Archives for September 2017

By: Chessie Reece

On Friday, September 22^nd, House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer visited the LBJ School of Public Affairs as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series. Throughout his service as President of the Maryland Senate to House Majority Leader and now Whip, Rep. Hoyer has been a widely-known and well-respected figure. He certainly revealed the wisdom of experience and historical analysis at Friday’s event, answering students’ questions for more than an hour after his own brief remarks.

 

With political polarization at the forefront of American society, Rep. Hoyer received many questions about why partisanship has increased. Hoyer claimed that recent advancements in technology are a key factor. Nowadays, data on voter preferences can be collected with a never-before-seen degree of specificity. As a result, policymakers’ perspectives are narrowed and the interests of the general public are lost. This leads representatives to prioritize the problems important to only their individual constituent bases and has resulted in some states redistricting according to demographics and voting tendencies. Thus, according to Hoyer, technology has allowed gerrymandering and a highly-partisan focus to affect the quality of the representation members provide for their constituents.

 

In response to questions about how to bridge the divide between parties, Rep. Hoyer explained that the Republican party seems more deeply divided today than the Democratic party. He cited John Boehner’s resignation, the budget fight tanking tax reform, an inability to advance President Trump’s legislative agenda, and the rejection of all traditional “Republican establishment” candidates during the 2016 Presidential election as evidence of internal fractures. Upon pushback from the audience regarding a small-but-contentious 2016 Democratic Presidential candidate pool, Hoyer brought up the history of the Affordable Care Act: Democratic representatives have never wavered in their unanimous support of the ACA because of a shared party belief that all Americans should have affordable healthcare.

 

Representative Hoyer predicted that the Democrats will win the House back in 2018. Historically, the minority party improves their numbers in midterm elections, especially when the majority-party President is unpopular. Hoyer also laid out two political reasons for his prediction. One, Democrats are now capitalizing on anger over Republican failure to accomplish Trump’s major agenda points. Victory in the midterms will come especially as those who voted “against Hillary” (versus “for Trump”) take to Democratic candidates positing themselves as more competent alternatives to their current representatives. Two, Republicans are largely focused on issues which do not affect but a small majority of citizens on the far-right. As Hoyer put it, “95% of Americans wake up with issues regarding jobs, roads, and the economy…not abortion or going to buy a gun.” As a result, the anger and hostility which characterized the 2016 election will subside, and “democracy will correct itself” by choosing more rational, relatable Democratic representatives in 2018.

 

Most of Representative Hoyer’s ideas were exactly what one might have expected to hear from a leader in a political party recently dealt a serious, devastating electoral blow. Throughout the event, he maintained a reflective yet hopeful tone, relying mostly on logic and facts to advance his points while not overly-villainizing the Republican party or inflating Democratic successes. However, it was not until the end of the event that he dropped his thoughtful defense of the Democratic party and began offering tangible prescriptions for how to rectify the divisiveness in American society and produce lasting future change beyond the 2018 midterms. He urged women to use Hillary Clinton’s defeat as encouragement to run for more political offices. He discussed holding representatives more accountable for enacting evidence-based policies and reforms, and espoused the need to fund nonpartisan agencies like the Congressional Budget Office in order to continue their work informing the public.

 

In response to this event, I would urge representatives from both parties to abandon some of their prewritten, party-loyal answers and instead add a more personal touch to events with the public. While Rep. Hoyer’s responses were factual, persuasive and, in some cases inspiring, all of America is in a period of political soul-searching. We look to our most respected representatives to provide us with not just some soul, but some heart. We want to feel what Steny Hoyer is saying about democracy and know that he feels it, too, and we only truly got that connectedness near the end of Friday’s discussion. To solve the current crisis of leadership, all candidates need to prove their ability to unite across party lines not just with hard, factual evidence, but with the character of a passionate leader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law is delighted to introduce the 2017-2018 Brumley Next Generation Scholars.  The Strauss Center competitively selected these bright students from across UT to participate in a yearlong program to hone their policy research skills and engage in professional development to serve their future careers as public leaders.

Throughout this year, our Next Gen Scholars will be blogging about their work, current events and other salient issues in global policy.  We welcome you all to follow their work on the Policy Over Pancakes site, as well as our twitter feed @poverp16.

The 2017-2018 Brumley Next Generation Scholars:

Emily Gurney is a senior at UT majoring in Middle Eastern Cultures and Languages. She transferred to UT to pursue her degree in Arabic, after completing three summers at Middlebury Language Schools and one semester abroad, in Jordan. Emily is a fellow at The Clements Center for National Security and a scholar in the Arabic Flagship Program.
She conducted research abroad in Amman, which dealt with tribal relations and their effects on the Jordanian Parliament. She plans to attend the Flagship’s Capstone year abroad in Morocco, upon graduating this May, and then plans to pursue a J.D. in issues of international law. Emily leads a group on campus for survivors of trauma and assault. She has also led a group with ClubGENAustin, focusing on adolescent female empowerment, and spent time working with female adolescent Palestinian refugees, while abroad.

 

Janhavi Nemawarkar is a junior at the University of Texas at Austin studying government and Plan II Honors. She is involved with the student newspaper, The Daily Texan, as the forum editor, and in the past has worked as an opinion columnist and associate editor. Moreover, she is involved with on-campus organizations such as Asian Desi Pacific Islander American Collective, where she helps plan and lead workshops about voting access and social justice issues facing AAPI students, as well as Queer and Trans Students Alliance, where she helps plan events and meetings relating to activism within the LGBTQ community on campus. She volunteers with organizations that focus on mentorship and providing help with literacy skills to students in low-income schools in Austin.
Nemawarkar is interested, broadly, in health policy and the development of attitudes toward immigration in the United States and western Europe. She is an undergraduate fellow for the Clements Center for National Security and a Brumley Next Generation Scholar for the Robert Strauss Center for International Security. After graduation, she plans to go to law school and work in public policy.

 

 

Lila Al-Kassem is a junior pursuing a dual degree in International Relations and Global Studies and Government with minors in Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic. Her research interests include international development, public policy, and security. She is an Undergraduate Research Affiliate with UT’s Innovations for Peace and Development, where she is working alongside the Governance and Corruption team. There, she realized her passion for data and policy relevant research. She is also an Undergraduate Research Assistant for Dr. Nathan Jensen, where she is involved in a range of projects, such as analyzing the impact of economic development incentives in Texas, and writing country reports detailing the impact of multinational corporations on policy diffusion. Lila is planning to write a policy related undergraduate research paper for the duration of the 2017-2018 school year.
This past year, Lila has worked as an Virtual Student Foreign Service e-Intern with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Working with USAID’s Middle East Bureau, she identified potential corporate partners in the Middle East and North Africa for shared development initiatives, and helped map actor controlled areas in Iraq. Prior to this, Lila spent the summer of 2016 in Amman, Jordan interning as a Project Support Officer for University House for Consultations & Studies. As Project Support Officer, Lila aided in reviewing invitation for bid (IFB) documents, and managing item price estimations.
In the future, Lila wishes to continue her studies in graduate school with an interest in international policy and development.

 

Benjamin Vega is junior double majoring in International Relations and Global Studies and Middle Eastern Cultures and Languages and is a student in the university’s Arabic Flagship Program. He is also pursuing a minor in African and African Diaspora studies. His academic interests involve studying public actions during government restructuring following a period of political upheaval, specifically in the Middle East North Africa region. Benjamin has interned for the City of San Antonio’s International Relations Office, working with affiliated international sister cities on special events and international procedures. Following his undergraduate education, Benjamin plans on attending law school to study international human rights law.

Aside from academics, Mr. Vega is Traditions Coordinator for the Liberal Arts Council, overseeing all LAC social events and facilitating teamwork between members in the organization. Benjamin is also a dancer with Redefined Dance Company, teaching free classes every Sunday to the local Austin community. He also is active on campus advocating for increased diversity in the classroom and university as a whole. 

 

Jacquelyn Clark is a rising senior in the Liberal Arts Honors program. She is studying Geography as well as Iberian/Latin Languages & Cultures. Her focus is on the effects that cultures have on landscapes as well as how the U.S. can approach the issues posed by these interactions strategically and empathetically. Her work centers specifically on the Latin American community and seeks to incorporate Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques for enhanced visualization and deeper understanding.

An important experience for Jacquelyn was studying abroad in Argentina the summer after her sophomore year. There, she lived with a host family and took classes at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. The course topics covered past and present corruption, instability, and human rights abuse in the Southern Cone. These discussions have had lasting motivation for her professional aspirations. She has also had rewarding experiences from her time interning at Joey D. Bennett Consulting, Inc. and Scott Douglass & McConnico, LLP.

On campus, Jacquelyn stays involved with Texas Spirits, serves on the Academic Affairs Committee within Liberal Arts Council, and rides for Texas 4000 in the fight against cancer. Jacquelyn and her team will bike from Austin to Anchorage in the Summer of 2018. In her spare time, she also volunteers weekly at Manos de Cristo where she teaches and translates for a U.S. Citizenship class.

Her research interests include: border relations, security initiatives, diplomacy, religion, and global arbitration/peace resolutions. After graduating, Jacquelyn plans to visit her seventh continent and attend law school where she will study global law.

Jenny McGinty is a Plan II, International Relations, and Middle Eastern Studies senior in UT’s Arabic Flagship Program. Her particular interests include the long term impact of NGO work with displaced populations, and the efficacy of different forms of aid in post-conflict regions, particularly among refugee populations in the Middle East.  Jenny is a Brumley Next Generation Scholar and research affiliate with UT’s Innovation for Peace and Development, focusing her research on food insecurity, the relationship between conflict and natural resources, and open aid in developing regions.

Jenny spent her summer interning with Innovation Aid and Acting for Change Jordan in Amman, assisting in low tech recycling initiatives, cleaning and writing analysis reports of field data, and designing an English education project for Syrian refugees and victims of war in Zaatari Village. This has sparked Jenny’s research interest in international aid in host communities of refugees, and the efficacy of English education programs in refugee communities. Jenny hopes to continue her Arabic studies following graduation, and to continue working in the international development and security field.

Francesca “Chessie” Reece is a third-year Plan II Honors and Government double-major attending the University of Texas at Austin as a Forty Acres Scholar. With an interest in exploring many fields of work and study, she has served in various capacities in the UT Senate of College Councils, helped manage a statewide mock-government program for thousands of middle-and high-schoolers, held a public policy internship focused on improving Texas childcare laws, and more. This past summer she interned for the Association of Organizations of Mediterranean Businesswomen (AFAEMME) in Barcelona, Spain, focusing on grant-writing and research proposals for the nonprofit. After graduation she plans to continue her education in graduate school and eventually launch a career in intelligence analysis and security policy research, a passion she discovered through undertaking undergraduate research in this field at UT.

When not working or studying, Chessie enjoys reading and being outdoors, often combining both in a hammock somewhere in the Austin area. She enjoys swimming and doing yoga, and is actively trying to learn to cook. She enjoys traveling but will always be a native Texan at heart. Finally, Chessie is the proud owner of an 18 year-old dog named Sandy, the only dog she’s ever had, though she loves visiting the Austin Animal Center as a dog-walking volunteer on the weekends.

 

Emily Cantwell is a senior pursuing a double major in International Relations and French and minoring in African Studies. Her interests include water security, women’s rights, refugee rights, and francophone Africa. Emily researched climate change aid as part of the Complex Emergencies and Political Stability in Asia initiative through the Strauss Center and Innovations for Peace and Development. In addition, she has worked with the Clark Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies, helping to research the political salience of the High Court of Australia.

Emily has previously worked as a Refugee Cash Assistance intern at Refugee Services of Texas and as a summer intern at the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice. She is an active member of the University of Texas chapter of Amnesty International and served as Urgent Action Coordinator during the Spring 2017 semester. Emily believes in community engagement and has volunteered with youth mentoring programs such as Strong Women, Strong Girls and Students Expanding Austin Literacy.

In Fall 2016, Emily studied international relations at Sciences Po in Paris. She is currently writing an honors thesis for each of her majors, allowing her to further explore her interests in gender, water security, francophone Africa, and transnational film. Upon graduating in Spring 2018, Emily plans to go abroad to pursue a master’s degree in Human Rights Studies.

 

Aaron Burroughs is entering his fourth year studying International Relations & Global Studies, Liberal Arts Honors, and is a scholar in the Arabic Flagship Program. His academic interests include human rights protection and migration studies as well as Middle Eastern culture and language. Aaron is especially interested in how global power structures and world order oppress groups and institutionalize inequality in societies around the globe. Aaron has participated in the Clements Center London Maymester analyzing the history of the US-British relationship, and he completed a Clements Center Undergraduate Fellowship, discussing topics of international security with esteemed professionals in the field. In the summer of 2017, Aaron continued his Arabic language studies in a ten-week intensive program in Meknes, Morocco with the Arabic Flagship Program.

Aaron serves as the Director of MenCanEnd, a healthy masculinity project, as a Student Ambassador for the Office of Admissions, and he stays involved in the ACLU at UT Austin chapter, Texas Blazers, Texas Men of Excellence, and Punjabbawockeez dance team. Aaron plans to continue studying Arabic post-undergrad while living abroad for a year in Morocco with the American Councils for International Education.

Aaron was raised in San Antonio, Texas, where his love of culture and dependence on Tex-Mex cuisine thrived throughout his adolescence. In his free time, Aaron enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling abroad, hiking and camping in the great outdoors, exploring new music and going to concerts around Austin, and starting his mornings with a rich pot of black coffee.

 

Elizabeth Teare is a senior studying International Relations and Rhetoric with minors in Middle Eastern studies and French. Her research interests include conflict resolution, peace making studies and international development. As a Roach Scholar, she worked with a PhD student to create a dataset of political violence groups and their affiliations in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. She is a research affiliate with UT’s Innovations for Peace and Development, where she has worked on the CEPSA and AIIB teams. Elizabeth is also a Clements Center Undergraduate Fellow and was elected to the honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, as a junior.

Elizabeth spent most of 2016 living in France and studied at SciencesPo as apart of a Franco-Anglophone exchange program. In Spring 2017, Elizabeth interned in the audience development department of Texas Monthly. She spent summer 2017 interning with an edutainment social enterprise in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, working on multiple marketing and development projects.

During her senior year, Elizabeth will be writing her IRG honors thesis and is interested to research peace building programs and the importance of education in regards to development and conflict. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career that links her marketing experience and interests in international security and development policy.

 

Keeton Charles Schenck is a junior studying Finance and International Relations through the McCombs School of Business and Liberal Arts Honors program. His academic interests include international political economy and the impact of globalization on developing economies. Keeton’s academic background, coupled with a passion for technology, led him to a market research internship for a Y-Combinator startup based in Silicon Valley. There he developed a data-driven research initiative to analyze product-market fit and launched a drip-marketing campaign.

Keeton also served as the Travel Coordinator for the 2017 Texas 4000 team and completed the longest charity bike ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. Through this leadership development program, his team raised a total of $725,000 for cancer research and presented over 30 cancer awareness programs in the US and Canada. Keeton’s experiences working in Silicon Valley and biking across North America provided a first hand account of how differently globalization impacts urban and rural communities. He is interested in pursuing further research on globalization and trade liberalization through the Humanities Honors program.

Keeton stays involved with the Tejas Club and Texas 4000 For Cancer. He is working with Tejas to launch an academic program at Lanier High School. Through this program, Keeton and fellow Tejas members will coach 24 teams to prepare for the University Interscholastic League, which is the most comprehensive academic competition in the nation. In his free time, Keeton enjoys biking through the Austin hill country and exploring new restaurants.

 

Sebastian De Beurs is a third-year student in Plan II Honors and Government. Born to a Dutch father and American mother, he lived in the Netherlands for 16 years prior to moving to the U.S. Sebastian’s interest in foreign affairs started when he was at an international high school in the Netherlands. The different cultures and languages of his peers fascinated him, though the history and politics of their countries intrigued him most. Today, Sebastian’s interests lie in development policy, political psychology, and U.S. diplomacy – especially towards nations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. This past summer, Sebastian worked at the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C. As a Brumley Next Generation Scholar, Sebastian is excited to cultivate skills in policy research to prepare for a career in international development. 

In his free time, Sebastian enjoys exploring new flavors in the kitchen, new sounds on his guitar, and new sights hiking in nature. This summer, Sebastian hiked to the lowest and hottest point in the Western Hemisphere in Death Valley, California. He speaks Dutch and French, as well as some German and Afrikaans.

Who are the historical role models of Millennials today?  The Strauss Center’s Brumley Next Generation Scholars discuss 8 international figures from the past and present that shape the way they think about being a public leader.

 

Raoul Wallenberg (1912-1947) was a Swedish humanitarian known for rescuing thousands of Jews in Hungary from German Nazis during World War II. When the Red Army arrived in Budapest, Wallenberg was kidnapped and subsequently imprisoned in a KGB secret prison in Moscow, where he mysteriously died years later. The enormous risks Wallenberg took to put the lives of Hungarian Jews ahead of the motives of Nazi-occupied Hungary exemplify moral leadership. According to the moral psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, the highest stage in moral development is postconventional morality, when an individual’s conscience may deviate from societal conventions of right and wrong. Such moral disobedience and leadership is what Raoul Wallenberg showed in Hungary, saving the lives of thousands of persecuted Jews against the moral conventions of his peers.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) emulated the peace, acceptance and tolerance that he wished to see around him. As a civil rights leader, Gandhi is remembered for his nonviolent protests and for inspiring other civil rights leaders. But Gandhi is equally remembered for his commitment to a simple life and his emphasis on contemplation and thoughtful action. He devoted much of his time to meditation, prayer and fasting, and even used these peaceful practices as a means of creative protest. These qualities earned Gandhi trust and reputability in the eyes of Indians and the world. Gandhi found peace in himself, and used that forge a more peaceful, equal world, earning the name the Great Souled One.

Malala Yousafzai (1997- ) engaged in activism even as a child, risking her life to promote girls’ education in Pakistan. She gained a high profile after the Taliban attempted to take her life for her activism, and used her celebrity to further promote her cause. Malala is the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition to pursuing global access to education, Malala is a high-achieving student who will be attending Oxford University to pursue a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) showed remarkable bravery in using both political and apolitical action to mobilize the women’s rights movement, particularly focusing on suffrage. I believe she would be both surprised by and motivated to further improve the status of women in the US and world today, and creatively use technology and travel to expand her scope to eliminating global gender discrimination. She would absolutely have a Twitter, as during her lifetime she leveraged all communication tools available at the time, particularly the free press.

If Susan B. Anthony were to tweet today, she would say::

I support #HeForShe. Cooperation and coordination on all levels of society lead to momentum and power, and empowering women can include anyone. #UNWomen

I stand #withMalala! Learn more about the fight for women’s education and donate to the Malala Fund here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y59sIrh1il4&feature=youtu.be

 

Barack Obama (1961- ) In pushing for progressive change, one cannot ignore the value of hope or of an enthusiastic outlook toward the future. Growing up through my teenage years with Barack Obama as my president was an absolute privilege. A man who embodied respect, resolve for what is right, the importance of kindness even in the highest positions of power, Obama brought modern issues of human rights and social justice to the forefront of a nation’s conscious that was never built for people like him. It is increasingly important in today’s world rife with growing divisions that world leaders speak for the most marginalized voices of society. Even after his presidency, Obama continues to push for equality and unification, tweeting words of comfort to a distraught world.

 

Pope Francis (1936- ) Amid an increasingly caustic political climate, I have found myself questioning the efficacy of our political system and leaders. I believe Pope Francis is an international public figure that transcends political ideology and unites billions of people through hope and tolerance. These qualities, coupled with his humble background and moderate outlook, solidify his role as a public figure that propagates peace and actively combats oppression and hate.

Twitter: “I invite you not to build walls but bridges, to conquer evil with good, offense with forgiveness, to live in peace with everyone.”

 

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1965) is revered for his unwavering honesty and faith in America’s future. As a leader, he had a remarkable ability to underscore intrinsic human values and bring people together. Lincoln would surely be astounded at the deep divides in our domestic politics and how easily we caricature and demonize the person on the other side. I know he would send a unifying reminder at yet another crucial time in the U.S. that progress comes from civil discourse. He would be proud of the innovative strides we’ve made in human rights and technology but would firmly stress that we must bridge gaps in policy.

 

Harriet Tubman’s (1820-1913) embodied a self sacrificial lifestyle and unwavering dedication to her cause. She did more for the black community in America and for U.S. citizens in general than an official public leader ever could during her time. She claimed her unalienable and constitutional rights, that she was certain were God given, in the face of insurmountable legal adversity. She demonstrated, through fighting in battles, running from the police, and protecting escaping former slaves, that when injustice is being dealt, it is your responsibility to fight to combat it. I would choose Harriet Tubman, as my ideal role model and public figure, because her identity, sense of well being, and purpose was tied intrinsically to her people and the lives of those around her.