Digital Commons Network^™

Personal And Political Reconciliation In Post-Genocide Rwanda, Ari Kohen, Michael Zanchelli, Levi Drake

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

The majority of scholarly research on Rwanda currently focuses on determining the causes of and participation in the genocide. In this paper, we explore a variety of questions that have come to the forefront in post-genocide Rwanda. In particular, we are concerned with the prospects for peace and justice in the aftermath of the gross abuses of human rights that occurred and, to that end, we consider the potential uses and limits of restorative justice initiatives in the process of healing and reconciliation in Rwanda. We argue that restorative justice initiatives have moved the country closer toward reconciliation than retributive …

Ethnic Context And Immigration Policy Preferences Among Latinos And Anglos, Rene R. Rocha, Thomas Longoria, Robert D. Wrinkle, Benjamin R. Knoll, Jerry L. Polinard, James Wenzel

Political Science Faculty Publications

Objective. We examine how the immigration policy preferences of Anglos and Latinos vary according to ethnic context. Specifically, we hypothesize that immigration policy attitudes are a product of both Latino immigrant and Latino native born group size. In contrast to previous work, which found that Latinos and Anglos react to contextual forces in an identical manner, we argue that Latino group size produces opposite reactions for Anglos and Latinos.

Methods. These hypotheses are tested using an original state-wide survey of Anglos and Latinos in Texas conducted during 2006, which is supplemented with data from the 2000 Census.

Results. Our findings …

Law Is Not A Spectator Sport: Addressing Challenges Posed By Civic Education Through Public Engagement With The Supreme Court, Erica Lauren Bashaw

Journalism

Democracy relies on an informed and engaged citizenry.  Low knowledge of public policy debates makes it difficult for government to meaningfully reflect the will of the people or for citizens to engage in fruitful public discussions.  The discussions we manage to have about law and politics too often resemble a hyper-partisan cable news show rather than an honest effort at a conversation.  In addition, many studies have suggested that, on the whole, Americans are not as informed about the courts as one would hope. This is especially true of the United States Supreme Court, which benefits from the “myth” that …

Taking It Off In The Mideast, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author explores the concept of democracy and the impact of financial, moral, and sexual corruption in the Middle East.

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

Selected Works Temporary Series

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 …

201103 Obiter Dicta: Reagan Centenary In February 2011, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

"Eighteen Million Cracks": Gender's Role In The 2008 Presidential Campaign, Gregory S. Parks, Quinette M. Roberson

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

In light of the 2008 presidential campaign, Gregory S. Parks
and Jeffrey J. Rachlinski wrote an extensive analysis, titled A Better
Metric, likening the campaign to an interview process and hiring
decision for a high-ranking job. Though unpublished, their work
spawned a number of published articles, book chapters, and a book
on the role of unconscious race and gender bias in the evaluations of
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton. In light of the analogy between voting and
hiring decisions, this article argues that questions about sexism and
gender bias along the campaign …

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

Departmental Papers (PS)

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 …

Scaling Policy Preferences From Coded Political Texts, Will Lowe, Kenneth Benoit, Slava Mikhaylov, Michael Laver

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Scholars estimating policy positions from political texts typically code words or sentences and then build left-right policy scales based on the relative frequencies of text units coded into different categories. Here we reexamine such scales and propose a theoretically and linguistically superior alternative based on the logarithm of odds-ratios. We contrast this scale with the current approach of the Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP), showing that our proposed logit scale avoids widely acknowledged flaws in previous approaches. We validate the new scale using independent expert surveys. Using existing CMP data, we show how to estimate more distinct policy dimensions, for more …

The Name Game As Blame Game: The Domodedovo Terrorist Bombing, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the relevance of blame in the context of terrorism.

The Giffords Shooting: Who’S The Fall Guy?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author explores the concept of ‘the fall guy’ from a political philosophical perspective.

Mourning The Soviet Union, Nicolai Volland

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Twenty years ago, on 23 August 1991, a grimlooking Boris Yeltsin shoved a sheet of paper in front of Mikhail Gorbachev with the words, “You read this now!” Gorbachev, who had just returned to Moscow after the abortive coup d’état led by KGB generals and hardliners in his own Party, appeared tense and insecure. In front of a stunned international TV audience (original footage here [at 01:25]), he did as he was told. Gorbachev’s decree was the first in a number of documents that led to the ban of the once mighty Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Virginity Tests And Their Implications On Law And Development, Farida Kalagy

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

(No abstract provided)

Metropolitan-Rural Voting Patterns In U.S. Legislative Elections, Elizabeth A. Stiles, Larry Schwab

Political Science

This paper examines the relationship between partisan political success, in both the United States House of Representatives and in the lower houses of U.S. state legislatures, and distance from the central city. The increasing Republican success over time, first in suburbs generally, and then in outer suburbs, is illustrated. Correspondingly, the paper shows that Democrats have retained their advantage in the central city, lost advantage in the rural areas and compete most effectively in inner ring suburbs. Also, different measures of distance from the central city (distance in miles, in types of living arrangements (e.g. urban, suburban, and rural) and …

The Growing Mexican Cartel And Vigilante War In Cyberspace: Information Offensives And Counter-Offensives, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This short essay blends traditional Mexican cartel analysis indicative of earlier Small Wars Journal writings by this author with advanced (5th dimensional) warfighting concepts. These concepts have utility for engagement with non-state (new warmaking) entities. They are being increasingly discussed now that cyberspace and ‘dual dimensional’ operations are more frequently breaking out in the Mexican conflict.

Does Deliberation Make Better Citizens? Examining The Case Of Community Conflict Mediation, Heather Pincock

Political Science - Dissertations

In this dissertation, I explore the educative effects of deliberation through interviews and observation at two community mediation organizations in Toronto. Theorists have long claimed that participation in deliberation can change the skills and dispositions of participants in ways that make them better citizens. Despite the normative work such claims perform in justifications for participatory and deliberative democracy, they remain theoretically and empirically underscrutinized. I seek to address this by developing empirically grounded insights about the educative potential that can realistically be attributed to deliberative processes. I argue that educative claims can best be examined when parsed into three categories …

The Relation Of Theories Of Jurisprudence To International Politics And Law, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

In this essay we shall be concerned with the real world relevance of theories of international law; that is, with the question of the theories themselves as a factor in international decision-making. To do this it is first necessary to review briefly the substance of the jurisprudential debate among legal scholars, then to view some basic jurisprudential ideas as factors in international views of "law," and finally to reach the question of the operative difference a study of these theories might make in world politics.

Aware: Analyzing The Impact Of An Anti-Human Trafficking Advocacy Curriculum Using Sixth Grade Students In Colorado, Alex Kornelius Monroe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is an international problem that penetrates every society on the globe. Trafficking in children for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, and domestic servitude occurs in every state of the United States. Education is key in preventing human trafficking and American students lack proper knowledge of the issue. This study seeks to bridge this shortcoming through the creation and implementation of a holistic anti-trafficking advocacy curriculum that not only informs and motivates students and educators toward advocacy, but also meets Colorado state academic standards. Case studies using sixth grade students in Denver show the impact that …

How (And What) Political Theorists Teach: Results Of A National Survey, Matthew J. Moore

Political Science

The article reports the results of a 2008 national survey of political theorists concerning what and how they teach. The results are based on 1,086 responses from professors at accredited, four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The responses include information about which thinkers are currently being taught, the status of non-Western political thought in political theory education, the relative degrees of implementation of various teaching methodologies, demographic information about the respondents, information about the kinds of texts theorists use to teach, and finally a ranking of undergraduate programs in terms of their strength in theory.

No. 07: Rapid Urbanization And The Nutrition Transition In Southern Africa, Jonathan Crush, Bruce Frayne, Milla Mclachlan

African Food Security Urban Network

The nutrition transition, including the presence of malnutrition and obesity in poor urban populations (the so-called ‘double burden’ of disease), is occurring in Southern Africa in the context of massive rural-urban migration and rapid urbanization. This seemingly contradictory situation poses one of the major threats to public health in the developing world, and impacts the poor – and therefore the most food insecure – to the greatest extent. This paper reviews the state of knowledge about food insecurity and the nutrition transition in the urban areas of Southern Africa drawing on existing studies and new research conducted by AFSUN. The …

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note No. 2: Ambush/Targeted Killing Of Us Law Enforcement Officer (San Antonio, Texas), Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Helen Silving: Jurisprudence In The Old Testament Study Guide, Steven A. Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Global Insecurity And Citizenship Strategies: Young Muslims In The West, Catarina Kinnvall, Paul Nesbitt-Larking

Data and Test Instruments

This article is set in the contemporary context of global challenges: economic crises, state deformations, and rapidly accelerating flows of people, ideas, and ideals. It has two main aims. One is to establish theoretical and empirical links between securitization studies and analyses of citizenship in the light of globalization, multiculturalism and discourses on terror. The second is to illustrate how macro events play out at the collective and individual level in terms of socio-psychological (in)securities that condition different citizenship strategies. The empirical basis for the article includes our studies of Western Muslims in the Netherlands, France, the UK, Sweden, Denmark, …

Helen Silving: Jurisprudence In The Old Testament Study Guide, 2011, Steven A. Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Immigration And The Extreme Right: An Analysis Of Recent Voting Trends In Western Europe, Andrew Walchuk

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Western European politics have been marked over the last couple of decades by a fierce debate about the place of Europe’s increasingly large immigrant population in society. Across the continent, far-right parties campaigning on nationalistic platforms opposing immigration have seen great electoral success. The debate is undoubtedly becoming more heated as more immigrants pour into the area, and these anti-immigrant parties seem to have established themselves in the political arena. Immigration does not appear to be slowing down at any point in the near future, so what is going to happen to these far-right parties as we move into the …

Free Speech And Autonomy: Thinkers, Storytellers, And A Systemic Approach To Speech, Susan H. Williams

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Investigating Social Capital And Political Action In The Middle East, Amr Abdel-Wahab

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses the relationship between social capital and political action in the Middle East. The research uncovers indicators of how social capital correlates with democratic action. Using data from the 2005 World Values Survey, the examination centers on indicators of trust and membership in civic organizations and how they relate to political action in the region. The paper concludes with discussion of how trust-building and reciprocity can be interpreted within the political context of the Middle East, and how the relevance of social capital will be an unavoidable consideration in the transition away from autocracy in the region, especially …

Mind The Conflict: Mindfulness And The (Israeli-Jewish) Conflict Mindset. Dis-Covering Psychological Barriers To Peace, Shiri Barr

Capstone Collection

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is regarded as an intractable conflict – a lengthy, violent and seemingly insolvable conflict. Social-psychologists assert that individuals and societies entrenched in intractable conflicts develop a problematic psychological infrastructure, which is here termed the Conflict Mindset. Made up of certain attitudes, beliefs, and emotional inclinations, the Conflict Mindset serves as a double-sword: on the one hand it helps the society endure the difficulties of the ongoing conflict; on the other hand it feeds an ever escalating cycle of violence, by promoting narrow and rigid perspectives that block possibilities for change. The Conflict Mindset is only part of …

Peeking Out From Behind The Curtain, Ian Reese

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Absconded by airport security to middle-of-nowhere Russia, Nikolai Alexeyev sat for several days in early September 2010 unaware of his infractions or of his fate. Like a page from a Cold-War spy novel, the point of his abduction was to terrorize; Alexeyev’s abductors psychologically tortured and berated him with homophobic remarks. Nikolai Alexeyev is the leading gay rights activist in Russia and has been a twisting thorn in the side of local and national government for several years. Upon his release, he resolved to agitate further by leading a public demonstration to boycott the Swiss International Air Lines for its …

Perspectives On Resignation In Protest, Walter J. Kendall Iii

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

How Do I Save My Honor? War, Moral Integrity, and Principled Resignation. By William F. Felice. Lanham, Maryland: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, 2009. 222pp.