A Strategy to Reduce Violence against Yazidis in Iraq By Nicholas Carmichael About the Author Nicholas Carmichael is a third-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences double-majoring in Foreign Affairs and German studies and minoring in Public Policy and Leadership in the Batten school. His policy areas of interest include education, immigration, and criminal justice reform. He is currently conducting research with Professor White of UVA’s politics department, concerning strategies to reduce violence against Yazidis in Iraq. Travelling and cooking are two of Nicholas’s favorite things to do outside of school. He is also a member of the Sigma Pi Fraternity. In the future, Nicholas hopes to move into management consulting or policy analysis. He is considering law school after graduation. Foreword At UVA, I teach a class on Religion, Violence, and Strategy: How to Stop Killing in the Name of God. Social hostilities and sectarian violence are rising worldwide, and many religious minorities perceive themselves under existential threat from their neighbors, and even from modernity itself. What can be done to interrupt cycles of religion-related violence? The cases we examine are both challenging and horrific. Consider ongoing assaults against Coptic Christians in Egypt. Rohingya families fleeing Myanmar to survive. Armenians jailed unjustly in Turkey. So many suffer through no fault of their own and need a network of international allies to amplify their voices, to stand together for survival. Each semester, I am fortunate to have access to sixty bright students and researchers, as well as experts and policymakers, working with my decision analytics company, Global Impact Strategies - giStrat. Nick Carmichael took my class to learn how to design and evaluate impact-driven strategies with potential to inhibit religion-related violence. Nick was assigned the case of Iraq, working with a small team to research the underlying causes and triggers
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