Averting the Battle for Antarctica

By Doaa Abdel-Motaal

Antarctica has been a commercial and political battleground ever since its discovery, with silent competition for its resources still in full swing. If not carefully managed, the “Question of Antarctica,” as the United Nations has called it, could once again burst onto the international stage. Antarctica’s political and environmental future hangs in balance.

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“Impunity does not die quickly”: Transitional Justice in Post-Civil War Guatemala

By Erik Woodward and Zack Devlin-Foltz

Alejandra Castillo Díaz is the Assistant Director of the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos, CALDH), the organization that led the prosecution against President Ríos Montt and Rodríguez Sánchez. In this interview with Rebecca TeKolste and Erik Woodward, Ms. Díaz discussed the mechanisms of transitional justice currently operating in Guatemala.

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The end of secure jobs? Of US dominance? Of qualified politicians? Our recent podcasts discussed

By Alex Defroand, Joshua Jacobs, Nelly Mecklenburg, Will Wright, Rebecca TeKolste, and Johannes Sosada

In our first ever podcast series, we talked with former presidential candidates, directors of major banks, academics, and journalists as we grappled with the implications of this year in politics and international affairs: Donald Trump’s election; Brexit; the ever-worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Syria; the refugee crisis; and the future of liberalism.

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Why The United States Was Caught Off Guard On Iran

By Kevjn Lim

Many intelligence agencies were caught off guard by the Arab Spring in 2011. Similarly, many agencies failed to anticipate the Islamic State taking over Mosul in 2014. Yet, the reasons behind these instances of strategic surprise weren’t new at all. They were already apparent over 25 years before prior to the Iranian Revolution, and still pervade contemporary intelligence work.

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South America’s Political Rebalance: The Potential of a Mercosur-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

By Luis Ferreira Alvarez

Mercosur — a free trade and custom union formed in 1991 between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay (and later joined by Venezuela) — promotes the free movement of goods and people across the zone. Mercosur’s members have benefited from having integrated markets that expand their commerce. The South American bloc, like the European Union, can sign free trade agreements only as a bloc.

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How a Mining Disaster is Helping to Overhaul Impunity in Brazil

By Michael Darden

On November 5, 2015, a tailing dam in the state of Minas Gerais (in the southeast of Brazil) ruptured. It released an estimated fifty million tons of iron ore waste into neighboring areas. It has quickly become the country’s worst environmental disaster. Seventeen people were killed and entire towns were submerged by the thick toxic sludge, which seeped into the Rio Doce river basin, traveled downstream, and has begun to spill into the Atlantic Ocean.

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Europe’s Chief Diplomat Talks Brexit, Feminism and the Future of the EU

By Joshua Jacobs

In a wide-ranging interview with the Yale Journal of International Affairs on the one-year anniversary of her departure from office, Ashton reflects on the vicissitudes of her term. We talk of the more frustrating foreign policy challenges that she faced, the possibility of her own country voting to leave the European Union this summer, and how she felt as the only woman in a room with the European Union’s twenty-eight male foreign ministers.

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Peace in Colombia: The Tale of Bojayá

By Sofía del Carril and Míriam Juan-Torres

May 2002 - After days of fighting between the paramilitaries and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the inhabitants of Bojayá, in the department of Chocó, sought refuge in the town’s church. The Colombian army was fully aware of what was happening, but nowhere to be seen. In the crossfire, a cylinder bomb fired by the FARC hit the church, killing seventy-nine civilians, including forty-five children, and leaving dozens injured.

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Banking on a Mission: Pursuing Profits and Social Impact in Indonesia

By Allison Cordell

YJIA met with Jerry Ng, Bank BTPN’s CEO and president director, for a conversation about the bank’s mission and successful business model. Mr. Ng told us about the bank’s strategy for its microfinance portfolio, the plans for adapting BTPN’s model for other emerging markets in Asia, and the books that helped him become a more effective leader.

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