizen, CFA ‘15

trafficking. Narcotics traffickers receive criminal charges that lead to high-security prisons when caught, unlike sex traffickers who receive minimal legal indictments. This incentive along with increasing interest in sex tourism prompts investment by Mexican drug cartels: “When a drug cartel traffics a pound of cocaine into the U.S., they can sell it only once. When they traffic a young woman, they can sell her again and again,” commented Ralph Reyes, a Mexican and Central American DEA Chief. Every day 400 women enter prostitution in Mexico City, 80 percent against their will. Los Zetas, a cartel whose territory lies in the Eastern half of Mexico, have also taken up the lucrative sex trade to increase revenue. The cartel has traditionally been known to kidnap women and girls, using them as sex slaves. The use of rape as a tool of terror exerts Los Zetas’ dominance

over towns.

Local townsmen described their encounters with the cartel: “They [Los Zetas] arrived at people’s houses and said, ‘Bathe your daughter, she is going to stay with me for some time,’ and they wouldn’t return her until she was pregnant.”

Women are viewed as commodities - a profitable, consistent, and easily replicable source of income. A trafficking victim spoke about her experience: “For us [trafficking victims] violence is common, it is nothing new. We are habituated on this. Here we do not have the right of out body, here we treated just like an animal.” The recent trafficking sector adopted by Latin American drug cartels marks the immediate need for understanding both the root of demand and patterns of the suppliers.

Addressing the psychological root of the demand pool allows for greater opportunities at ending

illegal trafficking. Until the early 21st century, prostitution was openly accepted as the world’s ‘oldest profession’ and men who buy sex were seen as ‘innocent’ victims lured in by predatory, immoral women.

The social acceptance of the sex trade couples with a history of physical expression of male dominance. Legal Representative Teresa Ulla Ziaurriz analyzes the cultural perceptions of women today: “[We deal] with a culture of how important the penis is to penetrate the woman, how it has been used as an arm of war…. The one who wins uses [the penis] to rape the women of the people defeated as an example of their dominance.” These roots result in oppression, violence and limited opportunities for women, leading to forced prostitution.

Teresa Ulla Ziaurriz found in her encounters with victims and buyers involved within the sex trade industry that 80 percent of Mexican

36 men began their sexual encounters in brothels. This sexual entrance affects the development of male sexual identity and their relationship with women, viewing them as sexual commodities. Legislative and social approaches to altering this mindset in order to hinder demand for sex, specifically trafficked sex, are key. The Coordinated Prostitution Strategy, used in Sweden, focuses on demand by criminalizing the buyers of sex. Although this approach was considered successful, it should be coupled with plans addressing social stigmas. The Moral Approach, a term coined by Teela Sanders in her work Paying for Pleasure: Men Who Buy Sex, reinforces notions of traditional moral and social behavior.

By conflating communal hostility

The International Relations Review policies, provided opportunities for exchange of information on trafficked persons and facilitated training programs on combatting trafficking.

The Inter-American Development Bank raises awareness on trafficking in local communities through promotional materials, service announcements and the creation of a “Call to Live “trafficking hotline. A US-funded anti trafficking program in Mexico supports a Resident Legal Advisor who is helping to strengthen the anti-trafficking unit with the Attorney General and to train Mexican officials on investigating and prosecuting trafficking cases.

Coupled with government efforts are the regionalized efforts of NGOs and local organizations, such as the Maria de los Angeles’s foundation

services in newspapers. The overall complexity of the sex trafficking web and lack of domestic resources severely limits progress, but by understanding demand and altering viewpoints on gender, one may just see the decline of an oppressive and violent industry.

The sex trafficking industry in Latin America is a largely unknown and misunderstood industry. Many Latin Americans believe it is not a pressing issue, compared to widely publicized issues such as drug trafficking and government corruption. The reality of the sex trafficking industry is that it is connected with the majority, if not all, of the pressing issues facing regional governments in the modern age. Sex trafficking sheds light on the social

The end of the sex trafficking industry in Latin America is arguably the missing link in addressing some of the most difficult problems facing the region today. towards immoral sexual practices, individuals have less incentive to purchase such services due to fear of social exile or punishment. While not all sexual services are illegal, hindering demand through moral and legal approaches reduces incentives for investment in sex trafficking.

International efforts at combatting sex trafficking rose substantially in the new millennium due to an increased understanding of its connection with other illegal trades. Latin American countries serve as source, transit and destination countries for victims from around the world. A heightened legislation thus has the potential for substantial effects. Guatemala developed two special courts for human trafficking cases, while Brazil enacted a $2.9 million dollar antitrafficking plan. Organizations such as the Operation Against Smugglers (and Traffickers) Initiative on Safety and Security (OASISS) and the Organization of American States (OAS) have promoted anti-trafficking

for victims of human trafficking founded in Argentina by the mother of a disappeared victim. While major international efforts solely focused on sex trafficking remain meek, hopes of future legislation targeting the issue endure.

Models of success are difficult to find due to the lack of infrastructure and resources within the impoverished Latin American countries. Debate over combatting the problem still exists, as many desire to follow the Swedish plan of criminalizing the buyers of prostitution, which led to a 70% reduction in prostitution. There is also a belief that this plan would be inefficient due to the unstable political environments in many Latin American countries. In recent years the number of sex trafficking prosecutions and convictions in the region has risen slightly, demonstrating the minor success of legislative reforms. Argentina along with the well-known newspaper El Universal chose to ban ads for sexual

inequalities facing women today and the destitute situations of the poor communities frequently controlled by cartels. By focusing more legislation on collapsing the sex trafficking industry, one will see direct social and political consequences.

Increased female empowerment will condense the at-risk victim pool, while reducing poverty levels and increasing communal participation.

A loss in income for the drug cartels would effectively decrease violence and political corruption. Addressing the demand pool through increasing communal hostility towards the purchase of sex reduces incentives towards market expansion. With corruption ramped and resources limited success is difficult to view in a large scale, but determination by individuals locally and abroad are increasing awareness. The end of the sex trafficking industry in Latin America is arguably the missing link in addressing some of the most difficult problems facing the region today.

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Fall 2014

Sanctions and the Two Faces of Central Europe Sanctions and economic conflict take their toll

By Michal Trusz, CAS ‘15

C

entral Europe, especially the Modern Visegrad 4 (i.e.

Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), has shared a remarkably similar history. Each country (apart from Slovakia, which was historically part of Hungary) came into being in the Early Middle Ages and grew in power throughout the High Medieval period. By the beginning of the Early Modern Era, each country had reached the zenith of its power and, by the end of that period, each had disappeared from the map of Europe due to foreign intervention. Hungary was divided between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans after the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Bohemia was subsumed into the Habsburg Realm after the Battle of Bílá Hora in 1620, and PolandLithuania was divided between Prussia, Austria, and Russia in three successive partitions ending in 1795. The greatest goal of each nation was then to regain independence and establish stability (with only Hungary partially fulfilling this goal before World War I through the Ausgleich in 1867). The tragedy of the twentieth century had similarly unfortunate consequences for each country. After a brief period of freedom, each was subjugated, first by the Third Reich and then by the Soviet Union through a puppet Communist regime.

Each country experienced upheavals against a repressive communist regime (Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968, Poland in 1970 and 1980-1981).

Each managed to achieve its goal of full independence in the wave of democratic reforms of 1989-1990. Now the new

goal was to become fully integrated with the western world through NATO and, especially, European Union membership.

Subsequently, each country had become a member of NATO and The EU by 2004. Yet after joining the EU, the Central-Eastern European vision of the future became quite varied. Major political and ideological differences between these countries, especially on the issues of European integration and EU foreign policy, became apparent. These differences became especially significant amidst the Crisis in Ukraine.

The Crisis in Ukraine has revealed that the Central and Eastern European members of the EU are split into two distinct blocs, each favoring a different policy toward Russia. The issue of EU sanctions against Russia has become especially controversial and has drawn a clear line of division through CentralEastern Europe. Curiously, this line also coincides with the Pro-EU versus EuroSkeptic divide in the region.

The first bloc consists of EU countries that favor a tougher stance on Russian aggression in Ukraine through the continued imposition of harsher economic sanctions against the Russian elite connected to the Kremlin. This group includes Poland and the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), roughly corresponding to the ProEU bloc in Central-Eastern Europe.1 Curiously, Russia remains one of the most important export partners for each member of this group (especially for the Baltic Republics). 2,3,4,5 The events of the past few months have revealed

that the “face” and leading man of this group is Donald Tusk, Poland’s former Prime Minister and the leader of the Center-Right Citizens’ Platform Party.

Tusk’s Poland has played a major role in gathering EU and NATO support for the maidan and the political changes in Ukraine.6 Tusk’s foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, was the architect of the agreement made in Kiev in February that directly preceded (and perhaps allowed) the removal of President Yanukovich from office.7 Tusk has since become one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of the Russian aggression in the Donbas and a firm supporter of the balanced use of economic sanctions against Russia.8 The second bloc consists of the Euro-Skeptic countries of CentralEastern Europe that prefer to maintain workable relations with Russia. These countries are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.9 Just as the group above, each country in this group maintains a close export partnership with Russia.10,11,12 The unofficial leader of this group and its “face” is Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has since been dubbed as “the EU’s black sheep in the red dome”.13 Orbán has come under Brussels’ scrutiny since his party’s (Fidesz) landslide victory in the elections of 2010, after which Fidesz received enough seats in parliament to enact constitutional changes. Orbán has taken advantage of this situation and passed a new constitution (which, as the Human Rights Watch has keenly noticed, classifies homelessness as a crime) for Hungary, which Brussels has labeled as undemocratic and not in line

38 with EU law.14,15 Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Orbán and other state leaders of this group have been staunchly opposed to sanctions against the Kremlin, citing fear of Russian economic retaliation which would ruin their trade partnership.

Orbán has even gone as far as to criticize the new Ukrainian government for mistreating the small autochthonous Hungarian minority in the transCarpathian region of Ukraine.16 As hard as is it for Brussels to admit, Orbán and his colleagues seem to have been right about EU sanctions against Russia. In August 2014, the Kremlin ordered an embargo of several goods (mostly foodstuffs) from EU countries.17 These sanctions hit Central-Eastern Europe especially badly, as Russia continues to be a major market for its goods. Polish farmers, especially apple producers who recorded an unusually bountiful harvest this year, have been particularly affected by the escalating trade war and recorded major losses.18

The International Relations Review The Baltic States, whose export of foodstuffs to Russia on average accounts for about 5% of each country’s GDP, are also feeling the negative effects of the escalating trade war.19 Meanwhile, the EU sanctions have had little impact on the situation in Eastern Ukraine. Crimea is all but lost for Kiev and fighting continues in the Donbas.

On a personal level though, Tusk appears to be the clear winner of the crisis in Ukraine. Hailed as champion of democracy and EU enlargement in the East, Tusk was chosen to replace Herman Van Rompuy as the President of the European Council in September.23 Orbán, on the other hand, remains an outsider in the EU. His constitutional changes, which according to the Human Rights Watch threaten media freedom, and controversial policies continue to be chastised by Brussels and most European leaders (including Tusk, who called Orbán’s comments about Hungarians in Ukraine “unfortunate and disturbing”).21,22 When reprimanded

by German Chancellor Angela Merkel about his policies in May of last year, Orbán famously replied, “are you going to send in the tanks again?”25 Yet, it is precisely with this radically Euroskeptic rhetoric that Orbán continues to appeal to many people in his country, who still view the injustice of Trianon as the single greatest tragedy of Hungarian history- the repercussions of which continue to be felt to this day. Orbán’s popularity in Hungary was highlighted

by Fidesz’s second landslide victory in the Hungarian Parliamentary elections in April, which extended Orbán’s term of office for four more years (although OSCE notes that Fidesz might have “enjoyed an undue advantage because of restrictive campaign regulations, biased media coverage, and campaign activities that blurred the separation between political party and the State”).24

Photo by Tru Hoang, ENG ‘15

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The International Relations Review

Afghanistan’s Transformation Decade War-torn country faces challenges in political stability

By Sarah Manely, CAS ‘15 There is an uneasy feeling among those concerned about Afghanistan’s future under a newly established coalition government.

President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah are facing the difficult task of reconciling their individual ambitions for power with mediating relations with the Taliban, dismantling criminal markets involved with the opium trade and weapons smuggling and creating partnerships with the international community to help the country shift from its long history of war-- both foreign and civil-- into one that breeds hope, opportunity and stability for the Afghan people. It is crucial for the country’s newly elected leaders to focus on these critical issues of state and political development to prevent the emergence of another power vacuum with the potential to invite extremist groups back into influence.

First, the reality of the situation in Afghanistan is that while “democracy” has relevant foundations for government structure, it is not going to fit the mold of what neither the American nor European ideals of democracy entail. Ahmed Rashid, a best-selling foreign policy author and leading journalist on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, states that one of the failed goals of the American intervention was the electoral reform that placed former President Hamid Karzai in charge but did nothing to produce a government that was accountable to the Afghan citizens.1 As a result,

the interim government engaged in corrupt practices, which included the misuse of financial aid, cronyism and a system of unchecked authority.2 Fueled by rampant corruption, the government hastily created a facade of democracy through the centralized government— a government which failed to address the complexities inherent in the struggle for power among the various ethnic groups within Afghanistan. Thus, it follows that while the political platform on which candidates run in Afghanistan requires that they understand the country’s dynamics, constituents vote mainly along ethnic and tribal associations to further their interests.

It is important that Afghanistan develops a political system that is unique and acceptable to its citizens as it maintains a focus on both Islamic as well as democratic values while also ensuring representation for the various ethnic tribes within the country.3 The current coalition government represents a compromise made to incorporate the various ethnic interests that the Afghan people value in their leaders, while the institution also has a certain fragility to it because it places responsibility on Ghani and Abdullah to not fall to the corruption of power.

As the two leaders move forward in rebuilding the image of the government, it is important to assemble the “Loya Jirga… so as to promptly give constitutional cover to the powersharing agreement between Mr. Ghani and Mr. Abdullah.”4 Since there is no

precedent for power sharing that is mentioned in the Afghan constitution, the Loya Jirga, “a traditional gathering of tribal representatives and elected district councilors,” needs to convene and amend the constitution to determine how this political system will work. Important considerations for the new constitution include defining the specific powers of the president and the chief executive; details on how the electoral process will retain its integrity and protect against voter fraud and a plan for how the government will incorporate representatives from rural areas in Afghanistan in order to foster a relationship based on trust and accountability on both ends. Furthermore, an independent judiciary must be established to create a system of checks and balances on the authority of the president and the chief executive.5 A new judiciary able to deal with trials without influence from the executive branch will demonstrate to Afghan society that the courts are ruling in a fair manner and will allow for more effective enforcement of the law. The new government must write the new provisions into the constitution and actualize them into legitimate policies to increase the national welfare of the people, which will simultaneously alter public opinion of the government from that of a corrupt institution.

Another major difficulty in the process of reconstruction is opening up negotiations with the Taliban. Despite having experienced

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Looking for citations?

will give Afghans an opportunity to generate revenue from sustainable sources that are not involved with the drug trade while simultaneously degrading the Taliban’s authority in this sector of society. Creating new jobs, sources of revenue and better urban infrastructure would lead to a more sustainable environment for Afghans to live and work in, as well as make them less inclined to gravitate towards radical Islamic groups such as the Taliban.

Plans for withdrawing from Afghanistan have already begun with the removal of American and British troops from bases in Helmand, a province in the South that experienced the highest number of security threats and most intense violence during the war. However, this does not wipe clean the hands of the international community of the vulnerable situation that still exists in Afghanistan though the war is technically over. Afghanistan’s transformation and reconstruction will be a gradual process since the situations that the country faces are very complex and must be dealt with a delicately, guided by awareness and understanding. It is even more crucial that the commitment of international aid, mediation and cooperation with the new coalition government be sincere and supportive rather than distant and detached. As with any country, the dynamics in Afghanistan are unique and constantly evolving, but if the world wants to prevent a counterinsurgency that could be more extreme than what the country has witnessed before, the priority must be to work together with Afghanistan and not do the work for them.

The United States has recently revised its Civil and Military Strategic Framework for Afghanistan to include many of the reforms mentioned above.

As the transformation decade for Afghanistan is set to take place from 2015-2024, it is now a question of whether Afghanistan’s new leaders and the international community will be able to act on these proposals and create a better future for the country; a future characterized by long lasting stability.

The International Relations Review only publishes citations online to allot sufficient space for submissions in its magazine. Each article’s citations are available at irr.buiaa.org

a substantial decline in power since 2001, the Taliban is still an important actor in the state because they have the potential to regain influence if the coalition government fails to legitimize itself to the Afghan people. Essentially, this facet of reconstruction is going to be difficult because it will require consistent negotiations with the Taliban and, above all else, a relationship between the government and the Taliban that will have to gradually build towards a mutual trust. The past 13 years of war provide ample evidence that simply defeating the Taliban, or any extremist group, militarily will not get rid of these groups’ ability to regroup and eventually mobilize into a stronger and on occasion more violent threat than before.6 Furthermore, if the government is unable to prove that it can provide basic services for citizens, then the Taliban will only gain more traction with the Afghan people as the group will be the only legitimate provider of any kind of social order and protection.7 Additionally, the Taliban have sustained funding for their operations by integrating into the country’s infrastructure via opium production and trafficking as well as tax collection on crops from farmers and levies at roadside checkpoints, making them essential to government negotiations. This has enabled the Taliban to maintain the financial independence to obtain illegal weapons and serve as a threat to the stability of both the country and the government. Moving forward, it is essential that the government maintain contact with the Taliban but also work to dislodge the hold the Taliban has over unemployed and disillusioned citizens.

One concrete example that the government should pursue to restore faith in its institutions are nation building projects. These would include “rebuilding vital physical infrastructure, removing the hundreds of thousands of mines, and giving farmers crops other than opium poppies to grow.” This improved economic stability would help facilitate Afghanistan’s transition into a sovereign country because it

Photo by Sophia Fregoso, SAR ‘14

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OPINIONS 44 The Give and Take of Philanthrocapitalism

By Sophie Shanshory, CAS ‘17 Philanthropic efforts have been fused in recent years with freemarket initiatives, but exactly who do these efforts benefit the most?

46 Why U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy is Failing

By Alec Lynde, CAS ‘16 After a decade of fighting the global war on terror, progress has stagnated, and the same problems are still plaguing U.S. leadership.

48 Editorial: The Rise of Transnational Fighters

By Fatima Mohie-Eldin, CAS ‘15 & Becca Shipler, CAS ‘15 The advent of ISIL has been defined not only by their brutality but also by those foreign nationals streaming into Syria and Iraq. Yet solving this problem will require more than passport restrictions and airstrikes.

44

The International Relations Review

The Give and Take of Philanthrocapitalism

By Sophie Shanshory, CAS ‘17

I

ndulging in material goods for self-gratification seems counterintuitive to the notion of charity. However, it has become a common and acceptable method of giving in the U.S. due to the prevalence of philanthrocapitalism. The basic concept of philanthrocapitalism is to generate profits through partnerships between corporations and charitable organizations, with a designated portion of the profits allocated for the charity.

Supporters of philanthrocapitalism argue that consumer participation in daily indirect giving is a viable means to help humanitarian causes, while its critics believe that attempting to remedy social ills and poverty with a businesslike approach that champions efficiency is not only harmful to the recipients, who often don’t receive sustainable assistance, but is also harmful to the consumers.

cause-brand alliances (CBAs) and cause-related marketing become more significant factors in the success (profits) of large-scale businesses. CSR “has two main goals: (a) to raise awareness and/ or funds for the social cause and (b) to increase consumer perceptions of the sponsor’s CSR – that is, associations that reflect the brand’s ‘character’ with respect to its societal obligations.”1 In an article in the Third World Quarterly, scholar Roberta Hawkins states that the newly emphasized cause-related marketing strategies of corporations led to a “’new frontier of development’, changing the way citizens engage with development issues and how these issues are addressed and promoted.”2 Charitable behavior, typically seen as substantial and meaningful, is now made simple and marketed as a way for consumers to “one-stop shop” – to simultaneously treat themselves and contribute to

consumer interest and support.

Perhaps the greatest effect, or lack thereof, is on the recipient of the aid whose experience throughout the aid-giving process is extremely volatile. A person or community that receives aid through CBA is at the whim of the company, its partnering cause and the market. This volatility is exacerbated when the consumer can only connect to the issue through purchasing power, increasing his or her level of detachment. This business style approach to philanthropy creates unsustainable consumer support and ethically misinformed consumers – people who assist in the exploitation of the Third World by equating their own material wants with the dire needs of people elsewhere.

This is not to say, however that philanthrocapitalism does not serve a purpose, nor that consumers are helpless victims to corporations with

Even before engaging in a purchase, philanthrocapitalism appeals to consumers by suggesting that shopping is a way to cure social ills.

Even before engaging in a purchase, philanthrocapitalism impacts the ethics of consumers by suggesting that shopping is a way to cure social ills.

The model redefines giving from the start, altering consumers’ moral ability to interact with and identify genuine development.

Philanthrocapitalism is the culmination of changes to corporate social responsibility (CSR) as

international aid.

The full potential of the consumer’s personal moral reaction to humanitarian assistance is diminished because of his or her inability to see the effects of purchasing actions other than through the acquisition of a product.

The ethical reaction that results from CSR is therefore not sustainable.

Sustainability in this sense refers to the fostering and retaining of genuine

no control over their own spending or donating abilities. Nevertheless, it is important to expose the effects of what is perpetuating the existing model and to encourage greater awareness.

Increased transparency in the spending and allocation of charitable funds that come from cause-brand alliances must occur to somewhat mitigate the ethical effects on the consumer.

Sarah Dadush, focusing on the

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Photo by Morgan Peterson, CAS ‘17

experience of one particular CBA in her work, argues for increased transparency too, though not specifically for the sake of the ethical development of the consumer: “Empirical research is needed to determine whether these dollar amounts [raised through CBAs] meet consumer expectations of a charitable return on their investment. It is at least conceivable that at a certain ratio of profit to charitable contribution, consumers would opt to buy a cheaper item (at H&M rather than The Gap, for instance) and simply donate the difference (or more) to charity.”3 The Gap has been a part of one of the first and most successful CBAs and yet does not disclose much information about the relationship. RED (called Project Red) was one of the first largescale cause-brand alliances to exhibit modern philanthrocapitalism.

Its

creation and rise to popularity set a new standard, demonstrated in its ability to gain the public’s attention and to inspire other brands to engage in similar partnerships as a way of expanding their CSR capabilities.

RED participates in CBA with major companies through the licensing of its label in order to to raise money for the Global Fund, an organization dedicated to fighting communicable diseases.4 Despite criticisms over the course of RED’s unfolding and development, the astonishing impact on private funding to the Global Fund is substantial. RED was founded as a “win-win” approach

by Bono and Bobby Shiver5 and “[a]s of 2010, the campaign has contributed over $145 million to the fund, compared to the total private sector contribution over three years of $5 million to the Global Fund.”6 Knowing The Gap’s operating

budget to promote this partnership, however, brings into question who receives the greater benefit. As Dadush points out, “RED does not disclose percentages [donated to the Global Fund] by each partner (because each partner negotiates their own contributions).”7 It should also be acknowledged that “Gap is reported to have spent $7.8 million on RED advertising during the fourth quarter of 2006 alone.”8 Morality in today’s world may be vague and malleable at times but specific actions of engagement by a consumer can have very concrete effects on his or her interaction with development. Selfgratification is simply not a sustainable way to help others, and Western consumers must be exposed to the effects had upon them, and the effects that they could likely even impose upon the recipients of charitable giving.

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The International Relations Review

Why U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy is Failing

By Alec Lynde, CAS ‘16

I

n his recent commentary, “How strong is the link between faith and terrorism?” Reza Aslan, a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, discusses America’s counterterrorism strategy over the last 14 years and the complexity of extremist behavior. The United States’ counterterrorism strategy has ultimately failed as evidenced by the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Past U.S. responses to communism in the 1950s reflect the flawed political viewpoints on terrorism and extremism in the Middle East.

Aslan notes that extremist “behavior is… the result of complex interplay among a host of social, political, cultural, ethical, emotional, and... religious factors.”1 Behavior does not stem solely from religion, but is a combination of religious motivation with other socioeconomic and political factors. He also argues: “When we condemn an entire community of faith for sharing certain beliefs with extremists in their community, we end up alienating the very people who are best positioned to counter such extremism in the first place.”2 As a nation, the United States should not resort to targeting Islam as a religion that fosters violence and hatred because the religion itself is not the only or even the primary cause.

The U.S. policy on containment called The Marshall Plan was an attempt to discredit communism, another ideological struggle facing the country in the 1950s, while arguing the superiority of liberalism. In the years following World War II, The Marshall Plan designated $13 billion in aid to rebuild the devastated economies of Western Europe.3 The United States

used its economic might to ensure that socioeconomic and political conditions in Western Europe were conducive to the growth of liberalism. The plan offered massive subsidies and technical assistance to European firms, funded

U.S. War on Terror’s central doctrine that the existential threat to the country is Islam itself has done little to secure liberalism’s future in the Middle East.

Public support for regime stability trumped over liberalism and democracy.

Ultimately, the United States proliferated the “clash of civilizations” by continuing to ignore realities on the ground. infrastructure projects on a grand scale and created worker exchanges so that Europeans could learn from US expertise.4 America needed to show the people of Western Europe how liberalism was superior and the Marshall Plan did just that.

However, this isn’t the first time the United States has failed with respect to the Middle East. While the Marshall Plan may have secured a future for liberalism in Western Europe, strategic concerns about the spread of communism in the Middle East in the 1950s led the United States to support authoritarian regimes. Quick results were valued over long-term democracy building, while inhumane authoritarian regimes were established and supported by American intervention in the region.

The post 9/11 United States has failed to legitimize liberalism as an ideology in the Middle East. Instead of recognizing that Islamic extremism is a response to socioeconomic and political conditions that fail to support liberalism, America responds with the rationale “that the best way to deal with hateful foreigners is to use airborne robots to kill them, their friends and their families.”5 The

Resentment grew across the region, but when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 public opinion altered to support for liberalism. As a result, 9/11 came as a shock to many Americans. Who could hate the bastion of liberal democracy enough to commit such horrible acts?

The answer to that question lies in Samuel Huntington’s debated theory, the “clash of civilizations.” In the wake of 9/11, Huntington’s theory seemed to become a reality. Rather than evaluating policies that propagated the socioeconomic and political conditions conducive to the growth of this clash in the Middle East, the United States declared war on terrorism. Many Muslims around the world argued that the oath was one also declaring a war on Islam. Subsequently, the United States increased its strategic support for authoritarian regimes that were willing to fight against extremism, despite public support. Ultimately, the United States proliferated the “clash of civilizations” by continuing to ignore realities on the ground through supporting authoritarian regimes.

According to a 2013 report released

by Face the Facts USA, the United States has spent roughly $300 billion dollars

47

Fall 2014

Countries, shaded dark, in which the United States has conducted targeted killings (drone strikes) since 2001.

Graphic by Jess van der Westhuizen, CFA ‘15

in military and economic aid to the Middle East and Central Asia over the course of six decades.6 Most of this aid was in support of “a foreign policy that seeks stability in a region with abundant energy reserves but volatile interstate relationships.”7 Because the United States spent billions of dollars in order to secure these strategic partnerships and not to promote liberalism, there has been a “sharp decline in confidence that the United States is committed to democracy across the Middle East.”8 Few in the region trust that the United States wants to advance freedom or liberalism

in any real fashion. The U.S. decision to send aid to resource-rich regions in the Middle East creates regional distrust of U.S. policy and intervention.

Despite a history of failing to promote liberalism and democracy as a legitimate alternative to authoritarianism, the United States continues a narrow focus on Islam’s role in promoting extremism in the Middle East. By ignoring what Reza Aslan calls the “complex interplay” of various factors of behavior the United States has failed to understand Islamic extremism outside of its religious context. By labeling Islam as inherently

violent, individuals have failed to engage with the Islamic world and the Middle East on a level that could support the growth of liberalism and democracy.

In order to promote liberalism in the Middle East and the Islamic world and discredit Islamic extremism as an ideology, one must distinguish Islamic extremism from Islam. Additionally, one must promote liberalism on a diplomatic level. Results will not be instantaneous and efforts will span administrations and decades, but the end result, however, will resemble Western Europe four years after the enactment of the Marshall Plan.

48

The International Relations Review

49

Fall 2014

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE, LOCAL OUTREACH. BUIAA’s Global Civics program connects it’s members with local high schools, teaching classes on politics, economics, and more.

If you are interested in being one of BUIAA’s teachers, email the Program Directors at globalcivics@buiaa.org!

50

The International Relations Review

EDITORIAL: TRANSNATIONAL FIGHTERS

By Fatima Mohie-Eldin, CAS ‘15 and Becca Shipler, CAS ‘15

A

cknowledged as a high-level threat to international peace and security by the UN, transnational fighters are only increasing in number around the globe. In Iraq and Syria alone, the number of foreign fighters involved in the conflict has burgeoned to more than 15,000 and they come from over 80 different countries.1 Still many more have traveled to countries across North Africa and the Sahel as well as to the Horn of Africa and beyond, seeking out militant groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al-Nusrah Front (ANF) and others known to be associated with al-Qaida.

This flow of foreign fighters is not a new development, however. During the Greek War of Independence, the Mexican Civil War, the establishment of the state of Israel and the Spanish Civil War foreign fighters were present as well.2 This grouping is just a sample of an overall diverse array of transnational conflicts over time. To explain this diversity David Malet asserts in his book Foreign Fighters that “the majority...of transnational insurgencies draw on the salient transnational identities of the day.”3 In the 19th century this meant anarchist groups gained popular support for their struggle across national borders and in the 20th century this support transferred to the transnational fight for Communism, while at present Islamic networks have become a harbor for transnational fighters.

The first influx of transnational fighters for the purpose of jihad (interpreted as “struggle” or “war”) occurred in Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980’s to free Afghanistan from the Soviet Union.4 Since then, the transnational flow of foreign fighters for the purpose of jihad has persisted in waves around the world, in accordance with Islamism’s current global prominence.

In Europe the prospect of European nationals travelling to Syria to fight with ISIL or al-Nusrah Front is of particular concern. France was the first European state to actually take action last spring when Prime Minister Manuel Valls implemented a law proposal restricting travel for minors outside of French territory without parental consent.5 This decision was catalyzed by a surge of online propaganda videos posted by jihadis of French origin and the resulting fear that this material was being used to recruit young citizens of France, some as young as 14.6 Prime Minister Valls’ fears are not unfounded; between 500 and 700 French nationals are estimated to have already joined the fight in Syria alongside ISIL and al-Nusrah Front.

ISIL and other groups recruiting transnational fighters have consistently used social media and the internet for broadcasting their goals and instructing young people in countries where they might not yet feel assimilated to come

join a struggle that is bigger than national boundaries. They use Facebook, Twitter, Apps and videos posted on the internet to spread their message and recruit new fighters from abroad.7 They appeal to potential recruits by inflating their successes, claiming the risks are lesser than they truly are, and/or emphasizing the rewards awaiting those who will fight for their cause. By advertising the successful recruitment of foreign fighters on social media, these transnational networks establish a sense of legitimacy (often false), as an additional tool for international recruitment. This poses a great challenge to the governments trying to stem the flow of foreign fighters to certain conflicts because they are unable to identify all of the potential risks for foreign fighting.

Although the medium of recruitment has changed over time the methods of recruitment and the way in which these groups frame their conflict, for instance as a fight against a threat to some transboundary community, are similar across transnational conflicts over time.8 Furthermore, although the championing ideology of these conflicts has changed over time, for instance from anarchism to Communism to Islamism today, their nature remains essentially the same that being of non-ethnic, ideological conflict. This ideological nature is what allows for transnational involvement because of its claims to fight for a system of principles or ethics that transcend national borders.

Therefore, “acts of terror committed by ISIL fighters must not be interpreted as Muslims waging a war against other religions,” but rather as stemming from the same ideological cradle that has incited and will continue to incite transnational conflicts unless the underlying reasons sustaining these ideological struggles are addressed, namely the recruitment strategies and the myth that the conflict is aimed at a transnational threat.9 In fact, as Remi Piet, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Diplomacy and International Political Economy at Qatar University points out, religious sectarianism under the guise of the ISIL shares a common perspective with Western conservative nationalism, which is “the temptation to remain isolated and impose one’s vision over all others,” a marked point of deviation between ISIL and Islam.10 Two of the major root causes are the funding of these networks and the failure of many states, particularly in Europe, to facilitate the assimilation process for recent immigrants to their countries. In order to slow the flow of foreign fighters abroad, governments must seek to actually address these causes. This can begin by stopping the flow of money to these groups through focusing on the origins of the funding instead of solely on the militant movements and through creating welcoming societies that value immigrants.

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Fall 2014 THE IR REVIEW EDITORIAL BOARD Vincent Jordan, Editor-in-Chief Fatima Mohie-Eldin, Managing Editor Stuart Ross, Advertising and Marketing Paulina Limasalle, Senior Editor Pariza Lovos, Senior Editor Anushka Pinto, Senior Editor Becca Shipler, Senior Editor Margarite Zighami, Senior Editor Latifah Azlan, Editor and Blog Director Ines Bousseba, Staff Writer Colie Cofield, Staff Writer Caitlin Hemdal, Staff Writer Morgan Peterson, Staff Writer Victoria Reynolds, Editor Mustafa Shezhad, Staff Writer Sam Wong, Staff Writer

COLOPHON CAS ‘15 CAS ‘15 COM ‘15 CAS ‘15 CAS ‘17 CGS ‘15, CAS ‘17 CAS ‘17 CAS ‘15 CAS ‘15 CAS ‘17, COM ‘17 CAS ‘18 CAS ‘16 CAS ‘17 CAS ‘18 ENG ‘18 COM ‘15

ABOUT THE IR REVIEW The International Relations Review, ISSN 2152-738X, is a subsidiary of the Boston University International Affairs Association. With a circulation of nearly 1,000 the IR Review has striven to create a forum for students interested in international affairs. The IRR website (irr.buiaa.org) is open to submissions from graduate students and others outside of Boston University’s undergraduate population.

Since it was founded in 2009, the IR Review has striven to create an intellectual forum for students interested in international affairs. The submissions features in the publication cover a myriad of topics and controversies, including but not limited to politics, economics, globalization, international security, human rights, international law and politics and sustainability.

A PDF of the current issue, as well as citations and archives of previous issues, can be viewed online at www.irr.buiaa.org.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS Briefings, essays, and opinion submissions are accepted year-round for the IR Review. All essays must contain at least 1000 words and must not exceed 3,000.

Submissions must also include the author’s name, college, graduation year, a title, and appropriate citations to be considered for publication.

The IR Review reserves the right to revise submissions. All the revisions are sent to the author for approval before going to print. The IR Review also reserves the right to edit photo submissions minimally.

All work must be properly cited. Plagiarized work violates the IR Review’s Code of Ethics, as well as the Boston University Handbook, and will not be accepted. If the IR Review finds that a submission has been plagiarized, the staff will no longer accept submissions from that author. Opinion pieces do not require a bibliography unless the author cites other sources.

Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis. The editorial staff can be contacted for questions regarding submissions at irr@buiaa.org.

The International Relations Review is created using Adobe In-Design CS5 and exported as a PDF. Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator are also used in the production process.

The IR Review prints copies at Fowler Printing and Graphics in Randolph, Mass.

The typefaces for the publication include Baskerville Old Face, Futura, and Farnham Display. The images in the publication are processed in CMYK. The magazine is printed on 100-pound gloss paper and comes with a saddle-stitched binding.

The publication is run by the editorial board, which consists of staff writers, editors, layout designers, and the editor-in-chief.

The editorial board also handles external affairs, such as blogging, public relations, marketing, advertising and logistics.

The Fall 2014 issue of the IR Review was designed by Jess van der Westhuizen CFA ‘15, Vincent Jordan CAS ‘15 and Victoria Reynolds CAS ‘18.

COVER PHOTO The cover photo used for the Fall 2014 edition of the IR Review was taken by Gayle Miner, CAS ‘16.

TABLE OF CONTENTS PHOTO The photo for the Table of Contents of the Fall 2014 edition was taken by Sean Hacker Teper, CAS ‘15

SPECIAL REPORT PHOTO SUBMIT OVER WINTER BREAK! If you have an essay you want to submit and want to see it published, send it to the editorial board to have it considered for the Spring issue of the IR Review!

The photo introducing the Special Report of the Fall 2014 edition was taken by Gayle Miner, CAS ‘16

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