Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

State Sponsored Famine: Conceptualizing Politically Induced Famine As A Crime Against Humanity, Jlateh Vincent Jappah Md, Msc, Danielle Taana Smith

Journal of International and Global Studies

This paper argues for the codification of politically induced famine as a crime against humanity. We use the term “state sponsored famine” to reflect the conceptualization of famine as not merely nature-induced but also as a willfully orchestrated state policy. The specification of faminogenic practices as criminal would subject perpetrators to international jurisdiction and provide deterrence to future offenders. We review traditional conceptualizations of famine as a geophysical event. We explore Amartya Sen’s concept of famine as caused by the collapse of individual entitlement and market exchange dynamics; we also discuss commentary on Sen’s approach. Further, we analyze the limits …

Neoliberal Globalization And The Politics Of Migration In Sub-Saharan Africa, Saul Tobias Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Over the last few decades, many states in sub-Saharan Africa have adopted draconian anti-migrant policies, leaving refugees and migrants vulnerable to violence, harassment, and economic exploitation. These policies represent a shift from the relatively hospitable attitude shown by many African nations in the immediate post-colonial period. Explanations at the local level do not adequately explain the pervasiveness of these changes or why many developing states are now replicating the migration discourse and practices of the global north. Drawing on scholarship and data from a number of states in the region, including Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa, this paper argues …

Elizabeth M. Bucar: Creative Conformity: The Feminist Politics Of U.S. Catholic And Iranian Shi’I Women, Daniel Cowdin

Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

No abstract provided.

Politics As Usual At The Un: Implementing Pillar Three Of Rtop, Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's most recent report on RtoP seeks to evaluate the various ways that Pillar Three of RtoP can be implemented. As anyone familiar with RtoP is aware, the commitment is understood to have three separate but interrelated pillars. The first pillar says that states have the primary responsibility to protect their own citizens from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. Pillar Two says that the international community should assist states in fulfilling this responsibility, while Pillar Three says that if the state fails in its primary responsibility to protect its citizens from these crimes, …

Doorstep Discourse, James H. Read

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

Imagine This: An Object Starting A Revolution: The Radio, Exiled Voice, And The Mute Poet In Communist Romania, Irina Popescu

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This paper analyzes the role played by Radio Free Europe in redistributing sound inside Romania, a country which experienced one of the most repressive communist regimes in Eastern Europe. By following the work of Monica Lovinescu, a cultural critic and writer, and Ana Blandiana, a poet, and leaning heavily on the theoretical framework provided by Giorgio Agamben, this paper uncovers the potential of disembodied voices. Voice, therefore, drives the revolution, providing the Romanian population with a means of escape, a means with which to reclaim their words and thus begin making demands for change. Two types of sounds/voices will be …

State Weakness In Post-Communist Romania And The Legacy Of Communism, Marian Negoita

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This paper examines the, effect of communist regimes on postcommunist state weakness through a detailed case study of the Romanian political system. The central claim is that the totalitarian, NeoStalinist communist Romanian regime was responsible for the postcommunist state weakness. Through such measures as cadre rotation, the "blending" of state and Party structures, and planning, the Romanian state apparatus was transformed into a servile conveyor belt for Nicolae Ceausescu's orders and ensured the hollowing-out of the state. This proved a major factor during the post-communist transformation, paving the way to post-communist patronage networks linking politicians, enterprise managers, and the state.

Latent Crusaders: Narrative Strategies Of Survival In Early Modern Danubian Principalities, 1550-1750, Caius Dobrescu, Sorin Adam Matei

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The essay concentrates on a master narrative strategy presiding over the early emergence of modernity in the area in which contemporary Romania is situated. This narrative strategy richly illustrates the neoByzantine survival strategies of the Greek elites who ruled the Danubian Principalities (Moldova and Valahia) during the earlier stages of Romanian modernization (18th century). Early modem Romanian political and intellectual elites borrowed from the post-Byzantine political theology a set of Gnostic-inflected narrative strategies to explain their subordination to alien powers (Turkish, Ottoman, Russian, Austrian, or Hungarian). These strategies operated a reversal of "real" and "unreal" or of "essential" and "fleeting" …

Manipulation And Counter-Framing: A Content Analysis Of Media's Response To The Anti-Communist Movements In 1990 Romania, Adrian Popan

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The purpose of the present article is to demonstrate the importance of counter-framing for the outcome of social movements. To do so, I focus on a particular case, namely Romanian society during the first half of 1990. The research identifies some strategies of the ruling group to create and impose their own framework and to align it with the interests of the people. It is based on content analysis of a Romanian daily newspaper faithful to the government, employing grounded theory as the method of research. The analysis highlights several relevant categories, grouped under two main subsections: creating an unfavorable …

Religion And Politics In Romania: From Public Affairs To Church-State Relations, Lavinia Stan, Lucian Turescu

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

In November 2010, Romanian legislator Liviu Campanu, representing the governing coalition, proposed Daniel Ciobotea as Prime Minister of a cabinet of "national union." The suggestion was surprising because Ciobotea is leader of the Orthodox Church, accounting for 86.8% of the country's population (International Religious Freedom Report, 2009). It would not be the first time when the Orthodox Patriarch assumed such a political role - Miron Cristea headed the government from 1938 to 1939. While Ciobotea quietly ignored it, the proposal reflected not only deep dissatisfaction with the government, but also the respect the Orthodox Church enjoys among Romanians. The Church …

Joyce Apsel On The Oxford Handbook Of Genocide Studies. Edited By Donald Bloxham & A. Dirk Moses. New York, Ny: Oxford University Press, 2010. 675pp., Joyce Apsel

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies. Edited by Donald Bloxham & A. Dirk Moses. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010. 675pp.

Governor Deval Patrick And The Representation Of Massachusetts’ Black Interests, Ravi K. Perry

Trotter Review

This article examines the rhetorical strategies and legislative initiatives of Deval Patrick and his efforts to represent black interests in Massachusetts. Utilizing speech content analysis, census data, interview data, and archives of executive and legislative actions, the article identifies that Massachusetts’ only black governor has been able to advance policies and programs designed to represent black interests. The results indicate that when black interest policy actions are framed utilizing a targeted universalistic rhetorical strategy, Patrick advanced black interests as he detailed how his proposed initiatives benefited all citizens. At the state level, the finding exposes the limits of the deracialization …

Considered A Foreign Policy Neophyte, Barack Obama Emerges As One Of The Nation’S Most Competent Commanders In Chief, Howard Manly

Trotter Review

During the 2008 presidential campaign, the main criticism against Barack Obama was that he was too green to lead America’s foreign policy and military.

It was a charge that Republican conservatives made against Democratic candidates with predictable frequency and had become a proven winning strategy after Ronald Reagan steamrolled perceived military bumbler Jimmy Carter in 1980. Conventional wisdom suggested that strategy would work even better against Obama.

In a move that foreshadowed his military decision-making, Obama authorized within the first four months of his administration the military rescue of Richard Phillips, the American sea captain taken hostage by pirates in …