Digital Commons Network^™

The Political Incorporation Of Latino Immigrants In California, Adriana Janet Ramos

CMC Senior Theses

This paper explores and analyzes the political incorporation of Latino immigrants in California over the last several decades. Political incorporation refers to the process through which immigrants and their descendants claim their political rights and exercise their voice in politics. In order to understand the impact of Latino immigration on California state politics, the paper first examines the demographic changes in the state. This paper then provides an overview of all of the major immigration legislation in California, beginning from the anti-immigration initiatives to the California Dream Act and immigration-friendly legislation that Governor Jerry Brown signed into law in 2013.

Sustainability Policy’S Inherent Dilemmas – Exemplified Via Critical Examination Of The Las Vegas Metropolitan Sustainability Campaign, Kathryn A. Zimmerman

All Master's Theses

In response to a dual problem of critical water scarcity and rapid population growth, leaders of metropolitan Las Vegas implemented a region-wide, internationally marketed sustainability campaign. Preliminary studies found that, while sustainability policy attains its rhetorical goals, solutions initiated not only perpetuate but also purposefully expand the original dual problem to justify continuous water resource acquisitions. To examine this sustainability conundrum constructed by leadership—problem-perpetuation rather than problem-resolution—a critical examination in resource management asked two basic questions: what is being sustained and by what means? Via this inquiry, specific processes by which leaders perpetuate problems can be identified; and, so-informed, new …

Liberty Against Itself: British Freedoms In North America, Matthew Charles Connell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation explores the theoretical foundations of what I refer to as the Canadian liberal ethos. Taking the British parliamentary revolution of 1688 as pivotal event I examine the development of political liberty in its English incarnations and trace its development as it was expressed in colonial British North America. This dissertation hopes to provide an explanatory analysis the of the liberal ethos that can: (a) contribute to understanding the pre-suppositions of liberty in a liberal democratic order, (b) contribute to an understanding of diversity and competing philosophical principles that informed the settlement of British North America and the institutionalization …

Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Corruption, David Jancsics

Publications and Research

Corruption has become one of the most popular topics in the social scientific disciplines. However, there is a lack of interdisciplinary communication about corruption. Models developed by different academic disciplines are often isolated from each other. The purpose of this paper is to review several major approaches to corruption and draw them closer to each other. Most studies of corruption fall into three major categories: (i) rational-actor models where corruption is viewed as resulting from cost/benefit analysis of individual actors; (ii) structural models that focus on external forces that determine corruption; and (iii) relational models that emphasize social interactions and …

Responsibility To Protect: The Use And The Abuse, Marwan Hameed

Dissertations and Theses

This paper is an attempt to shed the light on the new emerging norm of the Responsibility to Protect, famously known as (R2P) and its use and abuse within international relations landscape. The norm meant to replace the widely argued and challenged principle of humanitarian intervention, and to put an end, once and for all, to the atrocities committed by sovereign states against their own people, providing protection to those civilians who get caught in armed conflicts, and held those responsible for such crimes accountable for it regardless of any impunity they might have. Despite it’s new emerging the norm …

The Effects Of Gmo Deregulation On Global Food Security And Biotechnological Acceptance, Alex Rodroguez

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Liberalism And Globalization: An Essay On Montesquieu, Tocqueville, And Manent, Trevor Shelley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Many in the West today talk about the emergent unity of humanity, as social scientists examine the world through “global values,” assessing “global opinion”; economists study the “global economy” and “global finance”; historians write of “universal history;” legal scholars speak of “global domestic politics” and “world society,” while advocating “transnational justice”; political pundits announce the death of the nation-state. One could list additional examples illustrating the same apparent fact: a growing sense of global unity, and a universalist perspective on things social, economic, legal, historical, and political. To what extent, however, is this phenomenon—often referred to as “globalization”—an extension of …

Accountable Actors: Politics And Poetic Imagination In Huxley, Lewis, And Orwell, Sarah Beth Vosburg

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

What does it mean, and what does it take, to practice personal responsibility in the face of political oppression? In this dissertation, I trace the essential themes of responsibility through a critical analysis of three stories: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength, and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. No comparative study of these important works of twentieth-century political literature exists. Yet, each of these stories merits the attention of students of character and politics because all three unforgettably portray men who strive to live meaningful lives against the contrived meaning imposed on them by those in …

Between Nihilism And Transcendence : Albert Camus' Dialogue With Nietzsche And Dostoevsky, Sean Derek Illing

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the impact of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Friedrich Nietzsche on the development of Albert Camus’ political philosophy. The innovation of the present study is in the attempt to offer a substantive examination of Camus’ dialogue with Nietzsche and Dostoevsky. To the extent that connections between these writers have been discussed, it has been in the general context of modern thought or it has focused on overlapping literary themes. This project emphasizes the political dimensions of these connections. In addition to re-interpreting Camus’ political thought, the aim is to clarify Camus’ struggle with transcendence and to bring renewed attention …

Memory, Truth And Justice: A Contextualisation Of The Uses Of Photographs Of The Victims Of State Terrorism In Argentina, 1972-2012: Communicating An Intersection Of Art, Politics And History, Richard Askam

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Photographs of the victims of Argentine state terrorism from 1972 to 1983, and most prominently those of the detained-disappeared victims of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional dictatorship (1976-1983), have had a significant role in elucidating the demands of human rights activists since the aftermath of the Trelew Massacre in 1972. In this thesis I examine the role of photographs of victims of state terrorism in the construction of unofficial, or counter, narratives critical of those produced by two dictatorships and by elected democratic administrations in the demand for truth and justice, and in the construction of social memory. I discuss …

Does The Existing Human Rights Regime Have Political Authority?, Christopher Heath Wellman

San Diego Law Review

In this Article I consider whether the existing international legal human rights regime enjoys political authority over sovereign states. In particular, I explore whether, just as states can cite their role as the primary institutions that protect human rights in order to justify their claim to authority over their citizens, perhaps the current human rights regime might plausibly cite its secondary role in securing human rights in order to ground its authority over these states.

Editor's Introduction, Jr. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

The Primacy Of Context: An Exploration Into The Causes Of Food Insecurity In Kitere, Kenya., William O. Aludo

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study was to explore the specific reasons why households in Kitere village, Kenya experience persistent food insecurity every year while the region enjoys the advantage of two planting/harvest seasons in a year. Kitere village lies within the lakeside region of Nyanza Province in Kenya, generally considered to be one of the more agriculturally productive parts of the country. The Participatory Rural Appraisal method was employed to gather qualitative data on the causes of food insecurity in Kitere village. The data sources were focus groups and a self-administered, one-time survey of random and non-random samples of key …

With An Eye On A Set Of New Eyes: Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Kette Thomas

Journal of Religion & Film

This article focuses on how, Beasts of the Southern Wild, represents both divergence and transgression from paradigmatic structures that determine how certain visual representations are to be used. Specifically, the cinematic detours taken by the filmmakers, Lucy Alibar and Behn Zeitlin, do not lead to alien places for most viewers; on the contrary, ancient myths, legends, heroes and prehistoric references are recalled in total isolation from current social and political discourse. In this way, Beasts of the Southern Wild, effectively, highlights mythological structures operating in contemporary American society. Mircea Eliade, Roger Caillois and G.S. Kirk define mythology as a …

Central Government Poverty Policy And Local Deviation: A Comparison Of Dibao Regulations Across State Levels, Maja Kolmos, Christopher Rosenmeier

Global Asia Journal

The Chinese government has implemented a means-tested social security net for the poorest known as dibao. We compare dibao legislation from the State Council, the Shandong provincial government, and the Qingdao municipal government. As a case study, this comparative analysis of dibao legislation across different state levels and time periods provides a method to analyze differences between central and local government levels. We show that local governments are able to subvert the intentions of the central government by adding sections and altering the language in key passages. This type of horizontal and vertical reading of multiple texts reveals priorities …

Is Multiculturalism Good For Children? The Rights Of The Child And Multiculturalist Policies In Sweden, Pernilla Ouis, Göran Adamson, Aje Carlbom

International Dialogue

In the present paper, the objective is to investigate if multiculturalism is good for children. The method is to use secondary sources, as well as current examples from Swedish society, to show how multiculturalist policies have negative consequences for minority children's rights. The paper, as well as previous research, reveals that parents of immigrant origin often forbid children to attend school activities such as camps, gymnastics, swimming, and lessons in music and religion. Parents motivate their actions with reference to their traditions and religion, and a fear that their children might learn sexual immorality. The wishes of parents are accepted …

The Transgressive Allure Of White Gold In Peruvian Amazonia: Towards A Genealogy Of Coca Capitalisms And Social Dread: Andean Cocaine: The Making Of A Global Drug; Coca's Gone: Of Might And Right In The Huallaga Post-Boom, Bartholomew Dean

International Dialogue

“I have tested this effect of coca, which wards off hunger, sleep, and fatigue and steels one to intellectual effort, some dozen times on myself; I had no opportunity to engage in physical work.”—Sigmund Freud, from ‘Über Coca’, Centralblatt für die ges. Therapie, 2, 1884.

Circulating through multiple regimes of value, the transgressive allure of coca has gripped the Occidental imagination for more than a century and a half, shaping the contours of modernity; first as a magical elixir, then to a demonized underground drug, and eventually being transformed into a lucrative global commodity with grievous effects. Coca and cocaine …

Queer Activism In India: A Story In The Anthropology Of Ethics, Rahul Rao

International Dialogue

The queer movement in India has been adept at documenting itself. A succession of anthologies compiled by leading voices from within the movement has made available to a wider reading public the lives and longings of many of its diverse participants (Sukthankar 1999; Bhattacharyya and Bose 2005; Narrain and Bhan 2006; Narrain and Gupta 2011). Naisargi Dave’s book on queer activism in India offers something new and valuable. A book-length account of the queer political landscape with a focus on lesbian activism, this study is distinctive both for its longer temporal view and for the productively ambivalent positionality of its …

U.S. Cultural Diplomacy And Archeology: Soft Power, Hard Heritage, Nicholas J. Cull

International Dialogue

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 generated a maelstrom of images. There were cities lit by the “shock and awe” bombardment, the falling statues, the traumatized civilians and scene after scene of coalition forces vainly searching for weapons of mass destruction. But among the most peculiarly troubling were the images of the looting of Iraq’s national museum. The human suffering was sadly familiar to the TV audience around the world but the looting broke new ground. The images of looting spoke of the depth of the anarchy into which Iraq was tumbling. They represented the destruction of something greater …

Hopi Oral Tradition And The Archaeology Of Identity, Brady Desanti

International Dialogue

Native American activists of the civil rights era leveled heavy critiques at archaeology and anthropology for their prior support of colonial legislation and lack of sensitivity towards Native viewpoints. Archaeology in particular was taken to task for the destruction of numerous burial sites and the theft of thousands of Native American bodily remains and cultural items for over a century. The decades-long efforts by Native Americans and their non-Indian allies (which included some archaeologists) to secure the return of these remains and objects paid off in 1990. The passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) mandates …

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces

International Dialogue

Table of Contents for Volume 3

Insurgent Encounters: Transnational Activism, Ethnography, And The Political, Julie A. Pelton

International Dialogue

nsurgent Encounters: Transnational Activism, Ethnography, and the Political, edited by Jeffrey Juris and Alex Khasnabish, opens with a vignette describing an encounter between international activists and Zapatista base communities in 2006–7. The moment, and the thick description of it in the introduction, serves as an exemplar of the ethnographic approach to studying social movements advocated in this book: at once romantic, mysterious, and radical, while also rife with contradictions, struggles, and tensions. Juris and Khasnabish have gathered together a diverse collection of work on transnational activism that highlights the importance of ethnography as a set of methods largely neglected in …

Islam In Denmark: The Challenge Of Diversity, Aje Carlbom

International Dialogue

In public debates contemporary Denmark stands out as an extraordinary nationalist and racist country. This is particularly so on issues concerned with Islam and Muslim immigration. The growth of the nationalist political party Dansk folkeparti, the Muhammad caricatures and harsh laws regulating family reunion are often used as examples by outside observers trying to describe political transformations in the country. These, and some other themes, are discussed in the anthology Islam in Denmark: The Challenge of Diversity (2012), edited by Jørgen S. Nielsen, professor and director of The Centre for European Islamic Thought at the University of Copenhagen. What kind …

The Egyptian Islamic Group’S Critique Of Al-Qaeda’S Interpretation Of Jihad, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Faculty Works

A specific branch of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh al-jihad) regulates the waging of the jihad of the sword (jihad bis saif). In this article, a detailed exposition is presented of the Egyptian Islamic Group’s (IG; Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya) use of fiqh al jihad against Al-Qaeda. The present author’s ‘jihad-realist’ approach is first briefly described; the IG’s critique of AQ systematically outlined; and in conclusion, implications are derived for counter-radicalisation strategies.

The Kingdom Of Tonga And The Unwritten Order, Doug Farr

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this paper I will address the unwritten order that exists in the highly stratified society of the Kingdom of Tonga. The relationship between power and rank in Tonga has created informal laws that govern the people. These informal laws, as well as a struggle for power, have created a division between the elite class and the powerless class, and this division is generating an uprising of the powerless class. I argue that the powerless class may win independent battles against the informal laws, however they will not defeat it completely, as this system has proven to be a testing …

Advocate, September 2013, Vol. [25], No. [1], Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

From the Editor's Desk: CUNY in the Kelly Era (p. 3)

CUNY News in Brief (p. 5)

Political Analysis: ‘It’s Exactly The Opposite!’: Modern Money Theory versus ‘Reality,’ J. A. Myerson (p. 7)

Guest Columnist: Obama and Putin: Time for Diplomacy, Amy Goodman (p. 12)

Rank and File: What’s at Stake in Graduate Organizing?, Karen Gregory (p. 14)

Notes on My Summer of Uprising, Uğur Güney (p. 18)

Book Review: The Strange Career of Samuel Delany, Lavelle Porter (p. 25)

Art Review: Modernism Unmoored, Michael Busch (p. 31)

Art Review: Explosions in the Sky, Clay Matlin (p. …

Editor's Introduction, Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

An Issue Of Blood: The Practice Of Secluding Women During Menstruation And Post-Pardum, Rebekah Wightman, Dr. Valerie Hudson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Menstruation is a taboo subject in even the most familiar cultures. Talking menstruation in general is often full of uncomfortable giggles and whispers, but in other not so familiar cultures, menstruation is handled very differently. Seclusion typically means that menstruating women or those who have just given birth must not engage in public activities for the duration of their menses or post-pardum period. For some societies, menstrual huts are created as a place for women to reside outside the village during menstruation. Typically, the women are not allowed to leave the menstrual hut during this period of time and strict …

What We Want: The Oral Histories Of Low-Caste Indian Widows And How They Navigate Their Surrounding Ideological And Social Context, Suzanne Powell, Dr. Valerie Hudson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I left on my field study with the goal of learning about the practice of widow abandonment by placing it within the larger social, political, and economic structure of Hindu India. I surmised that widow abandonment was creeping down into the traditionally less-orthodox South India because low caste groups were trying to prove just how Hindu they were – trying to legitimize a move into the upper, more pure high caste ranks. I sought to understand the practice by understanding how women fit into Hindu ideology, how they perceived themselves as a result of living in such a society under …

An Archaeology Of Capitalism: Exploring Ideology Through Ceramics From The Fort Vancouver And Village Sites, Dana Lynn Holschuh

Dissertations and Theses

The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), a mercantile venture that was founded by royal charter in 1670, conceived, constructed and ran Fort Vancouver as its economic center in the Pacific Northwest, a colonial outpost at the edge of the company's holdings in North America. Research into the history of the HBC revealed that the company was motivated by mercantile interests, and that Fort Vancouver operated under feudal land policies while steadily adopting a hierarchical structure.

Following the work of Marxist archaeologist Mark Leone whose work in Annapolis, Maryland explored the effects of capitalist ideology on archaeological assemblages of ceramics, this study …