Digital Commons Network^™

A Fake Future: The Threat Of Foreign Disinformation On The U.S. And Its Allies, Brandon M. Rubsamen

Global Tides

This paper attempts to explain the threat that foreign disinformation poses for the United States Intelligence Community and its allies. The paper examines Russian disinformation from both a historical and contemporary context and how its effect on Western democracies may only be exacerbated in light of Chinese involvement and evolving technologies. Fortunately, the paper also studies practices and strategies that the United States Intelligence Community and its allied foreign counterparts may use to respond. It is hoped that this study will help shed further light on Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns and explain how the Intelligence Community can efficiently react.

Review Of Building Peace In America, Chris Hausmann, Ron Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Tanner Colby, Some Of My Best Friends Are Black (2012), James W. Gentry

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

All Rise: Factors Affecting Decision Making Of United States Supreme Court Justices, Benjamin L. Barker

Tenor of Our Times

Despite the widespread perception that judges are not political beings and should rule in an impartial manner, it seems that discourse surrounding the Supreme Court is more partisan than ever, and that the Justices themselves are ruling in a partisan manner. What factors make Supreme Court Justices rule in a partisan manner? In order to find out, I examine the ideological direction of each Justice’s vote in each Supreme Court case from 1946 to 2019 in light of factors concerning the individual Justice such as their political party affiliation and the party of the President who appointed them. I find …

Analyzing The United States’ Limited Response To The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Carolina Romero

Political Analysis

The Syrian refugee crisis can be described as one of the biggest, if not largest, humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. The crisis is a result of an ongoing civil war between rebel groups and the government forces of the Assad regime. Since the beginning of the war in 2011, over 400,000 have been killed and a combined 11 million have been displaced either internally or externally from their homes (Human Rights Watch, World Report 2018). The United Nations and the international community have openly expressed discontent with the dealings of the Assad regime, and as a result, have attempted …

Given Today's New Wave Of Protectionsim, Is Antitrust Law The Last Hope For Preserving A Free Global Economy Or Another Nail In Free Trade's Coffin?, Allison Murray

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gender And The State Department, Courtney Sage

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

As research concerning women continues to expand, so to do the opportunities to examine women in other political positions beyond elected officials. Bureaucratic positions create an impact on policy just as elected positions do. My research examines gender in the State Department. I explore factors including length of service, country of service, appointments, and education. My research found that there are little differences between men and women in regards to length of service, education and appointments. However, the countries men and women serve in are much different when compared. This research has only scratched the surface, and future research will …

The Way Of The Knife: The Cia, A Secret Army, And A War At The Ends Of The Earth, Mariah Wallace

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

The author offers her views and thoughts on Mazzetti’s book and its implications for the future of American foreign policy.

A Mission Of Divine Calling: A Chosen Nation's Crusade Against Evil, Ashley Harrington

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

For decades, political scientists have and continue to theorize about influences on presidential decision-making and policy implementation. Faith and religious analysis however, remain relatively new to the study of presidential politics. This particular research examines two Republican presidents, both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, that had vastly different ideas about how to combat nations whose policies limited freedom and liberty.

Using The Issue-Attention Cycle To Analyze The Marine Protection, Research, And Sanctuaries Act, Matthew Cain

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

The author uses Anthony Downs' Issue Attention Cycle to analyze the rise and decline of attention to the dumping of sewage, sludge, and industrial waste into the ocean. Through the lens of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, the author finds that although Downs' model explains the rise and decline in policy attention in part, much greater emphasis should be put on public opinion.

Cia: The Critical Years, Ryan Freer

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

Our foreign policy agenda in the Middle East is attributed to the decisions of the CIA's Director's of Intelligence (DCI) and the President's they served. The author examines how two DCI's, an a third to a lesser degree, have impacted the agency during their tenures, and how the operations of the CIA in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran in the decades leading up to the attacks of 9/11 culminated in this tragedy.

A New Electoral System For A New Century, Eric Stevens

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

The Electoral College as an institution is an archaic relic of times past and is in serious need of reevaluation concerning the modern age of technology and communication. Through discussion the author argues that the current electoral system is a hindrance to electoral democracy in this country and could easily be made more efficient and democratic to meed modern standards.

Why Congress Does Not Challenge Judicial Supremacy, Neal Devins

William & Mary Law Review

Members of Congress largely acquiesce to judicial supremacy both on constitutional and statutory interpretation questions. Lawmakers, however, do not formally embrace judicial supremacy; they rarely think about the courts when enacting legislation. This Article explains why this is so, focusing on why lawmakers have both strong incentive to acquiesce to judicial power and little incentive to advance a coherent view of congressional power. In particular, lawmakers are interested in advancing favored policies, winning reelection, and gaining personal power within Congress. Abstract questions of institutional power do not interest lawmakers and judicial defeats are seen as opportunities to find some other …

Judicial Supremacy Revisited: Independent Constitutional Authority In American Constitutional Law And Practice, Mark A. Graber

William & Mary Law Review

The Supreme Court exercises far less constitutional authority in American law and practice than one would gather from reading judicial opinions, presidential speeches, or the standard tomes for and against judicial supremacy. Lower federal court judges, state court justices, federal and state elected officials, persons charged with administering the law, and ordinary citizens often have the final say on particular constitutional controversies or exercise temporary constitutional authority in ways that have more influence on the parties to that controversy than the eventual Supreme Court decision. In many instances, Supreme Court doctrine sanctions or facilitates the exercise of independent constitutional authority …

A Taxonomy Of Independent Electoral Reapportionment Systems, James Ruley

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

This paper addresses a means of checking legislative gerrymandering, which I have called the Independent Electoral Reapportionment Commission (IERC). Its purpose is to prevent self-interested politicians from drawing biased constituency lines. While scholars have researched gerrymandering, few scholars have researched commissions designed to limit such gerrymandering, and no comprehensive work details the global means of accomplishing this goal.

Thus, the purpose of this paper is not to normatively prescribe the best practices for composing and empowering an IERC, but rather to descriptively show how different countries conduct this process. While Part II makes some determinations about which commissions may conceptually …

Interest Groups And U.S. Foreign Policy Towards Cuba: The Restoration Of Capitalism In Cuba And The Changing Interest Group Politics, Canberk Koçak

Class, Race and Corporate Power

The Cuban-American lobby successfully influenced Congress and various presidential administrations from the early 1980s until nearly the end of the century on U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba. Although two major events, the passage of the Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, and the Elián González affair of the same year, dramatically reduced the power of this conservative ethnic interest group, its influence continued during the George W. Bush presidency. Despite the lobby’s active role, since 2008 the opposition of several political actors towards the sanctions regime, such as the agribusiness lobby, the administration of Barack Obama, and …

Aspiring To An Odd Job: The American Vice Presidency, Jack Van Der Slik

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

The Sweep Of The Modern Gender Gap: Is Britain Next?, Maxine Lopes

Political Analysis

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Ideas In Politics: Social Constructivism And Obama’S Foreign Policy In Iraq, Courtney Kayser

Political Analysis

No abstract provided.

Containment And The Shah: How Eisenhower And The Cia Brought Down Democracy And Encouraged Corrupt Leadership In Iran, Ellie Holliday

Ex-Patt Magazine

U.S. relations with Iran are beginning to thaw. Why were they frozen to begin with?

Death By Bullet, Fire, Or Vapor: Examining The Decision To Use The Atomic Bomb To End World War Ii In The Pacific Theatre, Jonathan Keenan

The Exposition

The atomic bomb is one of the most destructive devices man has created for warfare. Able to wipe out entire city blocks and dissolve a person’s body leaving only a shadow behind. How can any good be found in such a weapon? The paper will evaluate the process Americans went through to create this weapon and then use it. It will convey how different key players felt about the Bomb, such as politicians, scientists, and military figures. Both sides of the argument will be looked at whether the Bombs should have been dropped or if there was a way around …

The Us On The Palestinian Statehood Bid: Weighing The Costs, Thomas Pegram

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Reflecting on the controversy surrounding the Palestinian bid for statehood, Richard Falk neatly subverts the opening words of the UN Charter, “we the people,” as having always surrendered to “we the governments,” and, in the modern era of American empire, “we the hegemon.”

This may well be true. The UN Security Council (UNSC), in particular, is viewed in Washington as a vehicle for hegemonic ambitions—to be indulged when it serves its purpose and vetoed and sidelined when it does not. Unfolding events at the UNSC, reportedly due to vote on the Palestinian resolution on November 11 but now postponed perhaps …

American Muslim Minorities: The New Human Rights Struggle, Ashley Moore

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The ramifications of the attacks of September 11, 2001 are felt throughout the United States. However, no minority community is as deeply affected as the American-Muslim minority. Since the attacks on the World Trade Center, Muslims residing in the United States have experienced violations of economic and political liberties, as well as ongoing social discrimination. Media stereotypes and government legislation continually exacerbate these human rights abuses and entrench institutional, social, and economic discrimination deeper in American society. At the heart of this discrimination are clear misunderstandings about Islam and those who practice the faith. In an effort to combat these …

Donald W. Jackson On Prisoners Of America’S Wars: From The Early Republic To Guantanamo. By Stephanie Carvin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. 336pp., Donald W. Jackson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Prisoners of America’s Wars: From the Early Republic to Guantanamo. By Stephanie Carvin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. 336pp.

May Roundtable: The Downfall Of Human Rights? Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Downfall of Human Rights” by Joshua Kurlantzick. Newsweek. February 19, 2010.

A Positive View Of The Trajectory Of The Human Rights Movement, David Akerson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 1988, during the waning days of apartheid in South Africa, I was a young American lawyer working for South African Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria. On one occasion, I accompanied some of my African colleagues to a conference, the purpose of which was to begin visualizing post-apartheid South Africa. While the apartheid regime was still in power, it was clearly in hasty retreat, and it was equally clear that its days were numbered. The African majority would soon be taking over the reigns of power, and they were excited to begin visualizing what freedom and human rights might …

Premature Judgment, Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Just as Mark Twain said in 1897, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” many commentators have prematurely reported the death of human rights. For example, in 1999, in The Theory and Reality of the Protection of International Human Rights , J. Shand Watson sees human rights as a “mere fiction” in light of a century of state-sponsored killing. One year later, Costas Douzinas, through an appeal to history, philosophy, and psychoanalysis proclaimed the “end of human rights.” It is thus no surprise that the article by Joshua Kurlantzick is yet another attempt to warn us that human rights …

A Human Rights-Oriented Approach To Military Operations, Federico Sperotto

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Counterinsurgency is the dominant aspect of US operations in Afghanistan, and since ISAF—the NATO-led security and assistance force—has assumed growing security responsibility throughout the country, it is also a mission for the Europeans.1 The frame in which military operations are conducted is irregular warfare, a form of conflict which differs from conventional operations in two main aspects. First, it is warfare among and within the people. Second, it is warfare in which insurgents avoid a direct military confrontation, using instead unconventional methods and terrorist tactics.

© Federico Sperotto. All rights reserved.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or …

Stephen James On The Battle For Welfare Rights: Politics And Poverty In Modern America By Felicia Kornbluh. Philadelphia: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. 287pp., Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Battle for Welfare Rights: Politics and Poverty in Modern America by Felicia Kornbluh. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. 287pp.

Forced Labor In The United States: A Contemporary Problem In Need Of A Contemporary Solution, Chrissey Buckley

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Legal slavery ended in the United States in 1865, yet the practice of forcing individuals to work against their will, oftentimes in inhumane conditions, continues today. Currently there are around 50,000 people working in forced labor situations in the United States (Bales 47). Although this number is smaller than it was during the 18th century, finding and freeing these individuals is difficult because they are hidden away and exploited. The United States is now at a critical juncture in its struggle to end forced labor. In 2000, the U.S. Government enacted legislation that holds perpetrators of forced labor accountable, and …