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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Political Science

City University of New York (CUNY)

Theses/Dissertations

Law

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres Feb 2019

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres

Theses and Dissertations

I have long considered themes of the body. Drawing on my knowledge as a fashion designer, I bring materials and hardware from the fashion industry into my artwork transforming and rendering them non-functional. My sculptures relate to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. The following pages will analyze how the United States penal system controls, constrains and restricts the body through physical and psychological wounds. Furthermore, they will examine how the Catholic Church controls people’s minds and behavior through a ritualistic belief system.


Shared Deliberations: Learning From The Voices Of Social Justice Lawyers On Their Aspirations, Challenges And Roles, Ian Head Feb 2019

Shared Deliberations: Learning From The Voices Of Social Justice Lawyers On Their Aspirations, Challenges And Roles, Ian Head

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lawyers in the U.S. who attempt to advocate for social justice issues, often on behalf of those communities most targeted by government institutions and oppressive legal systems, have unique perspectives into the challenges of using the law to create transformative change. This thesis examines the voices of over a dozen attorneys fighting not only on behalf of their clients, but also wrestling with how to best use a set of legal tools not meant for dismantling systems of power. Listening to how these legal advocates navigate their roles inside a system of laws created to consolidate rather than distribute power …


Flap Of A Butterfly's Wings, Gary E. Rotter Ii Jan 2018

Flap Of A Butterfly's Wings, Gary E. Rotter Ii

Dissertations and Theses

The goal of this thesis is to draw attention to the often overlooked work that is done by activists and their networks when it comes to influencing international policy and law. The case study looks at the “Comfort Women” issue, an unresolved conflict from when the Japanese Imperial Army forced women from its colonies into sexual slavery during World War II. It is a fiercely debated topic throughout Asia, specifically between South Korea and Japan. Here I argue that not only do non-state actors have great influence over the debate and direction this issue takes in international forums, but that …


Liberal Translations: Secular Concepts, Law, And Religion In Colonial Egypt, Jeffrey Culang Sep 2017

Liberal Translations: Secular Concepts, Law, And Religion In Colonial Egypt, Jeffrey Culang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a conceptual history of Egypt’s national formation between the 1880s and the 1930s. This period involved the convergence of nationalism, colonial rule, missionary activity, and new modes of governance at the national and international levels. Drawing on state and missionary archival material, periodicals, legal compendia, laws, and parliamentary transcripts, and adapting methods developed by Reinhart Koselleck, I trace shifts within Egypt’s socio-political lexicon through processes of translation and demonstrate their effects upon social experience and political aspiration. I focus on a set of liberal-secular concepts critical to national politics—religious freedom, public interest, nationality, and the minority—as they …


Richard A. Posner: A Study In Judicial Entrepreneurship, Sean J. Shannon Feb 2016

Richard A. Posner: A Study In Judicial Entrepreneurship, Sean J. Shannon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes the role of Richard Posner, one of the most prolific and innovative legal thinkers over the past forty years, as a judicial entrepreneur in his efforts to persuade the legal academy and judiciary to incorporate economic principles into the judicial decision making process in market and non-market areas of the law and legal discourse and thereby to re-examine the role of the judge. Though political scientists have explored the entrepreneurial activities of policy makers and political actors, they have given little attention to the role of judges as judicial entrepreneurs. This dissertation develops a comprehensive theoretical understanding …


Climate Torts And Ecocide In The Context Of Proposals For An International Environmental Court, Patrick Foster Jan 2011

Climate Torts And Ecocide In The Context Of Proposals For An International Environmental Court, Patrick Foster

Dissertations and Theses

"This thesis is an exploration of two questions that are neither novel nor lacking in exploration: Is an International Environmental Court (IEC) needed? Is such a court feasible? Proposals for an IEC have a rich history, are well founded and numerous. On the issue of necessity, this thesis attempts to pull together historical and current information on two distinct areas of international environmental law and use these analyses to contextualize the need for an international environmental tribunal. Arguments for and against an IEC are presented within a discussion of environmental diplomacy. This thesis begins with a legal discussion of potential …