Egypt: Dictatorship or Democracy?

By Sophie Polgar, UNC 2022 Since rising to power, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has secured his position as an authoritarian dictator. He has expanded the institutions under his control, allowing them to exercise sweeping powers over the population without checks or balances. These state institutions act legally but without accountability, a phenomenon called “resurgent...

The 2020 Election: Déjà vu for Iranian-Americans

by YOUNES MAHMOUDIEH, University of Barcelona Picture a country plagued by uncertainty, instability, and violence; government institutions have begun to collapse as the world watches with growing concern. The United States has recently witnessed the rise of voter suppression, intimidation of the media, and the co-optation of military forces for political means. In many ways,...

Democratic Transition & Authoritarian Exceptionalism

by JORDANNA YOCHAI '21 This article uses the case of Egypt, during and after the Arab Spring, to highlight the shortcomings of the popular transition paradigm and challenge theorists who contend that Islam is to blame for the widespread authoritarianism in the region.

Reactions to Extreme Symbolic Terrorism: the Cases of ISIS and al-Qaeda

by HUGO BARRILLON, '21 All terrorist attacks are not created equal. Some terror attacks bring about global campaigns against terror organizations, while others just bring about localized, national punishment within a judicial system. The 9/11 attacks and the 2014 ISIS beheadings brought about incredibly strong reactions from the victim country whereas events such as the...

Authoritarianism and Suicide Terrorism

by JORDANNA YOCHAI, '21 All suicide attack data is the intellectual property of the Chicago Project on Security & Threats (CPOST) and was accessed with the permission of Director Robert Pape. Introduction Suicide terrorism is a complex and, unfortunately, global phenomenon, whose incidence has only increased over time. In light of this, both academics and...

Refugees and Stateless Persons in the Case of the Syrian Crisis

by JON HOFFMAN, George Mason University '19 Introduction: “Stateless” vs “Refugee” vs “Stateless Refugee” The issues of statelessness and refugees represent serious challenges to the global community, with wide-reaching repercussions that affect both developed and developing nations. More than 12 million people around the world are considered stateless, while approximately 65 million are considered refugees.[1]...

Nuance vs. Propagandism in the Gate-Maroon Yemen Debate

by DAVIS LARKIN, '19 This past week, the Maroon and the Gate repeatedly clashed on an issue as near and dear to campus affairs as the geopolitics of the Arabian Peninsula. Atman Mehta wrote in the Maroon to criticize a number of articles published in the Gate as uncritically echoing imperialist propaganda about foreign policy...

What India Can Learn From Turkey’s Economic Crisis

by MOLLY MCCAMMON, '21 Turkey is in the midst of an economic crisis, with the lira down nearly 45 percent from the beginning of the year. [1] High inflation combined with President Erdogan’s stubborn insistence on keeping interest rates low have influenced the current crisis, causing Turks to fret about their ability to buy basic goods...

Dubious Decapitation: How Mullah Fazlullah’s Death Will Affect the Pakistani Taliban

by BEN SILVIAN, '20 At first glance, the U.S. military’s successful drone strike against Mullah Fazlullah, the head of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), on June 13 is a major success. Fazlullah, who had lead the militant group since 2013, was known to be a “particularly ruthless militant.”[i] He was responsible for ordering the 2012 attack...

Untangling a Diplomatic History – An Analysis of American Interventionist Policy in Iran from 1951-1954

by KATIE GARCIA, Columbia University '20 The nationalization of Iranian oil and the subsequent emergence of nationalist leader Mohammad Mossadegh as prime minister signify a watershed moment in the history of diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran.  Domestically, Mossadegh represented constitutionalism, resource autonomy, and popular nationalism.  In the eyes of United States officials,...