Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Libertarianism, Bas Van Der Vossen

Philosophy Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Libertarianism is a theory in political philosophy that strongly values individual freedom and is skeptical about the justified scope of government in our lives. Libertarians see individuals as sovereign, as people who have a right to control their bodies and work, who are free to decide how to interact with willing others, and who cannot be forced to do things against their will without very strong justification.

For some, the argument in support of this view hinges on the principle of self-ownership. To them, individual rights are morally foundational, the basic building blocks of their theory. Many others, however, take …

Transgender Policing & Pushing The Boundaries 1850s To 2010s, Mira Farrow

Sociology Student Work Collection

The notions of gender transgression and gender policing served as the basis for this presentation. Looking at the historical representations in media, major stories in the social awareness of transgender people, and transfeminist politics of the modern era allowed a freedom to look at the roots of trans-misogyny from multiple lenses. I wanted to humanize transgender people and simultaneously address a major question of the day. Namely do trans people have the right to exist in public spaces? This led to several related questions to help frame the issue on a historical and sociological basis and allow a synthesis of …

Debating Humanitarian Intervention: Should We Try To Save Strangers?, Fernando R. Tesón, Bas Van Der Vossen

Philosophy Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"When violence breaks out in a country, foreign governments face a difficult dilemma: should they intervene on behalf of the victims, or should they remain spectators? Each choice offers its own perils, and philosophers Fernando R. Tesón and Bas van der Vossen offer contrasting views of intervention by employing modern analytic philosophy, particularly just war theory. Tesón and van der Vossen refer to and weigh the consequences of past, present, and future interventions in Syria, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, Lybia, Egypt, and more."

Nicole Ludwig, Tsos, Nicole Ludwig

TSOS Interview Gallery

In September 2016, Nicole Ludwig led a group of her neighbors in Germany to assist newly-arrived Syrian and Afghani refugees. The volunteers collected clothing and toys, organized activities and field trips for the refugee children, and taught them German. Later, the volunteers offered homework support and led library reading groups. For the adult refugees, the volunteers provided cultural assimilation instruction and cooking classes. While there were occasional challenges to working together, the volunteers and refugees fostered a collaborative system and even hosted a Christmas party, during which one elderly Syrian man said, “This is one of the best memories I …

Layla, Layla, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Layla left Ethiopia 10 years ago to look for work opportunities. She left behind a father and three brothers. She went to Syria on a three-year work contract. She worked in a house and learned Arabic. She then went to Turkey by boat and then went on to Greece for 5 years. She worked and learned the Greek language. When she became pregnant she had to stop working. She travelled to Serbia to Macedonia to Austria all on foot. Then the Red Cross moved Layla and her daughter to Giessen, Germany where a roommate periodically beat her baby. Seeking safety …

Katja, Ketevahi 'Katje', Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Ketevahi “Katja” is from Georgia. She’s in her late 40’s. She grew up on a farm in the country and became the financial support for her family after her mother died and her father became “emaciated.” When Putin came to power, diplomatic ties deteriorated between Georgia and Russia, which eventually led to war. She fled her country using forged documents and first worked in Turkey but has now lived in Naples for nine years and regularly sends money home to her brother, who cares for their father.

Katja expresses her feelings about war, government, liberty, and what it means to …

Fadel, Tsos, Fadel

TSOS Interview Gallery

Fadel's family was originally from Palestine. However, for reasons he couldn’t recall, they moved to Libya, where Fadel was born, and he grew up there. He recalled that life inLibya used to be good, but that it became dangerous. Fadel came to Italy alone. His parents died and left him nothing seven years ago. His siblings died as well. He came to Italy 6 months ago seeking asylum by way of Tripoli to Sabratha, and then to Sardinia and Calabria. He has been living on the streets, and because he couldn’t provide an address, he was denied asylum

Felix, Tsos, Felix

TSOS Interview Gallery

Felix is originally from Nigeria and has now been inItaly under a year. He came from a family with a polygamous father who “married” multiple wives illegally. After returning home from a service mission for his church, which his father supported, Felix began to study engineering. At some point conflict arose within the family that causedFelix to have to flee.He was smuggled through Niger to Libya, losing several friends along the way.There he was held for ransom, before taking a treacherous voyage across the sea in an overfilled boat, where he witnessed several drown. Now he lives in a camp …

Momo, Momo, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

When Momo was only nine years old, he returned home to find his parents and his six sisters and four brothers had been killed in their own home. Sometime after that, he and his uncle left Somalia together to live in Yemen. He stayed in Yemen until he was sixteen, but when things became unsafe there, he moved to Libya. He had hoped to get on a boat in Libya to go somewhere for a new life, but he was thrown in prison instead. He was harassed and told to ask his family to send money so that he could …

Withdrawal: Reassessing America's Final Years In Vietnam, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Withdrawal is a groundbreaking reassessment that tells a far different story of the Vietnam War. Daddis convincingly argues that the entire US effort in South Vietnam was incapable of reversing the downward trends of a complicated Vietnamese conflict that by 1968 had turned into a political-military stalemate. Despite a new articulation of strategy, Abrams's approach could not materially alter a war no longer vital to US national security or global dominance. Once the Nixon White House made the political decision to withdraw from Southeast Asia, Abrams's military strategy was unable to change either the course or outcome of a decades' …

Department Of History And Political Science Registration Newsletter Fall 2017, Department Of History And Political Science, University Of Southern Maine

Department of History and Political Science Registration Newsletter

In this issue:

• New Faculty: Lacey Sparks
• Exhibition: "Letters Home: Harriet Sweetser and the Gorham Normal School at the Turn-of-the-Century"
• Student appreciation
• USM Special Collections
• Exhibition: "The Forgotten Heroines of the Easter Rising by Irish Sculptor Betty Newman-Maguire"
• HTY/POS Courses Offered Fall 2017
• HTY/POS Internships Offered Fall 2017
• HTY/POS Courses Offered Summer 2017

Undocustudents: Our Untold Stories, Blue Group (Western Washington University), Emmanuel Camarillo Editor

A Collection of Open Access Books and Monographs

UndocuStudents: Our Untold Stories is a collection of essays, poetry, photographs, and artwork created by members of the Blue Group, an Associated Students Club at Western Washington University, whose mission is to provide undocumented students the opportunity to meet other undocumented students, find resources and services, and to build community.

As the Blue Group has grown from just a few students meeting informally into an official Western Washington University Associated Students club, into an organization that is now widely recognized in their local community, members of the Blue Group increasingly receive requests to give presentations to help people understand their …

American Government (Dalton), Matthew Hipps, Ken Ellinger

Political Science Grants Collections

This Grants Collection for American Government was created under a Round Five ALG Textbook Transformation Grant.

Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process.

Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials:

• Linked Syllabus
• Initial Proposal
• Final Report

American Government (Uwg), Kathleen Barrett, Bryan Jones, Gordon Litton, Robert Cabrera, Mikhail Beznosov

Political Science Grants Collections

This Grants Collection for American Government was created under a Round Four ALG Textbook Transformation Grant.

Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process.

Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials:

• Linked Syllabus
• Initial Proposal
• Final Report

Gendered Activism And Outcomes: Women In The Peace Movement, Lisa A. Leitz, David S. Meyer

Peace Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In this chapter, we look at the history of women's activism in the peace movement over the course of U.S. political development, examining the ways that women expanded the goals of peace activism to include gender and other social justice issues. We then examine which women actually participated in these efforts, and how that has changed over time. In the following sections, we explore distinct tensions in women's activism focusing on the role of gender (essentialism versus social constructionism) and radicalism versus pragmatic realpolitik. We conclude by looking at the outcomes of such mobilizations, which have been very limited in …

Uni Political Science Newsletter, V12n1, June 2017, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Political Science.

Political Science Newsletter

In this issue:
--A Year of Engagement
--Faculty Updates
--Award Winning Faculty
--USSTRATCOM Deterrence and Assurance Academic Alliance
--Congress to Campus Program
--Students Attend Academy Assembly
--Partnering With Iowa Legal Aid
--Model United Nations
--Alum Emily Schnurr Wins Teaching Award
--Elect Her
--Student Visit Governor Branstad and State Capitol
--Scholarships and Awards
--Congratulations 2016-17 Graduates
--In Rememberance of Joy Cole Corning (1932-2017)
--Recent Alumni Profile: 2017 Graduate Erik Veliz
--The Post-Election Reconciliation Chili Cook-Off

Town Hall Drama: What's All The Gossip About?, Mckay Randall

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

When the new Congress took their seats at the beginning of 2017, Republicans were on a mission to replace Obamacare. To gear up for the legislative struggle, legislators took to the streets and towns of their districts to speak to constituents about Obamacare and other policies. During the first town halls in January and February, Republican legislators found themselves confronted with rowdy and raucous crowds who nearly shouted them down every time they had chance to speak. The News took note of this phenomena in late February and started reporting on the story. The popular headlines from The Washington Post, …

Has Party Identification Changed In Utah?, Devin Johanson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Three weeks before the 2016 election, Utah was labeled as a swing state by most main-stream media outlets. The offensive rhetoric from both the Trump and Clinton campaigns and the rise of a popular independent candidate increased the potential for changes in the party identity of the Utah electorate. My research question is as follows: How has party identification changed in the state of Utah between the 2012 and 2016 elections?

Do Municipal Officials Represent The Views Of Their Constituents?, Steven Jamieson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Municipalities make decisions that effect millions of Americans every day. Research has been done to assess the link between citizen’s preferences and municipal policy (Tausanovitchand Warshaw2014). However, the link between the policies and the officials who make them is missing.

Introduction To Richard Nixon And Europe : The Reshaping Of The Postwar Atlantic World, Luke A. Nichter

Presidential Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters

The U.S.-European relationship remains the closest and most important alliance in the world. Since 1945, successive American presidents each put their own touches on transatlantic relations, but the literature has reached only into the presidency of Lyndon Johnson (1963-9). This first study of transatlantic relations during the era of Richard Nixon shows a complex, turbulent period during which the postwar period came to an end, and the modern era came to be on both sides of the Atlantic in terms of political, economic, and military relations.

Policy Reforms Amidst Corruption: Ukrainian Attitudes Toward Economic Development, Eliza Riley

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This research examines what economic policies Ukrainians think should—and could– work in Ukraine to reform the economic system and combat widespread corruption. This study tests how region specific determinants and corruption perception levels influence attitudes toward democracy and optimism toward future reform possibilities in Ukraine.

Does Ideology Trump Party Loyalty, Soren J. Schmidt

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Party affiliation and political ideology are typically paired together. It’s consequently difficult to disentangle their individual impact on vote choice. Utah’s 2016 election presented a rare exception to this trend with non-conservative Republican nominee (Donald Trump) and conservative independent candidate (Evan McMullin). Do voters prioritize party loyalty or personal ideology when casting a ballot? What are other predictors of party defection?

Scourge On American Society: Are Refugees Increasing Violent Crime In The United States?, Rehtaeh Beers

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

President Trump and many citizens in his wake have called for a decrease in the number of refugees in America. Many claim that refugees are a “Scourge on American Society” and that refugees are “dangerous” and likely to commit violent crimes.

The total number of reported refugees in the world has been growing at an alarming rate since 2006 following the the Lebanese Crisis. Despite the growing number of refugees, the United States of America has kept the number of refugees located in the states relatively stable since 2007.

Let's Play A Game: A Game Theoretical Analysis Of Conservative Voting In The 2016 Presidential Election In Utah, Devon Tenney

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This study is intended to look at strategic voting behavior among conservatives in the state of Utah in the 2016 Presidential Election. This particular election is important and quite unique in that a third party, conservative candidate competed with the Republican candidate for victory in the state. With a viable third-party candidate to consider, conservative voters had a much more complex choice to make than they usually do in an election. We will model this choice and its outcomes to explain why the vote came out the way it did.

Speaking Of Gender, Generally: Analysis Of Gendered References And Speaking Opportunities In Lds General Conferences, Devon Tenney

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This study seeks to examine the changing role of women in LDS General Conferences. Through text analysis and an exploration of speaking opportunities at General Conference, we find that women have been discussed more frequently and provided more opportunities to speak over time.

Department Of History And Political Science Registration Newsletter Spring 2017, Department Of History And Political Science, University Of Southern Maine

Department of History and Political Science Registration Newsletter

In this issue:

• Maine Model United Nations Conference
• The Arctic: Challenges and Opportunities Program
• W.E.B. Du Bois: Becoming an American Program
• Registration information
• Ron Schmidt's column in Maine Beacon
• HTY/POS Courses Offered Spring 2017
• HTY/POS Internships Spring 2017
• Abraham Peck received a DLitt (Doctor of letters) degree from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England
• USM History on Instagram: @usmhistory
• HTY spring trip to New York City
• Libby Bischof's class visit to Abbe Museum
• "Judeo-Christian and Islamic Values" an opinion article written by Abraham Peck

The Nixon Administration And American Foreign Relations, Luke A. Nichter

Presidential Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Assessments of President Richard Nixon’s foreign policy continue to evolve as scholars tap new possibilities for research. Due to the long wait before national security records are declassified by the National Archives and made available to researchers and the public, only in recent decades has the excavation of the Nixon administration’s engagement with the world started to become well documented. As more records are released by the National Archives (including potentially 700 hours of Nixon’s secret White House tapes that remain closed), scholarly understanding of the Nixon presidency is likely to continue changing. Thus far, historians have pointed to four …

The Lander College Update Vol. 2 Issue 1, Lander College For Women

Yearbooks and Newsletters

"The Trump Presidency"

The Al-Qaeda Organization And The Islamic State Organization: History, Doctrine, Modus, Operandi, And U.S Policy To Degrade And Defeat Terrorism Conducted In The Name Of Sunni Islam, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Authors Bookshelf

The al-Qaeda Organization (AQO) and the Islamic State Organization (ISO) are transnational adversaries that conduct terrorism in the name of Sunni Islam. It is declared U.S. Government (USG) policy to degrade, defeat, and destroy them. The present book has been written to assist policymakers, military planners, strategists, and professional military educators whose mission demands a deep understanding of strategically-relevant differences between these two transnational terrorist entities. In it, one shall find a careful comparative analysis across three key strategically relevant dimensions: essential doctrine, beliefs, and worldview; strategic concept, including terrorist modus operandi; and specific implications and recommendations for current USG …

Picking The President: Understanding The Electoral College, Eric Burin

Digital Press Books

The 2016 presidential election has sparked an unprecedented interest in the Electoral College. In response to Donald Trump winning the presidency despite losing the popular vote, numerous individuals have weighed in with letters-to-the-editor, op-eds, blog posts, videos, and the like, and thanks to the revolution in digital communications, these items have reached an exceptionally wide audience. In short, never before have so many people had so much to say about the Electoral College.

To facilitate and expand the conversation, Picking the President: Understanding the Electoral College offers brief essays that examine the Electoral College from different disciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, …