Thinking Through with LJ

Valentina Lana, a Lecturer at the Sciences Po law school in Paris, discusses the 2022 Corruption Perception Index, highlighting that global peace has deteriorated for the past decade and a half. Valentina is also a German Marshall Fund's 2023 Marshall Memorial Fellow.

Latest Valentina's publication:

Lana, V., & Sapin, M. (2023, March 3). The Impact of the Sapin II Act on the Extraterritorial Application of American law and on cooperation between France and the United States in the fight against international corruption | International Enforcement Law Reporter. https://www.ielr.com/content/impact-sapin-ii-act-extraterritorial-application-american-law-and-cooperation-between-france

Reference:

Transparency International. (2023, January 31). 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index. Transparency.Org. https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022

Photo Cover: By photocreo

The episode focuses on Sci-Fi and Practical Orientalism, Chapter 7 of Greta's book, and the Concluding Thoughts. Greta Lynn Uehling is the Author of Everyday War, a book resulting from her long-term research between 2015 and 2017 in Donbas, Ukraine. Greta is also a Teaching Professor at the University of Michigan. Greta's expertise includes international migration, human smuggling and trafficking, and refugee resettlement.

Reference

Uehling, G. L. (2023). Everyday War: The Conflict over Donbas, Ukraine. Cornell University Press.

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Cover Photo: By halfpoint

Greta Lynn Uehling is the Author of Everyday War, a book resulting from her long-term research between 2015 and 2017 in Donbas, Ukraine. Greta is also a teaching Professor at the University of Michigan. Greta’s expertise includes international migration, human smuggling and trafficking, and refugee resettlement.

This episode introduces a sequence where Greta presents her research findings while exploring the political conflict implications in the noncombatant relationships between Ukraine and Russian identities, all sharing internally displaced person spaces. Each one had to adopt survival strategies, some of which caused social and family fractures. But most importantly, ensuring they remain alive among the casualties of that war.

Book Store: Amazon

Episode Cover: TDyuvbanova

Reference: Uehling, G. L. (2023). Everyday War: The Conflict over Donbas, Ukraine. Cornell University Press.

Mokshda Pertaub, a Lawyer, trained as a barrister from Mauritius with 25 years of experience in legal practice, judiciary, and legal advisory, as well as teaching and training, particularly in the areas of gender laws, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), children rights and environmental law. She is an international gender expert and a Gender Responsive Policing consultant with UNWomen for Senegal National Police, as well as a gender and law consultant with various international agencies like IOM, Equality Now, Agence France de Development, etc. She is also a judicial trainer in environmental law, cyber crimes and digital evidence, judicial ethics and integrity, and gender and violence.

Ubuntulist

Producer: Fatma Awadalla

Host: Leopoldino Jeronimo

Photo Cover: Image-Source

Baba Sillah is a researcher in Global Studies at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. And Ali Kaba, a researcher in International Development at the American University.

Your host: Leopoldino Jeronimo
Website: https://thinkingthroughwithlj.com/
Episode Cover: Evanto elements, by SteveAllenPhoto999

Ali previously worked as a Program Director and Senior Researcher at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI). A Liberian-based Non-Governmental Organization committed to transforming decision-making processes in land and natural resources.

Photo by James Wiseman on Unsplash

Valentina Lana, a Lecturer at the Sciences Po law school in Paris, rounds up the best anti-corruption practices in global policies in this last episode of three. As the last piece of her proposed knowledge map, Valentina ends with cheerful tones, a takeaway for institutions and people determined to embrace an anti-corruption system.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Additional Material:

UN. (2022). UN Office of the Iraq Program—Oil-for-Food. https://www.un.org/depts/oip/sector-food.html

Transparency International. (2013). Oil-for-food programme plagued by ‘lack of transparency’ and…. Transparency.Org. https://www.transparency.org/en/press/oil-for-food-programme-plagued-by-lack-of-transparency-and-scandalous-confl

An Inquiry on the U.N. Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme | NYU School of Law. (n.d.-a). Retrieved August 24, 2022, from https://www.law.nyu.edu/news/IILJ_IRAQ_OILFOOD

An Inquiry on the U.N. Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme | NYU School of Law. (n.d.-b). https://www.law.nyu.edu/news/IILJ_IRAQ_OILFOOD

Duke University School of Law. (2013, October 11). Investigating the United Nations Oil-For-Food Program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvhyg3zbqH0

With Victor Uhuru a community organizer, conflict analyst, and specialist in Monitoring and Evaluation, I discuss the trends of democracy and ethnic conflicts in Kenya as it applies to his understanding of what the country awaits for brighter governance and an inclusive system. He argues on the intricacies of lack of public participation and discrepancies in coordinated efforts for better accountability while highlighting the most outstanding achievements Kenya has reached.

Phamolie Morris orris Kromah breaks it down to de essence of sustained peace and development for ECOWAS, the Economic West Africa Society. He elaborates on what sets back economic growth while also acknowledging the significant tipping progress to date. Among the detailed critical statistics, he also delivers a qualifying analysis driving a reflection on the autonomy of the region and the African Union as it relates to its functional external funding source. Moreover, what exactly will drive progress in the region, and if not ambitious, what about the continent?

Photo by Edouard TAMBA on Unsplash

Political and Economilitary discussions flow this episode's discussion with Anastasia Bannikova, Elizabeth Morgan, and Phamolie Morris Kromah. From the imperialist beginnings, in the structure of power dynamics, the ongoing conflicts come to light as a result of historical accounts of; the way wars and other conflicts have been negotiated and unsustainably settled in addition to the structural system of political and economilitary bases that dominates the militarization of the world and divide, which includes the long-lasting quest of identity between the powerful economies, the West versus Russia and the others in between whether it is a quest for a global democratic world or a more coexisting diverse world of multiple systems.

Here are the readings we recommend: 

Lowe, P. (2016). The rise of the BRICS in the global economy. Teaching Geography, 41(2), 50–53. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26455170

Motyl, A. J. (1996). Russia, Ukraine, and the West: What are America’s Interests? American Foreign Policy Interests, 18(1), 14–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10803920.1996.10391918

Motyl, A. J. (Ed.). (2001a). Encyclopedia of nationalism. Academic Press.

Motyl, A. J. (2001b). Imperial ends: The decay, collapse, and revival of empires. Columbia University Press.

Motyl, A. J., Ruble, B. A., & Shevtsova, L. (2004). Russia’s Engagement with the West: Transformation and Integration in the Twenty-First Century. Taylor & Francis Group. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/brandeis-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4605363

NW, 1615 L. St, Washington, S. 800, & Inquiries, D. 20036 U.-419-4300 | M.-857-8562 | F.-419-4372 | M. (2022, March 15). Public Expresses Mixed Views of U.S. Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. Pew Research Center - U.S. Politics & Policy. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/03/15/public-expresses-mixed-views-of-u-s-response-to-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/

Snyder, T. (2018). The road to unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America(First paperback edition). Tim Duggan Books.

Stevis-Gridneff, M., Levenson, M., & Erlanger, S. (2022, April 7). What Happened on Day 43 of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/07/world/ukraine-russia-war-news

Photo by Brett Zeck on Unsplash

To understand what Coercive and Nuclear Negotiations are, I discuss with Professor Eugene B. Kogan, a researcher and an expert in the power dynamics of negotiation. This is also the core of his fast-paced and interactive pro-seminar, offering an in-depth introduction to the principles and dynamics of coercive and nuclear negotiations worldwide, focusing on a few conflicts for reference.

The world is now overwhelmed with a few ongoing negotiation processes over conflicts with multiple actors in the global north and south countries. Although the list of these conflicts might be probably endless depending on how each conflict is reported and to who it affects, different data sources and conflict analysis have put together some for our benefit and focused discernment.

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) reported last February 2022 that Ethiopia, Yemen, The Sahel, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Sudan, Haiti, Colombia, and Myanmar would be the 10 conflicts to watch this year (ACLED, 2022).

Eugene Kogan is a professor of conflict resolution at Harvard, Brandeis, and other Universities. He is also a Co-Author of the book Mediation: Negotiation by other moves. In addition, he has also been engaged in delivering an analytical message and strategies a contribute to sustainable negotiation processes.

Episode cover Photo by Humphrey Muleba on Unsplash

Here are the readings we recommend:

Walsh, C. (2022, March 18). Finding exit to war in Ukraine. Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/03/finding-exit-to-war-in-ukraine/

Kogan, E. B. (2022, March 7). Without giving in, a united West needs to offer Putin a face-saving way out | Opinion. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/without-giving-united-west-needs-offer-putin-face-saving-way-out-opinion-1685551

Robert J. Art and Patrick Cronin, The United States and Coercive Diplomacy. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace, 2003), Introduction and Conclusion.

Alain Lempereur, Jacques Salzer, Aurelien Colson, Michele Pekar, Eugene B. Kogan, Mediation: Negotiation by Other Moves (Wiley 2021), Chapter 1.

James K. Sebenius and Eugene B. Kogan, Henr

Roddy Denor and Martin Alexis unfold Haiti's development dilemmas. Between the 80s and 90s, there came the Structural Adjustment Programs. These are a set of combined loans and policies with strings attached to restore political and economically weak nations, most of whom emerge from civil wars. The path for the intended restoration was to create conditions to increase foreign direct investments, reduce taxes and prohibitive regulations, and have less state interference in the economy. And, of course, this followed the boom of international non-governmental organizations and development agencies. In this late setting, Roddy and Martin walk their intellect to carve their statement.

Sources
Episode cover Photo by Claudia Altamimi on Unsplash

Leroy, D. (1991a). IMF Structural Adjustment Programs: The case of Haiti, Part 1. https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/24980/1/1991_leroy_dominique.pdf

Leroy, D. (1991b). IMF Structural Adjustment Programs: The case of Haiti, Part 2. https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/24980/2/1991_leroy_dominique_part2.pdf

Weisbrot, M. (1997, January). Structural adjustment in Haiti. Monthly Review, 48(8), 25+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A442779610/AONE?u=anon~3612484d&sid=googleScholar&xid=fceed8a7

We follow up on the Russia-Ukraine conflict with Professor  Pratistha Joshi Rajkarnikar, Elisabeth Morgan, Anastasia Bannikova, Tyler Rossi, Ruya Akar, Roddy Denor and Alex Homer. In this episode, we focus on understanding the interests of China, economic alternatives for Russia, and the power dynamics impacting the humanitarian crises.

Episode cover Photo by Nati Melnychuk on Unsplash

A thinking-through episode unpacking the Russia-Ukraine conflict with Elisabeth Morgan, Anastasia Bannikova, Tyler Rossi, and Ruya Akar.  The first of many to come every two weeks until we get to some ground of resolution for peace and security, not to mention restoring people's dignity and identity.

Professor Alain Lempereur discusses the Dilemmas of Conflict Transformation and Power Dynamics. As a professor, author of publications in conflict resolution and coexistence, and an active expert member of the global experts in negotiation programs, Alain holds an essential experienced opinion to shape change narratives. In this podcast, I seek to explore why conflicts recur and, most importantly, who pays the price while a handful of minorities shape the lives of the world's population. Furthermore, I ask whether Accademia plays a role, assuming that most of the world's ongoing and past negotiations are managed by actors from a particular school of liberal or local agendas. To that, a key question followed to find out if a change in the narrative away from the colonial legacies could not be an option to build a better sense of ownership in most of the peacebuilding processes, so far failing to address the root causes of conflict and the use of more exclusive approaches to negotiation.

Episode Art Cover source is a map of visualized world's  ongoing conflicts in 2021, available  at:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-where-are-the-worlds-ongoing-conflicts-today/