Law and Institutions

Taking the Next Step in Refugee Aid

February 18, 2012 by Emily Ginsberg

The word “refugee” usually conjures up images of teeming tent camps in barren fields, makeshift communities kept far from the rest of society. But there is a growing population of displaced people around the world who have relocated to cities in refugee recipient countries – and who have no foreseeable plans for returning to their [...]

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Democracy Goes Out with a Whimper

February 15, 2012 by Natalie Bowlus

Viktor Orban is killing Hungarian democracy. In 2010, his center conservative Fidesz party won a landslide victory. They had an overwhelming popular mandate to clean up the country after eight years of mismanagement under MSZP, the sclerotic socialist party run by holdovers from Hungary’s communist days. Excitement was real and palpable – Hungarians I knew [...]

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From Pillars to Platform: Demystifying the Durban Outcome

February 8, 2012 by Kartikeya Singh

The recently concluded UN climate negotiations (COP 17) have shifted the pillars of the Bali Action Plan from COP 13 to the Durban Platform on Enhanced Action (DPEA). This amounts to a disappointing delay in plans for progress (2015 is the new 2009 while 2020 is the new 2013), but unresolved questions about how to interpret the language of the new agreement may leave room for an improved process going forward.

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Beyond the Burka

December 2, 2011 by Lisa De Bode
Thumbnail image for Beyond the Burka

Saudi women’s vote is the result of a decade-long battle for political participation. Contrary to Western perception, they waged this battle unfettered by the burka.

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Somalia: Where a State Isn’t a State

May 15, 2011 by J. Peter Pham

Introduction On February 22, 2011, as one of the United States Navy’s newest guided-missile destroyers, the USS Sterett, and three other warships stood by virtually helpless, Somali pirates killed four boaters they had seized just days earlier off the coast of Oman. The four victims—yacht owners Scott and Jean Adam of Marina del Rey, California, [...]

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Osama bin Laden Is Dead, But Nothing Really Changes

May 2, 2011 by Rizwan Ladha

Tonight, at 11:35pm EST on a Sunday evening, President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden is now dead, thanks to U.S. action taken within Pakistan. This is a tremendous breakthrough in America’s self-proclaimed “war on terror,” and certainly newsworthy. More importantly, it is a rare but special moment of justice for all of the families [...]

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“Passed Beyond Our Aid”: U.S. Deportation, Integrity, and the Rule of Law

April 26, 2011 by Daniel Kanstroom

Shortly before the enactment of the harshest package of U.S. deportation laws since the Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798, Barbara Jordan­­­­—then Chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform—said, “We are a nation of immigrants, dedicated to the rule of law….”[1] The following year, in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, laws were [...]

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