Three weeks into the Rwandan Genocide, the United States State Department Spokesman, Christine Shelley said that acts of genocide were occurring in Rwanda. When asked how many acts it takes to make it a genocide, she denied the question, saying that it was irrelevant. There is a plethora of synonyms for the term "genocide" and I seek to find to what extent this idea has evolved conceptually and why. The international community will not become involved in other country's affairs unless the crisis is defined as genocide, and so there is importance in understanding the concept. This research will allow a greater understanding of what “genocide” entails, and when the international community must take action. I expect there to be a correlation between the development of human rights theory and the emergence of a broad range of words to characterize genocide. This link will be sought through observance of instances of mass atrocities and how they were characterized at the time. The term “genocide” did not come into use until the 1940’s, but there were genocide-like events since before this. These atrocities were labelled differently at the time, and so I will look into these definitions and how it could possibly be renamed today. Definitions provided in major treaties and documents will be considered. I will apply the changing labels for different atrocities to the evolution of human rights theory by considering the major human rights ideas at the time. I anticipate that as multiple crises ensued, human rights theory developed from the ancient religious views through the conception of natural law to the modern expression of human rights. As this theory developed, new terms emerged, conceptualizing the different catastrophes. Ultimately, human rights abuses led to a shift in human rights theory, prompting it to create new vocabulary for genocide.

Equality Mainstreaming and Intersectionality are concepts that are subject to different kinds of interpretations and are often adopted to a certain extend in public policy all over the world. Equality mainstreaming refers to the widespread incorporation of ant-discrimination into public policy. Intersectionality refers to the concept that personhood is not a monolithic experience of gender, race or another factor, but rather a combination of all these factors that affect an individual’s experience. My research focuses on the incorporation of these concepts into Brazilian public policy. Brazil is a country that is still struggling with various kinds of discrimination, namely racism and sexism, but the creation of Ministries and government agencies dedicated to fighting discrimination have ushered in innovating legislation. Through a discourse analysis of government materials, primarily public policy briefs, task forces, interviews of the Ministers involved in these public polices and informative pamphlets about public policies, I was able to distinguish between explicit and implicit discourses within Brazilian equality oriented public policy. Explicitly the Brazilian government articulates an all-encompassing equality movement. However I have encountered implicit discourses that show that gender and race concerns are at the forefront of equality oriented policies and the concept of intersectionality almost exclusively represents Afro-Brazilian women. Although this detracts attention from other vulnerable populations, Brazil’s unique history of discrimination against Afro-Brazilians and women calls for this increased consideration.

Maps and their borders, established by states or social norms, are multidimensional tools that play an important role in the way individuals interact with each other and with the space around them. While many borders are meticulously defined and heavily guarded, others are invisible and fluid. For this research I examined the municipal border that runs through the rural community of San Antonio in Madriz, Nicaragua and the problems it presented for the development organization Amigos de las Américas while working in San Antonio during the summer of 2013. For Amigos personnel without prior experience in San Antonio, there was much confusion around the existence and meaning of a border that appeared to be acknowledged only at certain times. I conducted ethnographic research from June – August 2013, observing, interacting with and interviewing community members and Amigos personnel. Based on field notes and recorded interviews, I posit that the border in San Antonio, while known to inhabitants, was silenced by inhabitants and thus made invisible and unknowable to outsiders unfamiliar with San Antonio’s specific history. This silencing of political borders in public performances of belonging such as everyday speech and interactions, I hypothesize, is the result of painful community memories from the most recent civil war in Nicaragua (approximately 1975-1990) whose content does not fit within the nationalist, Sandinista narrative.

North and South Korea have grown increasingly distant culturally, economically, and ideologically since the division of the Korean peninsula in 1948. Although the 1953 armistice agreement ended the Korean War, North-South tensions have persisted. Yet, North Korea often takes on a dual role in the South Korean national imaginary as not just a threat, but also a lost family member. This project asks why the desire for unification, which might have made sense after the Korean war but has become more difficult to achieve, continues to resonate in South Korea such that there is a fixation on unification as the one true solution to North-South tensions. My hypothesis posits an answer in two parts. First, unification is fixated on because national division represents the continuation of a historical pattern demonstrated by Korea’s internal response to the fall of the Ming dynasty, the colonization of Korea by Japan, and the Korean war. In each case, a traumatic event triggered an anxiety over political legitimacy. I examine how the internal response to each crisis was to remove any member of the nation, construed as family, who threatened the legitimacy of the state, to suggest that unification as a continuation of this pattern symbolizes the reconciliation of this divided family. Second, unification continues to resonate because it perpetuates the problem it attempts to resolve -- that is, unification itself reminds of this historical process wherein North Korea continues to be both family and enemy. To this end, I examine recent South Korean television dramas related to unification: first, to observe how the internal response to threats to Korean legitimacy exhibited by Korea in the historical pattern I have outlined constitutes a repeated narrative trope, and second, to analyze the tension between portrayals of North Koreans as both family and enemy in these dramas.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is currently working to develop a domestic nuclear power capability, to which they are entitled under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement that they signed in 1970. Jordan’s economy is rapidly expanding and their current path of importing energy is costly and unsustainable. While nuclear politics in the Middle East are complicated, and efforts to build nuclear power plants that do not produce weapons are viewed with suspicion by the world, Jordan generally occupies a favorable view among the Western world, following decades of security cooperation with the United States and their signing of the 1994 peace treaty with neighboring Israel. However, Jordan’s bold advances have been led by a strict monarchy that has been criticized for not representing the people. Furthermore, regional conflict has led to an enormous refugee influx which now makes up the majority of the population. Political upheavals in the region has made others worried if the country has enough stability to insure that nuclear infrastructure always remains in trusted hands. My research includes extensive firsthand experience from a semester in Amman, where I surveyed Jordanians, both inside and outside the nuclear profession, regarding their opinions of progressing nuclear energy in the country, taking into account the regional challenges. The rapid change in Jordan’s demographics and in the security situation of it’s neighbors makes it necessary to constantly reexamine this country. Given the overwhelming focus of Western attention towards hostile regimes, such as Iran, and their nuclear ambitions, this research covers an often overlooked area of global nuclear development.

My research considers the importance of the universal values expressed in international human rights as crucial means to protect individual equality around the world, to affirm a country’s sovereignty in international relations, and evaluate the legitimacy of a domestic political system. The view that human rights are universal values has been rejected in many countries as an “idea of the West”, which has made it difficult for them to be accepted in other countries that do not share the same cultural backgrounds. However, in order to pursue peace in this anarchic world system and deal with problems of global inequality, it is crucial to develop mutual understanding among nations through the establishment of transnational laws and agreement on moral values. As a key to this process, this research will focus on the concepts of “mutual respect” and “understanding among peoples” and propose that “culture tolerance” is necessary to successfully establish and propagate universal values across borders. As example, I present both successful and non-successful cases of the US's attempt to promote democracy in the Middle East and North African countries by analyzing their policies and reactions to these paternalistic efforts to address violations of human rights. Finally, I mention the idea of “cultural tolerance” and explain how this idea can play a key role in the promotion of values that can be globally accepted.

A world free of extreme poverty by 2030: a historic milestone that the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim recently proclaimed is feasible and imperative. Over a billion people today, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, live in absolute poverty, that is, on less than $1.25 per capita per day. This Task Force focused on the role of state and nonstate actors in the global campaign against extreme poverty. What can the United States and other developed countries do individually and in partnership with key players in the global community to advance this ambitious agenda? What lessons can they learn from recent successes in reducing poverty in Asia? And how can they promote inclusive economic growth that does not leave behind the more vulnerable sectors of society? This Task Force utilized information gathered from reports by the US government, USAID, UN, WHO, and other nonstate organizations to produce a set of comprehensive recommendations on how USAID may work to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.

This 2014 Jackson School Task Force project focuses on the renewal of a European Grand Security Strategy, which emphasizes the necessity of regional prioritization, global engagement, and internal capacity. In depth analysis of current EU policy instruments and previous engagement acts as a point of departure - culminating in strategic policy recommendations which advocate for comprehensive engagement, regionalization of cooperation, and regionally segmented, thematically driven policy packages to comprehensively address instability in Europe's 'neighborhood(s)'. The overall Grand Strategy is divided regionally; our task was to update the European Union’s security policy towards the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The focus of this report was to examine the level of efficiency and strategic calculation within the EU's approach to the broader region. It is argued here that although economic integration between Europe and its extended neighborhood has been successful, its political influence in the region is in decline as a result of its shortcomings in crisis management and political reform. As a result, the probability of intensified instability in the MENA presents Europe's most pressing security concern. Our findings conclude that the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) framework would function more effectively if the task of economic integration is confined to the ENP; while other components - crisis management, political reform, and civil society engagement - are removed from its agenda and reorganized into a broader MENA regional policy package. This strategic remapping of the EU's MENA neighborhood - to include the Gulf States, and Iran -would allow Europe to more comprehensively and holistically address the region’s common security concerns. Provided in this paper are clear strategic priorities for the EU and the means to operationalize them despite the ambiguity of an emerging multipolar global order.

There are a variety of problems in the current refugee regime, however the recommendations provided in this report will focus on three primary themes. The first, which we have labeled Solidarity, refers to the cooperation present in the refugee regime through international, national and local levels. Secondly, access to information, which includes information about access to refugee status and amenities, will be addressed. Lastly the issue of documentation will be presented for it is important for the consolidation of status, rights and privileges of refugees. These themes will address concerns for various populations of refugee and forced migrants in particular urban refugees, camp refugees and forced migrants not protected under the UNHCR refugee regime. In order to cover all of these issues, we have divided our Task Force into sub-sections titled Access to Protection, Livelihood and Vulnerable Populations. Access to protection will address the process in which forced migrants gain access to host nations and refugee status. Livelihood will address access to important daily life issues such as healthcare, education and labor force participation. Vulnerable populations will focus on categories of forced migrants that are not protected by the UNHCR refugee regime. The information for this report will come mainly from sources such as the UNHCR, reports from NGOs, and government documents. This report also relies heavily on news sources as this topic is continually changing.

Education has been understood as the gateway to a better life for many years, yet the view that it is a basic human right is a more recent conception. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, in its article 26: “Everyone has the right to education”. It is clear, based on this right, that global educational reform is a necessity in order to better the living conditions of all world citizens, a view that is supported by many people and organizations including UNESCO and NESRI. In this paper we will examine the roots of the educational system in America and compare it to other world nations in order to progress the national discussion surrounding a human right to education. Recently, with the surge of violence in the Middle East and a renewed concern for women's rights, the political implications of the “right to education” became more visible. It is no secret that the US has issues within its education system and national statistics presented by the NCES portray the current system’s failures by way of the children. The statistics reveal a deeper root problem: a disjunction between Americans’ beliefs that education is important and the concept of education as a fundamental human right. The national discussion surrounding this issue has been weak at best, and the outcome is a continuous dropout rate and children with limited options. What shall be the foundation of the educational system in the US? Based on the study of different conceptions of educational rights, and a focus on drop-out rates and their consequences in America, we will propose that a “human right to education” can be a new and powerful base for a national discussion. The results of this argument will have direct impact on the United States but will also have broader implications worldwide.  

Shortly after 9/11, the United States was faced with responding to an act of war by a non-state actor. On September 18th, 2001 Congress passed S.J.Res.23, the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). After thirteen years of conflict, this seemingly perpetual state of war has proven to be counterproductive to the U.S. goal of defeating violent extremist ideologies both at home and abroad. What is needed is a paradigm shift in the way the U.S. fights terrorism. The end of this conflict will look like the adoption of a different counterterrorism strategy. This Task Force proposes an alternative approach to combating terrorism that does not rely on a continuous military strategy, which has come under much legal and ethical scrutiny both domestically and internationally. The initial topic of this project was the authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) and the use of drones as a weapon of war. After the research was underway, this project incorporated the legality of our current strategies, ethics, consequences, and alternatives to fighting extremist ideologies. This was a project of both basic academic research as well as applied research. We used government primary source documents (reports, hearings, bills, etc.), academic books, and scholarly journals. The project culminated in a 185-page analytic report and policy recommendations. The overarching recommendation of the report is that the U.S. needs to change its current counterrorism strategy. If it does not, it risks perpetuating the current conflict, creating new enemies, and establishing a dangerous legal and ethical precedent worldwide.