International Relations

601 Items

U.S. Army Soldiers share tactics and training with Nigerian Army Soldiers, Nigeria, February 8, 2018.

Capt. James Sheehan, U.S. Army

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

The Cult of the Persuasive: Why U.S. Security Assistance Fails

    Author:
  • Rachel Tecott Metz
| Winter 2022/23

Why does the U.S. Army rely on persuasion to influence military partners to improve their forces despite repeated failures that undermine U.S. foreign policy goals? The army prioritizes its role as a fighting force, not an advisory group. U.S. leaders have developed an ideology—the cult of the persuasive—to advance army bureaucratic interests.

Electricians install solar panels.

AP/Mary Altaffer

Report Chapter - Brookings Institution

Mexico’s Energy Reforms: A Blow to Realizing the Most Competitive and Dynamic Region in the World

| Feb. 28, 2022

In late 2017, Mexico made headlines as Italian company Enel bid what was then a world-record low price for renewable energy in the country’s third such energy auction. This development was possible due to the historical and sweeping energy reforms passed with broad support in Mexico in 2013. Then-President Enrique Peña Nieto had succeeded where previous Mexican presidents had failed, reversing decades of resource nationalism and overhauling the energy sector through constitutional reforms that gave the private sector a larger role and advantaged renewable energy in Mexico’s economy. The 2017 auction seemed to indicate Mexico’s bright future not only as a conventional oil producer, but also as a clean energy power.

A full moon rises over the Bosporus in Istanbul on March 28, with a view of the Camlica Mosque, the largest mosque in Turkey.

Emrah Gurel/AP

Analysis & Opinions - The Washington Post

Will the pandemic spark a religious revival in the Muslim world?

| Apr. 02, 2021

Times of strain often lead to explosions of religiosity, as people turn to faith as a balm against misfortune. The coronavirus pandemic, with more than 2.8 million lives lost to date, certainly qualifies as one of the most cataclysmic events in recent memory. Faced with the major disruptions of the past year, did people turn to faith, or do we instead see evidence of a “religious recession”?

 

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Pompeo’s Silence Creates a ‘Crisis of Morale’ at State Department

| Jan. 16, 2020

Lawmakers released documents and messages this week that appear to show associates of U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer surveilling the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch, amid a campaign to oust her from her job. They are the latest documents at the center of the impeachment investigation into Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential rival.

Security personnel are framed in a damaged door

AP/Rahmat Gul

Analysis & Opinions - Real Clear Defense

Self-Delusion and Forgetting History in Afghanistan

| Dec. 17, 2019

The authors comment on the Washington Post's recently released 6-part investigative report on the U.S. war in Afghanistan. They conclude that although important, this report is only alarming to the extent that it demonstrates how often U.S. leaders deceive themselves.

Photo of President Donald Trump meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the InterContinental Barclay New York hotel during the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019, in New York.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Analysis & Opinions - The Hill

Why Ukrainian Democracy Matters

| Nov. 15, 2019

The investigations into the telephone conversation that President Trump had with President Zelensky and the possibility of impeachment have dominated the American media. This singular focus could have harmful consequences for both Ukraine and United States. The strategic location of Ukraine has put it at the center of transatlantic security.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine was one of the things that never arose during President Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

Volodymyr Shuvayev/AFP/Getty Images

Analysis & Opinions - Los Angeles Times

President Trump’s missed opportunity with Ukraine

| Oct. 29, 2019

The House of Representatives is moving inexorably toward impeaching President Trump for what he has said and done in his dealings with Ukraine. But what the president hasn’t done or said is almost as appalling, revealing a president who cares only about his personal interests, not America’s interests.