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International Affairs Capstone Project - Spring 2018
At the Bush School, International Affairs Masters students have the opportunity to work for a real-life client the final semester of our program. The client poses a question or a problem, and as students, we use knowledge and skills learned at the Bush School to find solutions and offer recommendations. My capstone team's work for the Office of Global Women's Issues at the U.S. State Department examining the linkage between the treatment of women and radicalization showed me how I could make a difference in policy planning through skills I learned at the Bush School. As Capstone lead, I developed and improved many structured analytical techniques, debriefing skills, writing styles for different audiences, and interview and personal skills. I believe the skills I improved and developed during this experience will enable me to be a better leader, team member, and public servant.
The relation between gender and radicalization matters because no one else has done this research. This linkage between gender and radicalization (specifically with regards to ISIS and a country's production of foreign fighters (FFP)) is important question because it has implications for improved policy planning. Our research on the country (macro) level and individual (micro) level found that there is a significant relationship between treatment of women and the production of foreign fighters in a country. We found that the disempowerment and insecurity of women is directly linked to radicalization, while empowering women's voices and improving their status in countries is key to countering violent extremism. The Capstone project was based on developing structured analytical techniques to achieve our three goals. First, interviews with experts, research, and writing a literature review that contributed to our theoretical framework. Second, creation of a database to run aggregate statistical analysis. And third, creation of an individual level database examining specific foreign fighters.
Applying Analytical Techniques
I developed structured analytical techniques I learned in a class at the Bush School to our capstone project by using strategic research and a structured approach. Our group was able to create a strategic research plan to solve problems methodologically, form a series of questions, and create a research product that flowed seamlessly between the three components of our project. We used a structured approach to develop our project based on skills I learned in an Analytical Tradecraft course by using a series of steps. First we determined our question by asking what the client really wants answered? Next we conducted research on existing literature and found there was a gap (the linkage between the treatment of women in a society and the production of foreign fighters). This led to the creation of our theoretical framework and the four different mechanisms that were a guide to our project. After that, we moved into our statistical country-level analysis to give our research design credibility. We created a database of 80 countries with foreign fighter numbers, and determined various gendered variables that supported or could otherwise explain our research question. During our statistical analysis we found significant relationships that supported and bolstered our four mechanisms. Finally, we knew to support our statistical country-level analysis, we needed to focus on individual case studies of foreign fighters. After assessing 32 cases (narrowed from 118), we found a clear relationship between individuals and gender related concerns. All of these steps were taken based on analytical structures I learned in my courses and applied to this project.
Debriefing Skills
Meeting together often to stop and reflect on our shared goals is a vital component to the success of any team. Because our capstone theory was largely unexplored, our team realized we needed to meet together often to debrief and stay on the same track. Every week we had a meeting with our faculty advisor, Dr. Valerie Hudson. At these meetings we discussed progress on the various components of our research and ensured we knew what we needed to accomplish before our next weekly meeting. Besides weekly meetings with our advisor, we meet once a week as a group to work on projects and reflect on our progress to ensure we were all on the right track. By reflecting and debriefing at least twice a week, our team was able to stay on track and create a strong final product.
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Writing for Different Audiences
Word choice, style, and formatting is vital to any final product. The State Department was our capstone client, and as such, we needed to ensure that we could tailor our writing style and formatting for them. This meant reading through and learning how products were presented or written at the State Department, and then tailoring our writing. For State, we wrote in succinct sentences, used terminology that was familiar to the State Department representatives, and formatted our final product in a clear and straightforward manner.
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Interviews and Personal Skills
I learned through interviewing experts for our capstone that it is vital to take time and initiative to show respect and appreciation for the expertise of everyone I work with. During our capstone, taking the initiative to learn about the interviewees, their area of expertise, and prepare for the phone-calls or meetings showed a true regard for that individual. Respect for an individual's work, as well as for their time and opinions, can be extremely helpful when gathering data and completing successful interviews and teamwork. In my view, this skill is important on a personal level with anyone I interact with. Recognizing the value and impact each person shows that I am serious, and creates mutual respect - leading to successful relationships.
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Leadership Skills
My role as team lead was to ensure all components of our research project were on task and running smoothly. I also communicated with our client, our directing faculty advisor, and our group. Throughout this capstone, I learned to focus on the strengths of every individual. It was vital that everyone felt they were contributing to the project to the best of their abilities. This is not only because our research is unique, but the project had many components. I ensured that all members of their team were confident in their roles and responsibilities, and that we were all on the same page regarding our specific assignments. This ensured there was no overlap of responsibilities, and that everyone felt they contributed to the project. Our team worked so well together because there was an understanding we could communicate openly with each other, and everyone pulled their own weight. The success of our project was based off teamwork and applying analytical techniques learned in a classroom to a real life situation.
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