Turkey Coup Reflection

Throughout the past couple months, Turkey has experienced a lot of changes in its post-coup times. The coup created quite a bit of tension within the country because President Erdogan went towards a much more totalitarian government afterwards. In the first post, we discussed the issue of the Turkish coup, its background, and its implications for the future. Then we discussed the issues that arose in the form of the detainment of 38,000 teachers and other nonviolent people. This led us to question to future of Turkey’s role in Global Politics as a newly more progressive nation, and where the government may be going with the new attitude of Erdogan and his supporters. Finally, we looked at the History of Kurdish/ Turkish relations which plays a large role in the politics of the whole nation and the coup as well. This long-lasting conflict is also effecting relations in Syria and Iraq as well, and connects well to all aspects of Global Politics.

Throughout the blog writing process, the sources I predominantly used were websites, including Aljazeera, BBC, and CNN. I also looked at more localized news outlets within Turkey and the Middle East. Through this process I hoped to gain a wide lens of the events to truly get the most accurate depiction of the issues we chose to focus on. Through searching for news outlets in the Middle East, I was able to see another form of media other than the mass media platforms that rule the United States news, and compare the two narratives being told.  

Throughout this project I have learned a lot about long term organization and group work as well as how to work with a group without meeting in person for all aspects of the project. I also learned a great deal about news sources and how to research for topics on a variety of different platforms to formulate the best version of the truth I can find. In addition, I had the opportunity to learn the history of a country whose importance in Global Politics is often overlooked in basic World History classes.

Reflection: EU Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis

       During the course of this semester, my group and I researched the European Union’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis unfolding in Europe. First, we looked into what caused the exodus from Syria and how the EU began responding to the international crisis. Later, we geared our research toward the economic impact the refugee crisis has had, and continues to have, on the European Union. Finally, we explored and analyzed the social impacts of the crisis in the EU. Through all of this, we found the situation to be very complex; mainly due to the politics that influence policy surrounding the issue. 

The research for each post was divided by general subjects among each group member. Once each person had a general subject, they would conduct the research relevant to that subject and then finish with a refined analysis of what was once a broad topic. This allowed for the group to have a wealth of knowledge in multiple areas within a specific topic or subject. Working as a group helped reduce the burden of one or two people having to conduct all the research and determining what was relevant. Dividing the task of researching also helped foster unique ideas and views within the group as well. 

Most importantly, the group gained a vast amount of knowledge regarding the Syrian refugee crisis and the many issues surrounding it. We learned the humanitarian aid response by the EU is not as simple a task as some would like it to be. Although many European citizens want the government to help the Syrian refugees in anyway possible, financial and political barriers stand in the way. Clashes between differing social views and ideologies from the EU citizenry have also contributed to the slowing of distribution of further aid from EU officials and government organizations to the refugees. However, some EU countries, such as Germany, have began integrating the refugees into their society and have seen positive results for the most part. I will continue to be aware of the crisis in Europe . I hope that government officials in the EU will begin to tackle the crisis in a more productive manner to ensure the quick and successful integration of refugees into EU society. 

#SyrianRefugeeCrisis #EuropeanUnion #GermanResponse #EU #Syria

France Final Blog Post

What We Covered

We throughout our blog posts have researched what ISIS is as a terrorist organization, why they have remained hostile towards France specifically, and why we should care learning about this information. We explored why France has been the target for many of these terrorist attacks and looked into the long strained relations between French government and their Muslim communities. The government in France has long clashed with Muslim citizens because of religious and political ideologies that do not necessarily work together. Because of this Muslims have been discriminated against for generations before ISIS. We also looked on how the violent acts in France have had an effect on the country. Anti-Muslim legislation has been passed to oppress religious freedom, Muslim civilians have been experiencing discrimination much more often after the attacks, and finally, there has been harsher restrictions regarding immigration where French political candidates have built large anti-immigration platform.

How I Researched

Specifically with the posts I did a simple internet search and looked through many news sources that I found to be credible. I found much of my information from CNN, LA Times, and other popular journalistic websites. It was relatively easy to find certain information, like details about specific terrorist attacks because it is a common focus of interest for many people. Many news sources have a specific bias and that is fairly obvious in websites like CNN. They tend to look at both sides of the incident and sympathize with the Muslim community. What was more difficult was finding an easy to understand version of the history between Muslims and France. This issue is very complex and the information behind it was sometimes hard to understand because of the many layers to the story regarding colonialism. Working as a group has made me become more accountable for my actions because I realized I am responsible for not only my grade but the group aspect of the project that needed my participation to work. It was helpful to get other’s insight and background information for this project and I liked working together on certain parts that seemed to just came together to flow into one specific blog post.

Reflection

With this project, I have become more aware of reasons behind ISIS’s emergence and their acts of terror. This has allowed me to look at both sides of each incident and analyze why radical groups like ISIS attack. Between France and their Muslim communities the tension has been coming to a breaking point for many years. This has helped me understand more of the context of what is happening in France and the effects it has on French people. I have learned a lot about group work from this project and specifically I have learned about being responsible for my part of research/writing/posting. When one person does not do their work it can decrease the whole group's productivity and I have tried to remain consistent and responsible for my share of the blog posts. I have learned how important communication is between group members. Good and open communication can make working together as a group easier and more efficient. From this project, I have discovered aspects about how to work together with others and how to take initiative in certain situations. I wish I had been more consistent in starting my research ahead of time and making sure each blog post was easy to understand and flowed together as one. Overall, I am happy with the work I put into this project and hope to do similar research in the future.

Refugee Origins, Reflection

Throughout this semester, I deepened my knowledge in today's global refugee crisis. Headlines on our daily newsletters reflect the devastation that has occurred globally but rarely give the reader the impression on exactly how widespread the crisis is. Our group attempted to clarify this through focusing regionally and thematically on the causes of today's migration. From the devastating Syrian conflict to the hopelessness of central and northern Africa, we discussed the diversity of Middle Eastern refugees--namely Syrian, Iraqi, Afghani, and Lebanese refugees, and African refugees--from Eritrea's famine to Nigeria's reigning Boko Haram.
Organizing our research to fulfill our posts required communication. We began by splitting our posts into regions, and designating a leader for each post. As an African studies minor,  my knowledge was most utilized in our post on the African migration, and its causes. In a way, this post forced me to further my own knowledge in order to make sure that we were telling as whole a story as possible, representing as many conflicts and causes as possible without overgeneralizing.
Despite the hectic moments during this project, I enjoyed working with my group and diving into a topic that is so clearly going to define much of the near future in our world. Not only does this topic matter but it is worsening day by day and without people, like my group members, to learn and teach more, its a dim future for all migrants seeking asylum.

Refugee Crisis Origins Reflection

During the course of the semester my group and I reported on the refugee crisis' origins. On our first blog post we decided to focus on the refugee crisis in North Africa and the Middle East's. The refugees in the Middle East are mainly coming from Syria but some are also fleeing Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo. Peaceful protests in Syria became a bloodshed due to conflict between the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian government. Citizens of Nigeria flee because of oppression implemented by Boko Haram. These displaced individuals seek asylum in neighboring countries but have also gone out of their way and made journey towards European countries as well as North American countries. On our second post we narrowed our focus to North African countries more closely. We focused our research on Somalia, Sudan, and Nigeria. South Sudan gained its' independence from Sudan in 2011 but began having problems within their new found freedom. Book Haram, in turn, has caused thousands of Nigerians to flee. The group kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from Chibok. Even though the Nigerian government declared a state of emergency little has been done to stop the militant group. Somalia's displaced people are due to the state of violent civil war they are in. On our third and final post we decided to narrow our focus to Syrian refugees and describe the origins of the civil war and go further in depth on ISIS. We explained what ISIS is and how they came to be. We went in depth on the origins of the Syrian cilivl war. 

As a group we created a google document and posted a few links at the beginning of the semester that could be used for research. Those links were very handy to me because I wanted to have the most accurate information and the website was reliable since the one I used most was linked to the UN. Other than those shared sources, I looked up reliable articles to find more accurate information on the topic I was writing about at the time. Working as a group was just another added pressure for me since I did not want to affect my group's grade if my research was not well done. All my research was based on reliable resources and I informed myself well before writing anything. 

This blog assignment was a rollercoaster for me. It being my first group assignment in college. It taught me how to rely on a group of people and collaborate to compose a well written monthly assignment. I had a general idea about the refugee crisis when I first started working on this assignment but now after endless research and group discussions and unanswered questions being completely answered I feel proficient on this topic. I'm glad I was able to work on this topic particularly because I thought I knew what was going on before but by being involved in this project I became aware that I knew absolutely nothing about the crisis. Doing this project during the course of the semester really helped me judge my research in this class and on other classes by classifying good resources and not so good resources. 

France Blog Reflection

Since the beginning of the semester our group has focused on the terror attacks in France by the group ISIS. These have taken place with increased frequency over the past few years and sadly have been some of the deadliest in recent history. In the first blog post our group decided to cover a basic overview about the history of ISIS as a terrorist group. This included its formation in Iraq and Syria and its raising growth and popularity over the years. We also explained some of the reasons for ISIS attacks and why France in particularly is targeted as opposed to other European countries or even the US. The second blog post was more about the reasons for strained relations between France and the Middle East. This included France’s colonial development and the assimilation process which France was a big supporter of during that period, as well as the justifications that groups like ISIS use when carrying out terrorist attacks. Finally the last blog post was about the repercussions and aftereffects that are being seen in France’s society as well as attitude towards the Middle East in general. These included the policies of secularism being pointed more towards the Muslim faith, people of Middle Eastern decent and immigration policies. These were discussed in conjunction with the rising tensions and Islamaphobia that is spreading widely across the West. 

The research that went into the group was done mainly through the internet and the resources of the library on campus. The way in which research was done was that each post the group would be split individually, unless a large topic was being discussed. Each of us would then research the topic thoroughly and make notes on important dates or anything we though would be found interesting. After a couple of days we would then meet as a group and discuss what we had found. We then would write it together by combining notes and then switch papers and decide if something should be edited and consult the group. In my opinion this was a good system and it seemed to work for us whenever we needed to get things done. It was good to do these in groups as well as it enabled us to get a variety of sources from across the internet and also provide several of our opinions into one post. 

Finally the amount of information that I learned about the terrorists attacks was immense. On the surface these just seemed to be random acts of violence between one ideology against another however, when looking deeper there was a large amount of details about how and why these attacks occurred. It was also very good to learn about events that are taking place on another continent and explore more into what the local impact is having rather then just focusing on the United States. To me while working as a group was advantageous most of the time it was also difficult to organize when everybody was free to be together due to scheduling differences. There was also the issue of not always knowing what others were doing or ways in which they thought but overall these were more or less solved by the end. 

Reflection on the Origins of the Refugee “Crisis”

Over the course of the semester, our group has focused on the refugee “crisis”  emerging from Northern Africa and the Middle East. More specifically, we centered on the nations of South Sudan, Nigeria, Cameroon, Somalia, and Syria. Beginning with defining what a crisis actually is, our group outlined the basis of what we would discuss throughout the semester - factors leading to the migration of millions of people out of MENA and into Europe. In Northern Africa, we discussed factors of differing ethnic groups in a single nation, dictators, terrorist organizations, human trafficking, weakened governments, and civil wars as causes of migration. Climate change, terrorism, and civil war were components we examined as the cause of the Syrian Refugee Crisis.

Before we even began writing our first blog post, our group met in the library to decide how we would structure the three posts of the semester. We divided it up into the preliminary post to present what we were planning on discussing throughout the semester, a second focusing on Africa (we hadn’t quite decided which nations we would center in on at the time), and lastly, a Middle East refugee crisis post (we originally planned on exploring Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq - we ended up only doing Syria). From there, we divided up who would do what part of each post and we each did our own research. We did not designate one or two people to be researchers, another to be the writer, and another to be the editor/publisher, we each did our own research and wrote our own sections and put them together in a single document. I preferred doing my own research as opposed to doing the research for the entire group or having someone doing research for me because I was able to formulate what I wanted to write as I was gathering sources.

In the end, I learned a great deal from contributing to these blog posts. I learned not only about the Syrian Refugee Crisis more in depth, I became more aware of a refugee crisis in Africa. I discovered the role that climate change played in adding stress to an already tumultuous political climate in Syria, catalyzing a series of events that led to the Syrian Civil War and increased refugee migration from the area. Had I written the blog on my own, I most likely would have focused in on the refugee situation in the Middle East without giving much regard to Africa. Research, I’ve discovered, is difficult because you need to vet out unreliable sources to find ones that dependable material that also helped further the points we were trying to make in the blog posts. Over the course of the semester, I found that I prefer to do assignments on my own. My group and I were able to collaborate well, but I am the type of person who doesn’t enjoy doing group projects. Ultimately, I enjoyed this assignment. I was able to not only learn more about the topic our group focused on, but the subjects that other groups focused on as well.

Final France blog reflection

Final blog reflection

This semester, I was given the opportunity to work with a group of my peers and research the relationship between the growing terrorist group ISIS and France while taking a closer look into the attacks on France committed by ISIS. Our first blog post was a general overview introducing our topic. In this post, we touched on the emergence of the terrorist group while highlighting the expressed negative views they had against France that contributed to the series of attacks. We also explained why these events are so important to understand and the relevance it has to the U.S. Our second blog post was focused on analyzing the events in French and Middle Eastern history that contributed to these series of attacks. We found that much of the animosity from the Middle East towards France is linked to a long history of French imperialism in the Middle East. Our last and most relevant topic we centered our third blog post around was France after these attacks. We covered how these terror attacks affected French legislation, military, and most importantly, the French Muslim community today.    

For every blog post, our method was to figure out every topic we would cover within that one post, and then pick what topic each person would research and write about. After spending about a week researching our topic, we would try to meet up in the library to share all the information that we found and put each of our pieces together to create a single post. We would then summarize our ideas and make transitional adjustments to make everyone’s work flow together as one cohesive piece. I believe our strategy was effective because it allowed us to produce detailed blog posts. The only complications we encountered through this method was trying to find a time for us all to meet. So when not all of us could meet, we would share our work on a shared document online and compose our blog in that way.

Through this assignment, I got to familiarize myself with a topic that I had always found interesting while also learning what it takes to be successful in long a long-term group assignment. When it came to my knowledge of the terror attacks in France, I only knew what I had seen on the news or social media. However, after gaining insight on the depth of Middle East and French relations and its history, I have an entirely new understanding of how and why these events occurred. I have also learned that when working a group for a long amount of time, communication, delegation, and knowing when to ask for help from your partners are key to producing a quality product. I believe this assignment has raised mine and my group member’s awareness of how terror attacks come about and the need to fight against islamophobia by constantly educating ourselves and others.    

US Iran Nuclear Deal Reflection

The semester-long group blog work project was an excellent opportunity for me to challenge my work methods and expand my understanding of the international politics surrounding the US Iran nuclear deal. The blog posts have ranged from an overview and background of the deal, to U.S. and Middle-Eastern reactions to the deal. The overall aim of the blog was to inform our viewers about the complexities of the deal, by describing the serious threat of nuclear power, and the implications of Iranian irresponsibility to the world, specifically by highlighting the impacts that the deal has on the States surrounding Iran. Our posts have intentionally brought up many “what-if” questions, to which no clear answers exist. As explained in the blog, there is a general sense of anxiety and tension surrounding the deal for many reasons pertinent to the agendas of varying nations. While the first post offered an introductory approach to understanding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the second and third posts attempt to build from the platform of ideas laid out from the first, supplementing it with concrete examples of the opinions of many politicians. For example, opinions from Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Adel al-Jubeir, and the Lebanese government have all been explored and discussed in the subsequent posts. The second blog post made the greatest effort to incorporate current-events, having been published right after the third U.S. presidential debate, it drew upon the sentiments expressed by Trump and Clinton, who frequently brought up their contrasting opinions of the Iran nuclear deal.

             

Literature regarding the US Iran nuclear deal exists predominately online due to the fact that it is a relatively recent event, and thus my research relied heavily on international news sources. The fundamental aspect of conducting successful research for this blog was maintaining a balance of sources that reflect varying state biases. I therefore approached my research by using sources influenced by both the West and the Middle East, such as BBC and AlJazeera. Working in a group meant that our broad ideas were divided into specific topics for each member to research. Therefore, my other group members influenced my approach to research because they helped minimize the scope of information, and I tried to avoid using the same sites as them in order to have diverse references. Most of our group met in person to conduct research, which enabled us to bounce ideas and questions off of each other, and we made suggestions about alternate approaches to writing and helpful sources for each other use. Overall, working in a group provided for a plethora of ideas and interpretations to come together for a more thought-out blog than if I had pursued the project individually. 

            

The most important skill that this project has instilled unto me was patience with my peers. I am a very independent and controlling person, so I tend to avoid group work whenever possible. However, it is very important to acknowledge that everyone has to partake in group work throughout their lives, and so, even though it is not my preference, it was important for me to challenge myself to working with a group throughout the semester. I learned how to be more accepting of contrasting ideas, and how to integrate diverse opinions into my own work. I learned that communication needs to be very clear and direct, because miscommunication within groups is very common. Planning meetings far in advanced, and then sending out reminders is another crucial aspect of group work, because all of the members have differing schedules. The research that I conducted led me to become more skilled at evaluating news sources, and I became more familiar with international news sources rather than the common U.S. news outlets. In regard to the topic of the blog, I learned a tremendous amount beyond the nuclear deal itself. I initially chose this group topic because it was one of the international events that I was the least familiar with, and thus I wanted to learn a lot more about it, which I did. I learned about the process of obtaining nuclear power, both in terms of actually cultivating it and the political process that goes along with it. I became much more knowledgable about Iranian history and politics, and the social, economic, and political impacts that Iran has on its neighboring states. And I also learned about the ways that the deal impacts U.S. politics, and thus how it shapes public opinion. Overall, I feel very appreciative of the collaboration from the members of my group and feel that the project was a great way for us to learn about current events that are related to the themes of our course. 

Boko Haram and the Abduction of the Chibok Schoolgirls

     For our project, my group researched the kidnapping of 276 girls from a school in Nigeria.  The girls were kidnapped in 2014 by a militant Islamic organization by the name of Boko Haram, who have been responsable for a surge of fundamentalist violence in Nigeria.  We examined the colonial history of Nigeria that has led to the internal instability of the country, the history of Boko Haram, and the specific incident of abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in our first blog post.  The #BringBackOurGirls campaign brought attention to the issue, but the overall effectiveness of it has been called into question.  This is why in the second post we had planned to examine the media’s coverage of the issue, and the actions taken by domestic and international communities.  However, during our research the story broke that 21 of the Chibok girls had just been released from captivity.  This was an impressive update after a period of relatively little development on the issue.  For this reason, we decided to split the focus of the second post to include this as well.  In our third post we covered the difficulty girls who were released from Boko Haram faced with assimilating back into society.  A number of the girls have even become unwilling to leave their captors for fear of becoming a pariah in their communities.  Others are unwilling to leave because they have been married to Boko Haram soldiers.  Some of the girls have even adopted radical ideology of Boko Haram. These obstacles to reintegration have posed a substantial issue for the girls unfortunately must face in order to move forward and rebuild after this tragedy.

     To ease the individual work load, research was divided between members of the group based on particular subjects pertaining to each blog post.  For the initial blog post we decided that each of our group members would pick an area to research, take notes on, and cite sources for.  Then one of us write the post, and another one of us would post the finished product.  After deciding that this was an unfair distribution of work, we decided to have each person go a step further and write a paragraph on the subject we were researching.  All of our work was uploaded to a Google doc so that we could each have access to the material.  This lessened the work load for the person who wrote the final post.  Then we would all review the post before it was uploaded.  I believe that assigning particular tasks to specific individuals helped to maintain accountability and was very beneficial to our group cohesion.  We did have moments during our process when communication could have been better.  However I believe that we managed the project well and were able to overcome the obstacles we encountered along the way.

     Aside from being able to cover a topic of our own choice, this project was particularly beneficial because it gave us the opportunity to cover a news story as it progressed.  During the process of composing our second blog post, a massive development occurred when 21 of the schoolgirls were released from Boko Haram after negotiations between the Nigerian government and the extremist group.  We decided to switch the focus of our post half way through the research process.  We felt that if we did not cover this development, we would not be doing the story justice.  This was just an example of how quickly developments can come when researching a progressing story.  The project was also a lesson in group work and communication.  At times we struggled to maintain cohesion, but we managed to work through our issues and work together effectively.

Final Blog Post Reflection

This semester my group learned about the relations between the United States and Cuba. First, we talked about the background history of both the United States and Cuba. This gave the reader background information on the two countries before explaining the current relationship. This also provided the reader with insight on the Presidents of the United States and their interactions with the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro has recently passed away, but he was alive during 10 different United States Presidencies. Next, we discussed the music and media influence in Cuba. We discussed how celebrities are visiting Cuba and making it seem luxurious and giving a lot of attention to the country, when just a couple of years ago Cuba was rarely seen by the media. Lastly, we ended the blog with an environmental aspect and the challenges Cuba faces. We went in depth about the water pollution and problems that are in Cuba. Overall, our blog provides the reader with a background history, but also shows the current situation in Cuba. 

Working as a group we brainstormed so many different ideas. Having four different viewpoints and ideas was very helpful because it helped the blog not be bias, while also coming up with so many different ideas that I couldn’t have come up with all by myself. As a group we would choose a topic to write about together,  but we would write our own section on something that was interesting to us and then put all of the writings together. After all the writings were put together we would add pictures and then post it. 

This project was unlike any other group project because I have never written a blog post before. I enjoyed learning about the United States and Cuba relations because it was a topic I was not too knowledgeable about before and now I hear so much more about it in the news because I’m familiar with it. Doing this project has allowed me to have conversations with family members and people outside the class about the topic because I like to hear other peoples opinions on the situation. Working in a group definitely has ups and downs, but overall I really enjoyed this group. A negative of working in a group is finding a time outside of class where everyone can meet since everyone has busy schedules. Overall, the group project went smoothly and it was an enjoyable experience. 

Final Blog Post Reflection - Refugee Crisis Origins

Over the duration of the semester, my group and I set out to cover what is widely know as the “Refugee Crisis” in the Middle East, covering specifically where refugees are fleeing from, and why they are being forced to. While the crisis in the middle east, and especially Syria is largely covered by many major news systems, our group also highlighted crises happening in Africa, as many people are displaced in that area of the world, with little knowledge in the global media. Another focus was to look at immediate impact on nations receiving immigrants, as a mass influx of, at times, millions of people can put tremendous economic pressure on a country, as well as create difficult living arrangements for the new people within the country. Our group analyzed multiple countries within Africa and the Middle East, looking at the major factors, whether political divisions in the case of South Sudan, terrorist threats in countries like Nigeria and Syria, as well as Civil War and government instability in Syria. Another factor separate from these is the drought happening in Syria, a natural cause for people to leave the country. As there are so many instances of people being displaced and having to relocate in another country, it was impossible to analyze every country and every push factor in this so-called “crisis.”

In terms of research, there seemed to be a lot of credible, and easily accessible information, mainly because the “refugee crisis” is a fairly recent event happening over the past couple decades, as well as being a huge human rights issue, many agencies have put out information surrounding the severity of the crisis, along with how individuals are being affected, and most importantly, why. Many large news outlets have covered this issue, including CNN, BBC, and al Jazeera, all generating and reporting credible, and accurate information. As a result, it was fairly easy to come up with information to use for the blog posts. In terms of dividing this up among the group, we made sure to break up different sections of information down, and assign each member with a section. For covering the refugee crises in Africa, we went by country, each member choosing a nation to highlight and cover. As for Syria, since the people fleeing from that country have many different factors pushing them, we each took a certain push factor, highlighting the drought, the civil war, and the presence of ISIS, turning that post into an in depth look at some of the major factors pushing people to flee Syria. This strategy worked rather well, as it felt like we were able to highlight the refugee crisis thoroughly and effectively.

In working on this blog, I think I learned a lot, not only about the politics and issues facing other nations, but also in the way that I work in a group setting. In terms of our actual topic, I was definitely able to gain a lot more knowledge on a topic I knew very little about prior to beginning this project. I knew that there was a refugee crisis, but I didn’t know which countries were being affected, and what factors were causing people to flee. With this, I wasn’t aware of the multi-layered issue of Syria as there are many factors pushing people out of the country. I was also exposed to the idea that this refugee crisis happening is also a huge human rights issue. At its core, people are displaced from their homes, and pushed into a new country, with insufficient resources to keep themselves stable outside of their own country. The magnitude of this issue was also very surprising to me, as millions of people are being pushed into surrounding nations, while those host nations are forced into taking these people in, and providing for them, becoming a strain on national economies. In terms of doing research, I learned that I have to be smart in researching, and where I find the best information. Seeing as this is a large global issue that has come into play fairly recently, most of the good information was found through newsgroups. As for working in a group, I came to realize that communication, and carefully planned work leads to effective group work. When we were organized, and knew exactly who would cover what, we worked most efficiently, and produced  a good collection of information and analysis. I think this is something I will definitely apply to other group projects that I have, as I felt this one was executed very smoothly and efficiently.

Last Blog Post by Ruben Eriksson

Throughout fall semester 16', I have been a member of the group specializing in the US-Iran Nuclear Deal. Our work has covered the multidimensional aspect of this recently formed agreement. In the first blog post written, we decided to lay out a regular structure of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Do develop an in-depth understanding of the topic, we first had to answer what the JCPOA is. We illustrated such by describing how Iran's nuclear capability is reduced since it signing in 2015. Iran in itself benefits from this as the international community has lifted economic sanctions hampering the country for decades. Through these frames did we shape our first post, illustrating that the deal had an upbringing based on hostility between the Western world and Iran. This hostility and controversy centralizing the deal became the primary outlet of answering why we all should know about this topic. As our first post laid out the foundation of the deal, we decided to tackle the second post with something which as the time being was highly current. We examined the different policies the (then) presidential candidates in Trump and Clinton had on the agreement. Unsurprisingly, we presented that Clinton and her close alliance with Obama, support the deal. However, Trump, now president-elect, is quite unsettled on his idea of the deal but plainly skeptical. We found it important to address that the (then) upcoming election could be highly deterrent regarding Irani and US relations. Lastly, our third post elaborated on what type of diplomatic connections the deal has brought to the international scene. However, we specialized this narrative to Middle Eastern reactions to the deal. Today's western media tend to cover the stories the western world can relate to - we found it of importance to challenge this. We wanted to educate our peers how countries like Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Israel see the world's community's newly established connection with Iran.

Our research process always began by discussing what we wanted to address with the upcoming post. The first decision of presenting what the JCPOA is came naturally. However, the second and third were more based on the current discussions on the deal; approaching something dominating as the election but also seeing the value in the perhaps more obscure such as the Middle Eastern perspective. When we had decided upon each of these topics, we divided the research among our members. Different fields were covered by various people to maximize the perspective presented in the post. Thereafter, each would write his/her paragraph (or working in pairs) which we ultimately finalized into a complete post.

I feel confident as I say that this project has taught be a great deal about the US-Iran Nuclear Deal. For example, and so evident, it taught me that we shouldn't have called our project by being the "US" deal. Although the US under the Obama Administration has been the primary advocate for the deal, it has required an international cooperation from multiple nations for it to become finalized. Things like this, of more detailed nature of the topic, is where this project did become so beneficial. Previously, I figured I knew a good amount about the subject. However, I have now come to realize that I only had a very broad understanding. The deal means so much more than Iran having less nuclear resources. For example, it implies the value of globalization and diplomacy in our world (at least did pre-Trump). It creates tension and a new shift of power in the Middle East and it shapes great debate between the Republican and Democrats. And the list goes on. Once this topic is studied in-depth, it becomes evident how complexed it is; which describes why so many different opinions remain on it. This is something which had to be taken into consideration writing this blog: watching out for the biased reports! Something which wasn't accomplished with ease, however, I feel that we did a good job including the opposing and contradicting perspectives. Finally, this project taught me what it means to work together in college, for the first time.  I have come to realize, in particular on the university level, that different people will have different motifs and motivations. It can be essential to find those matching your own personal goal; or, the group might end up quite divided.

Brexit Reflection

Throughout the semester, my group covered Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the effects it had both nationally and globally. Our first blog post was mostly an introduction into the topic. We discussed what the European Union is and what some of the underlying causes of the Brexit vote are. We also introduced what we would be discussing in further blog posts. In the second blog post, we discussed the economic impacts of the departure of Britain from the European Union. This included the fall of the British pound against the United States dollar and how it will negatively affect prices. In our third blog post, we discussed the cultural impacts of Brexit, including how it will impact refugees and immigrants negatively.

As a group, we decided what we wanted to focus on for the particular blog posts and what specific aspects we wanted to mention. We then split that up and we each researched our certain aspects and then wrote the respective section of the post. For the research, I mainly searched through credible news websites and found articles relating to Brexit and the certain focus I had for the post. 

After working on this project this semester, I have learned that working in a group does not always have to be that bad. I feel that my group worked together well and we were good at splitting up the blog posts. We all did our portions of the posts on time making everything feel organized and stress-free. In relation to Brexit, I learned a lot more about the topic than I would have without the project. This project made me read articles and keep up with the related news which is something I might not have done otherwise. Overall, I feel that this project was a good experience.