Filtering by
- Creators: Rothenberg, Daniel
- Creators: Department of Finance
In 2021, Palestine will have been under official Israeli occupation for 54 years. As conflict persists between the two populations, it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine a peaceful resolution. As international legal bodies have failed to bring an end to the occupation, the Israeli government continues to carry out extensive violations of human rights against the Palestinians. One significant consequence of the occupation has been the Palestinians’ lack of access to safe and reliable water, a problem that is continuing to worsen as a result of climate change and years of over-utilization of shared, regional water resources. Since the occupation started, international organizations have not only affirmed the general human right to water but have overseen several peace agreements between Israel and Palestine that have included stipulations on water. Despite these measures, neither water access nor quality has improved and, over time, has worsened. This paper will look at why international law has failed to improve conditions for Palestinians and will outline the implications of the water crisis on a potential solution between Israel and Palestine.
Significant efforts to catalogue and record the wave of global business retreats from the escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war by Russia in February 2022 were made by researchers and professors in the Yale School of Management. This paper analyzes the statuses of these firms through historical publications of the Yale database and attempts to explain the likelihood of a business retreat through many factors, such as industry sector and country of origin. Taking into consideration the grading scale proposed by the Yale School of Management, companies within the Information Technology sector, and companies originating within the U.S. had the highest percentage of eventual “A” ratings within their groups. Statistical tests meant to analyze the stock market reaction to the public companies that were given “F” designations by the Yale School of Management saw that U.S. companies had a lower return than the S&P 500 on average on 2/24/22, whereas companies within the Consumer Staples sector outside of the United States were seen to have had positive returns on 2/24/22. The paper also provides analytics detailing the scope of the corporate exodus from Russia based off of information provided by the Yale School of Management and creates inquiries that may be beneficial to additional research on the topic.
Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), civil-military joint teams created by the U.S. government, are intended to assist in development and reconstruction projects throughout Afghanistan. The mission of PRTs involve locally grounded engagement linking security and community assistance as a central means of supporting the larger counterinsurgency model. Humanitarian activities as undertaken by PRTs attempt provide stability to civilians that they might otherwise turn toward an insurgent group to find. Ideally, PRTs should understand the factors that cause individual and group insurgency against a state and utilize that knowledge when attempting to address the conflict that results. This study focuses on the successes and shortcomings of the Jalalabad PRT and their implementation of a new project development model in the Nangarhar province in Afghanistan in 2006. It was successful because it directly worked to remediate the underlying causes of insurgency as proposed by the technocratic conceit, with a focus on improved water sanitation and sewage, agriculture, and basic infrastructure. It was unsuccessful because it failed to promote local ownership, the development of a community identity, or a methodology to measure the effectiveness and impact of its projects.
According to the lessons from the conflict literature, the Jalalabad PRT’s actions only partly reduced the factors that lead to individual and group defection into an insurgent group.
In actively working to incorporate the lessons from the conflict literature into the Jalalabad PRT project development model, PRTs will more aptly and successfully achieve their stated goals of providing stability, reconstruction, and security. Without addressing the potential other underlying causes of insurgency, however, U.S. PRTs are unable to produce measurable, empirical reductions to insurgency in Afghanistan.