Conflict & Conflict Resolution

A future where A.I.s interpret, apply, and enforce most laws at societal scale like this will exponentially magnify problems around fairness, transparency, and freedom, warn Jonathon W. Penney and Bruce Schneier.

The world’s oceans have always provided ships with room to hide. New technology is changing that. Small satellites now collect terabytes of global data daily. Computational analytics can mine that data as humans cannot. Increasingly, this information expands the ability to identify and track ships and their activities, including those affecting national and international security. 

When the U.S. military trains other states’ forces, it tries to impart liberal norms such as respect for human rights. But when liberal norms clash, these soldiers prioritize loyalty to their unit, the military, and shared goals.

Opportunistic repression arises when states use crises to suppress the political opposition. An examination of the relationship between COVID-19 shutdown policies and state violence against civilians in Africa, including and a subnational case study of Uganda, tests this theory.

Guest Maximilian Kreter joins Right Rising to discuss how the white power music scene funds and sustains the extreme right.

Guest Shannon Reid joins Right Rising to discuss youth gang activism within the white power movement in the U.S. — and the historical and contemporary conceptions of gang activity. Along with host Augusta Dell'Omo, Shannon walks us through the geography of white power gangs and gives insight into what drives youths to join these gangs. Bringing her own experiences working with youth gangs, Shannon offers some suggestions about what kinds of interventions may — or may not — be useful when working with white power youth.

White Southerners opposed to Reconstruction used violence to undermine Black political power and force uncommitted white Southerners to their side. Although structural factors made it harder for the U.S. government to suppress this violence, a series of policy failures prompted Reconstruction’s failure and generations of injustice.

Juliette Kayyem argues that if Trump keeps losing, the risk of future violence will abate. Keeping Trump in office until January 20 won't assuage the supporters who falsely believe that the election was stolen from him, but removing him from office a week early would emphasize that he is losing. Recruitment is easier for a winning team. 

Speaking with NDR Info, Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook discusses the roots of systemic racism in the U.S. and how the country has changed since the 1960s, when sustained protests shifted the civil rights landscape. She addresses the impact recent events have had on the American political landscape, as measured in recent polls and  discusses the meaning of solidarity protests across the world and their impact on political discourse in the U.S.

After 400 years of systemic discrimination against black people in America, the volcanic reaction to video of the brutal killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis has pushed America to another major inflection point in its seemingly endless struggle with race. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, both black people and allies from other racial identities, have taken to the streets to decry police brutality and systemic discrimination, and to demand change. PolicyCast Host Thoko Moyo welcomes Harvard Kennedy School Professors Khalil Muhammad and Erica Chenoweth for a discussion on the demanded change.