“Water, water every where, nor any drop to drink.” Coleridge’s famous words reflected the situation of sailors on a ship, but the words hold true for the situation of many on land today. 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water at home, and by 2025, half of the world will live in a water-stressed area. While the mind may more readily think of deserts, sixty-two million people lack access to adequate sanitation and drinking water sources in Europe. Europe’s largest minority— Roma—are disproportionately impacted regarding access to water.

As difficult as they are to relive, the horrors of Newtown, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Parkland conceal a horrifying truth: mass shootings—incidents in which four or more individuals are shot and killed (not including the shooter)—are on the rise in the United States. They are occurring more frequently and have become more deadly. Yet following each unspeakable tragedy, as cries for reform grow increasingly shrill, gun sales rise and legislatures stonewall.

In July 2014, Ramon Fabian entered the Ulster Correction Facility in upstate New York as an inmate. Less than a week later, Fabian had one of his testicles surgically removed because of damage resulting from a beating administered by a prison guard, Michael Bukowski. Bukowski beat Fabian as punishment for talking during the morning head count. After the headcount ended, Bukowski took Fabian to an isolated part of the prison. There were no cameras and no fellow inmates. There, he ordered Fabian to face the wall, stretch out his arms, and spread his legs, which is commonly known as a frisk position. Bukowski then kicked Fabian between the legs, with such force that his testicle ruptured, and he had to crawl back to his cell. Bukowski then left Fabian in his cell. It was not until later, when Fabian reported to the mess hall, that a different prison guard sent him to the medical unit, and eventually to the hospital for surgery.

Consociationalism, a theory based around power-sharing mechanisms for different ethnic groups, is a key component of many modern solutions to ethnic-based conflict. Consociationalism is a theory aimed to reorient Western policy away from its preference for majoritarian solutions to end ethnic conflicts. Instead, Arend Lijphart, the promulgater of consociationalist theory, urged policy makers to recognize the value of ethnic identities. Lijphart asserted that a recognition of the complexities of ethnic tensions would allow policy makers to create governments that could alleviate, if not eliminate, ethnic tensions by creating ethnic-based governments. Consociationalism provides a path for countries suffering from ethnic conflict, like South Sudan, to return to political stability.