By: Alicia Chavy, Columnist Photo Credit: Business Insider In the past five years, Brazil’s security status quo has worsened and will continue to deteriorate if the Brazilian government does not take drastic measures to tackle social inequality and reform its security sector. In 2015, 58,383 people were killed in Brazil due to a surge in … Continue reading Brazil’s Widespread Violence and Failed Responses
Category: Military & Defense
Japan’s “Remilitarization”: More Baby Steps
By: Mei Lim, Columnist Photo Credit: Christian Science Monitor Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan has pushed to increase its defense capabilities. However, progress will remain piecemeal until Japanese society moves away from their extreme pacifist position. Abe, a well-known conservative, faced a mixed response when he became prime minister in end-2012. China and South … Continue reading Japan’s “Remilitarization”: More Baby Steps
World Leaders Should Have Seen the Rohingya Crisis Coming
By: Sara Sirota, Columnist Photo Credit: New York Times Myanmar’s expulsion of 500,000 Rohingya Muslims is not a sudden or unexpected event. It follows decades of systemic oppression and months of heightened fragility in Rakhine state, where the Burmese Army and Buddhist extremists look upon their Rohingya neighbors as unwanted foreigners and threats to regional … Continue reading World Leaders Should Have Seen the Rohingya Crisis Coming
NATO Becomes Complacent at Its Own Peril
By: Brian Hayes, Columnist Photo Credit: Defence Procurement International Zapad, a joint Russian-Belarusian military exercise, concluded without incident on September 20th.[i] The worst fears of NATO national security professionals—that Russia would deploy as many as 100,000 troops or leave behind a permanent garrison in Belarus—did not materialize.[ii] However, in light of past Russian behavior and … Continue reading NATO Becomes Complacent at Its Own Peril
Sri Lanka: Battleground for an Asian Power Imbroglio?
By: Husanjot Chahal, Columnist Photo Credit: BBC Japan and India’s growing bonhomie is often touted as a counter to China’s geopolitical clout across Asia, particularly in the Indian Ocean region, where the former’s recent Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) is cited as in direct competition with Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).[i] Such a power struggle … Continue reading Sri Lanka: Battleground for an Asian Power Imbroglio?
There’s a Perfectly Good Alternative to War with North Korea
By: Evan Cooper, Columnist Photo Credit: Voice of America News With North Korea armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can strike major US cities, concern of nuclear conflict permeates the American populace as the standoff threatens to boil over into war.[i] The situation is being compared with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and for good … Continue reading There’s a Perfectly Good Alternative to War with North Korea
The Limits of Hard Power in Trump’s Afghanistan and South Asia Strategy
By: Stephanie Pillion, Columnist Photo Credit: US Department of Defense In a speech to Congress on August 21, 2017, President Donald Trump outlined his strategy for the Afghanistan and South Asia region. President Trump’s speech focused on three core pillars, which balance the use of hard with soft power in US strategy for the region. … Continue reading The Limits of Hard Power in Trump’s Afghanistan and South Asia Strategy
SSP and a Day at Gettysburg
By: Rebecca Robison, Reporter Photo Credit: Rebecca Robison Looking across the tranquil fields of Gettysburg on a remarkably serene day, one finds it difficult to imagine so many soldiers bled and died on those same expanses over 150 years ago. In total, 36 students and four professors from Georgetown’s Security Studies Program (SSP) overlooked this … Continue reading SSP and a Day at Gettysburg
The US-Russia Race to Beat ISIS in Eastern Syria
By: Patrick Hoover, Columnist Photo Credit: Daily Sabah The race to rule eastern Syria after the defeat of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is quickly and quietly escalating into a focal point of US-Russian tension and competition. The US-backed, Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Russian-backed Syrian regime are conducting separate, but competing, … Continue reading The US-Russia Race to Beat ISIS in Eastern Syria
Matching Means and Ends in North Korea
By: Theresa Lou, Columnist Photo Credit: Reuters The United States has insisted for decades that it will not accept a nuclear North Korea. But this position is becoming increasingly untenable given increasing evidence that Pyongyang has developed a nuclear capability. Between July and September 2017, the Hermit Kingdom conducted multiple successful missile launches and its … Continue reading Matching Means and Ends in North Korea