POLS 170 - International Politics

  Jack Cahalane Professor Shirk POLS 170 April 20, 2022 Global Cooperation and the Issue of Climate Change Arguably the most pressing issue facing future generations is the global issue of climate change. As stated by author Nhina Le in Are Human Rights Universal or Culturally Relative?,  “Among the scientific community it is no longer controversial that anthropogenic climate change is real and a significant threat to the well-being of both current and future generations. But it is also widely acknowledged that human development is an important way to address high levels of global poverty, that such development is energy intensive, and the cheapest sources of energy available are not likely to be clean energy types” (Le 2016).  Up until the 18th century, the changing of the climate and global warming was largely parallel to the natural processes of the Earth correlated to the eccentricity of Earth’s orbit relative to the Sun. Yet, with the onset of the Industrial Revolu...

  Cassie Lawler International Politics: POLS 170-03 Professor Shirk Due: Wednesday, April 20, 2022 Blog Post #4 The Unintended Consequences of NGOs Non-governmental organizations are non-profit that operate outside of the government, are independently organized and run to further a political motive, whether that motive be in the realm of humanitarianism, labor protections, or environmental, among many other things. Although the overwhelming majority of the time, these entities are well-meaning with aspirations to pick up where the government leaves off and serve a purpose for the greater good, they are typically not as advantageous for those they seek to help as they intend. The major caveat among NGOs in modern society is that they reap unintended consequences upon creation at whatever community, national, or international level they require mainly due to the fact that they crowd out government services and impede the existing and future efforts for the cause. Unfortunately, this ...

  Blake Burchill International Politics  Blog Post 4 Redefining Terrorism  The attacks on 9/11 were the beginning of a new era of terrorism. It made the US realize that this is a reality that could happen again and they needed to do everything in their power to stop potential future attacks. This leads to a terrorist watchlist overseas and at home but this brings up the question of what individuals and groups makes are considered terrorists. Every year there are attacks in the US and while each is terrible, not all of them are considered terrorism. If a white man shoots up a school, he is considered to have mental problems but if a Muslim man does the same thing, it is a terrorist attack on American values. In the perception of Americans, the color of your skin and your nationality can make you a potential terrorist, “Since 2001 the terrorist has come to be imagined almost exclusively as Muslim or Arab” (Husain). If a group or individual is deemed as a terrorist, the gove...

Authors Katri Bertram, Ngozi Erondu, and Madhukar Pai write, “Historically, global health has been mainly a top-down, North-to-South enterprise led primarily by white, elite men. (Bertram)” The repercussions of the system’s failures have made themselves more prominent than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic; lack of transparency from medical companies, the disproportionate distribution of resources, and unnecessary reserves have resulted in an underrepresentation of low-income populations and countries.  Within the medical field, there are often disproportionate representatives for criteria that are affected by health differently, for example gender. The article Silenced Voices in Global Health explain that both women and people from low income countries are underrepresented in leadership positions within the health community. This case of not being taken seriously can be detrimental to the people they represent and exposes the hierarchy among gender, race, and ethnicity. This...

Since the beginning of 2020 the United States has been in a complete disarray. The coronavirus, race riots, and political divisions have crippled this country in the last few years. Now as a global crisis unfolds we now find ourselves at a crossroads, to intervene in the Russo-Ukraine war or to take a isolationist stance on the matter. Although Ukraine is requesting support, I do not believe it is our place to intervene and I do not believe the issue is worth starting a third World War over. The biggest reason we should not engage is that President Putin is virtually threatening a nuclear war. Although Putin did not outright say he would launch nukes, he threatened the west with “consequences greater than any you have faced in history” if the Ukrainian invasion is interfered with. According to the New York Post, research suggests it would only take between ten and one hundred nuclear warheads to effectively destroy the environment. With their being around 15,000 nuclear bombs in exista...

International relations is characterized by both change and continuity, sometimes simultaneously. A fascinating illustration of this idea in current events is the predicament with Ukraine and Russia. The United States has been at odds (in varying degrees) with Russia and previously the Soviet Union, for over a century. The reasons for the animosity and distrust have varied, as well. One could make the argument that in modern international relations, negative feelings between Russia and the United States have provided continuity to the international politics of the United States and Russia. What has changed is how that looks within the political landscape of the U.S. interest. Even with Putin as a constant for almost twenty years (with the four year exception of Medvedev) the political machines within the United States have switched up in a dramatic way. For many decades, Republican presidents have been considered “hawk” administrations, ready for war. Republicans vote for troop deploym...

The question of needing the International Criminal Court has been debated for many years now. Recently, with the Russo-Ukrainian war currently taking place, the ICC has been in the news a fair amount. Political figures and commentators have predicted Vladimir Putin should/will be held accountable for the invasion of Ukraine at the ICC if defeated. The likelihood of this actually happening is extremely low, but the idea that it could happen is exactly why we need an international court system. Any given leader of any given country should not feel above the law in any way. When the world's most powerful leaders know that their actions will have consequences and they realize they will be held accountable, the world will ultimately be a safer place. The problem is that the ICC has not achieved this whatsoever. The ICC is extremely disorganized and not an actual threat to leaders of major world powers. The first problem is that the ICC has no authority or jurisdiction when it comes to...