In this op-ed published on Foreign Affairs, Professor Charles Kupchan describes the fact that despite “Trump’s dismissive and disparaging treatment of NATO,” the alliance “is entering its eighth decade in quite good health because it succeeds admirably in advancing the shared interests of its members.”
In this article published on the National Catholic Reporter, Father Drew Christiansen posited that in the current political climate, with increasing attention being paid to nuclear deterrence, “it’s time for the Catholic voice to rise to the pinnacle it held in the 1980s and new voices can lead the way.” With his reference to the 1980’s, Father Christiansen brings to mind “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response,” a letter released by U.S. bishops in 1983 which “offered moral perspectives on war and peace, nuclear deterrence and the possession of nuclear weapons.”
In this article published on Foreign Policy, Professor Charles Kupchan provides an explanation for why “Brexit Is Europe’s Finest Hour.” According to Kupchan, “the general pattern is that Europe continues to exercise a magnetic attraction which pulls even extremist parties toward the center. Why? It’s markets. It’s a rule-based order. It’s the aggregation of political and geopolitical clout. It’s a sense of security. It’s open borders.” Thus, according to Kupchan, Brexit has served more as an indication of the strength of the EU than anything else.
SFS students spent spring break all around the world, studying displacement in Jordan, national security in San Francisco, migration in Sweden, and everything in between. Many of these trips were fully-funded and for class credit, providing dozens of students with the opportunity to gain an immersive, global education.
The SFS Improving the Human Condition Grant is “a funding opportunity designed for undergraduates pursuing globally-minded humanitarian projects.” Henry Mihm (SFS’20) was awarded an Improving the Human Condition Grant as an intern for the Vicente Ferrer Foundation to teach English in Anantapur, India. Looking back on his eight weeks in India, Mihm said, “It was my intention to educate people, but I think I really underestimated the amount that I would learn myself.”
Rugby 2018 is an organization that was created by two MSFS students, Mohamed Almenfi (MSFS’20) and Mohammed Elmagbri (MSFS’19), to bring rugby to Libyan youth and to teach them about mental health, responsibility, and peace, who were otherwise being recruited by ISIS while schools were shut down. Originally working in the private sector with the oil industry, Almenfi shifted to civil society when ISIS’s presence in Libya led to many partnerships in Libya ending. After working on Rugby 2018 for some time, he decided to attend Georgetown’s MSFS program because it fit right into what he was attempting to do: “’I started to hear for the first time in my life about peacebuilding, about cultural diplomacy, about forging a national identity. For me, this vocabulary was new.’” Mohamed wanted to learn more.”
A number of current and former diplomats (including 12 Georgetown alumnae) discussed “women’s roles in shaping communities around the globe” in regards to International Women’s Day. “I was fortunate enough to have a couple of ambassadors and former ambassadors as professors, [and that] opened a whole new universe to me of opportunity. So, my time the School of Foreign Service was really formative, and I am glad I can lean on it in some respects as ambassador,” said Ambassador Alaina Teplitz (SFS’91).
After the screening of his film, “Port of Destiny,” former President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) discussed peacebuilding. He studied peace processes from a number of countries: Israel, Northern Ireland, and South America, and then building up trust with Colombians. The most crucial and sensitive relationship was rebuilding trust with FARC, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia); Santos said to them, “I will negotiate as if there is no terrorism, and I will continue to fight and combat terrorism as if there is no negotiation,” which ultimately helped them agree to listen to him.
March 13, 2019
The Georgetown Institute for the Study of Migration (ISIM) and Center for Contemporary Arab Studies partnered with the International Organization for Migration in Iraq to publish “Access to Durable Solutions Among IDPs in Iraq,” the second installation of a two-part study about challenges and survival strategies of Iraqi IDPs who were displaced by ISIL between January 2014 and December 2015 to the 4 governorates of Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk, and Sulaymaniyah.
David Edelstein, Associate Professor of International Affairs in the Center for Security Studies, published an essay about the future of great power politics and the potential for conflict as part of a policy roundtable following a Perry World House colloquium. As the U.S. is in relative decline and Russia and China become more assertive, Edelstein says, “the implications are likely to be more competition and, indeed, the possibility of great power war.”
