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Sam Ratner

Sam Ratner writes Inkstick Media's Critical State newsletter. He is also a contributing editor Zitamar News and graduate a of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.Sam writes about civil wars, statebuilding, southern Africa and progressive security policy.
A man holds a portrait of Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba who has taken the reins of Burkina Faso, in Ouagadougou, Jan. 25, 2022. 
Critical State
Undemocratic shifts for state control: Part I
A Pittsburgh police officer stands in a downtown Pittsburgh intersection Sunday, May 31, 2020.
If not police, what? Part II
A Kenyan police officer talks on his phone inside the compound of the command center in Malindi, Kenya, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018. 
Critical State
If not police, what? Part I
Afghan police arrive at the site of an attack at Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020.
Critical State
​​​​​​​What does ‘legitimacy’ mean: Part II
Government soldiers wait on a helicopter at the airport in San Pedro, southwestern Ivory Coast, Friday Jan. 10, 2003, before heading to an area near Grabo, also in the southwest, where government forces are fightng rebels.
Critical State
What does ‘legitimacy’ mean: Part I
Activists shout slogans to mark anniversary of death of Chinese Nobel prize winner Liu Xiaobo outside a district court in Hong Kong, Monday, July 13, 2020. 
Critical State
Protest projection: Part II
In this Friday Jan. 20, 2012, file photo, anti-Syrian regime protesters gather at a square as they hold an Arabic banner, center, reading, "Hey, the miserable, the tyrant, what else," during a demonstration at the mountain resort town of Zabadani, Syria.
Critical State
Protest projection: Part 1
Philanthropist Bill Gates attends the World Leaders' Summit "Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment," at the COP26 Summit, in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. 
Critical State
Foundations of international relations: Part II
In this June 21, 2019, file photo, George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, looks before the Joseph A. Schumpeter award ceremony in Vienna, Austria. 
Critical State
Foundations of international relations: Part I
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, speaks with European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn during a meeting of the College of Commissioners at EU headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021. 
Critical State
Monetary policy by other means: Part II
Bank customers write Arabic words thats read "Riad is a thief. Thieves" (Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon's Central Bank) on a facade of bank in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021.
Critical State
Monetary policy by other means: Part I
In this Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, file photo, people pass a banner reading "STOP EBOLA," forming part of Sierra Leone's Ebola free campaign in the city of Freetown, Sierra Leone. 
How do ‘whole-of-government’ programs actually work? Part II
In this Jan. 28, 2012 file photo, members of the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol west of Kabul, Afghanistan. 
Critical State
How do ‘whole-of-government’ programs actually work? Part I
In this Sept. 29, 2021, file photo, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. A new Pentagon plan calls for incorporating the realities of a hotter, harsher Earth at every level in th
Critical State
Political climate: Part II
A flare burns natural gas at an oil well on Aug. 26, 2021, in Watford City, North Dakota.
Critical State
Political climate: Part I
In this Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021 file photo, Afghans inspect damage of Ahmadi family house after US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Critical State
Opportunity seizure: Part II
Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, speaks at a press conference in Kampala, Uganda Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. 
Opportunity seizure: Part I
A woman waves flags of Catalonia and Spain as people celebrate a holiday known as "Dia de la Hispanidad" or Spain's National Day in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017. 
Critical State
Struggle for self-determination: Part II
People hold a Catalonian independence flag, as they march during a demonstration to mark the fourth anniversary of a failed independence referendum, in Barcelona, Spain, late Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. 
Critical State
Struggle for self-determination: Part I
Soldiers march during a military parade marking 100th anniversary of the 1918 creation of the Czechoslovak state in Prague, Czech Republic, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. 
Critical State
How to train your dragoon: Part II
Cadets learn to fire mortars, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020, at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York.
How to train your dragoon: Part I
Liberian school children in the courtyard at Cathedral High School as students arrive in the morning to attend class in Monrovia, Liberia, Monday, Feb. 16, 2015. 
Critical State
How we make decisions about politics in the aftermath of conflict
Relatives and neighbors wail near the body of Mohammad Mudasir, 31, who was killed in communal violence in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020.
Critical State
How we make snap decisions in conflict
In this Aug. 22, 2019, file photo, signs on a bank of computers tell visitors that the machines are not working at the public library in Wilmer, Texas. 
Critical State
Checking in on the pandemic: Part II
Pharmacy technician Hollie Maloney loads a syringe with Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at the Portland Expo in Portland, Maine.
Critical State
Checking in on the pandemic: Part I
In this Monday, Aug. 6, 2012, file photo, Côte d’Ivoire troops patrol in the Cocody area of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The limits of non-violence: Part II
Palestinians chant slogans during a protest in front of the Dome of the Rock Mosque at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, June 18, 2021. 
Critical State
The limits of non-violence: Part I
Faeza Satouf, from Syria, looks at a photo of her graduation day on her phone during an interview in Nivaa, Denmark, Wednesday, April 21, 2021. 
Critical State
Family in conflict: Part II
In this photo taken Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, Anna Acheng, a 45-year-old who was abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and whose left ear was partly sliced off by them, stands near her home in the Barlonyo displaced persons camp in northern Uganda.
Critical State
Family in conflict: Part I
Peacekeepers from the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) provide security during a visit of UNCHR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi to South Sudan's largest camp for the internally displaced, in Bentiu, South Sudan, Sunday, June
Critical State
Externalities of intervention: Part II
Moroccan UN peacekeepers wearing blue helmets patrol a rich soil road Bangassou, Central African Republic, Feb. 14, 2021. 
Critical State
Externalities of intervention: Part I
A traveler smiles as they pull down their mask for a TSA agent to confirm their identity at the security checkpoint at Love Field airport Friday, May 28, 2021, in Dallas. 
Critical State
What’s a border, anyway? Part II
A view of a steel wall at Evros river, near the village of Poros, at the Greek-Turkish border, Greece, Friday, May 21, 2021. 
Critical State
What’s a border anyway? Part I
Biden and Erdoğan fist-bump at NATO meeting.
Critical State
Checking in on democratic peace: Part II
A building is still riddled with war damage, on the former frontline of the Lebanese Civil War, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 13, 2021.
Critical State
Checking in on democratic peace: Part I
A woman stands in an abandoned building with light coming through the window.
Critical State
Sexual violence in conflict: Part II
In this Aug. 30, 2019 photo, Layla Taloo visits the Ninewa Palace Hotel, where she was once brought by her Islamic State militant captor in Mosul, Iraq.
Critical State
Sexual violence in conflict: Part I
In this photo taken Aug. 17, 2012, one of the few remaining miners digs out soil which will later be filtered for traces of cassiterite, the major ore of tin, at Nyabibwe mine, in eastern Congo. 
Critical State
Rebels with a business cause: Part II
Pedestrians cross a busy street in Kinshasa.
Critical State
Rebels with a business cause: Part I
Two men in camouflage carry guns in a rice paddy in Vietnam.
Critical State
The stuff of life and death: Part II
A woman weeps while holding a picture of her dead son, with a hand to her cheek, and eyes closed.
Critical State
The stuff of life and death: Part I
Smoke billows from stacks against a setting sun.
Critical State
The blame game in international politics: Part II
A group of men gather around a memorial to plant flowers for victims of a militant attack.
Critical State
The blame game in international politics: Part I
In this Jan. 8, 2019, file photo, US Army troops training to serve as instructors participate in the new Army combat fitness test at the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade compound at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 
Military
Gender matters in the military: Part II
Military men and women exercise in a field.
Critical State
Gender matters in the military
A mock North Korea's Scud-B missile, center right, and South Korean missiles are displayed at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 18, 2021. 
Critical State
The leftovers: What happens to foreign policy in power transitions? Part II
A rocket goes off with fire underneath it.
Critical State
The leftovers: What happens to foreign policy in power transitions? Part I
This aerial shot released by the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) shows a village affected by a landslide in Nganjuk, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. 
Critical State
When it rains, it wars: Tracking intersecting security threats, Part II
A man wearing jeans and sweater throws a rock near a fire burning outside
Critical State
When it rains, it wars: Tracking intersecting security threats, Part I
A dark volcano with smoke rising out of it surrounded by a body of water.
Critical State
COVID-19 and the limits of state power: Part II
People walk wearing face masks and shields over a bridge near a mall
Critical State
COVID-19 and the limits of state power: Part I
An Indian farmer harvests vegetables from a field in Kanachak village, on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. 
Critical State
Climate and human security: Part II
Four people walk with their belongings outside. A woman wears a blue scarf on her hair. A barefoot man carries a bag on his shoulder.
Climate and human security: Part I
Adolf Hitler's Nazi campaign includes the indoctrination of children in Berlin, Feb. 24, 1936. The boys are trained for future military service and the girls to be obedient hausfraus. Here a group of boys proudly march beneath Nazi standards. 
Critical State
Political science of the periphery: Part II
A Venezuelan migrant family walks away from the Venezuelan border in Pamplona, Colombia, Oct. 7, 2020. 
Critical State
Political science of the periphery: Part I
Former rebel fighters parade during a ceremony at Nepalese Military Academy in Kharipati, Nepal, Aug. 26, 2013. 
Critical State
Civilian labor in reconstruction: Part II
Black and white painting of a civil war scene in Tennessee
Critical State
Civilian labor in reconstruction: Part I
A police officer drives a large blue and white police vehicle through town
Critical State
Federalism in violence: Part II
Protesters shout and wear a colorful boat on their heads with the words "oust Duterte" painted on it.
Critical State
Federalism in violence: Part I
Two uniformed soldiers stand on top of a UN tank with two soldiers looking on and children in the background
Critical State
Peacekeeping work: Part II