Hey ya'll, I'm back in the states and thinking I should do some catch up blogging about Israel. But, until I get around to that, I thought I'd let you know what I'm up to now. I have one more semester and then I'm applying to grad schools in a security studies related field. Here is the statement of intent I wrote for the Peace Studies program at Notre Dame. Just to keep you all current on what I'm interested in and where I'm hopefully going. I wrote this back in December, so things might have changed, I don't have time to proofread it again, so here you go:

PS, after this post, I'm clearly those who get email updates whenever I post. If you want my blog to still send you emails when I post, let me know, and I'll put you on the list :)

 My motivation to study Peace Studies originated in a book on feminism, a US general's war policies, and befriending two veterans of the Iraq War. Bananas, Beaches, and Bases by Cynthia Enloe introduced me to the concepts of feminized and masculinized security. Masculinized security, I learned, addresses immediate physical threats and uses immediate physical defenses. Feminized security introduced a new approach to peace and security which addresses the root of a problem, such as a lack of financial means, education, or hope. This kind of security then uses appropriate tools to address those problems. Additionally, the author of America's policies on counterinsurgency, General David H. Petraeus, started to combine these two kinds of security in his policies in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. General Petraeus recognizes that US military hard power does not fight insurgent soft power effectively on its own. Launching campaigns to capture hearts and minds can be more powerful than launching rockets. His opinion that US foreign policy relies too heavily on the military was reflected in his policies in Pakistan, where he coupled bombing raids on terrorist targets with invitations to come to the diplomatic table and work out a solution under a cease-fire. His policies in Iraq also combined military might with as much humanitarian help the US military and diplomatic core could provide. Finally, meeting two friends after their return from their second tours of combat duty in Iraq and witnessing a small part of their struggles coming to terms with the effects of war and their part in it humanized this issue for me. I believe there are better and more effective ways to ensure security in a post-9/11 world than currently employed, and I feel US policy is still developing in this field. I plan on learning, researching, and contributing to more effective security policies and strategies in our changing world of insurgency warfare and intractable conflict.

As international conflict transforms from conventional warfare to insurgency and terrorism, solutions and defenses to these conflicts must also transform in order to effectively guard peace. While both masculinized and feminized security are essential components to sound national security and lasting peace, especially in insurgent warfare, I find the US's understanding and use of feminized security underdeveloped. I want to study to provide better and more complete security options to the changing scene in international conflict. For that reason, I would like to enroll in the Conflict Analysis and Transformation track. This program will help me develop a solid basis in understanding the nature of conflict. The analytical skills and practical experience provided will allow me to identify both components and roots of conflict in order to understand and work out solutions. I am interested in this program because it combines research with applied experience. The combination of theory, practice, and evaluation provides the most comprehensive understanding and will increase my ability to apply my knowledge and skills to real issues.

A similar approach of theory and practice is applied in my undergraduate degree. Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic provided excellent classroom instruction on the language, culture, history, and politics of the peoples of the Middle East for two years. The final two semesters of this program culminate in a language-intensive study abroad and a final semester of reflection where both course work and experiences on the study abroad are evaluated and explored academically through a capstone paper. I recognize a similar pattern in Notre Dame's Peace Studies program and would be eager to learn in such a comprehensive manner once again.

My undergraduate career has also provided me with opportunities to participate in peace-building activities. I nurtured my interest in diplomacy and peace-making by becoming involved in two semesters of Model United Nations at Brigham Young University. This finished in an international conference where skills of negotiation, compromise, and peace-building were utilized, resulting in our delegation receiving the highest honors awarded at Model United Nations. Included in my peace-building experiences also are eighteen months I spent as a volunteer with my church helping individuals and families find personal peace through applying principles espoused in Christianity. While volunteering, I grappled with and applied principles common to both the Christian experience and peace-building efforts in my own life. These common principles include love, repentance, forgiveness, and work. I then learned first-hand how to listen to and understand individuals so as to teach them these principles in a way that reached them personally. Through this, I developed compassion, vision, and analytical and planning skills. These skills and attributes gained from learning how to work with people, building relationships, genuinely caring about them, and teaching and persuading are applicable skills to transformational peace-building on both an individual and a community scale.

In the future, I plan on applying this education and experience toward a doctorate program in peace or security studies. I will then utilize that education to research and apply innovative security solutions to changing security needs. My plan in applying that goal is to eventually research and teach at a university or work in government with the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, or the State Department.

To conclude, there are many ways to promote peace through security than have been previously explored, researched, and applied. Current methods for obtaining and maintaining security in US policy would be complemented by security policies aimed at resolving the roots of conflict as well as physically defending against present threats. I want to research innovative peace solutions for insurgent and terrorist conflicts. I know I would be an asset to this program. I greatly appreciate what this program tries to do, and I appreciate your consideration of me as an addition to it.