Digital Commons Network^™

Richard Rorty's Map Of Political Misreading, Shaun Kenan King

LSU Master's Theses

For more than a quarter century, Richard Rorty was one of the most controversial writers. Critics of Rorty have often clustered their remarks around distinct themes within Rorty’s body of literature. Is Rorty’s criticism of the correspondence theory of truth valid and what standard of validity could confirm that? Does Rorty’s treatment of pragmatists such as William James and John Dewey accurately reflect their writings? Is Rorty’s brand of liberalism defensible when it assumes no non-circular form of justification can be proffered? These are the questions most often addressed by Rorty’s critics. He responded to their objections for two decades. …

Emperor Has No Clothes: Eu's Cyprus Challenge, Birol A. Yeşilada, Ahmet Sozen

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the words of the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, “membership of [politically divided] Cyprus in the European Union coupled with Turkey’s membership aspirations has seriously complicated future peace negotiations on the island.” (Hürriyet, June 16, 2006). This is a rather harsh assessment of EU’s Cyprus policy given the fact that membership in the Union would most likely create the optimal conditions for peace and stability between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Yet, EU membership of one side at the expense of the other community, seem to have created more obstacles for peace. This paper provides a critical analysis …

The President’S Question Time: Power, Information, And The Executive Credibility Gap, Sudha Setty

Faculty Scholarship

The rule of law depends on a working separation of powers and transparency and accountability in government. If information is power, the ability of one branch of government to control information represents the ability to control federal legislation, policy, and decision-making. The Framers of the United States Constitution developed the Madisonian model of separated powers and functions, and a system of checks and balances to maintain those separations, with this in mind. History has shown a progressive shift of the power to control information toward the executive branch and away from the Legislature. Particularly when unified, one-party government precludes effective …

Walter Russell Mead: Power, Terror, Peace, And War For No. 149, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Walter Russell Mead places this volume (which builds on Special Providence) into the context of the ideological and theological debates that have shaped American history. Like Michael Oakeshott and various conservatives, Mead depicts the contemporary world as the outworking of a “modern temper” or an “Enlightenment project,” two phases of which he focuses on: Fordism (resembling Lewis Mumford’s modern megamachine) and millennial capitalism. Mead’s identification of several competing schools of thought or dispositions in chapter six is somewhat comparable to earlier “models of historical interpretation,” such as Daniel Elazar’s three American “political cultures” and David Hackett Fischer’s four “British folkways” …

Democracy In Practice: Lessons From New England, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kevin Dye

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

Political decision-making by elites require some form of civilian participation to regain legitimacy. Increasingly groups of Citizens do not trust in political elites and are increasingly frustrated by their behavior. When faced with the problem of diversity, even established democracies face problems of managing diversity. In the global context differences of opinion, culture, religion etc has defined many of the New Wars (Kaldor 1999). In the United States many non-state and semi-governmental organizations have developed programs to increase public knowledge of the legislature and its decision-making processes. The ultimate purpose of this is to exercise some control over state power. …

On The Foundation Of Rights To Political Self-Determination: Secession, Non-Intervention, And Democratic Governance, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

From a justificatory standpoint, perhaps the most basic question with respect to secession is what, if anything, provides the moral foundation for a group’s right to secede. My aim here is to make a start to answering this question. I do so, however, by considering a different, albeit closely related, question, namely what is the nature of the wrong done to members of a qualified group denied secession by the state that currently rules them? A compelling answer to this latter question, I suggest, will contribute significantly to a satisfactory answer of the former one.

Sanctions Against Belarus: Normative Unintended, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The goals pursued by the EU vis-à-vis Belarus through its sanctions policies are unequivocally normative. The EU refers to the ‘violations of international electoral standards’ in the 2006 presidential elections and the ‘crackdown on civil society and democratic opposition’ as the primary reasons for the imposition of sanctions. The EU sanctions strategy against Belarus has followed an incrementalist logic, unfolding in parallel to the evolution of the Belarusian state towards authoritarianism.

Women Candidates And Television Advertising: An Examination Of The 2006 Mid-Term Elections, Sharlin Aldao

Masters Theses

Television campaign ads are considered by scholars as the primary resource which candidates for national office use to introduce themselves and their views to the public, regardless of whether they are male or female. The majority of research nonetheless has focused on advertising at the Presidential and Congressional level. It has also focused on the use of negativity in their ads. Women candidates as an aggregate have many obstacles in terms of television advertising. The long standing stereotype of women as the homemaker and mother would lead many to believe that they should and only focus on women's issues such …

The Effects Of Foreign Aid On Perceptions Of Corruption In Sub-Saharan Africa, Margaret Wilkie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper is a study of the effects of foreign aid on perceptions of political corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa. In keeping with the consensus on foreign aid effectiveness, this study proposed that Sub-Saharan African countries receiving more foreign aid would be more likely to maintain high levels of perceived corruption. Hypotheses were tested using multivariate regression, controlling for a number of factors which have shown to be influential on perceptions of political corruption. Two models were tested, one to show the regression over a period of nine years, and the other to show the relationship between the foreign aid and …

Media, Civil Society And Political Culture In West Africa, Mohamed S. Camara

Security Studies & International Affairs - Daytona Beach

From the premise that a free and democratic society is impossible without free and responsible media and an active civil society and that freedom and democracy must evolve from within a particular society in order to mature into a way of life for the society and its media, the present study examines the symbiotic role of the media and civil society in West Africa’s struggle for democratic governance. It addresses the question of the independence and accountability of West Africa’s media vis-à-vis foreign donors, local business and political forces along with the effects on local audiences of giant Western/global media …

Media, Civil Society And Political Culture In West Africa, Mohamed Saliou Camara

Humanities & Communication - Daytona Beach

From the premise that a free and democratic society is impossible without free and responsible media and an active civil society and that freedom and democracy must evolve from within a particular society in order to mature into a way of life for the society and its media, the present study examines the symbiotic role of the media and civil society in West Africa’s struggle for democratic governance. It addresses the question of the independence and accountability of West Africa’s media vis-à-vis foreign donors, local business and political forces along with the effects on local audiences of giant Western/global media …

Russia And The Cis In 2007 : Putin's Final Year?, Charles E. Ziegler

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Russia in 2007 moved further away from a constitutional order governed by the rule of law as President Vladimir Putin's second term drew to a close and the country prepared for parliamentary and presidential elections. High oil and gas prices buoyed the economy, but little progress was made in addressing Russia's serious social problems. In foreign policy, confrontation with the West was balanced by excellent relations with most of Asia.

The Honest Broker? Canada's Role In Haitian Development, Michele Zebich-Knos

Faculty Articles

Since the early 1990s Canada has played a key role in Haiti’s development process. The article explores whether Canada’s foreign policy is becoming more reliant on military-assisted solutions, including peacekeeping, as a way to solve Haiti’s internal problems and achieve good governance. The article also examines the Canadian concepts called “Responsibility to Protect, React and Rebuild” which are linked to humanitarian intervention, and their implication for Haitian sovereignty. The conclusion cautions against an overly ambitious Canadian development policy for Haiti which has little chance of success.

Aziza Khatoon On Human Rights In Turkey Edited By Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat. Philadelphia: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. 349 Pp., Aziza Khatoon

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Rights in Turkey edited by Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. 349 pp.

Eric A. Heinze On Humanitarianism And Suffering: The Mobilization Of Empathy Edited By Richard Ashby Wilson & Richard D. Brown. New York, Ny: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 328pp., Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Humanitarianism and Suffering: The Mobilization of Empathy edited by Richard Ashby Wilson & Richard D. Brown. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 328pp.

Rights And The Hijâb: Rationality And Discourse In The Public Sphere, Howard Adelman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents, and Citizens by Seyla Benhabib. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 251 pp.

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Why the French Don’t Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space by John R. Bowen. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. 290 pp.

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Muslim Girls and the Other France: Race, Identity Politics & Social Exclusion by Trica Danielle Keaton. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. 223 pp.

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Human Rights and Religion: The Islamic Headscarf Debate in Europe by Dominic McGoldrick. Portland, Oregon: Hart Publishing, 2006. 320 pp.

Forced Labor In The United States: A Contemporary Problem In Need Of A Contemporary Solution, Chrissey Buckley

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Legal slavery ended in the United States in 1865, yet the practice of forcing individuals to work against their will, oftentimes in inhumane conditions, continues today. Currently there are around 50,000 people working in forced labor situations in the United States (Bales 47). Although this number is smaller than it was during the 18th century, finding and freeing these individuals is difficult because they are hidden away and exploited. The United States is now at a critical juncture in its struggle to end forced labor. In 2000, the U.S. Government enacted legislation that holds perpetrators of forced labor accountable, and …

Opportunity, Tools And Support: Ngo Engagement In The Security And Disarmament Field, Sarah Estabrooks

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

NGOs have been consistently excluded from multilateral proceedings in the security and disarmament sector where states are concerned about their national security interests. And yet, they have found avenues to participate in the multilateral process through the negotiation of treaties, provision of expert research and testimony, systematic monitoring of state compliance, documentation of UN proceedings, and even as members of government delegations. This paper explores the conditions that enable NGOs to engage directly in the state-centric system of the United Nations, addressing political opportunity, enabling resources, and institutional support. I explore how NGOs contribute to international politics, using a constructivist …

Latino Representation In U.S. Legislatures: Interests, Behavior, And Influence, Stella M. Rouse

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the growth of Latinos in the general population and in legislatures, their impact on the political process has received little scholarly attention. In this project, I present a theoretical framework of Latino legislative behavior that draws upon two important concepts of representation- descriptive and substantive- to better understand how ethnicity influences legislative activity and whether it is dependent on such factors as institutional context, legislative composition, and constituency characteristics. The project is unique in its comprehensive analysis of the legislative process and in its mixed methodological approach which includes both quantitative and qualitative elements. The analysis involves five parts: …

The Effect Of Gender On Health Care Policy In The State Legislature, Ashley Wilson Huth

Honors Program Theses

This paper examines whether descriptive representation, in terms of gender, affects substantive representation among female legislators in a single state legislature. Data are collected from the 82nd General Assembly of the Iowa state legislature's lower-house. The unit of analysis is the individual bill. Controlling for legislator and district characteristics, I test whether legislator gender has an independent effect on the likelihood of the introduction of healthcare legislation. Utilizing the substantive representation index, and logistic regression with robust-cluster-standard-errors, I find that males introduce more healthcare bills when compared to females. The implications of this finding in terms of legislative representation are …

Blog's Growth In Presidential Candidates Campaign Coverage During The Democratic And Republican Nomination Process, Lisa Musante

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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A Case Of Moral Heroism: Sympathy, Personal Identification, And Mortality In Rwanda, Ari Kohen

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

What sort of person chooses to remain in a place like Rwanda when an easy exit is offered, when leaving seems the only safe or sane option, and when one is not directly connected to the would-be victims? And how does this person come to develop a circle of care that is expansive enough to include those who are radically Other? In what follows, I consider these questions through a detailed examination of the recent example of Paul Rusesabagina, the Hutu hotel manager in Kigali, Rwanda, who sheltered more than a thousand Tutsi and moderate Hutu refugees during the hundred-day …

A Systematic Analysis Of The Deracialization Concept, Byron D. Orey, Boris E. Ricks

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

The concept of deracialization gained notoriety following elections held in November of 1989. During these elections, a number of African-American candidates captured victories in majority-white electoral jurisdictions, leading McConnick to coin this Election Day as "Black Tuesday." Among those elected on "Black Tuesday" include: L. Douglas Wilder as governor of Virginia, David Dinkins as mayor of New York City, Norman Rice as mayor of Seattle and Chester Jenkins, mayor of Durham, North Carolina. In this article we systematically examine the deracialization construct/strategy and the potentially damaging impact that such a strategy might pose on the black community.

China's Good Earth: From Urbanization To Rural Development Under Hu Jintao 'S Administration, Jessica Wade

Global Asia Journal

This paper analyzes the recent efforts of the Chinese government to facilitate rural development. It reviews the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s previous emphasis on urban-based growth, the history behind the shift towards rural development, and the attempts by President Hu Jintao to move from extensive urban development towards sustainable rural development. It asserts, first, that much of China’s urban-based development was intentionally encouraged by the government, and second, that the CCP is now deliberately moving its investment and focus to rural-based growth. The paper justifies these findings through an exploration of the previous and current economic policies and propaganda of …

Hiv/Aids Policies In The United States And The United Kingdom: Emerging At-Risk Groups And The Struggle For Limited Resources, Jennifer Lorren Willis

Masters Theses

This thesis compares the HIV/ AIDS policies in the United States of America and the United Kingdom since the emergence of the virus in 1981. Despite a privatized health care system in the U.S. and the universal system in the UK, which lie on opposite ends of the policy care spectrum, similar populations have recently emerged as those most in need of health care services, preventative programs, and financial assistance. This thesis employs several quantitative and qualitative data to highlight the emergence of women and minorities in both nations as those that are most in need of resources. Data has …

The Importance Of Ideas: An A Priori Critical Juncture Framework, John Hogan

Articles

This paper sets out an improved framework for examining critical junctures. This framework, while rigorous and broadly applicable and an advance on the frameworks currently employed, primarily seeks to incorporate an a priori element. Until now the frameworks utilized in examining critical junctures were entirely postdictive. Adding a predictive element to the concept will constitute a significant advance. The new framework, and its predictive element, termed the “differentiating factor,” is tested here in examining macro-economic crises and subsequent changes in macro-economic policy, in America and Sweden.

A Trans-Tasman Business Elite?, Nicholas Harrigan, Shaun Goldfinch

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article examines the close relationship between the Australian and New Zealand business communities to ask whether the relationship is best characterized as simply a bi-lateral trading relationship, or whether there is evidence of the formation of a transnational business community. This article also seeks to explore the nature of Australia—NewZealand integration, and specifically the degree to which the relationship is interdependent or asymmetrical. Data are drawn from quantitative sources — including a dataset developed from the IBISWorld's Largest 2000 Enterprises in Australia and New Zealand, Who's Who in Australia, and Who's Who in Business in Australia — and qualitative …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 83, No. 20, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

Revolutionary Peacemaking: Using A Critical Pedagogy Approach For Peacemaking With "Terrorists", Steven Best, Peter Mclaren, Anthony J. Nocella Ii

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"The current global political atmosphere is steeped in fear of, and intense rhetoric about, political violence and "terrorism." Amidst this turbulent environment, it is clear that scholars and practitioners need to get beyond the manufactured fear and the hysterical rhetoric, peddled by what we call the corporate-state-military-media complex (or simply, the "power complex"), and instead seek a deeper understanding of political groups that defend or deploy the tactics of economic sabotage (property destruction) or armed struggle in order to change repressive and violent social structures (Best and Nocella 2004; Best and Nocella 2006). Such understanding is important to slow down …

Allying For Peace: Treaty Obligations And Conflict Between Allies, Andrew G. Long, Timothy Nordstrom, Kyeonghi Baek

Faculty Publications

We argue that certain provisions of alliance treaties can signal credible commitments to a peaceful relationship among members and establish institutional mechanisms that promote the settlement of disagreements through peaceful negotiation. Nonaggression, peaceful dispute settlement, military institutionalization, and permanent organization provisions should increase the duration of peace between alliance members; we test our hypotheses with a duration model. The analysis generally supports our expectations except that alliances that create permanent organizations, even those specifically established to arbitrate disagreements, are associated with shorter durations of peace. We conclude with some implications of our argument for the study of military alliances and …