Articles, Papers, and Reports

The U.S., China, and Cybersecurity: The Ethical Underpinnings of a Controversial Geopolitical Issue | 05/24/2013
Though commonly conceptualized as a strategic geopolitical issue, cybersecurity's underpinnings are comprised by a series of fundamental ethical considerations. Addressing these will provide a better framework for easing bilateral tensions and promoting cooperation than surface-level tit-for-tat negotiations and public naming and shaming.

After Boston: An Intelligence Blame Game with no Winner | 05/08/2013 David C. Speedie Immediately after the Boston Marathon bombings there was a sadly predictable flurry of mutual recriminations between the intelligence services of the U.S. and Russia. It's time to put suspicions aside and work together against terrorism directed at both countries.

Years Later, Secular Student Group Recognized On A Religious Campus: Here's How It Happened | 04/11/2013 Chris Stedman, Andreas Rekdal In order to be truly inclusive, interfaith dialogue and collaboration must also include those without faith.

Book Review: "The Undivided Past: Humanity Beyond Our Differences" | 04/11/2013 Zach Dorfman "The Undivided Past" aims to show that "the most resonant forms of human solidarity," as author David Cannadine elegantly puts it, are unstable and often ultimately incoherent. In other words, many foundational concepts cannot withstand logical or historical scrutiny.

Why Dictators Don't Like Jokes | 04/09/2013 Srdja Popovic, Mladen Joksic Pro-democracy activists around the world are discovering that humor is one of the most powerful weapons in the fight against authoritarianism.

Is China Taking the Right Cues From History? | 03/21/2013 Devin T. Stewart Signs suggest that China's new president Xi Jinping will be inclined to double down on communist orthodoxy, based on his reading of the history of the USSR and its 1991 collapse. But is the Chinese leadership misreading history?

Book Review: "China and Africa: A Century of Engagement" | 03/08/2013 Alex Woodson Now more than ever, the world is influenced and affected by all things Chinese, especially its relationships with developing countries. And there is much to learn through studying the country's dealings with Africa, which are of great enormity and complexity. This book is, therefore, an important resource for anyone concerned with international relations.

"The Greatest Ethical Challenge: To Speak" by Joshua Thomas | 02/21/2013
"...What have I learned? That silence is the greatest ethical challenge; that it is so much easier to stay silent, to say nothing, to fly under the radar. To not act, to acquiesce."

"Learning to Cooperate When We're Poles Apart" by Jacob Karlsson Lagerros | 02/21/2013
Climate change is not the world's greatest challenge. Neither is relentless fanaticism, global terrorism, or the international machine of capitalism grinding to a halt. Today's major ethical dilemma is to learn how to cooperate when our ideologies can barely coexist.

"Traffic Lights" by By Jae Woo Jang | 02/21/2013
At the age of 14, Sarina was tricked into becoming a sex slave--and there are hundreds of thousands of teenage girls just like her. What can we do to help?

"Consumerism" by Anjana Aravind | 02/21/2013
"I live in a small town in India. People have a notion that consumerism is a "first-world" problem but it is not. Wherever you come from, people measure wealth by how big your cars are and how many things you own. The richer you are, the more waste you generate. But in countries like mine, recycling is a term that is rarely used because there is no infrastructure for that."

"Population" by Juinn-Ren "Andrew" Wang | 02/21/2013
Our governments don't like to talk about population control because it is unpleasant; it is unethical to tell others how many or how few children they are allowed to have. Solving the problem of our world's exploding human population is thus the greatest ethical challenge humanity will face in the 21st century.

"The Responsibility of the Individual" by Xinle Su | 02/21/2013
"We urgently need a paradigm shift in how we view ourselves vis-à-vis global issues. There are innumerable issues and ethical challenges in each issue facing our planet today, but what severely debilitates us is the lack of initiative of each and every individual on the global issues in their personal capacities."

"Human Trafficking" by Sandhya Bhat and Catherine Pushpam Joseph | 02/21/2013
"There is no doubt we live in a world that specializes in creating broken people every day. We've reached a point where eradicating human trafficking is no longer restricted to few willing individuals and organizations. Anyone, in any manner, can help in minimizing this condemnable condition. It just comes down to whether we are willing to take that first step."

"Economics Has Replaced Ethics" by Laura J. Rediehs | 02/21/2013
"The biggest ethical challenge facing us today is that we have let economics replace ethics as a guide to life, and in doing so, we have devalued people and the associated virtues of respect, cooperation, empathy, and compassion. This problem underlies and complicates the more specific ethical challenges we face."

"Terrorism" by Madueke Michael-Francis Nezie | 02/21/2013
Terrorism is like a virus. It cannot be said to be bound within certain political states or geographic boundaries. To end terror, extremism and its attendant acts of terrorism must be addressed simultaneously. To fight an idea, we need an idea. The best way to eradicate terrorism is to never let it happen. It is a little like vaccination.

"Exploitive Inequality" by John Dever | 02/21/2013
"Exploitive inequality is one of the fundamental ethical challenges that faces us today, and it vastly complicates any response to threats to peace, justice, and human dignity. In an era of instant communication, virtually all people of the world are increasingly aware of the widening gap between the rich countries and the poor ones."

"Saving the World Is Indifferent, Acting for it Isn't" by Ilari Aula | 02/21/2013
"The greatest ethical challenge facing the planet is to discover how we ordinary people reach and maintain the motivation to change the world. It is we, not the leaders, institutions or experts who play a critical role in bringing a momentum to a pro-poor trade regime, a CO2-neutral global line or a realizable nuclear disarmament plan."

U.S.-Russian Juvenilia | 02/21/2013 Jack F. Matlock "The action of the U.S. Congress in passing the Magnitsky Act and the reaction of Russian politicians that followed it remind me of school kids exchanging imprecations in the schoolyard. Except that, in the current instance, the fallout affects innocent people."

Saddam's Pistol, and Yours | 02/14/2013 Joel H. Rosenthal "In the current debate over gun regulation a simple point is being missed. Every citizen has the right to a gun. But shouldn't every man, woman, and child also have the right not to have a gun and expect to live in a safe and secure environment?"