Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons^™

A National Security Strategy For The Middle East, Vanessa Rice, Rudy Torres, Addy Horgan, Joy Omosa, Mark Westfall

School of Public Policy Capstones

This National Security Strategy addresses the persistent national security challenges the United States faces in the Middle East, a region vital for global energy supply, economic connectivity, and a source of anti-American extremism. Recognizing the failures of past "haphazard experimentation," the strategy proposes a thoughtful, pragmatic plan prioritizing five distinct and congruent interest areas: Maintaining Regional Access, Supporting Regional Stability, Ensuring Energy Security, Defending American Citizens and Personnel, and Preserving and Protecting Western Ideals. The strategy outlines actions such as: countering Chinese and Russian influence through intelligence sharing and defense incentives; containing Iran via a new, permanent nuclear deal and …

Measuring The Paris Agreement’S Impact On Wind Energy Usage In Member Countries, Jadyn Lucey

Global Tides

This review examines the impact of the Paris Agreement's implementation on the development of wind energy across three regions, the European Union (EU), Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. These selected regions respectively represent developed, developing, and OPEC member countries. The Paris Agreement aimed to limit the global warming temperature 1.5 C by 2030, encouraging actors to transition their energy into cleaner, renewable sources. Wind energy thus emerged as a tool in the decarbonization efforts of the agreement. This review compares wind energy growth before and after the Paris Agreement's establishment, through analyzing each region's strategies in response to their differing economic …

Redefining Success: Insights From Lebanese Women Leaders In Higher Education, Lina H. Safa

Education Division Scholarship

This presentation explores how Lebanese women leaders in higher education define and measure success, emphasizing their innovative approaches and transformative impact. By examining personal narratives through a phenomenological lens, the study reveals how these leaders navigate cultural challenges, offering insights into leadership dynamics in a patriarchal society and contributing to global discussions on gender equity and academic leadership.

Foreign Intervention And Internal Displacement: Urban Politics In Postwar Beirut, Amanda Rizkallah

All Faculty Open Access Publications

Uneven democratization is a common yet poorly understood legacy of civil war. In the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), wartime processes of displacement interacted with Syria's intervention to transform local postwar political orders. In Beirut's suburbs, the bonds built between armed actors and displaced populations created opportunities for displaced people to extract responsiveness from local institutions, despite their vulnerability. But the power of displaced populations in their host community hinges on the fate of the locally dominant armed actor. If the armed actor is an ally of the intervening power, it can maintain political control over its strongholds, …

Crude Awakening: The International Politics Of Oil, Hanna Price

Global Tides

Since its modern-day discovery in northwestern Pennsylvania in the 1850s, rock oil has revolutionized the modern international political economy. This natural resource quickly caught the attention of civilians and states the world over, as people began to realize the true potential of oil as a means to power the life changing industrial revolution and bring forth new technology and innovations. However, what began as a resource which brought life, fueling the operations of modern day cities, has transitioned into a resource which breeds death, as it fuels civil wars, greed, and corruption.

In the context of oil, this paper examines …

Syrian Refugee Camps In Jordan: An Assessment, Athena-Rose Jennings

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Syrian Refugee Camps in Jordan: An Assessment explores how and why the Government of Jordan created camps to house its 670,000 Syrian refugees. Examining Jordan’s four Syrian refugee camps, Jennings considers to what extent their different operating models are effective and why. Metrics of camp effectiveness include degree and type of support from non-Government of Jordan humanitarian actors, the availability of education and medical care in the camps, and the degree to which camp residents themselves engage in the camp communities. She posits that using the camp model affords Jordan greater internal security, and influence over refugee matters internationally by …

The Whole World In His Hands: What A Qibla Indicator Illuminates About Islamic Community In Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Turkey, Meghan Doyle

Global Tides

In the sixteenth century, at a time of Ottoman rule and production in modern-day Turkey, qibla indicators were ubiquitous objects, used to assist faithful Muslims in finding the direction to Mecca. A particularly well-preserved qibla indicator in the British Museum allows for an inquiry into how these objects were used, bridging the gap between folk astronomy and scientific geography. Applying contemporary theories of belongingness to the composition and function of the qibla indicator reveals the psychological effect this object may have had on members of the Islamic community. Ultimately, what the qibla indicator may lack in geographical accuracy it more …

A Refuge For Refugees: The Historical Context And Socioeconomic Impact Of Palestinian Refugees In Jordan, Amelia Marie Dal Pra

Global Tides

Today more than 41 percent of the Jordanian population is comprised of Palestinian refugees. Some argue that Jordan has become the new Palestinian state in place of their former land pre-1948. This paper presents the complications of this claim by focusing on the Jordanian government’s constitutional provisions on refugee citizenship, Palestinian support programs and the role the Palestinian identity has played in the integration, or lack thereof, of Palestinian refugees into the social, political, and economic spheres of Jordanian society.

Economic Empowerment: An Avenue To Gender Equality In Afghanistan, Heather C. Odell

Global Tides

This paper examines the state of women’s rights in Afghanistan, recommending economic empowerment as the most effective and culturally sensitive tool in achieving gender equality. Women’s rights in Afghanistan came to the forefront of the international community’s attention following the entry of the United States armed forces in 2001. Media outlets highlighted the Taliban’s egregious treatment of women and government agencies and international NGOs poured into the country with aims of liberating women from oppressive circumstances. While significant strides have been made since the Taliban's fall from power, in many ways, women today remain subordinate. Over a decade later, women …

The Responsibility To Protect: Emerging Norm Or Failed Doctrine?, Camila Pupparo

Global Tides

This paper seeks to investigate the current shift from the non-intervention norm towards the “Responsibility to Protect,” commonly abbreviated as “RtoP,” which actually mandates intervention in cases of humanitarian intervention disasters. I will look at the May 2011 application of the R2P doctrine to the humanitarian crisis in Libya and assess whether it was a success or a failure. Many critics of the “Responsibility to Protect” norm consider it to be yet another imperial tool used by the West to pursue national interests, so this paper analyzes this argument in detail, referring to case study examples, particularly in the Middle …

The Paradox Of Power-Sharing: Stability And Fragility In Postwar Lebanon, Amanda Rizkallah

All Faculty Open Access Publications

This article examines the consequences of civil war and power-sharing settlements for the development of sectarian networks of mobilization. While power-sharing presents a viable mechanism for ending civil war, it allows the participating militias-turned-parties access to state resources and leaves their population networks and organizations intact. This continuity reduces the militias-turned-parties’ start-up costs for violent mobilization in the future, enabling them to mobilize more effectively than new parties with no combat experience. I exploit rich variation in the wartime legacies and settlement status of the major postwar parties in Lebanon to explain whether and how parties mobilized during the clashes …