Writing Samples
The Psychology Behind Global Water Scarcity and Methods of Countering a Future Crisis
Water wars are not a new concept – and in fact they are very strategic political decisions meant to protect or secure the future of an ingroup, and hinder the success or survival of an outgroup. For this paper I incorporated specific international security phenomena such as evolutionary theory, power base theory, and ingroup/outgroup behavior to understand the psychology behind global water scarcity. I was interested in the relationship between a possible (and almost imminent) environmental catastrophe, different security threats, and the sorts of fundamental and learned human behaviors that might factor into either prevention measures or the outcome.
Rethinking Counterterrorism Strategies in Nigeria: How Can the Boko Haram Insurgency be Brought to its End?
The terrorist group I chose to study during the How Terrorism Ends course was Boko Haram – and this was actually the third and final paper I wrote about Boko Haram over the course of the MA International Security Studies program. My interest in this insurgency comes from their disproportionate targeting of women and girls, their surprising longevity, and their effectiveness in evading counterterrorism measures and perpetrating one of the most severe human security crises in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper in particular looks at how counterterrorism strategies have failed thus far in Nigeria and how these need to change, as well as how the enduring violence will most likely be brought to an end.
Health Inequities as a Global Biological Threat: We are Only as Strong as Our Weakest Link
This paper makes the argument and explores the idea of health inequities as a biological threat – rather than the natural, intentional, and manmade threats that are typically discussed in global health security. It is difficult to talk about the deliberate release of a microorganism in an act of terrorism – or a global pandemic caused by a virus until the issue of systemic, avoidable, and unjust health inequities is addressed. It is a root cause for the lack of preparedness measures and a reason why biothreats have the opportunity to prevail – especially among communities with a deep-rooted history or culture of colonialism, sexism, classism, and so on. This feeds into things like access to clean water, medical care, and a safe and stable food supply – which severely impacts countries in the Global South, but disparities that exist in the world’s most industrialized countries have also been exposed.