Mark Vicik

Mark Vicik

Mark Vicik has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Middle East and North Africa Studies from Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. He is a Lieutenant in the United States Army, currently stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
  • Joined: December 8, 2020
  • Articles: 160

Bias and the Perceived China Threat

The health of Sino-American relations will be an important bellwether of American economic and national security success in the years to come. Because China is so important to America’s future, the United States must get it right with how it…

The Governance Competition in the Americas: “Criminal Charity” During COVID-19 Will Have Decade-long Consequences

Latin America’s criminal groups have leveraged the coronavirus pandemic to win the goodwill and support of local populations by delivering humanitarian assistance and co-opting public service provision in communities underserved by state institutions. Such levels of “criminal charity” could complicate the future efforts of Latin America’s weakest states to dismantle and defeat organized crime groups, whose power has grown in recent years.

Toolkit for a Successful Movement: Digital Tools in Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement

In 2014, hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Taipei to protest the Cross-Strait Services Agreement—a free trade agreement between Taiwan and Beijing—believing it would give the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) too much political and economic control over the island. The protesters wielded social media and the internet to communicate, inform and mobilize. These tools did not work in a vacuum, however, and understanding their interactions with conventional media and offline associations becomes crucial. This paper demonstrates how, through one-way and interactive communications, the participants of the Sunflower Movement used digital tools to realize their demands.