My Interviewees as Professional Writers

The Interviewees:

1. Alex Braithwaite
1. Professor Braithwaite's professional works have included several pieces that he has prepared for political conferences, articles that have been published in academic journals and he has even written a book on conflict hot spots.
1. Journal Article: The Battle for Baghdad
2. Book: Conflict Hotspots
2. Michael Polakowski
1. Unfortunately I did not find much as far as works written by this professor. I know he has conducted research on his field of study, specifically in criminology and justice, but he has been more limited to that and his teaching than anything else.
3. Context:
1. Braithwaite- Both of Braithwaite's pieces are rather recent and he continues to write journal articles and even told me he intends to write another book. The time frame of each of these pieces is obviously paramount, especially since much of the content he talks about is about issues in the Middle East. The first article was just recently published in 2015, a time when ISIS has been on the rise and the struggle over Iraq has been continuous. His book was written back in 2010. There were still a multitude of problems back in the Middle East, but ISIS did not have as much traction back then. In that book he explained how violence occurs from political instability, so he was basically saying he was expecting something else to happen in the Middle East due to the political instability.
2. Polakowski- Like I said, unfortunately I did not find any publications by this professor. I think he usually sticks more to research and lectures than actually publishing in political journals or writing any books.
4. Message:
1. Braithwaite- The main message in his journal about the Battle of Baghdad is basically saying that the reason the city of Baghdad is such a hot spot for conflict is because it is such a densely populated area, there is quite a military presence there, and there is a large road network which means easily transporting materials.
1. The main message of the book is that political instability causes violent conflict. However, he goes much more in-depth with how this occurs, where it is more likely to occur according to location, city size, population, etc.
5. Purpose:
1. The purpose of each of Braithwaite's is basically to illustrate what causes conflicts and therefore how they can be prevented. He stated in his interview that much of what he writes is for policy-makers, but almost never read by them. So maybe if they read some of his work, they wouldn't be scratching their heads wondering why problems keep arising in certain areas.