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Symbolic Violence As Subtle Virulence: The Philosophy Of Terrorism, Jonathan Beever

Re-visioning Terrorism

Jean Baudrillard’s semiotic analysis of violence leads us to understand the form of violence as three-fold: aggressive, historical, and semiotically virulent. Violence of the third form is the violence endemic to terrorism. If violence has been typically understood as of the first two types, terrorism should be understood as the virulence of simulacra. The conflation of these types of violence explains the failure of militaristic responses to terrorism. This paper will explore Baudrillard’s conception of symbolic violence as the virulence of signs and help us come to terms with the semiotic foundation of terrorism.

The Privilege Of Ambivalence: Saturday’S Henry Perowne On The ‘War On Terror’, Jax Lee Gardner

Re-visioning Terrorism

This essay considers the relation between personal privilege (class, race, nationality, sex) and political ambivalence toward the Iraq war as it manifests in the protagonist of Ian McEwan’s Saturday. Henry Perowne “feels culpable somehow, but helpless too” in his shifting opinions of the coming invasion. Throughout the text we are shown Henry’s multiple perspectives regarding Iraq. Such ambivalence is, in itself, a form of complicity in war. Henry neither tangibly opposes the actions of the government (as the protesters do), nor does he consider sacrificing any of his creature comforts in support of the war (as the soldiers do). I …

Writing Victims: Post-Terrorist Fiction(S) In The Basque Country And Spain, Roland Vazquez

Re-visioning Terrorism

This paper examines the recent evolution of fiction in and about the Basque Country. I focus on depictions of the victims of ETA’s violence, and literature that documents their plight in the genres of the novel and short story. One trend is the movement away from “terrorist” and toward “victim” as the narrative focus. Another is an art increasingly in service to a political agenda. Although much of this corpus focuses on everyday details richer than those found in the mass media, social-scientific literature, or victim testimony, these forms often blur in their rhetorical styles.

Knights Of Justice: Blockbuster Terrorism In Code Geass: Lelouch Of The Revolution, Aaron Choo, Wilson Koh

Re-visioning Terrorism

Immigration To Germany: Past And Present Experiences, Peter O'Brien

Political Science Faculty Research

Germany long stood as the epitome of the ethno-nationalist approach to immigration. However, passage of the new Citizenship Law in 2000, which introduced jus soli, seemed to signal a sea change in the direction of a postnational outlook. This paper warns against seeing in the new legislation an emerging normative consensus around the kind of liberal cosmopolitanism advocated by the likes of Jürgen Habermas, Ulrich Beck or Will Kymlicka. I document the persistent allure and influence of nationalism and point to the growing appeal and sway of proposals and policies informed by a postmodern normative outlook. Germany’s normative landscape, …

Growing Singapore's Funny Bone: Laughing In The Face Of Dangers, Pitfalls And Politicians, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

There was once a time in Singapore when the mocking of authority figures would be regarded as a no-go zone. Leaders and politicians were rarely subjects of comedy for such jokes would be considered too distasteful and disrespectful for mass consumption. Acceptable local comedy, as such, was limited to the physical and sometimes lowbrow variety.

'The Earth Is Crying Out In Pains Of Childbirth': Bauxite Mining And Sustainable Rural Development In The Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Lena R. Connor

Environmental Analysis Program Mellon Student Summer Research Reports

In 2003, residents of the Serra do Brigadeiro Territory, a rural region of Southeastern Brazil in one of the few remaining patches of the Atlantic Forest, learned of a large number of bauxite concessions in their territory given by the federal government to the prominent Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (CBA), Brazil’s largest aluminum producer. Because the region prides itself on its small-scale agriculture and its lush natural environment, the mining has been the source of much contention in the community. Introduced to the topic by the international conservation non-profit and research center, Iracambi, I spent two months in the territory …

The Return Of The Honeymoon: Television News Coverage Of New Presidents, 1981-2009, Stephen J. Farnsworth, S Robert Lichter

Political Science & International Affairs Articles

Content analysis of network evening news coverage during the first year of the Barack Obama presidency revealed coverage that was far more positive in tone than comparable news reports from the first years of the Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush presidencies. Both domestic and international policy evaluations of the Obama presidency were more positive in tone than those of the last three presidents to take office during partisan transfers of power. The findings reveal a revival of the media honeymoon that scholars thought had disappeared during the modern era of a more combative press. An investigation of …

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

Departmental Papers (PS)

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 …

Presidents And The Rhetoric Of Recessions, Donna R. Hoffman, Alison D. Howard

Collected Faculty Scholarship

Are presidents reticent during recessions? Some research indicates that presidents make fewer major and minor speeches when economic conditions worsen (Ragsdale 1984; Eshbaugh-Soha 2010). We examine whether this holds true with major discretionary speeches utilizing recessions as the indicator of poor economic conditions. In addition, we also investigate the subject matter of major discretionary speeches given during both economic expansions and contractions. Presidents potentially have an incentive during a recession to focus the attention of the public away from economic concerns, where they have little command and control ability, to foreign policy, where they do have more power to act …

Information Disclosure In Global Energy Governance, Ann Florini, Saleena Saleem

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The lack of global consensus on how to deal with complex energy governance challenges has led to the emergence of information disclosure initiatives as governance tools in and of themselves. This article assesses the effectiveness of disclosure mechanisms as tools of energy governance by looking at the motivations and desired outcomes behind a series of disclosure-based initiatives in the energy sector, namely: making energy markets work more efficiently; inducing corporations to internalize their climate change externalities; and improving democratic processes that lead to better energy governance outcomes. The disclosure initiatives assessed in this article adopt different strategies to achieve their …

The War For Your Mind: Propaganda, Cultural Narratives, And The American Media, Caleb Baumgardner

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the contemporary American media can and do function as a medium for propaganda at the behest of elite interests, such as the federal government and big business. It examines how the media often present stories in the context of cultural narratives that are deeply rooted in the American cultural consciousness, regardless of whether such a context is appropriate or even accurate, and that it does so in service to power. It examines how this practice employs Sophistic rhetorical techniques and contrasts them with a Platonic view of rhetoric. It will also demonstrate how this practice is …

The Arab Spring: Endgames As Framing Battle, Colm Campbell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The narrative of the Arab Spring (including the Syrian uprising) in the mainstream media appears clear and linear: a cruel dictator is challenged in a series of street demonstrations that rapidly coalesce to become a popular uprising. The dictator resorts to increasingly brutal repression, but this fails to end the challenge. Within a relatively short time the dictator is overthrown. Elections within a reasonable period are announced, promising the creation of a democracy that is representative not only of the protest movement, but of society as a whole. Raghida Dergham's Huffington Post article largely reflects this perspective, drawing attention to …

Mapping Global Energy Governance, Navroz K. Dubash, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The challenges inherent in energy policy form an increasingly large proportion of the great issues of global governance. These energy challenges reflect numerous transnational market or governance failures, and their solutions are likely to require a number of global components that can support or constrain national energy policy. Governing energy globally requires approaches that can simultaneously cope with three realities: the highly fragmented and conflictual nature of the current inter-state system's efforts to govern energy; the diversity of institutions and actors relevant to energy; and the dominance of national processes of energy decision making that are not effectively integrated into …

The Us Veto Over Palestine's Un Membership, Timothy W. Waters

Articles by Maurer Faculty

While the United Nations is in debate over Palestinians’ request for UN membership, the US has already announced their decision to veto. But the over two thirds of Americans who are neither Jewish nor Evangelical should consider saying yes. It may not solve every problem but it could increase the prospects for successful negotiations between Palestine and Israel.

Remembering Bill Holm And A Journey To Iceland, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

The Research On Competitiveness Of The Shipping Sectors In Pudong Shipping Cluster Of Shanghai International Shipping Center, Yuan Feng

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Multimodal Transport Cost Analysis Of Coal Transport From Datong To Wh Power Station, Tingting Gao

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Being Blacklisted By China, And What Can Be Learned From It, James A. Milward

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Bloomberg, and more recently The Washington Post, have run stories about the visa problems of scholars who contributed to Xinjiang: China’s Muslim Borderland, a volume edited by Frederick Starr and published by M.E. Sharpe in 2004. The Bloomberg piece was exhaustively reported; the reporters who wrote it, Dan Golden and Oliver Staley, conducted interviews with Chinese as well as western participants in the episode, and all in all did a good job with a complicated story. Inevitably, however, the Bloomberg piece creates some misconceptions, and these are as likely to be reinforced as cleared up in news reports that build …

The Continuing Development Of The Ngo Sector In Kyrgyzstan: Experience From One Ngo In Naryn Kg, Brad Pribe

Capstone Projects – Politics and Government

Central Asia, once a part of the Soviet Union, is located between China, Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Kyrgyzstan (KG) is a small country with a population of 5.5 million people, 20% of the population living within two cities, the capital, Bishkek, and the second largest city of Osh.1 Mountains are the most distinctive physical feature, covering more than two thirds of the country and separating certain areas from others with only a small mountain pass as the means of travel. Surprisingly, the average American knows very little about Central Asia, much less Kyrgyzstan. Therefore, I decided to …

Ike Was Right, Ann Abdoo

Citizens for Peace

This essay gives an overview of nuclear proliferation, and President Dwight (Ike) D. Eisenhower's warning about the military-industrial complex and his proposal for a more peaceful world. It was published in the Michigan Department of Peace Campaign, Political Action Guide 2011-2013.

The Political Action Guide is published by Citiens for Peace, a grassroots organization from Michigan's 11th Congressional District. The Guide includes information on the Department of Peace Legislation, historical and current as well as information on ways to become politically active.

Within the Guide, there is also a directory of many Michigan organizations working for a more peaceful …

The Impact Of European Monetary Integration On The Labour And Conservative Parties In Britain, 1983–2003, Denise Froning

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines what effect the movement towards deeper economic and political integration in the EU has had on the domestic politics of a member country, Britain. This study argues that this pressure to integrate by joining the single currency, or European Monetary Union (EMU), and its predecessor, the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), has exacerbated the cross-cutting cleavages inherent in British party politics, making them potentially dangerous to party unity and to successful governance by making party management more challenging. The pressure imposed by the EU on British parties and governments to follow the path of economic integration to …

Radical Negativity: Music Education For Social Justice, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Edgar Bauer, hurt by some chance remark, turned the tables and ridiculed the English snobs. Marx launched an enthusiastic eulogy on German science and music—no other country, he said, would have been capable of producing such masters of music as Beethoven, Mozart, Handel and Haydn, and the Englishmen who had no music were in reality far below the Germans who had been prevented hitherto only by their miserable political and economic conditions from accomplishing any great practical work, but who would yet outclass all other nations. So fluently I have never heard him speak English.

War, Gender, And The Polarization Process: Gender As An Intervening Variable In Attitude Formation Toward Outgroups, Kristen Kay Dawson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

War and the consequences of war have long been a subject of study in the field of political science. In addition, much debate and disagreement has centered around which factors are most important in determining the onset of war. Based on previous literature that has established fairly consistent gender differences with respect to the gendered role of warfare (Goldstein, 2001; Marini, 1990), I speculate that gender may also influence polarization attitudes, which are thought to act as precursors to war. Whenever the attitudes of ingroups rapidly polarize and their members become extremely fearful of an outgroup, begin to dehumanize outgroup …

Is Us Military Intervention Effective In Promoting Democratic Practices In Latin American Governments?, Mindi Jones

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The United States is an influential superpower with military, political and economic prominence throughout the world. Since the Spanish American War of 1898, the US has been the hegemonic power in the western hemisphere. Because of its strong influence, US military involvement in other countries is highly scrutinized both internationally and domestically.

The Dependency Of The International Community On U.S. Foreign Aid And Intervention, Dedrian Jerrell Mcnulty

Master's Theses

Following the end of the Cold War, the United States found itself in an unprecedented situation. The United States emerged victor of the Cold War and the international community's preeminent superpower. As such, the United States has spread its values and policy initiatives throughout the international community. In the years following the end to Cold War, multiple scholars have predicted different paths which the United States should take. Some scholars have predicted that the United States is "bound to lead," while others have predicted that there is a "Coming Anarchy." However, no reasonable scholar can deny the influence the United …

What Anders Breivik Has In Common With War Criminals, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

Health Care In America: How To Fix Costs And Employer Provided Insurance Through Consumer Driven Health Care, Jonathan Williams

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Consumer driven health care is a viable solution to reduce America’s high overall health care costs and to rectify the lack of portability in the current employer driven health insurance model. Health care costs have risen greatly due to factors such as hospital administration and care, medical equipment, pharmaceutical companies, age, malpractice suits, and red tape. Health insurance is a complex field with components such as premiums, deductibles, co-payments, and both public and private providers of insurance. Health insurance in the United States is mainly provided by private insurance companies and these companies allow employers to pick insurance plans for …

Modern-Day Slavery And Human Trafficking: An Overlooked Issue, Michelle Kuhl

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Slavery and human trafficking have become a widespread problem across the globe today. Practices including debt bondage, forced labor, sexual slavery, and more are occurring in every country, including here in the United States. It has been widely overlooked, and although there are several laws and declarations outlawing the practice of slavery, it still occurs. Neoliberalism and globalization are considered in this thesis as contributors to modern-day slavery and trafficking in persons. Additionally, specific case studies of a few different nations are provided to clarify the topic and help the reader create a personal connection to the issue. A lot …

American Constitutional Law, Otis Stephens

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.