Sometimes the fear won't go away, so you'll have to do it afraid..

It has always been a dream of mine to take my education, not my learning, because we are always learning, as far as I could. I knew at a very young age that I wanted to be Dr. Rebecca A Walker. I have always excelled at school, from Kindergarten through my Master's Degree. A procrastinator, yes, but the end result has always been positive. When I set out to finally start the process, I was confident that I was in a position to tackle the process, I was capable of that level of research, and I was ready for a seat at the Doctoral table.

My school is awesome! I feel like we have all the resources we need, the professors are supportive and communicative. I truly have everything logistically required to make this terminal degree happen. Here is what the course descriptions don't tell you. They don't tell you that you will have so many moments where you feel like you are the dumbest individual on the planet. They leave out where you will question your time management skills, your research capabilities, and your over all level of expertise in your field. I can't count how many times I have sat in front of my computer wondering if I just got lucky getting my Master's. Severe imposter syndrome. 

The interesting part is, I am told, almost all PhD students go through this. It is almost a right of passage into a world where you are humbly unshakeable in your ability. I have false started the dissertation phase twice now, only to find out that a professor of mine took 7 years to complete her program. I have decided to jump and #choosethedaringadventure as I have tagged 2024. I need to put my brain on paper, even if, no especially if, it isn't perfect, so I can start. Doing a blog post about my topic was an assignment for my introduction course in the dissertation process. I love that it has be back on my website, but I also love the public testimonial and the accountability. So maybe, as a result of this assignment, I will keep the world updated on the realistic journey of a PhD student. 

The concept of globalism is very much a hot, modern topic. Since the technology explosion of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s which connected the world through the world wide web, historians, economists, and experts scattered over a multitude of disciplines have attempted to define globalism as this connectedness of people over space, physically and technically. Historians, however, tend to begin the exploration of change, definitions, and world shifts, well before most draw the starting line. I began my exploration of globalism at the end of World War II. The causes and outcomes of World War II have undoubtedly helped to shape the globe as we recognize it today. Changes in borders, policies, and governments are only some of the more tangible characteristics of change that, as historians, we often explore. In addition to those more palpable shifts, the world, and the nation-states that make it up, began to see themselves as an interconnected community, more so than separately distinct nations. From these new ideas came a more established belief in and definition of globalism. The definition of globalism has undergone many iterations since the end of WWII, but generally ends in a connectedness between diverse nations. The catalysts to globalism have been associated with a multitude of causes, varying across several disciplines. Many authors have taken deep dives into these causes of globalism and their effects. Patrick Porter, in his book The Global Village Myth, specifically addresses the reduction of space, again whether it be over land or communication methods, and how that has permanently removed boundaries between people, nations, and industries. In an older work, The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, the expansion of and streamlining of industry was used as a specific example of globalism. In his book, he makes the case that a child with a smart phone in an undeveloped country can still be on the same playing field of a large industry in a highly developed nation, obviously the industry taken into consideration. The idea of globalism is important because of its impact on sovereignty and the autonomy of a nation’s government. When technology and transportation improvements occur, it blurs the boundaries of nations and as a result the reach of their laws, policies, and security. 

What hasn’t been explored extensively, is how humanitarianism, the establishment of the United Nations, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created a very permanent sense of globalism, and how this permanent definition has impacted greatly the foreign policies of many nations. In true historical fashion, the beginning of this research question begins well before we see its impacts. The end of WWII brought about a global interest in preventing genocide on the level of the Holocaust from ever happening again. As a result, the newly established United Nations passed the first Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December of 1948. The Declaration defined basic human rights on the basis of humanity regardless of borders, nationality, race, religion, or sex. In effect, it created a global population. A global population that then were afforded rights regardless of the nation you lived in and the government that ruled over you. Of course, this was supported by United Nations member nations, so not all nations, but it was the first attempt to establish human rights globally regardless of UN membership. 

In keeping with the original intent of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I plan to look at how that declaration has impacted how the United States has interpreted, supported (or not), and enforced it through their foreign policy decisions, specifically when it came to additional cases of genocide. The scope of genocide following WWII can also be a very broad avenue of research, so I plan to look microscopically at the Rwandan genocide of 1994. I have selected this case specifically because of the varying international response, the praise and criticism surrounding the United States’ response to the incident, and because we are recognizing the 30-year anniversary of the genocide this year. With the anniversary, a flood of new information, actualizations of what really occurred, and the recognition of the genocide by governments that were not necessarily sold on defining the event as genocide back in the mid 90’s. 

As an outline of the research, from start to finish, I plan to first illustrate the differences in US foreign international policy as it related to the avoidance of the League of Nations and its struggle to accept the United Nations. From there, I will look at the political and ideological arguments made during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, during the passing of the Declaration, and the United States’ stance and road to acceptance of it. There is also value in looking at a side-by-side comparison between the United States and other nations with similar views on the Declaration as well as those that were on the opposite side of the fence. In order to see how these early situations impacted American response to the Rwanda genocide, the history of the genocide itself must be looked at as well. The Rwandan genocide is often viewed as a prime example of the definition of genocide, so the world’s response to it can indicate their level of commitment to the global population idea of globalism. It also shows the willingness to sacrifice or wield their sovereignty and autonomy to protect individuals regardless of the nation in which they reside. 

When talking with my dissertation chair, the age-old warning that as historians we shouldn’t walk into a research question with a preconceived answer, but instead, we should let the documents, sources, and research lead us to the end. I may find that the US has stayed true to the Declaration, being willing to possibly sacrifice its own sovereignty, for the protection of human rights globally. I may also find that the US has valued its sovereignty more than the infringement of human rights in other nations, maintaining a tight foreign policy that carefully protects that. Either way, or even in the event it goes another way, human rights has been something that has connected the globe in an effort to prevent genocide, and its impacts on the Rwandan genocide can certainly outline how effective the Declaration has been.