Last week I went to the American Society of International Law’s 106th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. My motivation was to see one of these mythical international lawyers, long considered as elusive as unicorns, for myself. Joking aside, for a student, it’s difficult to find and speak to lawyers working on and examining international political issues. I was determined to learn about the life and work of these elite practitioners and academics. Here’s a breakdown of the best parts: (and here’s a quirky breakdown of quotations humorously taken out of context) At one of the first panel discussions, lawyers and academics gave … Continue reading
Deterring State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks: Intelligence and the Lessons of Counterterrorism
From the earliest conceptual and theoretical work on cyber conflict, the problem of attribution, or “the return address problem,” has loomed large, undermining efforts to construct a credible deterrent against cyber attacks. The United States Department of Defense (DoD), in a 2011 policy report, recognized as much and identified the development of advanced forensics capabilities as a key component of national cyber strategy.[i] Yet in constructing its cyber deterrence policy, the DoD has failed to address the fundamental ambiguity between state and non-state cyber attacks and how it will discriminate between and respond to each. While DoD’s threat of kinetic—or … Continue reading
On the Brink of Collapse: Fiscal Policy in Post-Revolution Iran
Introduction The Islamic Republic of Iran is currently in the midst of a devastating unemployment crisis. The Iranian government has reported that the current rate of unemployment is approximately 12.5%; however, many economists have predicted the real rate to be roughly 20-25%.[i] Perhaps more troubling, according to the 2009 CIA World Factbook, the unemployment rate for Iranian citizens between the ages of 15 and 24 is rapidly approaching the 30% mark. This is a terrifying number considering the massive size of the youth population in Iran. In this essay it is argued that the persistently high rates of unemployment experienced … Continue reading
Making the World Safe for Democracy: Wilsonianism Revisited
In declaring war on Germany in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson defined the central goal of his vision for American foreign policy by asserting that “the world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty.”[i] Wilson ingrained this philosophy, known as Liberal Internationalism, into the psyche of the American public by advocating for the promotion of democracy, economic openness, well-structured multilateral institutions, and American leadership. Although former U.S. presidents had voiced support for the extension of democratic government, it was Wilson who concretely laid out the framework for Liberal Institutionalism, and … Continue reading
Law & Economic Development
Within the academic community and among practitioners as well, there is an ongoing debate about the necessity of formal legal frameworks in economic development. As a student in Penn Law’s China and Human Rights course, I have been exposed to the details of this debate, but one particular argument concerning rights and contracts intrigued me the most. Essentially, the questions that drive this aspect of the debate are these: To what extent do legal frameworks influence economic development? Are some frameworks (British origin) more propitious than others (French origin)? How does China’s tremendous growth fall within this argument? Is it experiencing this … Continue reading
Support for Balochistan Independence Hurts U.S.-Pakistan Relations
A Congressional hearing on Balochistan, a main province in Pakistan, was highly controversial and could prove to alter US-Pakistan. Earlier this month, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, chair of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs, led the debate, which focused on human rights violations and Balochistani aspirations for self-determination. The Balochistan View Balochistan is a province that has called for independence from Pakistan since the 1960s due to issues such as human rights abuses, political disorder, and lack of economic development. The Pakistani government refuses, however, to grant autonomy because Balochistan is one of its largest provinces, constituting 44% of its total … Continue reading