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20341. From Coexistence to Cleansing: The Rise of Sectarian Violence in Baghdad, 2003-2007

Author:
Ches Thurber
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the nature of violent conflict in Iraq evolved from an insurgency against the interim U.S.-supported government into a sectarian civil war, pitting the country's minority Sunni population against the majority Shia. By the summer of 2006, Iraqi on Iraqi violence had reached epic proportions. On most mornings, dozens of bodies could be found floating along the Tigris River. Iraqi men were executed for no reason other than having the name “Omar,” and militias set up checkpoints to verify the identity of all those out in the streets. According to Iraq Body Count, 3,182 civilians were killed in July 2006 and over 2,000 civilian casualties were reported each month through August 2007. 1 Over this same period of time, the city of Baghdad was separated into distinct homogeneous neighborhoods based on sectarian identity.
Political Geography:
United States

20342. "Development and the Battle for Swat"

Author:
Rabia Zafar
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
al Nakhlah
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
In the early summer of 2009, world attention focused on Pakistan as Taliban militants gained a foothold just 70 miles outside of the nation's capital, Islamabad, challenging the country's nascent civilian government. The government responded with a strong show of military force, pummeling the Swat Valley and surrounding areas with tanks, heavy artillery, and helicopter gunships. In the process, some 2 million people were internally displaced leaving Pakistan on the brink of a large-scale humanitarian crisis. By late June however, the military operation had started yielding results and the government claimed that the Malakand Division, including Swat, had been cleared of the Taliban. Most of the displaced civilians began returning to the area and international observers seemed satisfied that this story had come to an end. Yet, this battle, with its seemingly existential consequences and high-level human drama, was only one episode in a long chronicle of insurgency, extremism, and frustration in Swat.
Political Geography:
Taliban and Islamabad

20343. Table of Contents

Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
No abstract is available.

20344. Editor's Note

Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
At its inception, Macalester College had a dual dream: on the one hand, to encourage students to cultivate their growth through rigorous study and critical self-reflection; on the other, to educate students for a condition of freedom, civic action, and a vocation of leadership. This dream was captured by the pioneering works and lives of Edward Duffield Neill and James Wallace, two of the College's most significant founders and builders. Thus, in its new Institute for Global Citizenship, Macalester keeps faith with the dream by creating with and for students, contexts conducive to a distinctive synthesis of intellectual intensity, self-monitoring, and preparation for public usefulness in a multicivilizational global milieu.
Political Geography:
United States

20345. Political Leadership in the Transformation of Societies: F.W. de Klerk and Pim Fortuyn in the Multicultural Project

Author:
Helinna Ayalew
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
The importance of leadership has been demonstrated repeatedly throughout history. Countless examples of extraordinary leaders, ranging from Mahatma Gandhi to Vladimir Lenin and Mao Tse - tung to Barack Obama, remind us of the effect one or a small group of political leaders can have on a society. These great historical figures are transformational leaders because they were able to spearhead fundamental change within their societies.

20346. At the Intersection of Domestic Acts and Globalization: The Case of Irregular Migrants15

Author:
Federico Daniel Burlon
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Sixty-five percent of the Netherlands is below sea level: ten thousand miles of dykes, gates, and dams hold back the sea. As the water besieges the land, some politicians and scholars claim that immigrants are doing the same to the country. On the other side of the Atlantic, immigration to the United States also has been compared to a tide that must be contained. The fears surrounding immigration have been one of the focal points raised by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and by his successor, Ban Ki-moon. As a result of the dramatic increase of migration flows and the large number of irregular migrants worldwide, immigration has moved from low to high politics. Fuelled by a mentality that sees domestic security as threatened, the salience of irregular immigration is grounded in parallels drawn between the control of illegal immigration and the control of crime. According to Adam Crawford, the conflation of illegal immigration with crime has led Western governments to rule through the politics of fear of crime and insecurity. The impact of these policies on irregular immigrants illustrates what John Tomlinson calls the reflexive nature of globalization. An insightful avenue to take in order to explore globalization is the study of human mobility. Globalization has placed immigrants at the nexus of the increase in migration due to lower transportation costs, the development of the international human rights regime, and the enactment of increasingly restrictive immigration policies by developed countries. The interplay between these processes crystallizes in detention centers, and renders immigrants vulnerable to human rights violations. Studying globalization from a comparative perspective, this essay analyzes the impact of the International Human Rights Regime (IHRR) on American and Dutch immigration detention policies. In the last decades, detention has become the established way of dealing with irregular migrants. It lamentably obscures various essential examples of alternative legislation.
Topic:
Globalization, Human Rights, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Netherlands

20347. Immigrant Children and Globalization: Formal Education in Producing New Citizens

Author:
Lelde Ilzina
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan once expressed that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity. When globalization is viewed as a force that creates a tide of incentives against the artificial levies of national borders, the comparison seems accurate. Flows of capital, goods, services, people, and information crush against the formally defined stringent borders of nation-states, not permanently erasing but undoubtedly loosening them. Implying the irrefutable authenticity of globalization, Annan claims that its inevitability does not mean we should accept globalization as a law that―allows only heavyweights to survive. On the contrary: we must make globalization an engine that lifts people out of hardship and misery, not a force that holds them down.‖ Globalization is an indubitable reality that benefits some and challenges others. To ignore it or pronounce it fictional is not only unwise, but harmful. Such outlook prohibits one from acknowledging the rapid changes occurring in the world and impedes the process of adaptation. Instead, one should strive to unravel the complexities of globalization, recognize its failures, and make a commendable effort to correct its shortcomings.
Topic:
United Nations

20348. Globalization and the Politicization of Muslim Women: Consequences for Domestic Violence in the Netherlands and the United States19

Author:
Mishal Khan
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Globalization as a theoretical lens guides us toward a greater understanding of some of the most turbulent transformations that are taking place in the world today. Anthony Giddens provides a compelling definition of this phenomenon, framing it as―the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. Nothing demonstrates this more sharply than the impact of global events on those Muslim populations residing in what can be broadly defined as the―Western‖ world. This ironically termed―reverse colonization entails an unprecedented number of people from Muslim countries migrating to the Global North, laying the foundation for a myriad of challenging negotiations and novel circumstances. However, there are a number of concurrent transformations that are taking place within Muslim populations that have become the subject of increased scrutiny. The rise of radical Islam, the enhanced religiosity of Muslim youth, and the increased wearing of headscarves by women are all aspects of a global Islam that has attracted the widespread attention of policymakers, scholars, and ordinary citizens alike.
Topic:
Debt
Political Geography:
United States and Netherlands

20349. The Political Ecology of Water: Globalization and Transboundary Water Management

Author:
Elizabeth A. Larson
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
I had been thinking about how to begin this yearlong research project when I asked one of my 17-year-old students in Khayelitsha, a township outside of Cape Town, “How do you think pollution can harm people?” He described how the family that lives in the shack next to him pours their wash water into the alleyway and it runs down the hill, picking up more debris and joining with other families‟ wastewater. He added that this pollution could get into the groundwater and affect the water that everyone drinks. It was there that this research paper began to take shape.
Political Geography:
Khayelitsha

20350. The Commodification of Human Life: Human Trafficking in the Age of Globalization

Author:
Yanchuan Liu
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
This study seeks to answer three questions. First, to what extent does globalization contribute to the vulnerability of victims of cross-border human trafficking? Next, how have the United States and the Netherlands responded to this phenomenon, and why have the two governments responded in the way they did? Finally, as developed countries tighten their borders out of security concerns when economic inequality continues to attract migrants from developing regions, is there space for the convergence of the interests of destination countries and those of the migrants so that these individuals will have safe, legitimate alternatives to the irregular movement that leads to severe exploitation, such as Trafficking in Human Beings (THB)?
Political Geography:
United States and Netherlands