Lebanon vs. Jordan: Refugees and Instability
The Middle East has experienced some of the worst refugee crises in modern world history. The repeated floods of refugees, from Palestinians to Iraqis to Syrians, have heavily impacted both Lebanon and Jordan in particular. In many ways, these states have addressed refugees in a similar institutional manner, yet Lebanon has experienced turmoil and violent […]
Judith Butler’s: Precarious Life
Judith Butler’s book Precarious Life was a subject of discussion in Prof. Bormann’s Contemporary Political Thought POLS 2332 class this past semester. This book puts human vulnerability and loss (the precariousness of life) at its center and Butler asks us, against the backdrop of 9/11, what – politically – might be made of our grief […]
Precarious Life-Katie Dillon
When your city is terrorized, how do you react? Judith Butler says that we ought not to react to violence with violence. We should take a different approach. Butler does not suggest that we ignore the perpetrator, or let him or her walk free. Instead, we ought to give the criminal a trial, and not […]
Precarious Life-Brendan Hill
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, the relevance of Judith Butler’s A Precarious Life is a topic worth discussing. Prompted by the attacks of 9/11, Butler’s critique of the US response to fear and mourning is indeed contrary to the average American sentiment. While the official response to the attack on the World […]
Precarious Life-Wendy Chu
I wrote the outline for this essay on Monday, April 15th. It had been an especially good day: I had even won myself a coveted window seat on the third floor at Snell Library. I was reading Judith Butler’s Precarious Life when I heard the news. I should have panicked. I should have been terrified. […]
Drones, Deception, and Double-Tapping: the Obama Administration is Killing Innocents Abroad
For Waleed Shiraz, 22, life in northwest Pakistan was once uncomplicated. A former student of Political Science and foreign languages, Shiraz recalls days spent studying in the hujra, a traditional guest drawing room – he liked it there because it was “peaceful and quiet.” The oldest of three brothers, Shiraz hoped to pursue his Master’s […]
Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible
Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible provides the reader with a unique insight into the growth of the globalized arms trade in the context of the collapsing post-Cold War world order. A collaboration of investigative expertise from former West African bureau chief of the Washington Post, Douglas Farah, […]
Innocence of Americans?
The incendiary anti-Muslim movie trailer titled, “Innocence of Muslims” elicited anger and protest across the Muslim world in reaction to its derogatory portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad as a child molester, murderer, philanderer and extortionist. In one extreme and tragic case, the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked, resulting in the deaths of […]
Ethnic Complexities of the Syrian Conflict
Despite starting out relatively peacefully, the conflict in Syria has escalated into civil war with over 10,000 civilians massacred by both government and anti-government forces alike. International debates over intervention have dominated the UN Security Council for months with the United States, United Kingdom, and their allies pushing to oust President Bashar al-Assad via NATO […]
The Future of NATO: Towards Where Will It Turn?
Originally founded as a deterrent to Soviet aggression in Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is now the most successful and effective alliance the world has ever seen. However, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Alliance has often become the focus of attack by those that see it as arcane. To the […]