Week 7: Abuse of State Resources, How to Become an Autocrat, and Bluebook Citations
As this week began, I circled back to my work on the Abuse of State Resources research I had been tasked with several weeks ago. Of all the projects I’ve been juggling this summer, this project was the one that I felt needed the most attention. My research method here was unique—as I was working with the 2013 publication on this same topic, I had a number of sources already at my fingertips. As examples of abuse of state resources aren’t exactly found on Lexis or Westlaw, and I didn’t want to waste time aimlessly Googling, I decided to reverse-engineer this research process. I worked my way through each of the previously used sources first, taking note of databases or organization websites (Transparency International, OSCE, etc.) that are regularly updated. Some sources used in the previous publication led nowhere—news articles from 2010 certainly wouldn’t be useful for me now. A time or two, I encountered Russia-based websites that had been taken down after Russian crackdowns on organizations based in “unfriendly countries” since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began last year.
After a couple days’ work, I had finalized my list of sources. I had a quick meeting with personnel in IFES’ Prague office to discuss my progress. I was pointed toward another source or two that may prove useful moving forward, and I was informed that, if I were to find applicable examples of ASR that were not in the 2013 publication, I could certainly add them to the list. On the other hand, if some previously used examples turned out to be hard to find (or simply haven’t been reported), those could be cut. I’m looking forward to carrying out more research for this project with this newfound wiggle room!
An IFES presentation on Wednesday by IFES’ Center for Applied Research & Learning focused on El Salvadorian President Bukele’s autocratic tendencies. This presentation, titled “How to Become an Autocrat,” highlighted strategies utilized by politicians to undermine democratic processes. Despite the democratic backsliding taking place in the country, Bukele remains popular among the population due to his emphasis on tackling organized crime. Crime statistics have (according to Bukele’s government) plummeted. IFES and other organizations, however, are concerned about the potential human rights violations taking place in the country’s prisons—innocent citizens held without bond for unknown crimes, for example.
My work with case law analysis continued, and I was asked to provide “mini summaries” on several cases that I had previously researched. These will hopefully assist IFES personnel in applying the main takeaways from that research to forthcoming publications and other projects.
At the end of my week, I was asked to assist with some legal citations using the Bluebook for an American Bar Association newsletter, written by Anti-Corruption and Democratic Trust personnel. The newsletter discusses women in pre-election alternate dispute resolution (ADR), exploring mechanisms used in Nigeria and Kenya to enhance access to justice for women and increase community confidence in the judiciary. These citations were great practice for the work I’ll be doing with the Business Law Review at William & Mary throughout my 2L year. Among the citations for this publication were Kenyan legislation (Bluebook table T2.25) and U.N. documents (Bluebook rule 21.7). I turned in my work here after the better part of a day.
Weekend events: National Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Library of Congress