Articles

2532 Items

People practice combat skills in urban areas during a training course for national resistance of the Municipal Guard near Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 19, 2024.

AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

Journal Article - International Security

A “Nuclear Umbrella” for Ukraine? Precedents and Possibilities for Postwar European Security

| Winter 2023/24

Europe after the Russo-Ukrainian War must develop a new security structure to defend against any Russian aggression. The safest option is a non-offensive, confidence-building defense. This option includes proposals such as the “spider in the web” strategy and the “porcupine” strategy to provide for European security in a region threatened by Russian expansion—without relying on the threat of nuclear war. 

People stuck flowers in remains of the Berlin Wall during a commemoration ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Wall memorial site at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019.

AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

Journal Article - International Security

We All Fall Down: The Dismantling of the Warsaw Pact and the End of the Cold War in Eastern Europe

    Author:
  • Simon Miles
| Winter 2023/24

The non-Soviet members of the Warsaw Pact contributed to the end of the Cold War along with the superpowers. These Eastern European states recognized that their relationship with the Soviet Union would impede their success in the post–Cold War world, so they ended the Pact.

Hezbollah supporters distribute sweets to passersby, as they celebrate the fall of the Syrian town of Qusair to forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah fighters, in Bazzalieh village, Lebanon, near the Lebanese-Syrian border, Wednesday, June 5, 2013.

AP Photo/Hussein Malla

Journal Article - International Security

Foreign Intervention and Internal Displacement: Urban Politics in Postwar Beirut

| Winter 2023/24

Dozens of in-depth interviews in Lebanon after its civil war show how wartime displacement transformed localities in ways that transcend religious identity. With more than 80,000 people displaced from southern Lebanon because of fighting since October 7, 2023, the Israel-Gaza war is likely to strengthen Hezbollah’s grip when the displaced populations return and in localities in south Lebanon where displaced populations settle. 

Journal Article - International Security

Reining in Rebellion: The Decline of Political Violence in South America, 1830–1929

    Authors:
  • Raúl L. Madrid
  • Luis L. Schenoni
| Winter 2023/24

After a century of rebellion, South America experienced a rapid decline in revolts in the early 1900s. Historical narratives and an analysis of a comprehensive new dataset show that the decrease stemmed in large part from the expansion and professionalization of the region’s militaries, which were driven by an export boom and the threat of interstate conflict. 

Tunisian designated Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, right, delivers his speech at the parliament before a confidence vote in Tunis, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020.

(AP Photo/Riadh Dridi)

Journal Article - Comparative Political Studies

Who Supports Gender Quotas in Transitioning and Authoritarian States in the Middle East and North Africa?

| Mar. 12, 2024

What are the drivers of citizens’ support for electoral gender quotas in transitioning and authoritarian states? Despite extensive research examining public support for women in politics in democracies, we know little about how the public perceives them in less democratic settings. To address this shortcoming, we use original survey data from authoritarian Morocco and transitioning Tunisia – two Arab countries hailed for their progressive gender policies. We argue that in these countries where citizens lack political information, they instead rely on their assessment of the government’s performance to form attitudes toward gender quotas. Furthermore, electoral legitimacy plays an important role in shaping citizens’ support for quotas, which are closely linked to how elections and legislatures operate. The findings offer strong support for our theoretical expectations and uncover important gender differences.

A conversation between Harvard Kennedy School Professor Tarek Masoud and Dalal Saeb Iriqat, a columnist and Palestinian academic. The event, held Thursday, was part of a series of dialogues on the Middle East hosted by Masoud.

BENN CRAIG/HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Newspaper Article - The Boston Globe

After backlash, Harvard professor holds tense conversation on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

| Mar. 07, 2024

Tarek Masoud, who questioned Iriqat’s views of Oct. 7 and how a two-state solution could be achieved during the event, said in an interview later on Thursday that he was “reasonably confident and hopeful” the discussion was an opportunity for learning, and added he appreciated that Iriqat “did not deny the atrocities of Oct. 7.” Understanding the Palestinian perspective is critical for moving toward peace and a two-state solution, Masoud said. Masoud and Iriqat agreed to discuss her controversial social media posts during the dialogue. Iriqat said that she did not intend to justify the violence on Oct. 7, which included kidnappings of children and elderly, beheadings, and massacres of civilians, but meant to place the attack in the context of a decades-long conflict. She was intensely critical of Israel throughout the conversation, saying the “settler-colonial project started 76 years ago.”

(Ryan Carter/Ministry of Presidential Affairs via AP)

(Ryan Carter/Ministry of Presidential Affairs via AP)

Newspaper Article - The National

The UAE-Saudi Relationship Isn’t About Competition

| Feb. 08, 2024

Over the past few months, much has been said about the relationship between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, some of it strikingly shallow and misinformed, with recent op-eds characterising it as a “rivalry” or a “rift”, and one going as far as calling it a “theatre of confrontation” as though their relations are a zero-sum game. Such alarmism led me to wonder if we were even discussing the same two countries.