Category: PSIR

JOURNEY TO EXTREMISM IN AFRICA:

August 15, 2021

DRIVERS, INCENTIVES AND THE TIPPING POINT FOR RECRUITMENT

The Journey to Extremism in Africa: Drivers, Incentives and the Tipping Point for Recruitment presents the results of a two-year UNDP Africa study aimed to generate improved understanding about the incentives and drivers of violent extremism, as expressed by recruits to the continent’s deadliest groups themselves.

http://journey-to-extremism.undp.org/en

70 years and half a trillion dollars later: what has the UN achieved?

August 15, 2021

The United Nations has saved millions of lives and boosted health and education across the world. But it is bloated, undemocratic – and very expensive.

How much of a part the UN played in holding nuclear armageddon at bay divides historians. But there is little doubt that in the lifetime that has passed since it was set up in 1945 it helped save millions from other kinds of hell. From the deepest of poverty. From watching their children die of treatable diseases. From starvation and exposure as they fled wars made in the cauldron of ideological rivalries between Washington and Moscow but fought on battlefields in Africa and Asia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/07/what-has-the-un-achieved-united-nations

Political Realism in International Relations

August 15, 2021

Very thorough explanation of the concept of realism. Far more than would be needed for class but very thorough.

In the discipline of international relations there are contending general theories or theoretical perspectives. Realism, also known as political realism, is a view of international politics that stresses its competitive and conflictual side. It is usually contrasted with idealism or liberalism, which tends to emphasize cooperation. Realists consider the principal actors in the international arena to be states, which are concerned with their own security, act in pursuit of their own national interests, and struggle for power. The negative side of the realists’ emphasis on power and self-interest is often their skepticism regarding the relevance of ethical norms to relations among states. National politics is the realm of authority and law, whereas international politics, they sometimes claim, is a sphere without justice, characterized by active or potential conflict among states.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism-intl-relations/

Lesson Plan: The Crisis in Ukraine

August 15, 2021

This lesson examines the crisis in Ukraine. First, students hold a brief discussion on what they think
is the most important news story going on. Then they read and discuss a background piece on the
crisis in Ukraine. Next, in small groups, they role play international lawyers and analyze Ukraine’s
1994 Budapest Memorandum, an agreement among Ukraine, Russia, the U.S., and the U.K.

Click to access crisi_in_ukraine.pdf

China’s Big Bet on Soft Power

August 15, 2021

China is believed to spend billions of dollars to boost its international image, but it has yet to see a marked return on its investment in soft power.

China is a powerful international actor as the world’s most populous country and its second-largest economy. The country also invests significantly in modernizing its military. With signs that the United States will retreat from a leadership role under the Trump administration, China has positioned itself as a champion of globalization and economic integration, perhaps signaling a desire to step in as a greater international leader. It is doing this by doubling down on soft power, a measure of a country’s international attractiveness and its ability to influence other countries and publics.

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-big-bet-soft-power