History Commons^™

Iran And The Myth Of Deterrence, William Wunderle, Gabriel Lajeunesse

William Wunderle

Thos who argue deterrence is the answer to a nuclear Iran miss the point -- the real issue is not whether Iran can be deterred from use or transfer of a nuclear weapon, but rather how a weapon would enable Iran to transition from its current status as a malignant spoiler to that of a true global power and threat. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-wunderle/iran-and-the-myth-of-dete_b_478576.html

Moving Beyond Anarchy: A Complex Alternative To A Realist Assumption, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

Realist international relations theory is the most influential theoretical approach in the discipline of international relations. Within the realist paradigm there are several realist approaches. Various approaches, including classical realism, neorealism, offensive realism, neo-classical realism, and game theory, are part of the realist paradigm but some make different theoretically relevant assumptions, notably about international politics, international actors and actors’ motivations.

The first part of this thesis seeks to demonstrate how, despite their other differences, a fundamental assumption that anarchy determines the nature of international politics is characteristic of realist theorists as notable and different as classical realists Thucydides, Niccolò Machiavelli, …

Gobierno Y Políticas Públicas. Trabajos Aplicados, Leonardo García Jaramillo, Maria Fernanda Ramirez Brouchoud

Leonardo García Jaramillo

No abstract provided.

The Incredible Shrinking Pancasila: Nationalist Propaganda And The Missing Ideological Legacy Of Suharto, Robert Cribb

Robert Cribb

Although President Suharto dominated Indonesian politics for more than three decades, and although Indonesians spent millions of hours under his regime mastering the principles of the national ideology, Pancasila, remarkable little remains of his ideological legacy.

The Democratic-Republican Societies: An Educational Dream Deferred, Brian W. Dotts

Brian W Dotts

No abstract provided.

The Homo Floresiensis Controversy, Robert Cribb

Robert Cribb

The 2004 announcement of the discovery of a new species of hominin in the form of sub-fossil remains from Liang Bua cave in Flores aroused immediate excitement and controversy. The discovery attracted sceptical attention from dissenting palaeontologists. The sometimes acrimonious debate addressed the relative importance of apparently archaic and apparently modern features of the remains.

Gender Inequalities In Buha (Kigoma) And The Role Of Gender Mainstreaming To Alliviate Them, Conrad John Masabo Mr.

Conrad John Masabo Mr.

Gender issues and debates on gender are ever growing to dominate the local and international politics, law, economy and social policies. The debate are hot and even now penetrating to the formerly spheres that were for quite long left un-penetrated such as those structures of religion. Gender can be defined as the social determined roles and relations between males and females. In this regard, these social constructed roles and relations have resulted into tremendous gender inequalities that need to be addressed anew with a different methodology or strategy. They call for critical and purposely attention from anyone who hopes to …

Winning The Next War: Institutionalizing Lessons Learned From Today’S Regional Conflicts, William D. Wunderle

William Wunderle

In the future, the United States military is more likely to undertake missions requiring irregular warfare capabilities, as opposed to traditional large-scale ground combat operations. These conflicts do not occur in a vacuum. Complex sectarian, ethnic, and tribal affiliations cross boundaries and require consideration of regional realities that impact the conflict. A key component of military readiness will be the ability to understand the cultures of, and communicate with, people from many regions of the world. Increased language and culture training will ultimately prove to be a powerful weapon in the American military’s arsenal.

The U.S. military now understands that …

Countering Iranian Malign Influence: The Need For A Regional Response, William D. Wunderle, Gabriel C. Lajeunesse

William Wunderle

The behavior and the policies pursued by Iran’s current leadership pose profound and wide-ranging challenges to U.S. interests, the interests of its friends and allies, and the international community as a whole. Particularly concerning is Iran’s ability to foment instability through the use of terrorism. Recognizing this, the authors participated in a series of roundtables, discussions, and forums on Iranian Malign Influence. Participants included military and civilian experts from a number of Middle Eastern, European, and Central Asian countries, U.S. think tanks, and U.S. intelligence and interagency subject matter experts. This paper is a reflection of the insightful dialogue that …

Iran's Other Ticking Time Bomb, William Wunderle, Gabriel Lajeunesse

William Wunderle

With all the focus on Iran's nuclear-development program, one can forget that the Islamic Republic is also involved in a variety of subversive activities that could also plunge the states of the region into war. Iran's support of terror is not limited to Hezbollah or Hamas, but also extends to Iraq and Afghanistan, Turkey and Sudan, among other states, write these two visiting associates from Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.

Kevin07, Web 2.0 And Young Voters At The 2007 Australian Federal Election, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

While Australian political parties have maintained official websites for some years, the 2007 Australian Federal election saw the first significant integration of Web 2.0 technologies into a national election campaign. The two major parties – the conservative Liberal Party and the socialist Labor Party – both embraced blogs, flash animation, online video and popular social networking sites in an attempt to win votes, particularly in the 18 to 35 year-old demographic. The Labor Party was far more successful in using Web 2.0 and their online efforts were judged to have played a large role in winning the absolute majority of …

The Indonesian Revolution: Archives And Emotions, Robert Cribb

Robert Cribb

Discusses the possibility that archival materials can be used to create a sense of emoptional commonality between current generations and earlier ones.

Diabolical Frivolity Of Neoliberal Fundamentalism, Sefik Tatlic

Sefik Tatlic

Today, we cannot talk just about plain control, but we must talk about the nature of the interaction of the one who is being controlled and the one who controls, an interaction where the one that is “controlled” is asking for more control over himself/herself while expecting to be compensated by a surplus of freedom to satisfy trivial needs and wishes. Such a liberty for the fulfillment of trivial needs is being declared as freedom. But this implies as well the freedom to choose not to be engaged in any kind of socially sensible or politically articulated struggle.

Remapping A Nation Without States: Personalized Full Representation For California’S 21st Century, Mark Paul, Micah Weinberg

Mark Paul

California is a state of many distinct regions. To give citizens a voice on regional issues and to reinvigorate California’s Legislature, the state’s central institution of self-government, we propose Personalized Full Representation for the 21st Century (PFR21), a system of representation by means of regionally based legislative elections that will allow the state’s citizens to set the agenda for their regions and for the state as a whole. By reshaping the stage on which legisla- tive politics is played out, California can make state govern- ment more attentive to regional issues and give its citizens a means of holding elected …

China: Re-Emerging, Not Rising, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

In late 1993 Nicholas Kristof argued in the pages of Foreign Affairs that “the rise of china, if it continues, may be the most important trend in the world for the next century”. Fifteen years later two things are clear: there is no longer any reason to wonder if China’s rise will continue and the impact of this surge in the East is now clearly the most important trend in international politics this century.

Bridging Politics And Science, Carl E. Marklund

Carl Marklund

Dissertation Summary In this dissertation I have tried to map how the concept of “social engineering” has been used from its inception in the early 1890s to the beginning of its decline in the late 1940s. The study concentrates upon the 1930s. In particular, I have asked who used this concept, in what contexts, and against which adversaries. I have taken most of my material from Sweden and the USA since both of these countries have been seen as examples of successful “organization of modernity.” And social engineering is indeed often taken to be exactly that—an attempt at organizing modernity.

Racial Formation In Quebec: A Legal Retospective, Roozbeh (Rudy) B. Baker

Roozbeh (Rudy) B. Baker

This Article shall use the experience of the Quebecois in Canada to survey the linkage between cultural formation and race in Quebecois racial identity, and then map out these linkages and their relations to the political and legal discourse that has emerged in Canada on the place of the Quebecois in the country. Cultural formation and racial formation are unmistakably linked. Specific social and linguistic separatism can over time crystallize into racial formation, especially if aided by official government recognition and legal codification. As this Article shall demonstrate, the verification of this idea can be clearly seen the experience of …

Beyond Sovereignty? The State After The Failure Of Sovereignty, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

Sovereign state power, absolute and unlimited, was to guarantee the lives and property of citizens. Instead, States became vectors for mass violence. The realist/atomist model of sovereignty failed to preserve peace and instead led to global wars of mass destruction. The same technological progress which makes human extinction possible also makes global governance possible through nearly instant global communication and travel. The possibility for global governance confronts the reality of an archaic and inapt juridical concept. Sovereignty must be reconceptualized and understood as a relative and partial power shared at multiple levels in an intensively networked world rather than in …

Offensive Realism And Central & Eastern Europe After The Cold War, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

At the end of the Cold War, John Mearsheimer published the article, “Back to the Future: Instability in Europe after the Cold War”. The widely-cited piece included four predictions for the post-Cold War European geopolitical landscape founded on the theory of offensive realism, the realpolitik approach that Mearsheimer had established and developed over more than a decade of scholarship. However, the emergence of a post-Cold War and pan-continental peace suggests that something was wrong with Mearsheimer’s predictions and, by implication, the theory that informed them. This article argues that Mearsheimer’s mistake was to rely on a theory that assumed the …

Through The Lens Of Cultural Awareness: A Primer For Us Armed Forces Deploying To Arab And Middle Eastern Countries, William Wunderle

William Wunderle

This Combat Studies Institute (CSI) Special Study is unique in that it focuses more on culture than on history. The CSI objective, however, remains unchanged—to provide manuscript length historical studies rel¬evant to the leaders of an Army at War. We are, therefore, pleased to offer Through the Lens of Cultural Awareness: A Primer for US Armed Forces Deploying to Arab and Middle Eastern Countries by Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) William D. Wunderle.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Long War, as the Global War on Terrorism is now known, is the cultural environment in which it is being fought. In …

The Balkan Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

In physics, biology and meteorology, scientists have come to understand that the natural systems they study can be extremely sensitive to small events. The so-called ‘butterfly effect’ is testament to such seemingly insignificant events having significant implications for the wider system. Such knowledge has led to an interest in the natural sciences in both chaotic and complex systems and, in turn, has led to social scientists searching for parallels in the systems they examine. However, within the field of international relations theory, there has been little attempt to move towards such new understandings and away from a fundamental belief in …

The Illusion Of Anarchy: Chaos, Complexity And The Origins Of World War One, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

In physics, biology and meteorology, scientists have come to understand that the natural systems they study can be extremely sensitive to small events. The so-called ‘butterfly effect’ is testament to such seemingly insignificant events having significant implications for the wider system. Such knowledge has led to an interest in the natural sciences in both chaotic and complex systems and, in turn, has led to social scientists searching for parallels in the systems they examine. However, within the field of international relations theory, there has been little attempt to move towards such new understandings and away from a fundamental belief in …

The “Csi Effect”: Better Jurors Through Television And Science?, Michael Mann

Michael D. Mann

This Comment explores how television shows such as CSI and Law & Order have created heightened juror expectations in courtrooms across America. Surprise acquitals often have prosectors scratching their heads as jurors hold them to this new "Hollywood" standard. The Comment also analyzes the CSI phenomena by reflecting on past legal television shows that have influenced the public's perception of the legal profession and how the "CSI effect" has placed an even greater burden on parties to proffer some kind of forensic evidence at trial.

The Comment was published in volume 24 of the Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal (2006).

Is Resisting Genocide A Human Right?, David B. Kopel, Paul Gallant, Joanne D. Eisen

David B Kopel

The genocide in Darfur, Sudan, is perhaps the worst human rights crisis of the new century. This article examines the failures of the international response so far, and offers a solution based on international human rights law.

Conducting an in-depth study of the Darfur genocide, and also discussing other genocides, the Article details the inadequacy of many of the international community's response to genocides, including “targeted sanctions” or international peacekeeping forces.

The Article then examines international legal authorities such as the Genocide Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Court of Justice, and demonstrates that groups which …

'A Little Knowledge Is A Useful Thing': Paradoxes In The Asian Studies Experience In Australia, Robert Cribb

Robert Cribb

Asia has increasingly become a routine part of the educational and research curriculum in Australia, with the consequence that the importance of the specialist skills of Asianists has diminished.

Hiding Borders, Skewing Perspectives And Reversing Time: Possibilities For A New Generation Of Historical Atlases, Li Narangoa, Robert Cribb

Robert Cribb

New computer graphics technology puts the power to create maps into the hanmds of working historians, The result will be a much richer array of imaginations of the geographical past than was once possible.

Cato’S Resolve And The Revolutionary Spirit: Political Education, Civic Action, And The Democratic-Republican Societies Of The 1790s, Brian W. Dotts

Brian W Dotts

In an address to friends and fellow citizens, published in the National Gazette in 1793, the German Republican Society of Philadelphia openly proclaimed one of its main principles: “The spirit of liberty, like every virtue of the mind, is to be kept alive only by constant action.” One year later, at a civic festival in Philadelphia while commemorating the success of the French Revolution, the Democratic Society of Pennsylvania and its sister society, the German Republicans, raised their glasses and toasted: “Knowledge:—May every Citizen be so learned as to know his rights, and so brave as to assert them.”1 These …

Curves, Conflict And Critical Points: Reformulating Power Cycle Theory For The 21st Century, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

This thesis provides a reformulated power cycle methodology to enhance the utility of power cycle analysis in the twenty-first century, while also pointing to future research which might develop the reformulated model further, particularly in measuring soft power.

Ethical Regulation And Humanities Research In Australia: Problems And Consequences, Robert Cribb

Robert Cribb

Examines problems created for humanities and social science research by the unthinking application of ethical prescriptions from bio-medical research.

Kapitalizmus És Szocializmus Bibó István Gondolatrendszerében [István Bibó On Capitalism And Socialism], Peter Cserne

Péter Cserne

Although István Bibó’s (1911–1979) reputation in Hungary is based on his political and historical essays, he has written much on economic and social issues as well. As an anti-speculative thinker, he formulated his views each time in the context of actual economic and social problems. Starting from the critique of modernity and a sort of elitism in the 30’s, his interest turned toward the serious deformations of Hungarian social structure, especially the situation of the agrarian population. His great private lecture on The Meaning of the Development of European Society (1971–72) treated the history of Europe from a philosophical perspective …