Today’s question, co-hosted by Texas in Africa: A mass movement approach to atrocity prevention must, by definition, bring in people who do not have a background with the history of the country for whose people they are being encouraged to advocate for. In Fighting for Darfur, advocacy movement leader, Sam Bell says “Looking back, I […]
Hypocrisy on human rights
May 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Next question, co-hosted on Sahel Blog: Throughout Fighting for Darfur, the Sudanese government argues that the U.S. is hypocritical in calling for pressure against Khartoum, while turning a blind eye to its own human rights record in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. How much of an impact did this argument have on European nations? What about […]
What is the best role for citizen voices in foreign policy?
May 16, 2011 by 3 Comments
A View From The Cave will be co-hosting today’s question so feel free to check out the discussion over there as well. Here goes: There are views along a spectrum about the appropriate role for citizens in the foreign policy process. On one view, citizens should focus solely on “noise-making” – akin to the ‘bumper-sticker’ […]
Would reforming the UN Security Council improve its ability to respond to mass atrocities?
May 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The conversation around UN Security Council reform had a lot of momentum in 2006, and has continued to be pushed by some states who do not have permanent seats on the council. What difference might proposed reforms make to the council’s response to situations like Darfur? In Fighting for Darfur China often used the threat […]
What about the responsibilities of policymakers?
May 8, 2011 by 3 Comments
Fighting for Darfur spends a lot of time looking at successes and failings of activists. But what about the policymakers they were targeting? The next set of questions tries to get at the intersection of citizen engagement and policy formulation from the perspective of those who are responsible for policy inside the government: Darfur activists […]
What role for the U.S. in the battle to stop genocide and mass atrocities?
May 5, 2011 by 6 Comments
As I continue to post draft questions from the teaching guide over the coming month, I’m grateful to a few bloggers out there who have agreed to co-host some questions to help get a mix of reader feedback. (If you have a site with readers who you think would be interested in joining the conversation, […]
Swift action in Libya vs. years of delay in Darfur: What gives?
May 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment
“Why does the world care about Libyans and not about us?” I was asked during a phone interview with a Darfuri leader recently. He told me that the displaced people in the camp he was speaking to me from had been listening to radio reports about how swiftly the world had moved to protect civilians […]
Aid dollars as evidence of Darfur advocacy success?
April 26, 2011 by 5 Comments
Okay, here we go with Q#2. Again, feel free to bite off just one segment of it and/or comment on better ways to construct the question: A graph in Fighting for Darfur shows that between 2005-2008, Darfur – just one region of Sudan – received tenfold more funding from the U.S. Congress than the entirety […]
Carnegie New Leaders (New York)
April 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Hosted by: Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs “Beyond Good Intentions: The promise and peril of citizen engagement in foreign policy” Starting in 2005, thousands of ordinary Americans made the plight of people in Darfur their cause and tried to build political will within the foreign policy system to respond to Darfur. Believing the […]
Nick Kristof
April 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment
NYT columnist, Nick Kristof, tweets: “Maybe the best & most readable book about Sudan is the new Fighting for Darfur by @bechamilton http://amzn.to/dR2yjK“
