Media:

My appearance on The Global Current discussing Ethiopia.

Publications:

70 Years of Successful Security and Fatal Failures at the UNSC

With the UN Security Council approaching the 70th anniversary of its first meeting on January 17th, it seems a fitting time to look back and reflect on how well it has achieved its mandate, and how that mandate has evolved to accommodate new threats. The Security Council’s prime function has been to tackle threats to peace and security throughout the world…

Prospects for a More Peaceful Africa: The Potential of a Monetary Union

The proposed economic union of African nations has the capacity to drastically diminish conflict on the continent. The reasoning behind this is the same as the reasoning that is the basis for theories seeking to explain interactions between nations (economic peace theory, the liberal school of thought in international relations). These theories hold that the stronger the economic ties between nations the less likely they are to engage in conflict with one another. These theories are grounded in the observation that there have been no open wars between the great powers since the end of World War II, when globalization and economic integration began in earnest. Democratic peace theory observes that there has never been a war between two modern democracies which is in part attributed to the fact that democracies have free markets and a high level of trade which discourages conflicts that could lead to war…

UNCTAD’s Fiftieth: Prosperity for All?

Fifty years ago, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was created to guide developing countries in finding their place in international trade. Since then, it has lacked focus and faced internal stagnation. Other organizations, such as the WTO, have taken over many of its issue areas. Furthermore, UNCTAD’s problems stem in part from its voting procedures, which allow any single member state to cause a vote on a new policy to fail. On their golden anniversary, UNCTAD itself may need a guide so it can carve out a new niche for itself…

Working Papers:

The Effect of the Legal Status of MSM on HIV Infection Rates

In an effort to shed new light on how policy can be a driving force in the global HIV epidemic this study looks at the relationship between the laws regarding MSM in a country and that country’s HIV infection rate. The effects of varying levels of education between countries on their HIV infection rates has been removed prior to analysis…