Peace and Conflict Studies Commons^™

Weaponization Of Religion: The Manipulation Of Religion In The Pursuit Of Political Power In Yugoslavia And Syria, Kathryn Echele

Senior Theses

Religious conflict has played an important role in shaping human history, particularly in the last few decades with the proliferation of ethno-religious violence. This paper examines the development of the relationship between religion and politics, then analyzes how leaders manipulate religion to gain political power. Two case studies—Yugoslavia/Yugoslav Wars and Syria/Syrian Civil War—are used to demonstrate this ability religion has to spur conflict when coopted for political means. Yugoslavia and Syria make ideal case studies because both countries have a deeply rooted and seemingly inseparable link between ethnicity and religion. Methods of cooptation include using religious mythology and symbolism, influencing …

The Politics Of The Northern Ireland Question: From The Good Friday Agreement To Brexit, Nora A. Hayes

Senior Theses

The Northern Ireland question still remains unanswered in 21st century politics in the British Isles. While the 1998 Good Friday Agreement largely brought an end to the decades long sectarian conflict known as the Troubles, the ethno-national debate still heavily underscores the region’s politics. After the Agreement, a period of normalization of the Irish-British-Northern Irish relationship began guided by the Agreement’s new system of government. However, the Brexit referendum of 2016 posed a new challenge for Northern Ireland and Ireland as the possibility of a return to a hard border between the two regions threatened decades of fragile peacebuilding. The …

Why Are Post-Conflict Countries More Inequitable?, Claire Cole

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Why is there continuing socio-economic inequity in post-conflict countries? Post-conflict governments are too weak to prosper and function cleanly, resorting to making deals with and allowing multinational corporations inside its system, resulting in governmental capture. Multinational corporations contribute to the disparity of wealth in post-conflict zones, often ignoring the community and partnering with the government. There is a question of whether Western and European countries actually have a humanitarian interest or self-interest in post-conflict countries. This research includes a comparative study that aims to show how foreign investment shifts during conflict, where each country scores on transparency and corruption; where …

Blessed Are The Peacemakers: The Future Burden Of Intrastate Conflict On Poverty, Jonathan D. Moyer

Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures: Faculty Scholarship

Intrastate conflict generally undermines human development but its effect on global poverty across different income thresholds remains poorly understood. This paper analyzes how many people will live in poverty due to intrastate civil conflict in 2030, 2050, and 2070 using the International Futures model and shared socioeconomic pathways, forecasting 12 scenarios for 179 countries. A baseline conflict scenario leads to an additional 148.2 million (range: 50.7 to 186.0 million) people living in extreme poverty (<$1.90 per day) due to conflict by 2030 compared with a scenario where conflict is eliminated starting in 2022. These conflict-attributable poor represent 20.1% of the population in extreme poverty at that time, with the majority living in South Asia followed by Africa. By 2050 the population living in conflict-attributable poverty increases to 164.9 million (range: 4.4 to 376.5 million), representing 32.7% of the total extremely poor population at that time with the majority living in Africa. While future conflict will be responsible for hundreds of millions of people living in poverty, its elimination is not a panacea for achieving development targets: even in a scenario with no intrastate conflict from 2022 to 2030 the population living in extreme poverty is projected to be 6.9%, well above the target threshold of 3% for achieving the first Sustainable Development Goal.

Alternative Approaches To Police Interventions When Responding To Mental Health Crises Incidents, Karen Rivera Apolinar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Purpose: This study explored mental health workers perspectives on alternative approaches in responding to mental health crises.

The study was carried out in Southern California, in collaboration with mental health workers who currently work or previously have worked in mental health crisis. It adopted a post-positivists paradigm and data was gathered through individual interviews with mental health workers who have direct experience with mental health crisis response in the community and with the police. The twenty participants in the study were men and women working in the mental health field, and of various backgrounds, licensures, and ages.

The study found …

A Fake Future: The Threat Of Foreign Disinformation On The U.S. And Its Allies, Brandon M. Rubsamen

Global Tides

This paper attempts to explain the threat that foreign disinformation poses for the United States Intelligence Community and its allies. The paper examines Russian disinformation from both a historical and contemporary context and how its effect on Western democracies may only be exacerbated in light of Chinese involvement and evolving technologies. Fortunately, the paper also studies practices and strategies that the United States Intelligence Community and its allied foreign counterparts may use to respond. It is hoped that this study will help shed further light on Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns and explain how the Intelligence Community can efficiently react.

Parameters Summer Demi-Issue 2023, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Responding To Future Pandemics: Biosecurity Implications And Defense Considerations, Diane Dieuliis, James Giordano

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

In an evolving and expanding biothreat landscape caused by emerging biotechnologies, increases in global infectious disease outbreaks, and geopolitical instability, the Department of Defense now faces challenges that alter its traditional approach to biothreats and prompt the need for modernized, improved preparedness for—and response to—potential biothreat scenarios. These challenges further complicate specific weaknesses revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Department’s inability to sustain the military mission while meeting intragovernmental expectations to assist with civilian public health resources and services.

From The Acting Editor In Chief, Conrad C. Crane

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Summer 2023 demi-issue of Parameters. Released approximately one month before the full issue of the journal, the demi-issue addresses unfolding current events and issues critical to our readership, generates interest in the forthcoming full issue by previewing upcoming content, and tackles the big questions being asked today in the fields of military strategy and defense policy. This Summer 2023 demi-issue includes an In Focus special commentary on biotechnology implications for the Department of Defense when responding to future pandemics and a Taiwan forum preview article on Taiwan and its food resiliency if a conflict with China were …

Contributor Guidelines, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Taiwan’S Food Resiliency—Or Not—In A Conflict With China, Gustavo F. Ferreira, Jamie A. Critelli

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The US military, intelligence, and diplomatic communities have overlooked a key vulnerability in their assessment of a military conflict between China and Taiwan—Taiwan’s growing reliance on agricultural imports and its food stocks (except for rice) that could endure trade disruptions for only six months. This article assesses Taiwan’s agricultural sector and its ability to feed the country’s population if food imports and production are disrupted by a military conflict with China or a naval blockade imposed by the People’s Liberation Army Navy; identifies the food products that should be prioritized in resupply operations, based on Taiwan's nutritional needs and domestic …

Book Review: Old & New Battlespaces, Robert J. Bunker

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

In Old & New Battlespaces: Society, Military Power, and War, Drs. Jahara Matisek and Buddhika Jayamaha, examine the nature of battlespace and how one can make sense of it across space, through well-known and emergent domains, and along the various levels of war, asking where one should look, how one should look, and for what one should look. Reviewer Dr. Robert J. Bunker shows how the book executes well in its modernist approach and writing.

To Walk The Earth In Safety 22nd Edition (Fy2022), U.S. Department Of State

Global CWD Repository

After deadly landmines are removed and booby-traps and improvised explosive devices are cleared, wheat fields are now ready for harvesting, children can run to school on a path, families can return to their partially destroyed homes, and elephants are able to migrate through grasslands. Elsewhere, man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) and small arms and light weapons were secured or destroyed to prevent terrorists from acquiring them and attacking civilians. These are just some of the successes the U.S. Conventional Weapons Destruction Program achieves day after day, year after year, one step at a time. In fiscal year 2022, the United …

Addressing The Recidivism Challenge In San Diego County: Learning From Lived Experience Approaches, Andrew Blum, Alfredo Malaret Baldo

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

The problem is as old as the justice system itself—how to reduce the chance that an individual reoffends after they commit an offense and become involved with the justice system. This challenge of reducing recidivism remains critical. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, there are over 120,000 individuals in state prisons in California. Another 380,000 cycle through jails in California every year. In 2021, roughly 25,000 individuals were released from prison in California each year. This is the scope of the challenge.

In San Diego County, a wide variety of agencies and organizations are working to address the recidivism challenge. …

Bigger Is Better? Re-Evaluating Nato Enlargement In The Post-Cold War Period, Matthew Mccracken

Senior Honors Theses

Since the end of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance has grown substantially from its pre-1990 boundary between the two Germanys to encompass 15 new members with its border pressing eastward toward the former Soviet states and up to Russia proper. At the same time, East-West relations have sunk from a high point in the 1990s to a new low unseen since the Cold War culminating in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Top-ranking officials on both sides of the Atlantic cautioned successive U.S. administrations against heedlessly seeking to admit new members into NATO for fear that it …

U.S. Government Information Resources For Accountability On U.S. Assistance To Ukraine, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides detailed coverage of U.S. Government information resources documenting accountability for U.S. civilian and military assistance to Ukraine. Includes U.S. laws, agencies involved in U.S. arms export policy, Defense Department resources and data, Defense Dept. Inspector General reports, Government Accountability Office reports, congressional committee hearings, a letter from a congressional committee to the Secretaries of Defense and State and U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, congressional debate, and congressional recorded votes.

Book Discussion - Elections, Violence And Transitional Justice In Africa, Elias Opongo, Tim Murithi

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Book Discussion - Violence And Peace In Sacred Texts: Interreligious Perspectives, Maria Power, Helen Paynter

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Call For Papers: Special Issue "The Environment: Issues In Justice, Conflict And Peacebuilding", Ronald Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Catholic Peacebuilding And Mining: Integral Peace, Development, And Ecology, Selina Gallo-Cruz

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.