Ph.D. Research Forum, September 30, 2016, Cabot 7th floor
Presenters
Michael Baskin
Title: Shooting and Talking: The Use of Negotiation by US MarineInfantry Battalion Commanders in Helmand, Afghanistan 2008-2013.
Abstract: Michael Baskin's research examines the use of negotiation and conflict resolution skills in armed conflict by military actors. His dissertation studyincorporates qualitative research methods toexamine the negotiation experiences of US Marine Corps infantry battalion commanders in Helmand, Afghanistan from 2008-2013.
Bio: Michael Baskin is a PhD Candidate at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. His research interests focus on the use of negotiation and conflict resolution in armed conflict, with additional research in energy security and natural resources. Michael was a 2015-2016 Graduate Research Fellow at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. He also served as a Fellow in the US Department of Energy in 2014 and 2015, including catalyzing the Solar Ready Vets program and staffed a clean energy sector commitment to the First Lady's Joining Forces initiative. He is a former US Army infantry officer with service in Afghanistan and Iraq, and holds a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY and an MA from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel.
Rishikesh Bhandary
Title: Climate Finance Strategies and their Effects in Developing Countries
Abstract: During this presentation, I will present a typology of approaches used by developing countries to mobilize climate finance. I will also discuss a preliminary analytical framework developed to explain the effectiveness of climate funds. This framework brings together insights from international organizations and development to identify why some climate funds perform better than others.
Bio: Rishi is a PhD candidate at Fletcher and a predoctoral fellow at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy. His research interest primarily lies in international cooperation on climate change. His dissertation explores the use of national climate funds as an instrument to mobilize finance in developing countries.
Avner Golov
Title: The Dark Side of Extended Deterrence: The Protégé's Deterrence Hedging
Abstract: There are many studies explaining how dominant powers ("protectors") manage alliances. Nevertheless, how do inter-alliance dynamics affect the behavior of the weaker member in the alliance – the protégé? This question has not yet been a focal point for many researchers. This research addresses the theoretical lacuna about the role of the protégé – "the dark side of extended deterrence." Its objective is to shed some light upon the protégé's cost-benefit calculus and deterrence policy in extended deterrence interaction – when a country extends its power to protect an ally (the protégé) against a potential threat. This study does so by offering three new concepts: the "deterrence-independence dilemma," "overriding deterrence," and "complementary deterrence." The first concept is the hypothesized dilemma the protégé confronts in extended deterrence interaction. The two new forms of deterrence are the two hypothesized policy alternatives the protégé possesses to solve this dilemma in the framework of extended deterrence.
Bio: AvnerGolovis a PhD candidate and Harry S. Truman Scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He is a research fellow atIsrael’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)at Tel Aviv, and an Israel Institute Doctoral Fellow. He was recently awarded the Morris Abrams award. Golov served as an adjunct researcher for the Middle East Security Research Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), and as the special assistant toINSSDirector Maj. Gen. (ret.) AmosYadlin. Previously he served at Israel’s National Security Staff. Golovhas published articles in Israeli and international leading journals, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the National Interest. He received his M.A. in Government studies with Magna Cum Laude from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) – Herzliya.
Lami Kim
Title: Curbing Sensitive Nuclear Assistance:The Impact of the Nuclear Export Control Regime
Abstract: Does civil nuclear assistance increase the risk of nuclear proliferation? What conditions affect this relationship? The existing theory that civil nuclear assistance increases the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation explains only the first half of the nuclear era, roughly until the mid-1970s, but not the latter half since that time. India carried out a nuclear test in 1974 after receiving civil nuclear assistance from the US and Canada, and in response the international community established the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a multilateral nuclear export control regime, to regulate civil nuclear assistance. Since then, the NSG has been effective in curbing sensitive nuclear assistance (the transfer of uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing technologies), which contributes to the spread of nuclear weapons. I argue that civil nuclear assistance does not increase nuclear proliferation when an effective international nuclear export regime that limits sensitive nuclear assistance is in place. The NSG mitigates the proliferation-risk involving civil nuclear assistance by facilitating cooperation among states in limiting the spread of sensitive nuclear capabilities.
Bio: Lami Kim is a research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a Ph.D. candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a lecturer in the International Studies Program at Boston College. Prior to moving to Boston, she served as a Foreign Service Officer at the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She holds a Masters in International Affairs from The Fletcher School and a Master's Degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University.
Laura Kuhl
Title: Mainstreaming Climate Resilience into Agricultural Development: An analysis of the Feed the Future Initiative
Abstract: How compatible are market systems and climate resilience approaches to development, and what challenges exist for the integration of climate resilience in market systems programs? This presentation examines the mainstreaming of climate resilience into large-scale international development programs, using the US government’s Feed the Future Initiative as a case study. This paper analyzes how climate change has been integrated into the Feed the Future portfolio, as well as the different barriers in Ethiopia and Honduras to mainstreaming climate change into a market-based agricultural program.
Bio: Laura Kuhl studies international environmental policy and sustainable development. She is a research fellow at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy and her research examines climate adaptation and resilience in developing countries. Her dissertation explores innovation, technology transfer and adoption for climate adaptation in the agricultural sector in Ethiopia and Honduras.
Melanie Reed
Title: Incentives for Norwegian and Italian Firms to Engage in Measures to Prevent Foreign Bribery
Abstract:International standards such as the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions require enforcement of foreign bribery laws, but international norms regarding foreign bribery are still in a state of flux. Many people think foreign bribery, that is, bribery of foreign officials in connection with business transactions, to be unethical, but others continue to assert that it is impossible to conduct business abroad without paying bribes. The normative sense that foreign bribery is wrong is still in the process of becoming internalized worldwide.The private sector is critical to the dissemination of norms regarding foreign bribery. Firms spread norms indirectly by undertaking anti-corruption measures and requiring partners to do the same. They also may influence local community values directly. Relying on findings from semi-structured interviews with Norwegian and Italian firms, government, and civil society, I set forth a three-phase model of why firms undertake such efforts. Firms in phase 1 are motivated by ties with the United States and fears of US prosecution. Firms in phase 2 fear prosecution or reputational loss in the home country. Phase 3 firms engage in anti-corruption efforts because of ties within their supply chains.
Bio:Melanie Reed's research focuses on the evolving international anti-bribery regime, specifically, why businesses comply with emerging norms against foreign bribery and the role of the business community in disseminating international business norms. Her research primarily focuses on Europe, and she spent the 2014-2015 academic year as a guest researcher in Norway, based at the Chr.Michelsen Institute (Bergen) and Handelshøyskolen BI (Oslo). Prior to starting at Fletcher in fall 2012, she worked as an analyst in the Anti-Corruption Division of the OECD (Paris), as an attorney atCovington & Burling (DC), and as a visiting professor of law at Texas Tech University (Lubbock). Shereceived her bachelor's and juris doctorate degrees from Brigham Young University.
Ben Spatz
Title:Bullets, Banks and Borders: Hypothesizing How Targeted Sanctions Can Alter Domestic Political Power Structures in Sanctioned States
Abstract: This research explores whether and how international targeted sanctions alter the political power landscape of sanctioned countries, and what any such micro-level impacts might mean for sanctions' broader "effectiveness" and state-building processes.
Bio: Benjamin J. Spatz is a Provost Fellow and PhD Candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His research interests include the politics of conflict, political violence, peacekeeping operations and war to peace transitions. From 2013-2015 Mr. Spatz was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General as the Arms Expert on the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia to investigate arms embargo violations, arms trafficking, regional militant activity and advise the UN Security Council accordingly. He previously investigated natural resource issues for the UN Security Council; served as Special Advisor to the Liberian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Liberian Minister of Internal Affairs; worked for a relief organization in Darfur, Sudan; and monitored elections in Sierra Leone and Liberia. He holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and degrees in Philosophy and International Studies from the University of Washington.
Juan Taborda
Title: Evaluating Decentralization Reform and its Links to Economic Development and Improved Public Service Provision.
Abstract: Linking decentralization and development was the common assumption motivating the push for decentralization since the 1980s, even if there was little empirical evidence supporting it. The key argument was that decentralization generates better public service provision or allows taking advantage of economies of scale to secure economic development resulting in better factor allocation. The research proposal intends to develop three independent articles all of which address the need to better evaluate and analyze decentralization processes. The argument is that by taking three very different approaches the research design will allow us to understand in a holistic way the impact decentralization reform has on both economic development and public sector provision.
Bio: I am a third year Ph.D. candidate in International Relations at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a Fulbright Scholar from Colombia concentrating in International Political Economy and Development Economics. Prior to enrolling at Fletcher, I worked for the Colombian National Planning Department focusing on regional policy and the construction of public policies to strengthen local government capabilities. In this capacity I oversaw the drafting and implementation of the public policy for the development of Colombian frontier territories and was part of the team working on the Territorial review for Colombia's accession to the OECD. I also worked as an external consultant for USAID and AECOM in a project related to the implementation of the restorative justice system, and as a research assistant studying the way institutional design and fiscal institutions determine the development of financial crises.
Jamilah Welch
Title: It’s in the Bag: An Experiment on the Drivers of Technology Adoption and Demand
Abstract:Increased agricultural yields are often highlighted as a goal of development efforts. Many of these gains may rely on the adoption of existing technologies, rather than the creation of new ones. I seek to explore how and why individuals, particularly in the developing world, go about adopting new technologies, and the impact on their well-being once they do. In this study, I test one potential driver of adoption of agricultural technology for crop storage—employing experimental methods to test the effect of psychological phenomenon (anchoring and cognitive bias) on willingness to pay for improved crop storage bags.
Bio: Jamilah Welch is a PhD candidate at Fletcher, a Doctoral Fellow with The Hitachi Center for Development and Technology, and an Associate Director at the Institute for Business in the Global Context. She has worked across sectors, and has worked or researched in the fields of humanitarian aid, gender-based violence, social business, digital financial services, impact investment and regulation.