Have you discovered information that could not only help fill gaps in scholarly literature but which might also be of value to policymakers? Are you concerned that the conventions of traditional academic publishing might constrain your abilities to generate specific kinds of impact on contemporary policy debates? Are you looking for a venue to present your knowledge and perspectives in a manner that is more explicitly policy prescriptive than most academic publishing outlets tend to allow? The management team at Strife recognizes the norms of academic publishing can be rest ..read more

Photo from Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq, detailing detainee abuse. Photo Credit: US Government, Public Domain. The Torture Memos are a collection of documents from the US Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel regarding the use of torture against alleged members of al-Qaeda. The basic motivation of these documents was to determine whether the United States’ practice of “enhanced interrogation techniques” constituted torture under US and international law. They unilaterally justified the US’ practices. After the memos were leaked in 2004, they were lambasted as a clear disconnect from the War on ..read more

Dakar Senegal – Looking North / Photo Credit: Jeff Attaway, licensed under Creative Commons Hundreds of blue buildings in Djougop, Senegal, are increasingly being filled by families from the nearby coastal city of St. Louis. Most did not choose to make this move—rather, their displacement has been driven by the destruction of neighborhoods from increased sea levels. St. Louis’ low sea level and placement along the Senegal River have made its population one of the first to be heavily impacted by climate change, but it will not be the last. In West Africa, low-lying coastal cities most susceptib ..read more

Members of the Armed Forces of Gabon stand in formation. Photo Credit: U.S. Army Africa photo by Brian Kimball, used under Creative Commons. The COVID-19 pandemic is significantly endangering Sub-Saharan countries by increasing the rate of coup d’états in already fragile regimes. Within the past two years alone, Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso all experienced military takeovers after growing disapproval of their government’s mishandled virus response. This worrying trend reinvigorates attention toward the causes of military coups, domestic and international events that enable them, and more imp ..read more

Biafran independence demonstration. Photo Credit: Sigfrid Lundberg, used under Creative Commons. In early 2021, the Eastern Security Network, an armed group linked to Igbo separatism, clashed with government security forces resulting in the deaths of more than 20 police officers. The federal government replied with excessive force, killing at least 115 people, some of whom were likely civilians. These tensions, however, are nothing new. Animosity between separatist and governmental groups in Nigeria trace back to ethnic divisions cemented by colonial policy and conflicting public narratives on ..read more

Dakar Senegal – Looking North / Photo Credit: Jeff Attaway, licensed under Creative Commons Hundreds of blue buildings in Djougop, Senegal, are increasingly being filled by families from the nearby coastal city of St. Louis. Most did not choose to make this move—rather, their displacement has been driven by the destruction of neighborhoods from increased sea levels. St. Louis’ low sea level and placement along the Senegal River have made its population one of the first to be heavily impacted by climate change, but it will not be the last. In West Africa, low-lying coastal cities most susceptib ..read more

Map of Nord-Kivu (North Kivu) and Sud-Kivu (South Kivu) and the surrounding region. Photo Credit: The Advocacy Project, used under Creative Commons. For over twenty years, the North and South Kivu Regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been embroiled in violence. The United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has been active in North and South Kivu since early in the conflict. Still, the mission has failed to fulfil its mandate of bringing stability to the region. MONUSCO facilitated numerous ceasefire and peace agree ..read more

Members of the Armed Forces of Gabon stand in formation. Photo Credit: U.S. Army Africa photo by Brian Kimball, used under Creative Commons. The COVID-19 pandemic is significantly endangering Sub-Saharan countries by increasing the rate of coup d’états in already fragile regimes. Within the past two years alone, Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso all experienced military takeovers after growing disapproval of their government’s mishandled virus response. This worrying trend reinvigorates attention toward the causes of military coups, domestic and international events that enable them, and more imp ..read more

United Nations Peacekeepers Assist with Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration in DRC / Photo Credit: United Nations Photo, licensed under Creative Commons Over the past year, the humanitarian consequences of conflict and atrocities have been consistently visible. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Western-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, millions of Afghans are experiencing acute hunger and starvation. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been riddled with evidence of war crimes, including extrajudicial killings, sexual-based violence, torture, and looting. Evidence of ethnic ..read more

Biafran independence demonstration. Photo Credit: Sigfrid Lundberg, used under Creative Commons. In early 2021, the Eastern Security Network, an armed group linked to Igbo separatism, clashed with government security forces resulting in the deaths of more than 20 police officers. The federal government replied with excessive force, killing at least 115 people, some of whom were likely civilians. These tensions, however, are nothing new. Animosity between separatist and governmental groups in Nigeria trace back to ethnic divisions cemented by colonial policy and conflicting public narratives on ..read more