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From Nixon’S War On Drugs To Obama’S Drug Policies Today: Presidential Progress In Addressing Racial Injustices And Disparities, Cigdem V. Sirin Nov 2011

From Nixon’S War On Drugs To Obama’S Drug Policies Today: Presidential Progress In Addressing Racial Injustices And Disparities, Cigdem V. Sirin

Cigdem V. Sirin

This study investigates presidential progress in addressing racial injustices and disparities within the context of the war on drugs. I argue that racial inequalities emanating from the war on drugs have been largely overlooked and at times aggravated by previous administrations. Although there have been some improvements in this regard since President Obama took office, more extensive policy reforms are needed to better remedy such inequalities. I also argue that the viability of a progressive presidency for racial justice vis-à-vis U.S. drug policies depends not only on the personal agenda of the president but also on a supportive public as …


A Sociologia Política Brasileira Em Análise: Quatro Visões Sobre O Funcionamento Administrativo Do Estado Novo, Adriano Codato Oct 2011

A Sociologia Política Brasileira Em Análise: Quatro Visões Sobre O Funcionamento Administrativo Do Estado Novo, Adriano Codato

Adriano Codato

Within Brazilian Political Sociology, there are four different views on state Administrative Departments, apparatuses created by the Vargas dictatorship in 1939 as a complement to the system of federal interventors. On the basis of these interpretations, there are also four different ways of looking at the New State regime (1937-1945) itself. Views on administrative departments diverge both according to observers' convictions regarding the way the authoritarian political system functions and according to which of these agencies' roles (political, economic, bureaucratic) the analyst considers as most salient. In this essay I analyze existing interpretations on this issue; I emphasize that which …


Unanswered Questions Of A Minority People In International Law: A Comparative Study Between Southern Cameroons & South Sudan, Bernard Sama Mr Oct 2011

Unanswered Questions Of A Minority People In International Law: A Comparative Study Between Southern Cameroons & South Sudan, Bernard Sama Mr

Bernard Sama

The month July of 2011 marked the birth of another nation in the World. The distressful journey of a minority people under the watchful eyes of the international community finally paid off with a new nation called the South Sudan . As I watched the South Sudanese celebrate independence on 9 July 2011, I was filled with joy as though they have finally landed. On a promising note, I read the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying “[t]ogether, we welcome the Republic of South Sudan to the community of nations. Together, we affirm our commitment to helping it meet its …


Examining The Effects Of Political Information And Intervention Stages On Public Support For Military Interventions: A Panel Experiment, Cigdem V. Sirin Aug 2011

Examining The Effects Of Political Information And Intervention Stages On Public Support For Military Interventions: A Panel Experiment, Cigdem V. Sirin

Cigdem V. Sirin

This study examines the formation and continuity of public support for military interventions as a function of political information levels and intervention stages using a panel experiment. The results demonstrate that politically informed individuals express less support for a military intervention at the beginning of that intervention compared to uninformed ones. However, as the intervention proceeds and casualties are incurred, the support of politically uninformed people decreases at a higher rate than does the support of the politically informed. As such, politically informed individuals demonstrate more stable levels of support across intervention stages. In addition, success or failure of an …


Is It Cohesion Or Diversion? Domestic Instability And The Use Of Force In International Crises, Cigdem V. Sirin Apr 2011

Is It Cohesion Or Diversion? Domestic Instability And The Use Of Force In International Crises, Cigdem V. Sirin

Cigdem V. Sirin

This study asserts that cohesionary—rather than diversionary—motives primarily influence the propensity of political leaders to use external force in international crises in times of domestic turmoil. Specifically, I contend that mass violence leads political leaders to engage in cohesionary tactics to achieve and maintain social order in their country for political survival. Employing random effects probit analyses with International Crisis Behavior (ICB) data for one-hundred and thirty-nine countries from 1918 to 2005, I find that increased mass violence is more likely than other forms of domestic problems (be it an economic downturn or government instability) to instigate the external use …


Scarcity-Induced Domestic Conflict: Examining The Interactive Effects Of Environmental Scarcity And ‘Ethnic’ Population Pressures, Cigdem V. Sirin Apr 2011

Scarcity-Induced Domestic Conflict: Examining The Interactive Effects Of Environmental Scarcity And ‘Ethnic’ Population Pressures, Cigdem V. Sirin

Cigdem V. Sirin

This study argues that environmental scarcity is more likely to result in civil conflict in countries that experience ‘ethnic’ population pressures (i.e. where the size of the largest minority group is close to parity with the majority group). I refer to this argument as the ‘parity-threat’ approach to the study of scarcity-induced domestic conflict. I empirically test my argument by analysing time-series cross-section data for the period 1979–2000 using four alternative environmental indicators: (1) ecological footprint, (2) biocapacity, (3) scarcity of ecological reserves and (4) water scarcity. The results demonstrate that environmental scarcity increases the probability of civil conflict when …


Political Information And Emotions In Ethnic Conflict Interventions, Cigdem V. Sirin, José D. Villalobos, Nehemia Geva Jan 2011

Political Information And Emotions In Ethnic Conflict Interventions, Cigdem V. Sirin, José D. Villalobos, Nehemia Geva

Cigdem V. Sirin

This study explores the effects of political information and anger on the public’s cognitive processing and foreign policy preferences concerning third-party interventions in ethnic conflict. Our study employs an experimental design wherein we manipulate policy-specific information by generating ad hoc political information related to ethnic conflict. The statistical methods of analysis are logistic regression and analysis of covariance. The results demonstrate that both political information and anger have a significant impact on an individual’s cognitive processing and policy preferences regarding ethnic conflict interventions. Specifically, political information increases one’s proclivity to choose non-military policy options, whereas anger instigates support for aggressive …


El Desarrollo De La Ciencia Política En México. Una Mirada A Través De Los Estudios Sobre El Estado De La Disiciplina, J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal Jan 2011

El Desarrollo De La Ciencia Política En México. Una Mirada A Través De Los Estudios Sobre El Estado De La Disiciplina, J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal

J. R. Joel Flores-Mariscal

Se presenta una revisión de los títulos publicados hasta 2009 que han analizado la situación de la ciencia política en México o algún aspecto de ésta. Destaca el crecimiento y la diversificación de autores e instituciones, de las revistas publicadas y de los enfoques y temas recurrentes. Hasta fines de los años noventa se ven autores recurrentes y momentos de auge en las publicaciones asociados a coyunturas como congresos, procesos de modificación a planes de estudio, etc., Después de estos años hay la emergencia de nuevos autores y enfoques de estudio, y que el desarrollo de estos trabajos en su …


Intervenção Estatal, Centralização Política E Reforma Burocrática: O Significado Dos Departamentos Administrativos No Estado Novo, Adriano Codato Jan 2011

Intervenção Estatal, Centralização Política E Reforma Burocrática: O Significado Dos Departamentos Administrativos No Estado Novo, Adriano Codato

Adriano Codato

The purpose of this paper is to expose and explain a precise moment of the Brazilian political-institutional evolution. It explores the conflicts that are at the origin of choice and implementation of a new politico-administrative system in post-1930. The paper explores the origins, design and objectives that drove the invention of a bureaucratic apparatus which, together with the Federal Interventor, not only controls the regional political elites, but also contributed to the organization of state power on a national basis, cooperating to facilitate state capacity: the Administrative Department. I analyze the political context, legal history and the institutional innovations of …


Collective Choice, Justin Schwartz Jan 2011

Collective Choice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

This short nontechnical article reviews the Arrow Impossibility Theorem and its implications for rational democratic decisionmaking. In the 1950s, economist Kenneth J. Arrow proved that no method for producing a unique social choice involving at least three choices and three actors could satisfy four seemingly obvious constraints that are practically constitutive of democratic decisionmaking. Any such method must violate such a constraint and risks leading to disturbingly irrational results such and Condorcet cycling. I explain the theorem in plain, nonmathematical language, and discuss the history, range, and prospects of avoiding what seems like a fundamental theoretical challenge to the possibility …


Cancun Climate Negotiations, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson Jan 2011

Cancun Climate Negotiations, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, held from November 29 to December 11, 2010, in Cancún, Mexico, relaunched the United Nation's multilateral facilitation role.