Political Theory Commons^™

A Study Of Democracy In Africa: The Senegalese Experience, Ryan Robert Riley

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines the development of democracy in Senegal, one of the few democracies in Africa. In order to understand why democracy has been such a challenge to establish and maintain in Africa, it is necessary to account for the broad effects of European colonization. European powers in their attempts to "modernize" the people of Africa disrupted their natural cultural progress.

Illustrating Illegitimate Lawfare, Michael A. Newton

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Lawfare that erodes the good faith application of the laws and customs of warfare is illegitimate and untenable. This essay outlines the contours of such illegitimate lawfare and provides current examples to guide practitioners. Clearly addressing the terminological imprecision in current understandings of lawfare, this essay is intended to help prevent further erosion of the corpus of jus in bello. Words matter, particularly when they are charged with legal significance and purport to convey legal rights and obligations. When purported legal “developments” actually undermine respect for the application and enforcement of humanitarian law, they are illegitimate. Although the laws and …

Civil Society Sector And Political Change: An Interview With Catherine Lim, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Singapore is a society undergoing transitions. With a burgeoning migrant community, the advent of integrated resorts with casinos and an arguably increasingly effervescent non-profit, civil society sector, Singapore looks to be a society that is rapidly opening up. Yet, as writer and political commentator Catherine Lim controversially proposes, civil society and non-profit activists cannot create change without getting their voices heard and actively participating in the political process. She shares with Social Space, her thoughts on the indispensable ingredients for openness and political engagement in a society that wants to be truly global.

Against The State Governance, Governance From Below & Governing Through Terrorism: Analytically Investigating The Technologies Of Power Within The Terrorist Arsenal., Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

Terrorism as a violent and destabilizing act performed by terrorists, meaning loyal followers of political or religious agendas who hold resent and animosity toward a certain authority/ government (Lin, Liou, & Wu, 2007, pg. 149), will be explored and analyzed through the utilization of the governmentality perspective. For the purposes of this paper terrorism governance will refer to the governance/ control/ influence exerted by terrorists and terrorism. The focus of this explorative and analysis paper will be to identify diverse terrorism oriented technologies of governance, and analyze the ways in which these technologies enable terrorist to exert governance both indirectly …

Political Traditions: Conservatism, Liberalism, And Civic Republicanism, Thad Williamson

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

How unequal authority and power can be justified is a central question of political theory and of leadership studies (Price & Hicks, 2006). Indeed, while in everyday language leadership is commonly viewed as a positive term and the word leader connotes respect, in some political vernaculars, the very idea of leadership is suspect, if not embarrassing. For instance, one of the most influential public intellectuals of the late 20th century, Noam Chomsky, consistently refers to leadership in disparaging way. In Chomsky's (2005) view, leadership is a code word intended to justify class rule, vastly unequal political and economic power, and …

The Mirage Of Non-State Governance, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

In this Essay, I offer three theses, all of which are critical. First, non‑state governance is conceptually unattractive; it is a concept that makes little sense. Second, non‑state governance is empirically unattractive; meaningful non‑state governance rarely exists. Third, meaningful non‑state governance is normatively unattractive; we would rarely want it, and people postulating it usually expect the state to play an important role. However, I also have something constructive: a proposed trajectory. Talk about the state and the non‑state can only be an intermediary stage in a trajectory of a theory of governance that might lead to a new paradigm of …

The Sources Of International Law: Some Philosophical Reflections, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

It seems only natural to begin the study of international law with a description of its sources. After all, whether as practitioner or scholar a person cannot begin to ask or answer questions about international law until he or she has some sense of what the law is. This requires in turn a basic grasp of the processes whereby international legal norms and regimes come to exist. Thus students of international law must engage immediately with some of the most basic questions in the philosophy of law: what is law, and what is a legal order or system.

These questions …

The Rule Of Law Unplugged, Daniel B. Rodriguez, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Barry R. Weingast

Faculty Scholarship

The "Rule of Law" is a venerable concept, but, on closer inspection, it is a complex admixture of positive assumptions, inchoate political and legal theory, and occasionally wishful thinking. Although enormous investments have been made in rule of law reformism throughout the world, advocates of transplanting American-style legal and political institutions to developed and developing countries are often unclear about what they are transplanting and why they are doing so. The concept of rule of law has become unplugged from theories of law. Scholars clearly have more work to do in understanding the rule of law and designing institutions to …

Expatriatism: The Theory And Practice Of Open Borders, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Every day, large numbers of people cross borders that separate one political jurisdiction from another. Most do so legally, though many break the law in changing jurisdictions. Many more do not cross borders, because they dare not break the law or cannot cross undetected-sometimes because they are denied permission to leave one jurisdiction, and other times because they are prohibited from entering another. Some cross borders fully aware that they are leaving one defined space and entering another, while others have no idea that anything has changed or that the imaginary lines that define distinct regions exist even in the …

Citizenship, In The Immigration Context, Matthew J. Lister

All Faculty Scholarship

Many international law scholars have begun to argue that the modern world is experiencing a “decline of citizenship,” and that citizenship is no longer an important normative category. On the contrary, this paper argues that citizenship remains an important category and, consequently, one that implicates considerations of justice. I articulate and defend a “civic” notion of citizenship, one based explicitly on political values rather than shared demographic features like nationality, race, or culture. I use this premise to argue that a just citizenship policy requires some form of both the jus soli (citizenship based on location of birth) and the …

The Closed Rule, Michael Doran

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The closed rule constitutes a critical component of managerial power in the contemporary House of Representatives and an increasingly important element of the legislative process. Subject to the approval of the full membership, the closed rule allows managers to block all amendments to a measure when bringing that measure to the floor. Despite objections from the minority, both Republicans and Democrats regularly use the closed rule when in the majority, and rank-and-file members ordinarily approve any closed rule put to a floor vote. Once rarely used, the closed rule has become managers’ preferred instrument for controlling the House floor agenda. …

Understanding Hayek, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although some of this will be familiar to a number of you all,I will talk a bit about Friedrich A. Hayek since I am goingfirst. I’ll say a little bit about his life, how he came to theideas that he became so famous for espousing, and then a little bitabout his liberalism and the contribution he has made to liberaltheory and to intellectual life.

Book Review Of Beau Breslin, "From Words To Worlds: Exploring Constitutional Functionality", Robert Tsai

Robert L Tsai

This is a review of Beau Breslin's book, "From Words to Worlds: Exploring Constitutional Functionality" (Johns Hopkins, 2009). As an antidote to what he believes to be scholarly marginalization of the "unique" aspects of a written constitution, Breslin focuses attention on seven functions of such a legal text: transforming existing orders, conveying collective aspirations, designing institutions, mediating conflict, recognizing claims of subnational communities, empowering social actors, and constraining governmental authority. This review briefly critiques Breslin's functional approach and discusses two of the more pressing goals of modern constitutionalism: managing social conflict and preserving cultural heritage.

Negotiating Reputational Accountability: The Interfaith Leaders' Summits, Sherrie Steiner

Sherrie M Steiner

No abstract provided.

"Who Is My Mother? Family, Nation, Discipleship And Debates On Immigration", Michael Budde

Michael Budde

Forthcoming!

Sincerity And Reason Giving: When May Legal Decision-Makers Lie?, Mathilde Cohen

Mathilde Cohen

Reasons For Reasons, Mathilde Cohen

Mathilde Cohen

The Rule Of Law As The Rule Of Reasons, Mathilde Cohen

Mathilde Cohen

Diplomacy And The Public Imagination, Huss Banai

Huss Banai

No abstract provided.

“Our Indians In Our America: Anti-Imperialist Imperialism And The Construction Of Brazilian Modernity”, Tracy Devine Guzmán

Tracy Devine Guzmán

Indigenous peoples have been used and imagined as guardians of the Brazilian frontier since at least the mid-nineteenth century. This association was central to the foundation of the Indian Protection Service (Serviço de Proteção aos Índios, or SPI) during the early 1900s and culminated with the Amazonian Vigilance System (Sistema de Vigelância da Amazônia, or SIVAM) at the turn of the millennium. Throughout the period, the abiding desire to establish defensive dominion over disputed national territory subjected individuals and groups identified as "Indians" to the power of overlapping discourses of scientific progress, national security, and economic development. A trinity of …