This year, we were humbled again by student interest in the Dean Gooderham Acheson Prize for Outstanding Essays in International Studies. The more than one hundred submissions we received represent a body of scholarship of exceptional diversity and depth; inevitably, we find ourselves wishing that we had the space to highlight more than just those essays to which we’re able to award prizes. We sincerely hope that all those students who submitted their work will consider contributing pieces to future issues.
Professors Charles Hill, Michele Malvesti, Jean Krasno, and Jolyon Howorth and Associate Director of International Security Studies Amanda Behm were all generous enough to dedicate their time to the consideration of submissions. On the basis of their judgments, we’re proud to present the winners of the Acheson Prize for 2014:
1st: The Historiography of Postwar and Contemporary Histories of the Outbreak of World War I, by Tess McCann.
2nd: Sinking Their Claws into the Arctic: Prospects for Sino-Russian Relations in the World’s Newest Frontier, by TaoTao Holmes.
3rd (tied): Four Ways to Matter in Pakistan: How Four of Pakistan’s Most Important Politicians Retained Power in Exile, 1984-2014, by Akbar Ahmed.
3rd (tied): The Invisible Ring and the Invisible Contract: Corporate Social Contract as the Normative Basis of Corporate Environmental Responsibility, by Dilong Sun.
As Honorable Mentions, we also include:
Women of War: The Female Fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, by Erin Alexander.
How Did the Chicken Cross the Pacific? Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Appeal to China’s Culinary Tradition in Creating Its Fast Food Empire, by Jack Linshi.
We’d like to express our gratitude to all those who submitted work; to our faculty judges, for their time and thoughtful consideration; to International Security Studies and the Yale International Relations Association, without whom this issue wouldn’t have been possible; and to our talented designers for the beautiful print publication before you.
We greatly enjoyed reading all the pieces featured, and we hope you will as well. For more on what YRIS has in store for future semesters, you can like us on Facebook and subscribe to our weekly newsletter at https://yris.yira.org.
We hope you’ll consider getting involved.
Sincerely,
The Editors