New Introduction

My name is Justine Fleischner and I will be working on the PCR Project Blog for the next four months.  I am a recent graduate of the International Studies Program at the City College of New York. I spent this past summer in Rwanda completing my thesis research on the impact of gender-sensitizing institutional and legal frameworks on post-conflict governance and stability in Rwanda.  I was also able to cross the border into Eastern Congo, a region devastated by both natural disaster (the Nyiragongo Volcano erupted in 2002) and civil war.  Last summer I interned in Sierra Leone with Timap for Justice, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing legal services to the poor.  I was also an electoral observer for the August 2007 Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone.  In addition, I have traveled to India and Nepal with The Emancipation Network, a non-profit organization that fights human trafficking through economic empowerment for women. As a result of my experiences, I am primarily interested in the implementation of democratic reform and rule of law in countries emerging from armed conflict. Here at CSIS I look forward to doing research on Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as working on the religion project, the second phase of a PCR Project study on U.S. government engagement with religion in war-torn societies.  I also plan on posting to the blog fairly regularly and reporting on news and events taking place at CSIS.  Please feel free to leave comments with suggestions for future content!