International Security

Many analysts, practitioners, and scholars are skeptical of the efficacy of drone strikes for counterterrorism, suggesting that they provide short-term gains at best and are counterproductive at worst. However, despite how widespread these views are, reliable evidence on the consequences of drone strikes remains limited. My research on drone warfare and U.S. counterterrorism—some of which was recently published in International Security—addresses this issue by examining the U.S. drone war in Pakistan from 2004 to 2014. Contrary to the skeptics, I find that drone strikes in Pakistan were effective in degrading the targeted armed groups. And, troublingly, they succeeded in doing so even though they harmed civilians.

"The final points that must be agreed for a negotiation to start are so central to the entire peace-making process -- borders, recognition, refugees, Jerusalem -- that an inability even to start discussions bodes ill for the prospects of actually reaching an agreement. Also, the proposed solutions to bridging the gaps between the two sides are so deeply embellished in make-believe romanticism and evading reality that they only postpone the deal-breaking disagreements to come -- just kicking the can down the road, in effect."

"The greatest political challenge facing Iraq today is its transition from a power-sharing to a majoritarian form of government without a concomitant depoliticization of ethno-sectarian identities."

The study of citizenship, what it means and what it entails, has always been a topic of considerable debate in international relations and political science. Discussions of citizenship usually occur from the perspective of those who are included within a particular community, yet accelerated changes in global migration flows over the past 60 years have shifted the discussion into new waters. Noora Lori is among those attempting to understand this changing relationship between the state, the citizen, and the migrant.

The invasion of Iraq prompted a deluge of work written on the country from a U.S. perspective, but Nussaibah Younis, a fellow with the Belfer Center's International Security Program, wants people to start considering Iraq as an actor in its own right. While at the  Center, Younis is working on a project that seeks to understand internal Iraqi foreign policymaking dynamics since 2003.

"Beneath the Arab political revolutions lies a deeper and longer process of radical change that is sometimes called the information revolution. We cannot yet fully grasp its implications, but it is fundamentally transforming the nature of power in the twenty-first century, in which all states exist in an environment that even the most powerful authorities cannot control as they did in the past."

"...[A]s the Arab Spring continues past a single season, Al Jazeera's very success is revealing some of its vulnerabilities. Its power has others wanting in on the action. As the movement towards democratic reform becomes more pervasive, the network's ownership by a conservative monarchy has become its Achilles' heel. The emir of Qatar recently placed a member of the royal family as director-general of news on Al Jazeera, a reminder to its staff of who pays the bills. In a region where conspiracy theories are rampant, the network's ownership makes it a target for reformers who feel it's mainly catering to the existing power structure."

"The obvious fact that judicial systems are an essential aspect of democracy is all too visible in Egypt today. It turns out that the third branch of the Egyptian government had a different take on all the euphoria over Tahrir Square. If the actions of the Egyptian military merely hinted at the old adage that power, once captured, is rarely relinquished, the Egyptian courts have proven it."

"...[A] range of countries, including the U.S. and Israel, has every interest in preventing a disorderly devaluation and financial crisis in a country of 80 million people on Israel's very doorstep. The $10 billion to $12 billion the IMF estimates Egypt needs would seem a paltry price to pay for regional stability."