University of Notre Dame
Kroc Institutde for International Peace Studies

Barack Obama

Reflections on Human Rights in the New Administration

Reflections on Human Rights in the New Administration

Jennifer Mason McAward is associate professor of law at the University of Notre Dame and director of the University’s Center on Civil and Human Rights. I’m often asked what the difference is between civil and human rights. My response is that they are, in large part,...

Ethical Perspectives on Drone Warfare

Ethical Perspectives on Drone Warfare

Rashied Omar is the Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He is author of  Tolerance, Civil Society and Renaissance in Post-Apartheid South Africa, published by Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape...

The Role of Diplomacy in Countering ISIS

The Role of Diplomacy in Countering ISIS

David Cortright The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a clear and present danger to international security that must be stopped. The question is how. President Obama said there are no military solutions to this crisis, but he has sent American soldiers back to...

The High Cost of New START

The High Cost of New START

Kelsey Davenport President Obama has declared that the United States is committed to creating “the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” but the policy debate in Washington often lags far behind this lofty vision. Some progress has been achieved in...

Israel and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy

Atalia Omer On March 22, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton affirmed uncompromising U.S. support of Israel at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. On May 4, President Barack Obama had lunch with Elie Wiesel, the Nobel laureate,...

Obama in Cairo: Policy Implications

  R. Scott Appleby This post includes video content. (6:01) In a major foreign policy speech in Cairo last June, President Barack Obama addressed not another state or group of nations but a religion:  Islam, which many Americans continue to view (erroneously) as...

Reform & Resistance in Iran

Reform & Resistance in Iran

An interview with Peter Wallensteen Peter Wallensteen, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden and the Kroc Institute at Notre Dame, is an expert on economic sanctions and regime change. We asked him about the reform movement in Iran and how it would be affected...

Is Afghanistan a ‘Good War’?

Is Afghanistan a ‘Good War’?

David Cortright This article includes video content. (4:00) The goal of defeating Al Qaeda and preventing global terrorist strikes is a just cause. But current U.S. war policies in Afghanistan will not achieve that goal. In fact, they may make matters worse. U.S....

A Necessary War Taken to Unnecessary Extremes

A Necessary War Taken to Unnecessary Extremes

Michael Desch The United States’ military response to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan following 9/11 was morally justified. It was an act of self-defense against a dangerous Taliban regime in cahoots with the perpetrators of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the...