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- Chair:
-
Yuliya Aliyeva
(ADA University)
- Discussant:
-
Sohrob Aslamy
(Syracuse University)
- Format:
- Panel
- Theme:
- Political Science, International Relations, and Law
- Location:
- EG105
- Sessions:
- Friday 13 September, -
Time zone: America/New_York
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 13 September, 2024, -Abstract:
Research shows that egalitarian family law may be the most important precondition for the economic and political empowerment of women (Dollar & Gratti, 1999; Kaber; 2005; Klasen, 2016; OCED, 2017; World Bank; 2017). For policymakers, the primary source of concern lies in international law’s failure to address inequalities within the family unit, complicating the work and scholarship in the field of international women’s rights. This is especially prevalent in many Muslim-majority countries that have integrated religious laws into their legal systems, institutionalizing inequalities in matters of marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance. It is these religious laws that several Muslim-majority nations base their reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), namely Article 16 which concerns women’s rights and equality within the family. Given Islamic law’s institutionalization of female inequalities, a country’s level of legal secularization (or lack thereof) has been used as an explanatory variable for the subordinate status of women in the Muslim World. The assumption that secularization inherently leads to improved gender equality presupposes that the elimination of religious influence from legal systems paves the way for egalitarian social structures. However, empirical evidence supporting this assumption remains limited, particularly regarding nations that have undergone the process from their previous employment of religious family laws. In response, this study examines the gap between law and practice in the case of Tajikistan, a nation that has undergone the process of legal secularization from its previous employment of Islamic laws in the late 1920s. Yet, Tajikistan consistently ranks among the lowest in terms of gender equality among its regional counterparts despite ratifying CEDAW without reservations. Complicating matters further, the country has also been reported to have an upsurge in informal utilization of Islamic law, including polygamous marriages and citizens turning to religious institutions to resolve family disputes. Based on field research conducted between August 2022 and February 2023, this paper investigates the discrepancy between Tajikistan's legal framework, which ostensibly adheres to international standards of gender equality through its international commitments and secular character, and the observed persistence of gender disparities within the family unit by asking: To what extent do secular Tajik civil courts effectively implement legal safeguards for women in matters related to the family? By examining the Tajik case, this research further informs broader debates on the role of religious laws, state secularization, and international legal frameworks in promoting gender justice worldwide.
Abstract:
The topic of this paper addresses an important and often understudied area of research, focusing on U.S. Intelligence Failures in Afghanistan, spanning from the beginning of the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan in 2001 to the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Success in Afghanistan was heavily dependent on the information provided by the intelligence community, coupled with both military intelligence and various other forms of complex intelligence collection – culture, society, geography, health, and agriculture. Further, it is important to note that in the case of intelligence failures in Afghanistan, often, policymakers did not heavily rely on the Intelligence Communities assessments of on-the-ground information, their minds were closed on the matter, leading to clear failures. I argue that a clear lack of understanding regarding the complexities of the region, combined with a lack of strategy, culminated in both military and intelligence failures in Afghanistan. I utilize a three-pronged framework in an attempt to understand the three key intelligence challenges in the case of Afghanistan. The first and notably the most critical challenge for the Intelligence Community was the discrepancies in the amount of knowledge that was needed on issues in Afghanistan versus the amount that was readily available. The second challenge that was presented was the complexity of coordination and cooperation between international actors and other allies. As many intelligence experts point out, many complexities arose during coordination efforts between international allies such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United Nations (UN), and the U.S. The Intelligence to these complexities, the Intelligence Community was unable to formulate a cohesive strategy and operational structures. Ultimately, due to the culmination of constant organizational issues within the Intelligence Community itself, cultivating strategy and organization proved to be a challenge throughout the course of the conflict for the Intelligence Community. In contrast to most scholarly work which articulates that the Intelligence Community understood the complexities of Afghanistan, I instead argue that the Intelligence Community lacked available analytical expertise along with sufficient knowledge regarding Afghanistan. Within the Intelligence Community, there was a small cadre of experts who understood the complexities that accompanied the situation in Afghanistan. This paper is based on published materials from experts within the Intelligence Community, materials published by members of the Intelligence Community, and further, scholarly examinations of Intelligence failures during the U.S. Intervention in Afghanistan.
Abstract:
The U.S. has been providing aid to foster good governance, enhance human rights, and support democratic institutions worldwide. This commitment is followed by allocating substantial resources to nations transitioning towards more democratic governance systems. However, the effectiveness of such aid remains a subject of debate within development studies and international relations theory. This thesis examines the impact of U.S. assistance on democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) in Kyrgyzstan. Unlike previous research that broadly addressed the influence of international aid across world regions, this study focuses exclusively on U.S. aid's effects on Kyrgyzstan's DRG sectors. Kyrgyzstan, having experienced significant political changes and often regarded as "Central Asia's democratic island," provides a unique case study. Using a mixed-methods approach, it integrates quantitative analyses of aid impact on governance indices with qualitative assessments from scholarly experts. The findings reveal an interesting result of a complex relationship where U.S. aid shows a moderate positive correlation with improvements in the democracy and human rights indexes but less influence on governance metrics. The results suggest that while U.S. aid has potential benefits, its effectiveness is significantly moderated by internal political dynamics and the broader geopolitical environment. This research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of foreign aid's impact, offering insights for further studying of aid effectiveness within specific country contexts.