Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Political And Civic Engagement Attitudes Among Asian American College Students, Matthew Vanada

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study explored the attitudes of political and civic engagement among Asian American college students. Previous research suggests that young people are increasingly more inclined to participate in civic activities over traditional forms of political participation. The researcher considered this trend by examining the views of Asian American students, a group whose political behavior has not been largely investigated.

This study employed a qualitative research design. Students from public institutions of higher education in Las Vegas were interviewed using an in-depth and semi-structured format. Findings suggest that there is a general willingness to become involved in civic activity such as …

Plato’S Gorgias: Rhetoric, The Greatest Evil, And The True Art Of Politics, Paul A. George

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The interweaving of rhetoric, the greatest evil, and the true art of politics create the unity of the dialogue. Whereas Gorgianic rhetoric is pleasure seeking flattery which inspires belief without knowledge, noble rhetoric is refutative, inspiring the acknowledgment of falsity or ignorance. Moreover, it is self-refutation, meaning that the person being persuaded arrives at the conclusion of his ignorance by his own realization; the noble rhetor does not connect all the dots for them. The greatest evil is to have a false opinion about justice. A just penalty for suffering from the greatest evil is to face selfrefutation in hopes …

Chosen Nation: Biblical Theopolitics And The Problem Of American Christian Nationalism, Braden P. Anderson

Dissertations (1934 -)

Christian theopolitics presupposes that every salvation narrative entails a politics, and that every politics presumes a story of salvation. This means that the church faces a host of theopolitical structures contending with the Christian story for the allegiance, formation, and identity of Christians. However, theopolitical scholarship has largely overlooked or misunderstood one of the church's major challenges today: nationalism. Moreover, this scholarship is unable to properly address the challenge of nationalism due to an inadequate engagement with biblical theopolitics--particularly that of Old Testament Israel--which, in distorted form, is central to nationalism emanating from within the church.

In order to supplement …

Modernity, Capitalism, And War: Toward A Sociology Of War In The Nineteenth Century, 1815-1914, Eric Royal Lybeck

Masters Theses

The academic discipline of Sociology has rarely broached the subject of war and its recursive relationship with society. This paper addresses three major approaches in several disciplines that can be deemed ‘economically deterministic’: Marxist, Liberal, and Realist. These approaches can be useful for certain questions, but also leave out, or cloud other non-economic variables in understanding war – notably culture and military variables themselves. By using Karl Polanyi’s thesis regarding the “Myth of the Hundred Years’ Peace” (1815-1914) as a foil, the historical case of war in the nineteenth century is used to highlight the nature of war in European …

The Republican-Liberal Continuum: De-Polarizing The Historiographical Debate, Katrina Loulousis Combs

M.A. in Philosophy of History Theses

The historiography of the American Revolution and the Early National Period remains a polarized debate. Historians attribute either classical Whig republican ideology or classical liberal ideology to influencing those periods. However, republicanism and liberalism exist along a philosophical and practical continuum. Because Louis Hartz attributed American liberalism exclusively to John Locke, I first examine Locke’s relationship to Algernon Sidney, observing similarities between these exemplars of liberalism and republicanism. Next I examine the confluence of Thomas Reid’s commonsense moral philosophy (via John Witherspoon) and republicanism, particularly concerning views on man and moral liberty. These commonalities are further demonstrated in Thomas Jefferson’s …

The Culture Of Revolution: Revolutionary Transformation In Iran, Autoosa Elizabeth Kojoori-Saatchi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current challenges to the authority of the Islamic Republic and mass demonstrations in opposition to the presidential elections of 2009 in Iran, have raised the specter of another revolution in the country. In the 20th century, the country underwent two major revolutions: the Constitutional revolution during the first decade of the century and the Islamic revolution in the late 1970s. In this thesis, I will examine why revolutions occur in Iran with greater frequency than other societies. By relying on a historiography and contemporary empirical evidence, I will explore the cultural underpinnings of the Iranian revolutionary worldview embedded in …

Factors Analysis And Operation Improving Measures For Thai Flag Vessels, Philumpha Jirasatit

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Positive- And Negative-Right Conceptions Of Freedom Of Speech And The Specter Of Reimposing The Broadcast Fairness Doctrine ... Or Something Like It, Adam Fowler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A key theoretical debate underlying the now defunct Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation known as the Fairness Doctrine is conflict over what constitutes the right to freedom of speech: a positive or negative conception. Similarly, since repeal of the Doctrine, other FCC measures to uphold the “public-interest” standard in broadcasting have relied on a positive conception of speech. This thesis demonstrates the history of this debate through court cases, news reports, scholarly articles and historical documents. It then is argued that the positive-right nature of these regulations is problematic philosophically, constitutionally and practically. The positive-right conception lends itself to an …

Return To Unfinished Business: Re-Energizing U.S. Nuclear Arms Policy, William T. Eliason

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Today's international environment characterized in nuclear threat terms as having increasing concerns about the potential for terrorist or non-state use of nuclear devices and a decline in the likelihood of the original nuclear weapon states engaging each other in a nuclear war remains in search of a path away from the fear of nuclear attack some twenty years after the end of the Cold War. This research dissertation will seek to answer the question of how best to reestablish a nuclear arms control regime. This dissertation argues that the international environment has fundamentally changed since the end of the Cold …

Women's Participation In Transitional Justice Mechanisms: Comparing Transitional Processes In Timor Leste And Sierra Leone, Holly L. Guthrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women tend to suffer a disproportionate amount of sexual and reproductive violence during periods of conflict, though they generally participate at a lower rate than men in transitional justice processes. Because participation is discussed in procedural justice literature as being crucial to securing feelings of justice and dignity within victims of violence, the lack of women’s participation in transitional process indicates that justice outcomes could suffer without equitable participation of women. In light of this issue, this study uses a comparative case study analysis method to investigate women’s involvement in the transitional justice processes in Timor Leste and Sierra Leone …

Presidential Embodiment Of Soft Power: The Missing Element Of The Current Theory Of Soft Power, Ashley Lauer

Theses & Honors Papers

As a sharp contrast to George Bush, Barack Obama, during his campaign and his first months in office, has received international acclaim and acceptance around the world. Even the vast majority of Europeans, who openly opposed and disliked George Bush, have welcomed Obama enthusiastically. He was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2009. Within the first year of his presidential tenure, Barack Obama already appears to have gained back more soft power than George Bush ever had.

Syrian/United States Relations: Explaining The Failure Of The Relationship And Suggestions On How To Repair It, Chris Chapman

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

"Syrian-American relations have deteriorated markedly in recent years. " ~Syrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Bushra Kanafani Hezbollah. Hamas. The Islamic Jihad. Rogue nation. The axis of evil. These are features commonly used by the United States government, Western media outlets, and the American people to describe the Republic of Syria. Syria is a major player in geopolitics and relevant to the stability of the Middle East. Its relationship with the United States, therefore, is of central importance in reaching the United States goal of peace in this warravaged region of the world. The erosion of normal diplomatic relations with Syria since …

Therapeutic Discourse And The American Public Philosophy: On American Liberalism's Troubled Relationship With Psychology, Clifford D. Vickrey

Honors Theses

I explore the main currents of postwar American liberalism. One, sociological, emerged in response to the danger of mass movements. Articulated primarily by political sociologists and psychologists and ascendant from the mid-fifties till the mid-seventies, it heralded the "end of ideology." It emphasized stability, elitism, positive science and pluralism; it recast normatively sound politics as logrolling and hard bargaining. I argue that these normative features, attractive when considered in isolation, taken together led to a vicious ad hominem style in accounting for views outside the postwar consensus. It used pseudo-scientific literature in labeling populists, Progressives, Taft conservatives, Goldwaterites, the New …

The Unity Of Division: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Selected Speeches From Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign, Reymond Levy

Department of Writing and Communication Theses

No abstract provided.

El Paso, Texas, And Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, 1880-1930: A Material Culture Study Of Borderlands Interdependency, Gladys Arlene Hodges

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Material culture theory informs this study of urban history and borderlands interdependency at El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from 1880-1930. Features incised into and structures built onto the natural environment by the first arriving colonists after the mid-seventeenth century endured for more than two centuries. Over that period, the humanly-created material environment, a social product, fed back into the development of social forms--institutions, rituals, practices, modes of interaction, activities, and beliefs. A significant number of these social forms endured into the late nineteenth century and beyond, even after mechanization and industrialization arrived in the region known …

Rashomon Comes To The Courtroom: The Adoption Of The Lay Judge System In Japan, Its Impact On Jurisprudence, And The Implications For Civic Engagement, Bryan Matthew Thompson

Dissertations and Theses

In May of 2009, Japan began formal operations of the "saiban-in seido" or "lay judge system," a quasi-jury means of criminal trial adjudication that represents the first occasion since 1943 that average Japanese citizens will be required to fulfill a role in the criminal jurisprudential process. While the lay judge system promises to affect the methods and procedures of criminal trials in Japan, recent scholarship in the United States has raised an interesting question: to what degree can the lay participatory adjudication process facilitate greater levels of civic engagement in past citizen jurists once their service has completed?

It …

A Study Of Democracy In Africa: The Senegalese Experience, Ryan Robert Riley

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines the development of democracy in Senegal, one of the few democracies in Africa. In order to understand why democracy has been such a challenge to establish and maintain in Africa, it is necessary to account for the broad effects of European colonization. European powers in their attempts to "modernize" the people of Africa disrupted their natural cultural progress.

Inequities Of Contemporary French Women, Olivia Kuhlman

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the current situation of women in contemporary France. It analyzes the current situation of French women in education, the work force, politics, and French society, with the intent of uncovering the gender inequalities French women encounter in contemporary France.

Governing Gambling In The United States, Maria E. Garcia

CMC Senior Theses

The role risk taking has played in American history has helped shape current legislation concerning gambling. This thesis attempts to explain the discrepancies in legislation regarding distinct forms of gambling. While casinos are heavily regulated by state and federal laws, most statutes dealing with lotteries strive to regulate the activities of other parties instead of those of the lottery institutions. Incidentally, lotteries are the only form of gambling completely managed by the government. It can be inferred that the United States government is more concerned with people exploiting gambling than with the actual practice of wagering.

In an effort to …

Short Term Strategies For Long Term Power: The Rise And Potential Fall Of Hugo Chávez, Linden E.S. Schult

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the route to power of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and the methods by which he has remained in power throughout his presidency. Also, it explores the potential for Chávez to lose power, given the current economic and political situation in Venezuela. The importance of the oil industry, Chávez's suppression of the opposition and control of the media, and constitutional changes and reforms are all discussed as keys to Chávez's continuance in power.

What Happens When Uganda Is Sapped! : Have Uganda's Structural Adjustment Policies Increased Women's Poverty?, Talin Saroukhanian

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Have the World Bank's policy-based loans exacerbated or reduced poverty in

Family Ties: Mainstream Environmentalists' Understanding Of Radical Environmentalism In America, Zachary W. Ezor

Honors Theses

Environmentalism in the United States manifests itself in numerous ways. While American environmentalists have been grouped into broad camps over the years, observers have struggled to accurately classify the different components of the movement. Lately, environmentalists have been characterized based on their chosen modus operandi. Environmentalists who employ typical interest group tactics of policy advocacy and accept the notion of political compromise can generally be called 'mainstream.' Alternatively, those environmentalists who employ non-conventional strategies like direct action and take a no-compromise stance on environmental issues are typically described as 'radical.' Despite these distinctions, both radical and mainstream environmentalists are parts …

Selling Its Future Short: Armenia's Economic And Security Relations With Russia, Ian J. Mcginnity

CMC Senior Theses

It is necessary and desirable for Armenia to retain close relations with Russia in both the short and long term. However, recent concessions to Russia for good relations in the short term may have potentially harmful repercussions for Armenia in the future. These concessions have in part resulted in the Russian dominance in the economic sector, over-dependence on Russia for Armenia’s energy needs, and the perpetuation of Armenian submissiveness to Russian interests. Armenia should, therefore, maintain good relations with Russia while simultaneously securing long-term paths that focus on actual strategic partnership and not dependence. In short, Armenia should return to …

The 2008 Election: Prior Belief Strength, Cognitive Dissonance, And Voter Reactions, Elicia Chelsey Lair

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Central Bank Independence: Rules, Practices, And Outcomes, Douglas Aaron Block

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In recent years interest has grown in central bank independence as research has shown that it may affect many important financial issues such as unemployment, inflation, and inflation variability, among others. However, empirical evidence regarding its effect has been inconclusive and there is low correlation among various legal central bank independence measures. In this thesis, I attempt to resolve these problems by generating a new measure of legal central bank independence that takes into account divergence between laws and practices. I then measure the impact that democracy and proportional electoral systems have on reducing this divergence and find that democracy …