The South Korea case study indicates the co-benefits of air quality and climate change policy, by designing relevant legal and institutional frameworks in a more comprehensive and holistic way.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Science and Technology, Law, and Sustainability
China’s implementation of new ESG practices suggests a serious shift towards meeting global standards and domestic-level sustainable development objectives. The new ESG regime also has the potential to be a tool for Chinese foreign policy in the 2020s.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Governance, Business, and Sustainability
Poor metaphors can muddy the nature of environmental policy problems, but good ones can help policymakers begin to understand how to solve them. Using language carefully is critical to crafting effective international agreements to encourage the sustainable conservation of the marine environment in areas beyond national jurisdictions.
Topic:
Environment, Science and Technology, Governance, Law, Multilateralism, and Sustainability
This article is the first installment in a two-part series. Unlike South Korea’s centralized approach to contact tracing, other democracies faced legal impediments to similar approaches. The second installment reviews alternative, non-centralized approaches currently being implemented in these countries and their limitations.
Topic:
Demographics, Science and Technology, Law, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
This article is the second installment of a two-part series. It reviews the alternative, non-centralized approaches to contact tracing currently being implemented in many Western democracies. The first installment described South Korea’s centralized approach to contact tracing and the legal impediments to its implementation in other countries.
Topic:
Demographics, Science and Technology, Law, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh has brought into focus both the striking power differential between Euro-American retailers and national suppliers and the damaging effects of this asymmetry.
Topic:
Civil Society, Demographics, Labor Issues, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Supply Chains
The ecological dimensions of the death of the Aral Sea are fairly well known. Once the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral has all but disappeared since 1960. The complex and fragile ecosystems that once characterized the Aral Sea basin have been supplanted by the parched landscape of the Aralkum Desert, leading to a dramatic collapse of biodiversity. Desertification, in turn, has profoundly altered the regional climate, for the absence of the sea’s moderating influence has resulted in drier, hotter summers and more frigid winters.
Topic:
Agriculture, Energy Policy, Environment, Water, Geopolitics, and Crisis Management
Despite limited numerical strength, al Qaeda exercises sufficient leverage over contending Taliban factions and continues to cultivate an enduring interest in attacking U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. To break the al Qaeda-Taliban nexus, Washington must upgrade its verification metrics, and initiate COVID-19 recovery assistance that limits al Qaeda’s influence-building in Afghanistan.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Terrorism, Taliban, Al Qaeda, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, South Asia, North America, and United States of America
Cultural and educational exchanges between the United States and China have become pawns in an increasingly fraught relationship. But maintaining and deepening these ties will prevent a return to the dangerous mutual ignorance of the Cold War.
Topic:
Cold War, Education, Nationalism, Bilateral Relations, Culture, and Academia
The island of Puerto Rico is in trouble, and it has been for some time. The US territory has a fiscal deficit worse than many third world countries and a list of economic and political problems to match. The uncertainty facing its some 3.2 million residents and those restoring normality is not conducive to the stimulation of prolonged growth. Puerto Rico can, and will, emerge stronger; but it’s going to need a lot of support.
Topic:
Civil Society, Nationalism, Finance, Multilateralism, and Trade
Anya Prusa, Beatriz Garcia Nice, and Olivia Soledad
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
In 2011, Mexican poet and human rights activist Susana Chávez Castillo was tortured and killed in Ciudad Juárez. Eighteen years earlier, she coined the phrase “ni una mujer menos” protesting the unsolved murders of women in that city. Today, those words live on as grassroots movements across Latin America condemn the prevalence of gender-based violence. But, as Chávez’s own narrative suggests, meaningful policy change has been slow.
Topic:
Civil Society, Political Activism, Women, Gender Based Violence, and Feminism
Five years have passed since the UN global mandate on preventing violent extremism (PVE) was launched and rapidly adopted by the Horn of Africa (HoA) countries. Since then, mostly small and medium international organizations funded by foreign, largely Western, donors have pioneered work in this space. Notably, the African Union (AU) Peace & Security Council has tried to lead the region’s path to PVE – it has championed the inclusion of youth and called for gender mainstreaming in programming. The AU has also attempted to connect East and West Africa’s lessons learned in combatting violent extremism. Yet, challenges remain with regard to implementing both regional and international PVE-related commitments.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, War, Violent Extremism, and Conflict
René Castro-Salazar, Moctar Sacande, Danae Maniatis, and Danilo Mollicone
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
It may come as a surprise to many readers, but since 2005, Lake Chad has stopped shrinking; in fact, it has actually stabilized in the last two decades, reaching more than 13,000 square kilometers today. The conflict surrounding Lake Chad continues to be one of the world’s most challenging conflict-traps (a cycle of economic deterioration and repeat conflict), with seasonal migration of people in search of natural resources such as fuelwood, fish, water, and arable land to sustain their livelihoods.
Topic:
Agriculture, Civil Society, Environment, Science and Technology, and Humanitarian Crisis
While the implications of COVD-19 continue to dominate Brazil’s political and economic landscape, the Brazilian defense industry remains a prominent topic in its relationship with the United States and the rest of the world. Although it remains a soft power, Brazil seeks to enhance its defense capabilities both regionally and internationally.
Topic:
Security, Governance, Military Affairs, Conflict, Peace, Trade, and Defense Industry
One of the great challenges of cyberspace is defending freedom and human rights on the internet, all of which are in steady decline. In a decade, we have moved from a free and open internet to one dominated by closed platforms that are more centralized and easier to control. The internet has become a space where digital giants defend shareholder interests, authoritarian governments squash human rights, and private companies spy on politicians, activists, and journalists.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Authoritarianism, Internet, Multilateralism, and Data
Worldwide, millions of people survive severely distressing experiences caused by war and conflict, humanitarian disasters, and displacement. While such events affect the mental health of any population, the psychosocial well-being of persons in humanitarian contexts are rarely addressed in research. In Iraq, sustained and accelerated trauma is a reality, as the local population has endured years of prolonged violence and persecution. Iraq has undergone almost forty years of conflict, including authoritarianism, an eight-year Iran-Iraq war, two Gulf Wars, decades of economic sanctions, a civil war, and the recent occupation by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
While climate change continues to threaten all nations, the full severity of its impacts is yet to be understood. A range of root factors including geographic location, socioeconomic conditions, and political landscape will determine the particular risks and hazards faced by different countries and communities. The southwestern coast of Bangladesh, for example, is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Salinity increases in the region continue to threaten local livelihoods and may render traditional adaptation strategies unsustainable in the long run. This article first discusses how increasing salinity affects existing adaptation strategies in coastal Bangladesh. It then argues that adaptation approaches without consideration for long-term impacts or system-wide change will ultimately be insufficient.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Sustainability
While the international attention remains on China’s recidivist activities in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, where it continues to incrementally expand its strategic footprint, Beijing is also quietly focusing its attention on the waters of rivers that originate in the resource-rich, Chinese-controlled territory of Tibet.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Science and Technology, Territorial Disputes, Water, and Sustainability
The COVID-19 pandemic has advanced two trends: the US-China confrontation and the increasing importance of soft power in the networked world. These developments present Japan and South Korea in particular—caught as they are between China and the United States—not only with serious challenges but also a grand opportunity.
Topic:
Governance, Grand Strategy, Multilateralism, Trade, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
Political Geography:
Japan, China, Asia, South Korea, and United States of America
The cauldron of conflict in South Asia has been bubbling since August 5, 2019 when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Indian government diluted the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, giving special status to the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, control over which remains at the core of the international dispute between India and Pakistan. Three of the four wars fought between India and Pakistan have been over Kashmir, and the separatist movement (backed by Pakistan) demanding independence has spawned the growth of both insurgent and terrorist groups waging war against the Indian state.
India’s sudden, unilateral decision to withdraw Kashmir’s special provisions drew sharp reactions at home and abroad. The Indian government subsequently trifurcated the state, shut down the internet in Kashmir, and detained much of Kashmir’s political leadership without charges in the interest of “public safety.” Muscular action in Kashmir, against a backdrop of what many economists are now calling a structural economic decline in India have led to strong disruptions in India’s diplomatic ties, especially with the United States.
Topic:
Economics, Human Rights, Business, and Trade
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, Kashmir, North America, and United States of America