The Journal of Global Affairs
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The Journal of Global Affairs is the official student research publication of the Department of International and Area Studies in the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
The editorial board is comprised primarily of students from the College of International Studies, who apply and are interviewed and assessed, in the fall semester of each year. The Journal of Global Affairs strives to appoint editors from a variety of fields and specialties. Those interested in applying to the Journal of Global Affairs editorial board should contact the College of International Studies.
The views expressed in the Journal of Global Affairs are those of the contributors and should not be attributed to the editorial board, the College of International Studies, the University of Oklahoma or any sponsors or affiliates thereof.
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Undergraduate Open Access The Journal of Global Affairs, Volume 6 (2016-2017)(2017) University of Oklahoma. College of International Studies; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThe Journal of Global Affairs is the official student research publication of the Department of International and Area Studies in the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma.Undergraduate Open Access The Original Exception: The Originaires in Senegal, 1848-1960(2017) Smith, Nicole; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesWhen French colonialists governed parts of Africa, they partitioned Africans into groups of unique, individual statuses: sujets, metis, originaires, tirailleurs, and assimiles. These statuses contributed to uneven access to French goods and services within the French Empire, and the effects of such privilege help to explain the variation in success in Francophone West Africa. Senegal, specifically, included four privileged cities known as the Four Communes. Daily life in these four cities - Saint-Louis, Goree, Rufisque, and Dakar - resembled Parisian life, in terms of both architecture and economic structure. The number of French settlers in the Communes increased access to education and administrative positions for Africans, primarily those belonging to the metis or originaires categories. This paper focuses on the lives of originaires, who were granted citizenship rights in the early twentieth century, attended French schools, and often worked for the French empire or as wealthy businessmen. Originaires gained the right to vote in 1833, although most other African groups did not gain this political right until 1946. This earlier access to political rights helped to establish the place of originaires and the Four Communes in the greater French Empire, which in turn led to a more active role in the French Union and better post-independence relationships. Furthermore, the success of these individuals contributed to Senegal's economic success in a post-colonial world.Undergraduate Open Access Weak States and Political Grievances: Understanding the Causes of the Second Libyan Civil War(2017) Ratcliff, James; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesSince 2014, Libya has re-descended into civil war, albeit amongst different lines. Important to finding a political solution to the conflict is understanding its origins. This research seeks to explain the causes of the Second Libyan Civil War through current theoretical understandings of civil war causes. This research is split into two broad sections: the first concerning the environment in which the Second Libyan Civil War could occur, and the second focused on the motivations that moved involved parties to war. It is found that Libya's state of anocracy, or general state weakness, was the environment that allowed the conflict to occur, and political grievances, particularly of the nation's Islamists, that motivated the involved parties to war. It also found that oil played an indirect role in the conflict, specifically warping the economy to promote militia membership as one of the few viable livelihoods available. These conclusions bear relevance to policymakers as it demonstrates that a strong state apparatus and political inclusion are key to the avoidance of future conflict in the country.Undergraduate Open Access Proposal on US Policy toward Daesh(2017) Holland, Daniel; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThe rise of Daesh took the world by surprise, as the group took advantage of discontented Sunni populations and political turmoil to rapidly expand in Iraq and Syria. The group, designated as a terror organization by the United States and the international community, grew out of a fusion between al Qaeda in Iraq and remnants of the deposed Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Although a coalition of domestic and international actors primarily led by the United States has recaptured much of the territory held by Daesh at its peak, the increasingly globalized nature of the group has ensured that its eradication remains a top priority of the international community. Efforts at eradication are complicated by the ongoing Syrian Civil War and the myriad interests at play, which have contributed to the group's enduring presence in the region. Nevertheless, there are still several policy options available to the international coalition supporting local groups like the Iraqi military, Kurdish fighters, and certain Syrian militants in the fight against Daesh. Air strikes, drone surveillance, and stricter border controls can be used to disrupt the group's revenue streams and supply chains. Closing national borders and collaborating with social media corporations to impede online recruitment can help slow the steady stream of foreign fighters flocking to the group in Iraq and Syria. Targeting Daesh leadership also degrades the ability of the group to maintain the infrastructural services it offers the populations under its control, as well as inhibiting the strategic capabilities of the group. Finally, arming, training, and providing logistical and intelligence support to local actors fighting against the group offers the hope of preventing a power vacuum and aiding the development of a consolidated government once Daesh territory is completely reclaimed. These policy proposals, many of which are already being implemented by elements of the international coalition against Daesh, will provide for the degradation and eventual eradication of the regime, while also enabling the local actors in the region to have an important stake in the outcome, which is critical for the prospects of a feasible government taking power once the dust from Daesh has settled.Undergraduate Open Access Compromising Refugeehood: Access to Asylum and Non-Refoulement in the European Union(2017) Neumeier, Stefanie; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThis paper explores the intersection of European and international refugee and human rights law. While numerous treaties incorporate the rights of forced migrants, the Refugee Convention with the 1967 Protocol represents the most important instrument in regards to refugee protection. The European Union (EU) has established its own regional refugee and human rights regime with the European Convention of Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union as centerpieces. Although the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights have applied more progressive interpretations of refugee and asylum law, they have at times defaulted to conservative rulings, thereby compromising refugee protection. EU legislation, specifically the CEAS with the Dublin Regulation, has qualified the access to asylum and the principle of non- refoulement. The restrictive European visa regime and the various control mechanisms limit the right to seek asylum, the right to leave one's country, and access to an asylum procedure. The "safe country" concept further compromises refugee protection as it homogenizes asylum seekers and decreases the quality of asylum procedures. The EU is likely to continue and expand its conservative asylum system, which will come at the expense of overall refugee security and protection.Undergraduate Open Access Disjointed Action: Conflicting Collective Action in Ukraine's 2014 Euromaidan Revolution(2017) Bartz, Luke; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThough the motivations for unrest were similar across Ukraine during the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution, the means of expressing unhappiness contrasted dramatically between eastern and western Ukraine. In the west of the country protests were centered in the nation's capital, Kiev, and barring a few violent outbursts, were generally peaceful. They consisted of demonstrations, the occupation of public spaces, and innovative uses of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). In the east, on the other hand, conditions were more violent. While these protesters did employ blockages and occupation as tools of their cause, they did so armed and with more aggressive intentions. After driving the previous government officials out of power, these groups took control of the local governments. Using the theories of political scientist Fox Piven and sociologist Richard Fields to analyze the case study of Ukraine, the author seeks in this essay to examine how and why the methods of collective action varied between eastern and western Ukraine during the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution and how these variations may have influenced the eventual outcomes of the each region.Undergraduate Open Access Communal Identity and Sectarian Division in Lebanon: A Comparative Analysis of The National Pact of 1943 and the Ta'if Agreement(2017) Peach, Kaitlin; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThroughout its history, Lebanon as faced an identity crisis that has been exacerbated by two fundamental documents -- the National Pact of 1943 and the Ta'if Agreement. These documents worked to ingrain identity into Lebanese politics and created a power- sharing system that was intended to equally represent all of Lebanon's religious groups. However, these documents failed to create a balance and only created tensions as minority Christian Maronites often had control over majority Sunni Muslims. These two documents have had a lasting impact on the Lebanese state and society and provide important lessons for other Middle Eastern states regarding the implementation of confessional or consociational systems.Undergraduate Unknown Millennials and the Putin Cult(2017) Ranger, Shelby; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesMuch literature about the unique qualities of particular generations exists, as does literature examining the cult of personality surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin. This article situates itself within the study of the Putin cult, taking a perspective based in generational theory that distinguishes millennials as a unique group, and seeks to examine the ways in which millennials in particular engage with the Putin cult. The Putin cult is not a uniquely millennial phenomenon and cults of personality have existed for ages. However, millennials engage with the Putin cult in an interesting and unique way due to the digital era within which they grew up and live, along with the spread of activist ideas into Russia. This examination uses qualitative methods and finds that millennials use tactics related to these peculiarities to engage with the Putin cult in a manner that is tongue-in-cheek, while preserving an image that would retain favorability with the Kremlin. This is of particular importance given the increasing spotlight on US-Russian relations as well as the presence of cyber-issues and the Putin cult within this subject.Undergraduate Unknown Whose Job is it Anyway?(2017) Merino, Mollie; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThis paper discusses Australia's treatment of asylum-seekers in the Nauru Regional Processing Centre. I explore how Australia has managed to avoid large-scale criticism and discuss a few of the factors contributing to this evasion. Primarily, this paper attributes Australia's ability to escape responsibility to the complicity of other actors involved in the abuse of asylum-seekers and discuss how this shared responsibility lessens the burden placed on Australia. Finally, it looks specifically at the role of the principle- agent relationship and the absence of institutions that enforce the respect of human rights and argue that this enables a lessened critique of Australia.Undergraduate Unknown Drones, Ethics, and Pakistan(2017) Adam, Amil; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThe following article provides an ethical appraisal of the use of armed drones within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan by the Central Intelligence Agency through the prism of Just War theory. This paper argues that the inability of the United States to conduct these strikes in an ethical manner stems from an utter lack of transparency surrounding the program, and by extension the Central intelligence Agency's ability to employ lethal force unilaterally. Furthermore, this paper critiques the standard discourse surrounding the negative impact these drone strikes have had on US security interests. This analysis makes several policy recommendations to both the United States and Pakistan to improve ethical outcomes of future drone operations.Undergraduate Unknown In Memory of Daniel Holland(2017) University of Oklahoma. College of International Studies; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThis issue of the Journal of Global Affairs is dedicated in loving memory to Daniel Holland, who passed away while traveling abroad on June 11, 2017. Daniel was a National Merit Scholar earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in International Studies as a member of the accelerated BA/MA program. He was also majoring in Constitutional Studies.Undergraduate Unknown Countering ISIS's Propaganda: Islamic Piety, Belonging, and Exposure of Life under ISIS's Rule(2017) Gellman, Jonah; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesThe Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham's (ISIS) recruitment tactics have yielded substantial results in the Western world. Recruiters use a variety of push and pull factors to separate potential recruits from their society while drawing them in to ISIS. Radicalization is especially prominent in Western Europe due to the host countries' failure to assist Muslims with integration into Western society. This paper examines why ISIS's recruitment has been successful by analyzing how each push and pull factor influences radicalization and makes the target susceptible to recruitment. In particular, this paper focuses on the importance of a sense of belonging and the ways in which all other listed factors relate to it. This paper also discusses shifts in the rhetoric of ISIS's propaganda and the effects that those shifts have had on recruitment. In addition, it analyzes a few case studies and argues that the effective usage of Western media will reduce the number of radicalized individuals.Undergraduate Unknown Turkey's Temporary Protection Regulation and the Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Feminist Policy Analysis(2017) Meyer, Shelby; University of Oklahoma. College of International StudiesAs Syria's deadly civil war rages on, more and more Syrians are fleeing to Turkey as refugees, testing the policies Turkey has put into place to manage irregular migrant flows. The authors of this paper sought to analyze the most prominent of those policies, the Temporary Protection Regulation (TPR), specifically to understand the impact it has had on female refugees flowing into the country. Unfortunately, because Turkey did not adequately consider the needs particular to refugee women in crafting the TPR, Syrian women in the country are unduly vulnerable to gender based violence, lapses in appropriate healthcare, and sexual abuse. By recycling old domestic legislation and not effectively delimiting refugee policies, Turkey has many gaping holes in the protections they afford refugees. Building on past feminist policy analyses, this dissection of the TPR highlights the danger of ignoring gender in policy construction and shows the very real world consequences of "gender-neutral" policy.Undergraduate Unknown The Journal of Global Affairs, Volume 5 (2015-2016)(Department of International and Area Studies, College of International Studies, University of Oklahoma, 2016) Grillot, Dr. Suzette; Cruise, Dr. Rebecca; Wilson, Miranda; Cheng, Meng; Douglas, Collin; LaPorte, James; Ranger, Shelby; Stack-Nelson, Linda; Weiss, Lindsey; Randall, Zac; Braun, Jacque; Broadway, Patsy; Smith, Dr. Mitchell; Swift, Symphonie; The faculty and staff of CISThe Journal of Global Affairs is the official student research publication of the Department of International and Area Studies in the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma.Undergraduate Unknown Turkey's Great Leap Forward: Atatürk's Reforms and the Rise of Political Islam(2016) Bellafiore, RobertThe Turkish War of Independence and the following reforms implemented by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were watershed events in both Islamic and world history. The political and social climate of Turkey, previously the Ottoman Empire, had long reflected the complex relationships between the Muslim and Western worlds, especially the power struggle between politics and religion. When Atatürk initiated a revolution in the country in 1919, politics, culture, and religion were dramatically and irrevocably changed. However, while the reforms themselves were swift, the philosophical and ideological development behind them was not. Religion and state in the Muslim world have evolved in tandem since Islam’s inception, and this relationship took a new turn with the rise of modern political Islam in the nineteenth century. The goal of this paper is to show that, when considered from the broader perspective of Islamic history, Atatürk’s creation and secularization of the Republic of Turkey represented the culmination of political Islam and fulfilled the goals of the movement’s leaders, Jamal al-din al-Afghani and Mohammad Abduh.Undergraduate Unknown Ennahda and the Muslim Brotherhood Democratic Changes to Islamist Groups(2016) Bergum, JackDespite a promising start, the Arab Spring of 2011 has resulted in the creation of only one democracy: Tunisia. In Tunisia, an Islamist party called Ennahda has greatly aided this successful democratic transition. This paper aims to examine Ennahda’s role in helping Tunisia to become a democracy. In order to complete this examination, this paper compares Ennahda’s actions following the removal of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali with the actions of the Muslim Brotherhood, an illustrious Islamist group, following the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Also inspecting a variety of other potential democratizing factors in both Tunisia and Egypt, including socioeconomic development, civil society and political culture, the paper ultimately concludes that unique circumstances in Tunisia have shaped Ennahda into a party that is truly committed to democracy. Constrained by the political and cultural norms in Tunisia, Ennahda has proven to be an integral part of Tunisia’s fledgling democratic experiment.Undergraduate Open Access Britain and the European Union: Forty Years of Uncertainty(2016) Kimpel, HannaThe United Kingdom is facing a referendum, to occur by the end of 2017, when British citizens will get the opportunity to vote on whether or not the UK should remain a member of the European Union. For Britain, the referendum is a flashback to 1975, when the nation held a similar referendum where voters decided to remain in the European Economic Community. In the four decades since then, however, Britain has continued to be haunted by its ambivalent and awkward relationship with the rest of the European continent. This study explains why Britain has historically occupied the role as being an outsider within Europe and analyzes the events surrounding the 1975 referendum, as well as the future one. In addition, this study predicts the fate of Britain if it does decide to exit the EU, outlining the numerous effects that Britain would experience if it chooses to abandon its EU membership.Undergraduate Open Access Lowering Expectations: The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping and Recommendations for the Future(2016) Miles, SarahUnited Nation’s Peacekeeping Operations have been contested since the first blue helmets arrived in the Gaza Strip in 1956. Peacekeeping Operations can be divided into three temporal categories, each with their own challenges: Cold War, post-Cold War, and twenty-first century. This article analyzes these three periods of peacekeeping in order to profer advice as to how UN Peacekeeping should be undertaken in the future. Considering that UN member states are shying away from the financial burdens of peacekeeping and that the twentyfirst century has been marked by states’ desire to engage only in conflicts directly in line with national interests, I suggest that the United Nations should return to limited-mandate peacekeeping missions. By combining limited-mandate missions with a greater focus on conflict prevention, the United Nations may continue to play an important role in global peacekeeping.Undergraduate Open Access Russian-Syrian Relations: Past and Present(2016) Bartz, LukeDrawing heavily on Andrej Kreutz’s Russia in the Middle East and Robert Freedman’s “Russia and the Arab Spring: A Preliminary Appraisal” along with numerous news sources, this essay serves a twofold purpose of sketching out a broad history of Russian-Syrian relations and of analyzing in depth Russia’s response to the recent conflict in Syria. The purpose of this essay is to update and synthesize a broad-butscattered literature on Russian-Syrian relations and to combine it with recent works examining the influence of Russia on the Syrian Civil War. The author ultimately asserts that for better or for worse Putin’s Russia has decided to risk significantly damaging the relationships it has built with the broader Arab world, Israel, and the West in order to maintain its strategic and historic ties to Iran and Syria, protect its economic interests in the Middle East, and hamper Western efforts to orchestrate Middle- Eastern politics.Undergraduate Open Access Transnational Water Issues in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq: Planning and Investing for the Future(2016) Douglas, CollinThe connection between access to clean and reliable water and social unrest is a relationship that is beginning to be fully understood. The Euphrates River provides drinking water for nearly 27 million people, water for irrigation, and hydroelectric power for millions of people in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Due to reduced rainfall and increased temperature, combined with overuse, the amount of water running through the Euphrates River has reached a new low point in recent decades. This phenomenon is a serious threat to peace and stability. Turkey, the upstream country, is heavily reliant on the Euphrates for drinking water, irrigation water, and for producing hydroelectricity. Water infrastructure and management in Syria has been degraded due to conflict. Before the war, water resources were managed poorly, which led to political unrest due to loss of livelihoods and urban migration. Agriculture in Iraq has been devastated due to reduced water flow and poor water management practices. Iraq receives roughly 98 percent of its water resources from the Tigris-Euphrates Basin, and Iraq has seen its share of river flow plummet in recent years. There exists no trilateral agreement between all riparian states dealing with the Euphrates. There have been several bilateral agreements regulating flow, but these have often been ignored, or are impossible to enforce. The necessary measures needed to create sustainable practices regarding the river cannot be taken without an enforceable trilateral agreement.