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Abstract

We proudly present Volume 32 of Politikon, the flagship academic journal of the International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS). This issue is special in the sense as it publishes the work of young academics who conduct research within their respective Student Research Committees (SRCs). The SRCs provide a framework for student research communities created within IAPSS and focusing on particular sub-fields and topics within political science. SRC members have access to several unique opportunities provided by IAPSS and this special issue demonstrates their capacity to develop own individual or joint projects. This special issue is comprised of four selected articles that followed the rigorous standard of double-blind peer review. Their authors include members of the SRCs on International Relations Theory, International Law and Governance, Comparative Politics and Conflict, Security and Crime (previously: Conflict and Security Studies). In the first article by Gergana Tzvetkova, you will be able to explore the EU participation in the Contact Group on Piracy of the Coast of Somalia as an example of a multilateral initiative. In the second article, Jaseff Raziel Yauri Miranda aims to identify and analyze the relation between surveillance practices and accountability, focusing on the Spanish scenario since its last democratization process. The third article co-authored by Kirstie Lynn Dobbs and JeongWoo Lee examines the question of why do Western powers support ruthless dictatorships in allied countries, but at other times condemn the actions of these same dictatorships in support of democratic revolutionaries? Last but not least, in the fourth article of this issue Dané Smith uses Marshall McLuhan's tetrad of media effects within a social constructivist paradigm, to engage in an intertextual and intervisual analysis of political cartoons in Denmark.