Digital Commons Network^™

Guest Editors’ Introduction, Maurits Bastiaan Meerwijk, Nicolo Paolo P. Ludovice

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

This introduction examines the historical evolution of health messaging in the Philippines, tracing its roots from early twentieth-century colonial public health campaigns to contemporary pandemic responses. It argues that health messaging, initially termed “medical propaganda,” has consistently served as a tool for persuasion and governance, intertwining communication, politics, and medicine. The introduction highlights how visual technologies and simplified narratives have been used to normalize biomedical authority, often obscuring complex realities. It concludes by emphasizing the need for a broader epistemic repertoire to navigate health knowledge in an era of misinformation.

The Impact Of The War In Ukraine On Conscription Policies In Western Balkan Countries, Alfred Marleku, Elsa Llalloshi

International Journal of Business and Technology

This research paper examines the impact of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine on the transformation of conscription policies in Western Balkan countries. Several Western Balkan governments have considered reinstating military service in response to escalating tensions in the region. The study analyzes the geopolitical pressures stemming from the conflict and assesses how they have prompted these nations to rethink their defense strategies through the lens of conscription. By exploring the causal relationship between heightened regional insecurity and policy shifts, this paper provides insights into the broader implications of the Ukraine war on military readiness and national security in the Western …

Nativism As The Engine Of Fear Toward “Illegal” Immigrants, Amilie Cai

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Contemporary concerns about “illegal” immigration reveal deep-seated anxieties about race, cultural, and national identity in the United States. In this paper, I examine how xenophobia, media consumption, and Christian nationalism collectively shape fear of illegal immigrants. I build upon previous literature, such as the Group Threat Theory, which posits that dominant groups mobilize to preserve social hierarchies when their status is threatened, and the Agenda-Setting Theory, which emphasizes the media’s power to shape public perceptions. Using Wave 11 of the Chapman Survey of American Fears–a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults collected in 2025–I provide a comparative analysis of these …

Political Discoveries In A Žižek Substack Project Critical Digital Studies, Edward Sankowski, Betty J. Harris

International Dialogue

This review essay analyzes Slavoj Žižek’s recent turn to Substack as a publishing platform, examining both his motivations and the philosophical and political implications of this medium for contemporary critical theory. Sankowski and Harris argue that Žižek’s Substack writings continue long-standing themes in his work—anti-capitalism, ecological crisis, updated Communism, and the cultural dimensions of ideology—while also revealing notable shifts, including heightened pessimism about historical progress and new reflections on environmental catastrophe. The authors assess the advantages and pitfalls of Substack for intellectual discourse, including its circumvention of traditional editorial “censorship,” its contribution to information glut, and its role in fostering …

Finding Utopia: An Examination Of Pedagogical Approaches To Teaching Utopianism In U.S. College Classrooms, Brittany Page Brake

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how, and if, utopianism is being taught in college classrooms across the United States. Long considered impractical, overly idealistic, and/or politically dangerous, utopianism has been largely marginalized in political science and American culture. However, this project finds that there are instructors teaching utopianism and they are using the concept to challenge students to think differently about governance, justice, and institutional design. Drawing from political theory literature, course syllabi submitted by faculty from different U.S. universities, interviews with instructors, and personal case studies of my own courses at Central State University and Manchester University, I explore how utopian …

Imagine The Peace: Exploring The Intimacy Of Imagined Intergroup Contact In Kosovo, Eric Manley

Dissertations

Peacebuilders have utilized positive intergroup contact in various settings to help groups encounter each other. I implemented three different intimate imagined contact scenarios in Peja, Kosovo with Albanian and Serb participants. I conducted this research to understand how multiple intimate social settings could impact individuals’ encounters with the outgroup during each imagined scenario, thus gathering better operationalization efforts regarding intimacy and imagined contact. Using written responses, interviews, and one-year follow-up interviews, the café and workplace scenarios created a positive experience for most participants, and while half of participants had a positive experience with the fiancé scenario, many more had negative …

Racial Capitalism And Whitelash: Trumpism And The Politics Of Oppression Redux–A New Normal Or Just New Perfume In An Old Bottle?, Bhoomi K. Thakore, J. Scott Carter, Cameron Lippard, David G. Embrick

Fast Capitalism

There is no question that Donald Trump’s actions in his second presidential term have many people bewildered, shocked, and frightened. What was deemed “not normal” in his first term in office has quickly become the “new normal.” In this paper, we argue that part of the explanation for the rise, and repeated rise, of Trumpism lies in Donald Trump’s ability to fuel and maintain a whitelash against the social progress of the 20th and early 21st century. Not only has Trumpism picked up on the “reverse racism” sentiments that have sprouted as a result of racial, gender, and social progress, …

“This Is Not Normal”: The Global Academy’S Resistance To Authoritarianism And Academic Capitalism, Catherine A. Labrenz, Christian Adeleke, Maria Lúcia T. Garcia, Aline Pandolfi, Mara Mattioni, Fabíola Xavier Leal, Marcela Nava

Fast Capitalism

Summary: In the wake of rising authoritarianism and neoliberal retrenchment, academic institutions across the globe are increasingly pressured to suppress dissent, sanitize curricula, and deprioritize justice-based scholarship. Drawing from responses to political repression in Brazil and Argentina, this paper connects present-day U.S. conditions to transnational histories of academic resistance.

Findings: We locate today’s institutional silencing within the broader logics of academic capitalism and authoritarian governance, emphasizing how compliance, rather than critical engagement, is becoming the new normal.

Applications: Drawing on radical traditions of academic and professional resistance from the Americas, we present lessons learned and action steps …

Front Matter, Fast Capitalism Editorial Team

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Frantz Fanon / Immanuel Wallerstein: Marxism, Capitalism, And The Now Uncertain World, Charles Lemert

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Fast Capitalism Editorial Team

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Masses, Platforms, And The New Data Domination: Repressive Desublimation Revisited, Raymond L.M. Lee

Fast Capitalism

The world now resembles a mosaic of platforms orchestrating subjective responses to myriad digital stimuli in everyday communication and conduct. People appear to find fulfillment mainly through intense engagement with platforms that thrive on data produced by online entanglements. This is a world society of data domination where power is derived from high-tech interconnectivity, focused on an interplay between technological innovations and mass distraction. Platforms are seen as digital monopolies banking on mass online participation for data extraction and control. In that sense, they foster new forms of desublimation that Herbert Marcuse would have regarded as a re-flowering of repressive …

Psychology, Philosophy, And The Practice Of Politics, Shimon Edelman

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

“This Is The New Normal?” Restoring Or Restricting Democracy Today In America, Timothy W. Luke

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Populism In The Technospheric, Jamie Ranger

Fast Capitalism

I argue that the technospheric condition - a socio-technical reality shaped by social acceleration, the industrialization of memory, and mediatization - serves as a structural catalyst for the repoliticisation of the status quo, necessitating a rethinking of Ernesto Laclau’s discursive approach to populism. Drawing on insights from Bernard Stiegler, Hartmut Rosa, and others, I characterize contemporary social life as deeply entangled with technospheric forces, which exacerbate social problems and provoke counterhegemonic responses. These responses, politically solidified in both emancipatory and reactionary populisms, are not only shaped by populist strategy but also increasingly influenced by algorithmic steering on social media. Thus, …

The Politics Of Parasites And Superfluous Majorities, Samuel Beckenhauer

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Trump Redux: Immigration, Indigeneity, And America, Nancy S. Love

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Disappearance: Mahmoud Khalil And America’S Descent Into Fascism, Henry A. Giroux

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

The 100 Days Partnership Between Musk And Trump And The Crises Of American Democracy, Douglas Kellner

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Still Making It Up As He Goes: Revisiting The Hyper-Rhetorical Presidency In Trump’S Second Term, Richard Holtzman

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Timothy W. Luke

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Perception Map As A Tool For Program Evaluation, Marlene K. Rebori

Journal of Extension

Perception maps can be powerful tools for visually sharing and conveying program information with the general public and decision makers. A perception map is a common visual data tool used in the marketing and economics discipline, but not commonly used in Extension. A framework for developing a perception map and a step-by-step process for setting up evaluation metrics to create a perception map is provided using an example from a community leadership development program.

Force And Fallout: Experimental Evidence From A National Test Of The Community Expectations Standard, Christopher J. Marier, Conor Goodwin

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A persistent ``reasonableness divide'' exists between the legal standards governing police use of force and the public’s expectations, producing ``lawful but awful'' uses of force. This study empirically tests the ``Community Expectations Standard'' (CES), a model that identifies five criteria the public uses to evaluate force: underlying governmental interest, avoidability, officer motivation, subject resistance, and the presence of a ``highly dangerous'' environment. Using a factorial survey experiment with a national sample of nearly 2,000 U.S. adults, we analyzed responses to a hypothetical vignette depicting non-lethal force using t-tests and Bayesian linear regression models. The results show that underlying governmental interest …

Parties, Race, And Political Violence: Evaluating Whether Attitudes Toward The January 6 Insurrection Vary Across Racial Groups, Sarah Perez, Natasha Altema Mcneely

School of Political Science, Public Affairs, Legal and Security Studies Faculty Publications

The insurrection and its aftermath remain salient to contemporary American Politics. Existing scholarship has shown the insurrection was fueled by an effort to return Donald Trump to power while also protesting the decline of the non-Hispanic white population. Scholars also discuss the impact of continuous division across partisan and ideological lines. We are interested in exploring if these divisions are visible across attitudes of non-Hispanic white, Black, Hispanic, and Asian American/Pacific Islander respondents in a nationally representative survey. We explore the following research question. Does the impact of partisanship, ideology, and attitudes toward Trump’s responsibility affect the attitudes of respondents …

How Does Differing Family Structure Affect Political Engagement In Adulthood?, Jillian Stevens

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Institutional And Regulatory Responses To Armed Robbery Against Ships : A Comparative Analysis Of Indonesia, Malaysia, And Philippines, Subhash Kumar Kakkuzhiyulla Parambath

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Cv: Laurette Liesen (Political Science), Laurette Liesen

Political Science Department Faculty Curricula Vitae

No abstract provided.

Rewilding The Built Environment: Navigating Economic, Political, And Social Barriers To Urban Ecological Restoration, Carly E. Smith

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Urban rewilding offers a nature-based approach to restoring ecological processes in cities while advancing climate resilience, biodiversity, and public well-being. Unlike conventional green infrastructure, rewilding allows ecosystems to develop with minimal intervention, emphasizing succession, complexity, and long-term adaptability. This paper examines the political, economic, and social factors that frame how rewilding is understood and implemented in urban planning. Governmental frameworks often prioritize order, predictability, and short-term results, making it difficult to accommodate the uncertainty and ecological complexity that rewilding requires. Economic models struggle to capture its long-term value, frequently overlooking ecosystem services or reconciling competing land uses. Social perceptions of …

Casar Public Lecture: The Fierce Battle For The 2024 Us Presidency: Race, Gender, And The Power Of Identity Politics, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

In light of the upcoming 2024 US Elections, we hosted this lecture on SUNDAY OCTOBER 27TH - 1-2 pm titled: "The Fierce Battle for the 2024 US Presidency: Race, Gender, and the Power of Identity Politics." Speakers: CASAR guest speaker Dr. Sherri McFarland - moderated by CASAR Assistant to Director and Adjunct Faculty Yasmeen El-Ghazaly. Dr. Sherri Lynn McFarland's academic and professional careers demonstrate her passionate desire to contribute to the economic, social, and political progress of African and Middle Eastern North African (MENA) countries and their diasporic communities. Her keen interest in the people of these regions led her …

Secularization And Women's Rights Navigating The Legal, Economic And Social Impacts Of Gender Roles And Modernization In The United States, Isabella Rivera

Political Analysis

Isabella Rivera is a senior graduating in May of 2025 pursuing a dual Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Religion through the Honors Program. Her research focuses on secularization in the United States, with a particular interest in its impact on women’s rights and religion, the central theme of her senior thesis. Inspired by the complex relationship between secularization and gender dynamics, she set out to examine how this cultural shift affects women, while also exploring the religious dimensions of this interplay. Her academic journey reflects a deep commitment to understanding the intersections of politics, faith, and social change. …