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Critical Genocide Studies And Mass Atrocity Prevention, Ernesto Verdeja

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Critical genocide studies has emerged as an important strand of scholarship devoted to interrogating the core assumptions of the field of genocide studies. Drawing on these developments, this article outlines a critical approach to modern atrocity prevention that is self-reflective, dialectical, multivalent, and anti-teleological. Part I provides a brief overview of contemporary prevention. Part II elaborates the four elements of the proposed critical approach toward prevention. Part III applies this approach to examine several important issue areas in current prevention work: the importance of global and regional contextualization; securitization and state power; conceptualizations of political violence; the status of …

Moving Beyond The State: An Imperative For Genocide Prediction, Hollie Nyseth Brehm

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Studies of the onset of genocide and accompanying early warning and forecasting efforts have focused almost exclusively on states. This article suggests that genocide prediction must move beyond a purely state-centric approach. Specifically, I suggest three major avenues that will refine and complement existing research and related prediction efforts. These include 1) theorizing and analyzing non-state actors who commit genocide, 2) engaging in conflict-centered approaches, and 3) addressing the onset and triggers of genocide within subnational spaces. I conclude with a discussion of how these three avenues can be pursued simultaneously to inform more robust genocide prevention endeavors.

“Genocide Is Worth It": Broadening The Logic Of Atrocity Prevention For State Actors, James E. Waller

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Of particular focus in this piece is the communication of the logic of atrocity prevention to State actors. As genocide studies has developed as a field, we also have become more insular; professionalizing how we operate in such a way that it has pulled us away from those very venues in which we should be applying our work. From the sure footing of the outside, we often criticize State actors, particularly policymakers, for their impotent actions in the face of escalating risks or, even, genocidal violence. But we seldom speak with them or push ourselves to find ways to bridge …

Salutogenesis And The Prevention Of Social Death: Cross-Cultural Lessons From Genocide-Impacted Rwandans And Indigenous Youth In Canada, Jobb D. Arnold

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Combining trans-disciplinary theories with cross-cultural ethnographic research, this paper explores community-based approaches to genocide prevention among Canadian-Indigenous groups as well as with Rwandan student genocide survivors. A Salutogenic framework is used to examine community responses to the micro-foundations of genocide (Antonovsky 1987). These processes are explored using first-hand accounts from “New Family” networks of student genocide survivors in Rwanda and members of a Canadian urban-Indigenous “Village.” These perspectives shed light on how locally adaptive, socially networked practices can help promote emergent forms of genocide prevention (Williams 1977). This paper focuses on three areas of local practice that have helped build …

Human Rights? What A Good Idea! From Universal Jurisdiction To Crime Prevention, Daniel Feierstein

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Over the last decades, Genocide Studies has entered in a “comfort zone.” With fellowships and support from governments or NGOs, we have developed a very comfortable environment in which the knowledge we produce about genocide prevention is neither critical nor useful. We have become trapped by assumptions we have never checked against reality and many of us have chosen to work inside the circle of those assumptions: genocide and mass violence are horrible acts committed by horrible people; we cannot stand by and do nothing; we have the responsibility to protect civilian populations and that responsibility takes the form, as …

The Progressive Transformation Of Medellín- Colombia: A Successful Case Of Women's Political Agency, María Auxiliadora González-Malabet

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Medellín, Colombia, once one of the most corrupt and violent cities in the world, is now one of the most progressive and democratic cities in South America. This transformation was due to the mobilization of women’s movements and the influx of women in the city’s executive branch. Female political agency and new urban development programs reshaped democratic practices for the citizenry. This research examines the robust association between women’s organizations, women from Compromiso Ciudanano (CC), and a solid and active civil society. The theoretical framework covers democratization, good governance, and Latin American/Indigenous Feminism. The sources include interviews, polls, news articles, …

Energy Transition Modeling: Social And Technical Dynamics Of Moving To Renewable Energy, Lawrence Gottschamer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The majority of global electricity is generated using fossil fuels as an energy source, and the science linking fossil fuel combustion with negative environmental impacts is clear. Recognizing this link, decarbonizing the electricity system is a critical component of climate change mitigation. However, moving electricity generation, distribution, and end-use behavior patterns to renewable energy is a complex socio-technical energy transition challenge with a number of economic, policy, technological, societal and environmental barriers. Energy transition work tends to be siloed within these topics; ignoring complex socio-technical interdependencies impacting electricity system transition dynamics. This work fills the knowledge gap with a ‘systems …

Restoring International Justice: Exposing The Limitations Of Retributive Justice And Proposing A Restorative Dimension, Nazek Jawad

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation exposes the limitation of international retributive justice in realizing interstate reconciliation and proposes including a restorative dimension into the existing international criminal justice system. I maintain that justice within the international criminal system is conceptualized purely on a punitive notion influenced by the liberal institutionalist understanding of the state and the international system. Hence, the current retributive structure does not engage rival stakeholders, who experience interstate wars, in the process of international justice, as it is centered on upholding international law and punishing states that violate the law. To this end, the current process is not equipped to …

Structure Of Turkey-Usa Bilateral Relations And Analysis Of Factors Affecting Bilateral Relations, Hanifi Ozkarakaya

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on understanding and explaining the factors affecting Turkey-US bilateral relations, which have been on a fluctuating course in recent years. Turkish foreign policy had a Western-centric foreign policy approach in line with Turkey’s westernization goal in previous years. However, Turkish foreign policy has undergone a major change since it became clear that the long-lasting European Union accession process would not reach a result. Therefore, Turkey's new foreign policy, which is not Western oriented and closely associated with the former Ottoman Empire geography, has also affected the bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States.

The most important …

Human Rights, Emotion, And Critical Realism: Proposing An Emotional Ontology Of International Human Rights, Ben Luongo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a critical realist framework of human rights and argues that emotion plays a foundational role in constituting a human rights ontology. I build this framework as a critical response to other IR human rights theories which have largely been developed in accordance with either empiricist or rationalist paradigms. Both empiricist and rationalist theories fail to articulate a firm ontological foundation which can support their human rights claims.

This ontological concern may not seem too important for human rights scholars interested in more substantive political issues, but it does lead to problems because no human rights theory is …

Teaching Demographic Ignorance With The Correcting Misperceptions Exercise: A Replication And Extension Of Previous Research, Daniel Herda

Numeracy

Existing research from the social sciences indicates that misperceptions about immigrants are pervasive in American society and present consequences for intergroup relations. The classroom may be an arena in which to reduce this incorrectness. The current note provides a replication and extension of previous research on the effectiveness of the Correcting Misperceptions Exercise (CME) ─ an in-class demographic guessing game in which students provide their perceptions of some demographic reality and compare it to an objective data source. This analysis builds upon earlier work by 1) considering immigrants as a new demographic category of focus; 2) simultaneously analyzing cardinal misperceptions …

For The Common Defense: The Evolution Of National Security Strategy-Making Institutions & Impact On American Grand Strategy, Nathan D. Barrick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation applies a Neoclassical Realism model to examine how the evolution of United States (U.S.) national security strategy-making institutions has resulted in a path dependent accrual of autonomy and increasing influence over the formulation of American grand strategy. Once U.S. national security strategy-making institutions were created, their existence inexorably led to increasing autonomy, the creation of new strategy-making institutions, and subtle influence in shaping American grand strategy by preferential focus on a militarized foreign policy. Additionally, the more autonomous these strategy-making institutions have become, the further they have strayed from the Constitutional mandate to create a government which provides …

The Humanitarian Gaze And The Spectatorial Nature Of Sympathy, Michelle Assaad

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ansel Adams, one of the world’s great photographers, once said, “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” This thesis will explore the relationship of the photographer, the viewer, and the photographed subject in the context of humanitarian photography, which has historically internalized a specific balance of power between the worlds of the photographer, viewer, and subject. By examining this tangible expression of the internalized world, this thesis is also performing a critical examination of humanitarianism itself with the intent of improving humanitarian practices and interior worlds. In examining these topics, this thesis will answer …

Book Review: Ethnic Politics And State Power In Africa: The Logic Of The Coup-Civil War Trap, Sandra Tombe

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This submission is a book review of Philip Roessler's Ethnic Politics and State Power in Africa.

Book Review: Making Ubumwe: Power, State And Camps In Rwanda’S Unity-Building Project, Simon Turner

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Justice Façade: The Trials Of Transition In Cambodia, Sabah Carrim

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of The “Forgotten Man”: The Sustained Legacy Of The Southern Strategy On The Post-Reagan Era Presidency, Stephanie Lynn Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Political and historical literature largely attributes the political development of the Southern Strategy to the 1964 Barry Goldwater and 1968 Richard Nixon presidential campaigns. The Southern Strategy is commonly explained as the Republican Party’s 1964 campaign decision to abandon Black voters in the North to expand its national political base of support by seeking White voters outside of the South who were angry with the political advancements of the Civil Rights Movement (Aistrup 1996, 5; Bass and DeVries 1976, 27). Discussions of Ronald Reagan’s role in the development of the Southern Strategy describe him more as a beneficiary rather than …

When Faced With A Democracy: Political Socialization Of First-Generation Ethnic Russian Immigrants In Central And South Florida, Marina Seraphine Mendez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is a qualitative study about political socialization of first-generation ethnic Russian immigrants in Central and South Florida. The method used is a constructivist grounded theory with two-level coding. Based on data collected in forty in-depth interviews, I constructed a model of political socialization. It incorporates a starting point (the legal status in the US), triggers (English language proficiency, spousal support, and parenting), political socialization agencies (English as Second Language classes, a spouse, volunteering, the church) and output structures (bureaucratic institutions). Using respondents’ opinions about American vs. Russian political systems and mass media, their political participation, and views about political …

Between Hagiography And Wounded Attachment: Raphaël Lemkin And The Study Of Genocide, Benjamin Meiches, Jeff Benvenuto

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In this article, we outline the significance of the special issue on the scholarship of Raphaël Lemkin. We argue that genocide scholars tend to identify with one of three different types of Lemkin scholarship. Each of the articles for the special issue challenges these genres in an effort to extend the study of genocide in new directions. Moreover, we contend that this work suggests that genocide scholars should endeavor to extend the study of genocide beyond Lemkin's vision and writings.

The Complicated Cases Of Soghomon Tehlirian And Sholem Schwartzbard And Their Influences On Raphaël Lemkin's Thinking About Genocide, Steven Leonard Jacobs

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The article is an examination of the persons and trials of Soghomon Tehlirian and Sholem Schwartzbard, their political assassinations as acts of vengeance for genocide and pogroms, their trials and subsequent acquittals. It is also an examination of the influences of these two events on the evolved thinking of Raphael Lemkin on his conceptualization of the needs for an international law contra genocide. Finally, it also elaborates on what information is now available on both men and their associations, and what was known and unknown to Lemkin and whether or not these two cases remained centrally important to his understandings.

The Black Freedom Movement And The Politics Of The Anti-Genocide Norm In The United States, 1951 - 1967, Daniel E. Solomon

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article explores the political uses of the anti-genocide norm by black freedom activists in the United States between 1951, when the Civil Rights Congress petitioned the United Nations with evidence of genocide against black Americans, and 1967, when the topic of genocide returned to mainstream public debate with the beginning of William Proxmire’s campaign for US ratification of the Convention. Using public speeches and pamphlets of the US black freedom movement, and private documentation by movement activists, this paper demonstrates how black activists used the nascent anti-genocide norm to (1) critique the relationship between the US government’s role in …

China’S Quantum Quandary, Elsa B. Kania

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.

Moving Away From The West Or Taking Independent Positions: A Structural Analysis For The New Turkish Foreign Policy, Suleyman Senturk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper focuses on understanding and explaining the change of Turkish foreign policy,particularly in the last decade. Many observers have expressed a suspicion that Turkey is abandoning its Western-centric alignment and gradually shifting its axis. The thesis argues that rather than a shift, Turkey is taking an independent position. It maintains that the end of the Cold War and the change in the international structure from bipolarity to unipolarity has provided incentives for countries with some degree of material capabilities to pursue independence from the U.S. policy preferences. This study analyses structural effects on the behavior of Turkey.

Later it …

Soviet Nationality Policy: Impact On Ethnic Conflict In Abkhazia And South Ossetia, Nevzat Torun

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to answer two interlinked questions with respect to ethnic conflict in Georgia: Why and how two ethnic groups (Abkhazians and Ossetians) in Georgia sought secession in 1990s rather than accepting unity under a common Georgian roof, and what explains the occurrence of ethnic conflicts between the Abkhazians and Georgians and between the South Ossetians and Georgians?

The central argument of this thesis is that Soviet nationality policy was a foremost driving force in shaping consciousness of being ethnic groups in Georgia and set the stage for the inter-ethnic conflicts of the post-Soviet era. A number of factors …

Strategic Challenges Of Declining International Power For Democracies In A Hostile Cyber World: The Case Of China, Nigel Inkster

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.

The Financial Sector’S Vulnerabilities, Villains, And Options For Defense, John T. Harvey

Military Cyber Affairs

The consequences of cyber attacks on the financial sector go well beyond those suffered by the individuals and firms directly involved and may even lead to the destabilization of the system itself. The concern is all the greater given that banks and similar institutions play a much more critical role than most people realize and the nature of their operation already invites risk taking at the best of times. Bad actors hoping to sow chaos surely understand the trouble they could cause by targeting the financial underpinning of our economy. This paper will argue that while the cyber defense of …

Dry Rivers, Scary Strangers: Are Financial And Cyber Crises Alike?, Claudia Biancotti, Paolo Ciocca

Military Cyber Affairs

The internet and the financial system show crucial affinities: both are tightly interconnected global networks whose orderly functioning is a prerequisite for economic prosperity. In financial and cyber crises alike, vulnerabilities are a consequence of distorted economic incentives, contagion is fast, and the most serious risk is loss of trust. Lessons learned from financial meltdowns translate to the cybersecurity world: stability cannot be achieved until policies are in place to address all of these issues. Steps have been taken to rectify incentives, as exemplified by recent European Union legislation. Data that helps identify weak nodes are still scarce, notwithstanding recent …

Systemic Cyber Risks And Defense: Valuation, Innovation And Strategic Implications, Pythagoras N. Petratos

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.

Trouble On The High “C’S” – China, Cyber, And The Trading System, Robert Fisher

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.

Strategy Needed To Protect National Sovereignty Of Us Telecommunications Backbone, Thomas Donahue

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.