” … If the UN is serious about change, it should consider adopting an equal opportunity peacekeeping model, a model that focuses on larger gender inequalities in missions as a way to ensure that the overall quality of peacekeeping missions improve,” writes political scientist Kyle Beardsley. “Only then might the reduction of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions be possible.”
Read More on Council on Foreign Relations BlogCategory: Global
What WikiLeaks Reveals About Human Trafficking
Across the globe more than 20 million people are victimized by human trafficking, the modern form of slavery. Public policy professor Judith Kelley has been digging in to the WikiLeaks documents to see whether ranking countries on how well they are tackling human trafficking issues is having an impact on their efforts.
CFOs To Trump: Stop Tweeting, Lose Border Tax
Chief financial officers in the United States are concerned about how President Donald Trump’s off-the-cuff Twitter posts and public comments affect business, a new Fuqua School survey finds. Results also show that CFOs are feeling the most confident about economic growth than they’ve been in more than a dozen years, and they strongly support several of the president’s initiatives. “(CFOs) don’t like the fluctuations and uncertainty that result from how President Trump communicates to the public, but they say many of his ideas will be good for business, even some of the more controversial ones,” says finance professor John Graham, director of the survey.
Read More at Fuqua School of BusinessWhat’s Next For The Prison At Guantánamo?
The Trump administration is contemplating plans to expand detention at the site, and possibly extend the scope of military justice to terrorist suspects in the United States. Whether courts might uphold such a plan is another question. “The correct answer to that is, no, because the Constitution’s Treason Clause makes clear that citizens who act as an enemy are to be treated under criminal law,” says professor Madeline Morris, a former State Department adviser on international and counterterrorism law who now directs the Guantanamo Defense Clinic at Duke Law School.
Read More in The Christian Science Monitor
Why A Russia Probe May Make The Left Squirm, Too, Not Just The Right
“If conducted thoroughly and impartially, the Russia probe could generate not just answers to troubling questions, but also thoughtful and even cathartic discussion. However, everyone should be prepared — regardless of where they may be on the political spectrum — for moments of real discomfort. But maybe that’s exactly the right prescription these days for America’s profoundly distressed political environment,” writes law professor Charlie Dunlap.
Read More in The HillTrump’s Streamlined Travel Ban Still Faces Headwinds
“Even though this order is calmer, more professionally executed, and less likely to cause mass chaos that its predecessor,” says professor David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, the order “symbolizes that America fears engagement with the outside world and believes national security is advanced by building barriers that isolate America.”
Read More in The Christian Science MonitorTrump’s Claim About Terrorism Convictions Since 9/11
If terrorism includes any act of violence motivated by politics, then you would include both the ideologies of al-Qaida and ISIS, as well as the ideologies of white supremacism, says Sanford School professor David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. “If you look at the phenomenon of terrorism as a whole, then there are a lot of citizens committing terrorism, whether connected with foreign organizations or ideologies or domestic ones,” Schanzer says.
Read More in PolitiFactFuture of Military Raids, Other Foreign Policy Insights
Public policy professor David Schanzer discusses the future of military raids under the Trump administration, the implications of Kim Jong Un’s assassination of his half-brother, and the need to anticipate future crises, such as the rapidly failing state of Venezuela.
Listen at On SecurityRussia’s Meddling in US Election Will Backfire
Political scientist Peter Feaver says the questions around Russia’s interference in the U.S. election will not end until there is an independent commission investigating what happened, and that for Russia, the meddling was a “tactical success, but a long term strategic blunder.”
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Singling Out Crimes by Illegal Immigrants
President Trump’s speech Tuesday alarmed many observers who say focusing on the misdeeds of a small minority of immigrants will foster a climate of fear and animosity that puts others at risk. “It’s tough to make parallels (with Nazi Germany) when the scapegoat is so different. But the process is the same,” says history professor emeritus Claudia Koonz.
Read More in the Toronto Star
Just How Abnormal Is the Trump Presidency?
Of the 20 news events rated by a New York Times panel, President Trump’s order to close the nation’s borders to people from seven nations was considered the most important. Timur Kuran, professor of political science and economics, says the order “violated the U.S. Constitution, and it has raised the danger of global war based on religion.”
Read More in The New York TimesThe Case for Welcoming Immigrant Families
Research shows Hispanic children in the U.S. worry a lot more than their non-Hispanic peers. Some told researchers they feared their parents would be taken from them and sent away. Given that more than one in four U.S. children live in a family with at least one immigrant parent, associate professor Anna Gassman-Pines argues we should work toward helping parents and their children feel integrated into U.S. society rather than isolated.
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