This article was found in the Public Policy Research journal. Martha Nussbaum, a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago, and Mohammed Abed, a philosophy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hold a debate discussing the justifications of Israeli academic boycotts. The citation for the article is:

Nussbaum, Martha, and Mohammed Abed. 2007. “Can (Israeli) academic boycotts be justified?” Public Policy Research 14 (4): 218-28. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-540x.2008.00493.x.

Nussbaum argues that boycotts directed at academic institutions are not successful, and disagrees with the justifications for them. Abel believes that boycotts are more effective than other strategies because there is no government involvement, and because they have a bigger and more direct impact on the oppressive situations. The topic of this article is about the Palestinian boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Its research question is “Can Israeli academic boycotts be justified?” The data type used in this article is deep opinions and attitudes, collected by an in-depth interview. The analysis method used is qualitative. I think this research is interesting because it includes conflicting opinions which will be useful for me to see counter-arguments for the BDS movement. One thing I think is interesting is the fact that neither professors seem to have lived or experienced the boycotts first-hand so I’m wondering how well they can report on them.