All Around the World from Home
About the author: Mac Simpson ’23 is an FSI Global Policy Intern with World Justice Project. He is currently a rising junior studying Political Science at Stanford University.
I have always been extremely interested in current events, not only in my hometown of San Diego or the United States as a whole, but also across the world. Hearing about a wide range of different news and international scandals such as a coup in Myanmar or Britain leaving the EU opens my eyes to the everchanging nature of the world and how people choose to govern it. This interest in international current events sparked my interest in international affairs and political science in high school, and I yearned to further learn about the world’s interconnectedness not only politically, but also culturally and socially.
When applying to the internship at the World Justice Project, I had never heard of the organization or the work they do. I figured, “hey, I am interested in the world, and I am interested in law and justice, so this seems like a perfect combination of my interests.” From day one, I learned there is so much more to the organization, ranging from studying access to criminal justice to environmental governance indicators in Latin America and the Caribbean. The main project I have been working on is their yearly flagship publication, known as the “Rule of Law Index”, which analyzes eight different factors in almost every country around the globe (more in my next blog post).
This internship has opened my eyes to the more intricate and smaller-scale incidents happening around the world pertaining to government, justice, and basic human rights. While researching regulatory enforcement in Botswana may be difficult, my work has allowed me to learn more about a country and its operations and governance than I would just obtain from reading or hearing about a large event in a particular country from an American news source.
My experience at the World Justice Project so far has been amazing, and I cannot wait to continue to learn more about not only the work of the organization, but its implications of its findings around the world.
