Digital Commons Network^™

Escaping The Cultural Context Of Human Rights, Andrew Fagan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Liberal Archipelago: A Theory of Diversity and Freedom by Chandran Kukathas. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003. pp.292

The African Union, Makaria Green

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The African Union (AU) was established on July 8, 2001. Its predecessor was the Organization for African Unity (OAU)—established in 1963. The charter that created the OAU was the result of several multinational African conferences held in the 1950s and 1960s aimed at supporting Africans who were still under colonial rule to incite change through non-violent means. The OAU had just four organs: the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, the Council of Ministers, the General Secretariat and the Commission of Mediation, and Conciliation and Arbitration. On September 9, 1999, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government issued …

Democracy And Oversight, Riccardo Pelizzo, Rick Stapenhurst

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In the course of the past decade, political science has started paying increasing attention to the study of legislative oversight, which had been previously been described as an important but inadequately researched area of legislative activity (Lees, 1977). Lees’ comment is particularly true with regard to comparative analyses of oversight tools and practices. Some studies have recently discussed the instruments of legislative oversight (Maffio, 2002), other studies have instead investigated how legislative oversight relates to both political variables (Pennings, 2000; Damgaard, 2000; Pelizzo and Stapenhurst, 2004a) and socio-economic conditions (Pelizzo and Stapenhurst, 2004b). In spite of this renewed interest in …

Parliamentary Oversight For Government Accountability, Riccardo Pelizzo, Rick Stapenhurst, David Olson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Anti-Americanism: An Exploration Of A Contested Concept In Western Europe, Gregory Johnston

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite its popular currency and salience, anti-Americanism is understudied and misunderstood by social scientists. Even within academia, studies of anti-Americanism are often polemic, and logically or methodologically flawed. Focusing on Western Europe, we argue that anti-Americanism is a public opinion phenomenon, and present a definition of anti-Americanism based on social psychology, and demonstrate how cognitive psychological processes shape anti-Americanism. We outline several predictors of anti-Americanism, processes of internal cognition, responses to international political events, patterns of interpersonal communication and information diffusion, and the contextual role of ideology. We also observe the important implications European anti-Americanism has for support international institutions, …

Heroic Individualism: The Hero As Author In Democratic Culture, Alan I. Baily

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My study focuses on the literature of democratic morality, with specific reference to the question of "heroic individualism." I attempt to elucidate the notion of heroic individualism by examining three modern democratic moralists whose work occupies the space between politics and literature: Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Carlyle and Friedrich Nietzsche. In brief, I conclude that the central aspiration of heroic individualism is to bridge the gap between writing and action, the Text and the Voice. The dialogue among Rousseau, Carlyle, and Nietzsche reveals that the problem of writing as action is central to heroic-individualist morality. Each of these authors demonstrates …

“Peace Is More Than The End Of Bombing”: The Second Stage Of The Vieques Struggle, Sherrie Baver

Publications and Research

The nature of colonialism in Puerto Rico has caused most political issues to be viewed within the framework of status politics. In the first stage of the struggle to expel the U.S. Navy from the island (1999–2003), civil society in Puerto Rico united when the issues were reframed with links not to status politics but to human rights and social justice. Viequenses symbolized for Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico, on the mainland, and in the world at large the costs of military colonialism. In the second stage of the struggle, since the military’s departure, Viequenses have struggled to control the …

A Bloody Tradition: Ethnic Cleansing In World War Ii Yugoslavia, Paul Bookbinder

New England Journal of Public Policy

When World War II began, a climate for mass violence already existed. The author examines the history of ethnic cleansing, cultural cleansing, mass murder, and genocide in Yugoslavia – Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hertzegovena, and Kosovo – and finds that the historical atrocities are alive in active memory today. With a new awareness of the consequences of ethnic hatred, people can study their own histories cleansed of myth and nationalist delusions so that wars that unleash ethnic violence can be stopped before these excesses erupt.

Genocide: What Do We Want It To Be?, Alan A. Ryan Jr.

New England Journal of Public Policy

The definition of genocide in the Genocide Convention has been universally accepted, in the statutes of the ad hoc international tribunals and the International Criminal Court, but it conceals a host of ambiguities. Sociologists, political scientists, and others have not devised any legally adequate substitute. This article proposes a non-linear definition of genocide, that is, a definition that takes into account the presence or absence of several factors, rather than one that attempts to generalize the crime of genocide. It disregards the motives or objectives of the perpetrator, sheds the secondary phenomena that often accompany genocide (such as dehumanization of …

Peace-Building In An Inseparable World, Jonathan Moore

New England Journal of Public Policy

Our world is increasingly divided between the haves and the have nots, and the gap between these two is growing. Despite this, with all of its riches, the United States remains disconnected. A poor country in the aftermath of war is a microcosm of the world at large. Given the prodigious problems of the failed and failing nations discussed here -- Afghanistan, Cambodia, East Timor, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Somalia -- the tendency is to deny the enormity of the task and to treat the problem superficially and peremptorily rather than to attack its root causes. The …

Equity Vs Excellence : A Preliminary Exploration Of Hong Kong's Education Reform, Anita, Y.K. Poon, Yiu Chung Wong

CAPS Working Paper Series

Although Hong Kong 's education system has long been criticized as lacking in creativity and putting too much emphasis on rote learning, on the whole it has served Hong Kong well in the past in that it has bred outstanding business, academic and po1itical leaders who maintained the competitive edge of Hong Kong. The traditional elite schools played a most important role in the process. The education reform, which is still on going, aims to overhaul the entire system by introducing the “through-road” model through changing the existing admission mechanism of Primary 1 and Secondary 1 students, combining different bandings …

Postcard: One -Year Anniversary Celebration Of The William J. Clinton Presidential Center

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

A “Friends & Family Bar-B-Que Reunion.” November 18, 2005.

Economic Globalization And Civil War, Katherine Barbieri, Rafael Reuveny

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Changing Demographic, Legal, And Technological Contexts Of Political Representation, Benjamin Forest

Dartmouth Scholarship

Three developments have created challenges for political representation in the U.S. and particularly for the use of territorially based representation (election by district). First, the demographic complexity of the U.S. population has grown both in absolute terms and in terms of residential patterns. Second, legal developments since the 1960s have recognized an increasing number of groups as eligible for voting rights protection. Third, the growing technical capacities of computer technology, particularly Geographic Information Systems, have allowed political parties and other organizations to create election districts with increasingly precise political and demographic characteristics. Scholars have made considerable progress in measuring and …

Invitation: 40th Anniversary Of Planned Parenthood Of Northeast Florida, Planned Parenthood Of Northeast Florida

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Invitation to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Planned Parenthood of Northeast Florida at the University of North Florida University Center, honoring Julie Buckingham. Date: October 24. 2005

Advocate, October 2005, Vol. [17], No. [2], Gc Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Wellness Center Survives Fee Crisis: DSC Funding of Student Health Services Assured; Referendum Passes 654 to 457 (p. 1)

Corporate Rubbish: Evaluating Restaurant Associates’ Environmental Claims about Styrofoam Cups. Lea Johnson (p. 1)

From the Editor. Spencer Sunshine (p. 2)

Academic Repression (p. 2)

People Get Ready: Historic PSC Mass Meeting Packs Cooper Union. Abby Schoneboom (p. 3)

Academic Repression in the First Person: Interview with Carol Lang: Is CUNY Trying to Silence a Long-Time Critic on Trumped-Up Charges? Spencer Sunshine (p. 4)

This Could Happen to You. Andy Smith (p. 5)

Analysis: Iraqi Democracy: Is Civil …

Europe: A Civilization On The Edge, Peter O'Brien

Political Science Faculty Research

Our European culture is one that has staked its all on the universal and the danger menacing it is that of perishing by the universal.

Jean Baudrillard¹

Rémi Brague rejects common charges of Eurocentrisim leveled against Western civilization. He prefers to characterize the West as "eccentric," meaning off center. He equates Western civilization with Europe and understands it as that civilization which grew out of the western half of the Roman Empire and with time differentiated itself from Byzantine and Islamic civilizations (themselves successors to the Roman heritage). He labels Europe eccentric because it stands (physically and figuratively) on …

'Super Paradox' Or 'Leninist Integration' : The Politics Of Legislating Article 23 Of The Basic Law In Post-Handover Hong Kong, Yiu Chung Wong

CAPS Working Paper Series

Liao Zhengzhi, the late director of the Office of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, once said that, on the resumption of Hong Kong’s sovereignty, Hong Kong needed only to change the flag and British governor after the Handover. While the press was full of doomsday prophecies about Hong Kong s future, there was another camp of 'super-paradox' theorists who genuinely believed that Hong Kong s status quo would not changed after the Handover, for an authoritarian one PQ1吵-dominated PRC could absorb a free- flowing Hong Kong without changing the nature of an open society. Contrary to doomsday prophets and 'super-paradox' …

Okolie Animba, Ed. Glimpses Of Igbo Culture And Civilization, Michael Andregg

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Lee Harris, Civlizations And Its Enemies: The Next Stage Of History, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Chinese Approaches To Institutionalizing Regional Multilateralism, Chien Peng Chung

CAPS Working Paper Series

Over the last few years, China has promoted all kinds of regional and sub-regional cooperation in Asia. However, the extent of China’s drive for institutionalization of cooperative regional multilateral processes is limited by two realist considerations: I) Distribution of power among the forum participants, and whether the major players are well-disposed towards China or not so and II) the importance of the issues that the specific forum is set up to deal with, particularly to the political, economic or security interests of China, but also that of other participating states.

China has successfully pushed for a high degree of institutionalization …

Advocate, September 2005, Vol. [17], No. [1], Gc Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Features / Community News

18% Hike Slams CUNY Graduate Students. James Hoff (p. 1)

GC Welcomes Bill Kelly as President (p. 1)

DSC Welcomes Students Back (p. 1)

Contents (p. 1)

From the Editor. Spencer Sunshine (p. 2)

Academic Repression (p. 2)

Angry About Academic Repression? (p. 3)

Community News: New Trial for Miguel Malo Begins (p. 3)

Around Town: What Does the Fate of NYU’s Graduate Student Union Hold for CUNY? Andrea Morrell (p. 4)

Analysis: State-Sponsored Hate Speech in the War on Terror: A Plan to Push Back. Dan Skinner (p. 5)

Suggestions for a …

Pathways To Power: The Role Of Political Parties In Women’S National Political Representation, Sheri L. Kunovich, Pamela Paxton

Sociology Research

The authors extend previous research on women’s participation in politics by examining the role of female elites in political parties in selecting and supporting women as political candidates. They hypothesize that political parties, in their role as gatekeepers, mediate the relationship between country-level factors, such as women’s participation in the labor force, and political outcomes for women. The article focuses on three outcomes for women: the percentage of female political party leaders, the percentage of female candidates in a country, and the percentage of women elected. New cross-national measures of women’s inclusion in political parties are developed and analyzed in …

Printed Material: Disney Contemporary Resort Reservation Documents And Bill

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Disney Contemporary Resort group reservation information, documents and bill. Date: 2005. Box 10 Folder 9

Social Capital And Corruption: Vote Buying And The Politics Of Reform In Thailand, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

I offer a critical view of the social capital thesis, which frequently argues that more is better (and less is worse), by examining the ethics of social capital, using Pierre Bourdieu's understanding of networks as defined by their limits. I argue that social capital only assumes conceptual coherence when distinguished from its complementary opposite. I illustrate these theoretical points with a discussion of political reform in Thailand and the 2001 general election. The election exemplifies the benefits of the circulation of social capital: voter turnout and party membership were up, and civil society was active. Yet democratic achievements in Thailand …

Civil-Military Relations In A Civilized State: Panama, Ronald D. Sylvia, Constantine P. Danopoulos

Faculty Publications

This article traces and analyzes civil-military relations in Panama. After a brief overview of the role of the National Guard in the country politics, the article concentrates on political developments since the 1989 U.S. invasion to overthrow the Noriega regime and the subsequent elimination of the Panamanian military. The study seeks to shed light on political life in an armyless and politically and socially fractionalized country occupying a sensitive strategic location. The concluding part of the study speculates on the possibility that terrorism, domestic security concerns, and regional considerations may prompt Washington and Panamanian leaders to reverse the decision to …

Distant Neighbours? : Japan-Korea Relations Revisited, Brian Bridges

CAPS Working Paper Series

Japan’s relations with the two Koreas have remained complicated and controversial, as recent anti-Japanese protests in South Korea demonstrate. This paper discusses the progress in bringing reconciliation between Japan and South Korea through an examination of four elements in the bilateral relationship: the historical legacies, the economic competition, the security imperatives (including the relationship with North Korea), and the flows of popular culture and people. It argues that the slowly improving bilateral Japan-South Korea relationship, to which growing economic interdependence, heightened interest in popular culture, and shared beliefs in peace and stability in North-east Asia all contribute, is nonetheless still …

The Evolution Of Congress: A Citizen's Ability To Influence Politics Today, Rebecca Ashley Nudd

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

-Constitution of the United States

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and spurred a year long political bus boycott that helped later change the U.S. Constitution. A mother with a cause rallied a million other moms to march onto Capital Hill and …

"Joined In The Battle Of Common Humanity": Irish Nationalism And Labor Organizing In Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1876-1883, Timothy Robert Donnelly

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The lrish-Catholic working-class of Scranton, Pennsylvania used social networks fanned in Irish nationalist organizations to expand the men's labor movement between 1879 and 1883. Formed in 1879, the Irish National Land League worked for land reform in Ireland and called on Irish-Americans to serve as fund-raisers for the cause. The Land League prospered in the Scranton area drawing into its ranks many Iiish-Americans that worked in the anthracite coal mines. The Knights of Labor, lend by Scranton native Terence V. Powderly, had established multiple local assemblies in the region, but had a difficult time recruiting hi sh-Catholic members. Leaders of …

The Extraterritorial Processing Of Refugee Claims & The Refugee Convention, C Frederick Sheffield

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.