Political Science Commons^™

Liberating Genocide: An Activist Concept And Historical Understanding, Tony Barta

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

From the outset, historians of genocide have seen themselves as activists. Among historians of colonial societies that is what distinguishes them most in relation to indigenous peoples. An ethnographic sensibility should be visible in any such study, and the more so when a question of genocide is raised. After all, if we do not have a sense of difference between peoples we fail the test of genocide at the first hurdle. And if we do not have an ethnographic sensibility towards our own cultures (including academic cultures) we will fail to make the most of our role in affecting deeply …

The Use Of Rhetoric In Anti-Suffrage And Anti-Feminist Publications, Artour Aslanian

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

After decades of struggling to gain the right to vote, women were finally granted that right with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment on August 18, 1920. While it would seem that most, if not all, women would be in favor of gaining the right to vote, the women’s suffrage movement did not represent the wishes of all women within the United States. Scholarship in this area largely focuses on the historical developments of the suffrage movements, with the presence of female opponents of suffrage and anti-suffragist organizations receiving less attention.1 These anti-suffragists were vocal in their opposition to the …

Watchdog Or Lapdog? The Role Of U.S. Media In The International Humanitarian Intervention In Libya, Maggie Moore

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

Do media influence government or does government influence media? This paper seeks to answer this question by examining the recent international humanitarian military intervention in Libya in 2011 to see what, if any, effect media played in the decision-making process. To determine which player, U.S. government or U.S. media, was the opinion leader persuading the other to support humanitarian military intervention, the author chronologically compared articles written in major U.S. newspapers and U.S. government statements. The author concludes that neither the U.S. government nor the U.S. media played the primary role in the case. Rather, opinion leaders were the most …

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 …

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" …

Confronting “Indivisibility” In The History Of Economic And Social Rights: From Parity To Priority And Back Again, Roland Burke

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Indivisible Human Rights. By Daniel Whelan. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2010. 269pp.

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.

Community Control: Civil Rights Resistance In The Mile High City, Summer Burke

Psi Sigma Siren

Black power in the late 1960s was once blamed for the fall of the civil rights movement. The more militant and abrasive black power approach was mistaken for the alternative civil rights movement, contradictory to the progressive approach of nonviolent marches in the South. However, recent scholarship contextualizing black power and the Black Panthers in particular, restructured this paradigm. This move toward a more inclusive approach to studying black resistance across the country steered The Movement out of the Memphis to Montgomery narrative, and instead provides a more textured understanding of black radicalism as a vital aspect of civil rights …

Donald W. Jackson On Prisoners Of America’S Wars: From The Early Republic To Guantanamo. By Stephanie Carvin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. 336pp., Donald W. Jackson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Prisoners of America’s Wars: From the Early Republic to Guantanamo. By Stephanie Carvin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. 336pp.

Joyce Apsel On Peace: A History Of Movements And Ideas. By David Cortright. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 376pp., Joyce Apsel

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas. By David Cortright. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 376pp.

Stopping The Killing And/Or Stopping Human Rights Violations, Edward Friedman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The relationship between promoting human rights and stopping wars can be perplexing. The 19th century origins of the Geneva Convention and the International Commissions of the Red Cross (ICRC) are warnings about the moral danger, ambiguities, or tensions of bringing war within the arena of human rights considerations. Human rights and war can be a toxic cocktail. One should not want to make war more likely or legitimate or deadly by seeming to say that the killing machine on one side or the other is acting humanely, as if that makes war okay. War is hell.

Tahira Khan On Wives, Widows, Concubines: The Conjugal Family Ideal In Colonial India By Mytheli Sreenivas. Bloomington, In: Indiana University Press, 2008. 169pp., Tahira Khan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Wives, Widows, Concubines: The Conjugal Family Ideal in Colonial India by Mytheli Sreenivas. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008. 169pp.

Raharimanana : « Le Viol Des Douceurs », Patricia Célérier

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

constant and paradoxical paradigm, violence is at the core of the Malagasy writer, Jean-Luc Raharimanana’s work. What are its representations, its modulations and functions in his shortstories, his novel, Nour, 1947, and his narrative, L’arbre anthropophage ? His poetic elaboration of violence puts his production at the juncture of postmodern and committed literatures and gives it a singular value in the world of postcolonial literature.

Memory And Violence In Israel/Palestine, K. M. Fierke

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Israeli and Palestinian Narratives of Conflict: History’s Double Helix, edited by Robert I. Rotberg. Indiana University Press, 2006.

and

Memory and Violence in the Middle East and North Africa, edited by Ussama Makdisi and Paul A. Silverstein. Indiana University Press, 2006.

Stephen James On The Challenge Of Human Rights: Origin, Development And Significance By Jack Mahoney. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. 215pp., Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Challenge of Human Rights: Origin, Development and Significance by Jack Mahoney. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. 215pp.

What Happened To Africa?, J. Peter Pham

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair—A History of Fifty Years of Independence by Martin Meredith. New York: Public Affairs, 2006. 752 pp.

Richard Matthew On Pakistan’S Drift Into Extremism: Allah, The Army, And America’S War On Terror By Hassan Abbas. London: M. E. Sharpe, 2005. 276 Pp., Richard Matthew

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America’s War on Terror by Hassan Abbas. London: M. E. Sharpe, 2005. 276 pp.

Women In New England Politics, Paige Ransford, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Anne Marie Cammisa

New England Journal of Public Policy

This essay addresses a serious deficiency in the literature on women and politics in the United States today: the lack of attention to regional variation and, more specifically, the absence of research on women’s representation in New England. This deficiency is particularly troubling since political analysts of all stripes typically portray New England as imbued with ideological, individual, and structural characteristics likely to lead to rates of political representation higher than the nation as a whole. This essay provides a brief history of women in politics for New England as a whole; describes the current status of women at congressional, …

Joel R. Pruce On The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches And Documents From Ancient Times To The Present (Second Edition), By Micheline R. Ishay. New York, Ny: Routledge, 2007. 592pp., Joel R. Pruce

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches and Documents from Ancient Times to the Present (Second Edition), by Micheline R. Ishay. New York, NY: Routledge, 2007. 592pp.

Historical Background: Evolution Of The International Criminal Law, Individual Criminal Accountability And The Idea Of A Permanent International Court, Cenap Cakmak

Human Rights & Human Welfare

© Cenap Cakmak. All rights reserved.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL for any paper posted here, nor will they be responsible for notifying others if the URL is changed or the paper is taken off the site. Electronic copies of this paper may not be posted on any other website without express permission of the author.

Human Rights In Guatemala, Jennifer Archibald

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Thirty six years of civil war affected human rights negatively in Guatemala. Many actors that violated human rights were also victims of human rights violations; a complex series of events that has still not been fully resolved today.

Human Rights In Argentina, Scott Muttersbaugh

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The election of populist Juan Peron in 1946 brought expanded economic and social rights to the working class. Consequently his popularity continued to rise, although the armed forces staged a coup in 1955, resulting in Peron’s nearly twenty-year exile. By 1973 Argentina’s economy had fallen apart and the still popular Peronist party gained the support needed for Peron’s return. With terrorism on the rise, the government granted a special executive authority to the military, allowing Peron to imprison people indefinitely without a trial, signaling a change in the government's priorities towards human rights.

Human Rights In El Salvador, Tait Robinson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Between 1979 and 1991 El Salvador was embroiled in a civil war that claimed over 70,000 lives. Longstanding socio-economic inequality between the rich and poor led to government-backed human rights abuses dispensed by the military. These ranged from denials of freedom and civil liberties to village massacres.

International Monetary Fund, Kris Kirby

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Just as the United Nations (U.N.) was created in direct response to the human atrocities and international conflict of World War II, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created to help repair the decimation that was experienced by the developed nations that became involved in the war. While both organizations have seemingly similar objectives (i. e. , post-war reconstruction and creation of an environment for lasting peace), the Articles of Agreement of the IMF, however, contains no explicit mention of human rights.

Human Rights In Latin America: Introduction, Regina Nockerts

Human Rights & Human Welfare

As with many regions of the world, human rights are an issue of enduring concern for Latin America. The essays and bibliographies in this digest chart the recent history of human rights issues in this region, beginning, in most cases, with the wave of military coups that began in the 1970s, highlighting their lasting effects on the governments, civil societies, and economies of the region today. The cases of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru are given here; the Organization of American States (OAS) is also covered.

Human Rights In Chile, Stephanie Raessler

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Chile might evoke memories of Augosto Pinochet and his brutal reign, though there is more to this country than an oppressive authoritarian regime. A history of politics longer than Pinochet's rule has shaped Chile's current situation. Many issues recur across Chilean history, and continue to influence the present.

Human Rights In Cuba, Susan Kemp

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 1959, Fidel Castro established a Cuban socialist state closely aligned with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's collapse brought an end to Soviet economic support which, combined with the U.S. embargo, created an economic crisis in the early 1990s. The Cuban government's instability and desire to maintain control overrides the individual rights of its citizens. These events are the background for the lack of fundamental human rights in Cuba today.

Human Rights In Honduras, Andrea Degaetani

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Honduras’ history of human rights violations is rooted in a political culture of militarization. Following a military coup in 1963, Honduras faced strengthened military authority and a decade of harsh military rule. It was also during this time that the United States used the country as a base for Contras fighting leftist Sandinistas in Nicaragua. In 1981 Honduras returned to a parliamentary democracy, electing Roberto Suazo Cordova as president. However, by then the process of militarization had been so heavily funded by the U.S and had made such a significant impact on public policy that little changed for the better. …

The Organization Of American States, Natalie Knowlton

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The international community focused its attention on protecting human rights in response to horrendous human rights abuses during World War II. Latin and South American states enacted The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man [Declaration] in 1948, shortly after their creation of the Organization of American States [OAS]. While the Declaration set forth dozens of rights, little was done in the next decade to establish a means for their protection.

United Nations Development Programme, Jason Keeler

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The central goal of Development has and will be the promotion of human well-being. Given that human rights define and defend human well-being, a rights-based approach to development provides both the conceptual and practical framework for the realization of human rights through the development process (United Nations Development Programme: Regional Bureau for Asia & Pacific ).