Digital Commons Network^™

The Mobile Phone In Everyday Life, Hannah Rippin

Fast Capitalism

This paper explores how ordinary people use their mobile phones [cell phones in the U.S. and Canada] to interact in everyday life. These people are virtual selves, but the impact of their mobiles is very real. Mobile phone technology, more than any other, has the ability to envelop its users in a sphere of perpetual contact and instant access, touching every aspect of their daily lives.

The virtual self is connected to the world by information technologies that invade not only the home and office but the psyche. This can either trap or liberate people… By virtual self, I am …

Speed: Through, Across, And In — The Landscapes Of Capital, Robert Goldman, Stephen Papson, Noah Kersey

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

C. Wright Mills: A New Left For A New Day, Charles Lemert

Fast Capitalism

Thomas Paine, during a crucial moment in the American war against its colonizers, said famously: “These are times that try men’s souls.” Many think, I among them, that these too are times that try men’s souls. At such a time, one must look back for clues as to what to think and do. One from not that long ago who lends us wisdom of a sort is C. Wright Mills, who in the 1950s, tried to make sense of America’s changing culture. However, a bad heart killed him in 1962, just after he wrote of the possibility of a New …

Full Issue, Fast Capitalism Editorial Team

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Downloading Is Killing Music: Napster And The Recording Industry’S Piracy Panic Narrative, David M. Arditi

Fast Capitalism

Beginning in the late 1990s and the arrival of the file-sharing program Napster, the recording industry used a “piracy panic narrative” in an attempt not only to prevent file-sharing, but also, to change the basic parameters of copyright law. In this piracy panic narrative, major record labels and their representative trade associations made the argument that file-sharing is piracy, piracy is stealing, and this stealing hurts recording artists. In this paper, I argue that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) used this narrative in the United States to change public opinion on file-sharing with the ultimate goal of changing …

Convenience Begets Capitalism, Jörgen Behrendtz

Fast Capitalism

This is a short polemical piece, and does not have an abstract as such.

Ulama And Vision 2030: Saudi Arabia Government's Strategies To Navigate A Successful Economic Reform, Nashiha Ulya, Hamdan Basyar

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 seeks to diversify its oil-dependent economy, but scepticism persists due to past reform failures, particularly in fiscal policy and labour markets. Ulama, as key figures in the Saudi "social contract," play a vital role in legitimising government policies, especially on social and religious matters. However, reforms promoting private sector growth and social liberalisation have raised concerns among conservative ulama over potential threats to Islamic values. To address this, the government under Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) employs a strategy of separating economic and religious narratives while using a "carrot and stick" approach to manage ulama opposition. This …

From Compliance To Care: Reconstructing Feminist Accountability In Global Aid Governance, Andi Pangeran, Ani Widyani Soetjipto, Shelly Adelina

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

This article critically examines the literature on global aid governance through a feminist lens, focusing on three key areas: epistemic power, organisational depoliticisation, and the ethics of accountability. The review reveals that the coloniality of knowledge in global aid governance creates epistemic hierarchies grounded in claims of objectivity and efficiency, thereby marginalising local voices. Meanwhile, processes such as NGO-isation and professionalisation have transformed activism into administrative compliance. However, within these structures, reflective agency can still emerge through negotiated autonomy and the politics of translation, allowing feminist organisations to maintain their political significance. Regarding ethics, feminist accountability is redefined as a …

From Local To Global: Surabaya’S Paradiplomacy Strategy In Realising A Child-Friendly City, Muhammad Fajhriyadi Hastira, Ali Maksum, Muh Fichriyadi Hastira, Ramalina Ranaivo Mikea Manitra

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

Along with the development of decentralisation and subnational diplomacy, strengthening child protection at the city level has become an important part of the global agenda. This research aims to analyse the implementation of the Child-Friendly Cities Initiative in Surabaya City from a paradiplomacy perspective. In addition, this study seeks to explain the synergy between local, national, and global policies and identify opportunities and challenges using literature studies and analysis of official documents from the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) and the Surabaya Office of Women's Empowerment, Child Protection, Population Control, and Family Planning (P3APPKB), the Surabaya City …

The U.S. Campaign Gacha System And Youth Underrepresentation, Rebecca Burrows, Eleanor Harris

UROP Posters

This research investigates why young people remain underrepresented in elected U.S. offices and why youth voter turnout has historically remained low. Motivated by persistent shortcomings in U.S. youth turnout, the dominance of older elected officials, and recent high-profile victories by young mayoral candidates, this study asks whether young candidates (< 40) increase youth voter turnout in U.S. elections—and, if so, whether structural factors prevent these candidates from winning. Existing literature on descriptive representation and electoral inequality suggests that young candidates may energize youth voters yet face systemic disadvantages that hinder their success. This research contributes to the literature by exploring how the U.S. campaign finance system shapes young candidates’ electoral viability. Using a qualitative comparative case study design, we analyzed four large U.S. mayoral elections: two with victorious young candidates (Boston 2021; New York City 2025) and two where no candidate under 40 appeared on recent ballots (Los Angeles and Columbus). For each city, candidate eligibility rules, ballot requirements, party bylaws, primary election methods, and campaign finance laws were examined using publicly available legal and institutional documents. This approach allowed us to identify structural barriers while remaining open to unanticipated patterns across cases. Our findings reveal no explicit legal or party rules that impede young candidates. Instead, obstacles lie implicitly in the U.S. campaign finance system’s lack of limits on contributions, candidate spending, and the normalization of high-cost campaigning. These conditions allow older candidates—who are more likely to possess greater financial resources—to outcompete younger challengers, limiting youth descriptive representation and alienating youth from electoral politics. We conclude that youth underrepresentation is sustained less by overt legal barriers than by embedded systemic inequalities in campaign finance, an issue with broader implications for electoral integrity, representative democracy, and youth voter turnout in the United States.

“America Is For Americans Only”: Journalistic Professionalism, Populism, And Latino Ethnic Media In The 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, Maria Villarroel

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how journalistic professionalism shaped news coverage of Latino-related issues during the 2024 U.S. presidential election across mainstream and Latino ethnic media outlets. In a polarized political environment, immigration and the “Latino vote” were not only central campaign issues but also sites of radicalized rhetoric that frequently targeted Latino communities and journalists. In this context, journalists were tasked with reporting on highly contentious, hostile narratives while adhering to professional norms. This study argues that these norms influenced how journalists selected, framed, and contextualized political rhetoric, and how media coverage further elevated immigration and Latino communities as key electoral …

Revisiting Bandura’S Self-Efficacy Performance Accomplishments In Pwi And Hbcu Students: A Sign Of Persistence, Britine Perkins, Douglas M. Butler, Jerrel Moore

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

This study revisits Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy by examining performance accomplishments among students attending a predominantly White institution (PWI) and a historically Black college or university (HBCU). While academic self-efficacy has long been linked to college success, much of the existing research centers on students at PWIs and often overlooks the cultural contexts shaping students’ beliefs about their academic abilities. Using the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES), the authors compare self-efficacy perceptions across institutional type and explore how performance accomplishments influence persistence. Findings highlight the importance of culturally responsive frameworks when assessing self-efficacy, particularly for minoritized and first-generation students. By incorporating …

The Role Of Socioeconomic Development In Preventing Violent Extremism, Caelan Stewart

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.

Status Anxiety And Public Support For Reactionary Political Movements, Timothy E. Randall

Political Science Theses

In this enquiry, I explore the conditions that make members of the public receptive to the appeals of reactionary political movements. I also explore the means by which reactionary movements leverage those conditions to gain support. I argue that crisis and status threat conditions prime members of the public to be receptive to the appeals of reactionary movements and that the strategic leveraging of these conditions in their narratives gives rise to status anxiety which, in turn, moves members of traditionally dominant groups to support these movements. I develop an explanatory theoretical framework for understanding status anxiety and its role …

Beyond War: Building Wisdom Civilization To Rescue Humanity, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper presents a comparative civilizational analysis of humanity’s transition from a War Civilization to the emerging Wisdom Civilization. Drawing on the works of Toynbee, Sorokin, Quigley, Huntington, Spengler, and Koneczny, it interprets the present global disorder — marked by the tension between Western, Chinese, Russian, and Muslim civilizations — as a transformative moment in human history. War and militarism, once adaptive mechanisms of civilizational growth, have become self-destructive in an era of technological interdependence. It is proposed that the next evolutionary stage of civilization must integrate knowledge with conscience to form a Wisdom Civilization founded on empathy, sustainability, and …

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Deterrence Without Peace: Nuclear Weapons And The Rising Threshold Of Warfare, Catie Clarke

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Nuclear weapons fundamentally changed the international political landscape, leading to the emergence of deterrence theory and the notion of the Long Peace. This paper challenges these claims, arguing that nuclear weapons facilitated a more violent and volatile international system rather than stability. Drawing on constructivist theory, this paper develops the Threshold of Violence framework – a normative model which asserts that nuclear weapons elevated the perceived upper limit of tolerable violence in international politics. This raised threshold generated three trends in the nuclear era: increased frequency of proxy wars, escalating levels of benefactor involvement, and greater severity of conflicts fought …

Marshall Shulman: Bridging The Gap Between The Academic And Policymaking Worlds And Building Transnational Communities, Cynthia A. Roberts

Publications and Research

This essay examines Marshall D. Shulman’s legacy as a scholar of Soviet foreign policy, a scholar-practitioner who moved between academic and policymaking worlds, and a builder of transnational expert communities. It highlights Shulman’s early challenge to essentialist interpretations of Soviet foreign policy, his conception of the U.S.-Soviet relationship as a “limited adversary relationship,” and his emphasis on managing nuclear competition while avoiding catastrophic war. The essay also traces Shulman’s role in arms control, Track II diplomacy, scientific and expert exchanges, and the development of Russian and Soviet studies at Columbia University. Drawing on the author’s experience as Shulman’s student and …

Reading Wars, Don Herzog

Books

Once again, we’re fighting wars over reading. Who gets to read? What do they get to read? These days, the right is obsessed with removing LGBTQ books from school and public library shelves and ensuring students read only the Correct version of American history. The left is obsessed with eradicating right-wing fantasies, not to mention outright lies, from the internet, and with airbrushing or even purging racist texts. You don’t have to stoop to whataboutery to notice a suspicious resemblance. But once again is wrong. We’ve always fought these wars, even if the enemies come and go. In this book, …

Shifting Tide: A Comparative Analysis Of News Coverage Of The Israeli–Palestinian Conflict, Devon Skufca, Gloria S. Vaquera

2026 Faculty Bibliography

Internationally, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has been widely reported for years in mass media. Most recently, the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, again focused international attention on this region. Examining how this conflict has been reported starting October 2023 and for the subsequent eight months provides an opportunity to examine the framing of these events. This comparative study examines two newspapers of record, one from the United States (a known ally of Israel) and the other from Ireland, often seen as more sympathetic toward Palestinian statehood. A total of 179 articles from the New York …

The Suppression Of The Opelousas Massacre Of 1868: The Blackleg Hunt Or “La Chasse A’ La Jambe Noire”, August Malveaux

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

This article examines the suppression of the 1868 Opelousas Massacre—also known as “la chasse à la jambe noire” or the Blackleg Hunt—and situates it within the broader landscape of Reconstruction-era racial violence in Louisiana. Malveaux argues that the massacre was not an isolated riot but a premeditated act of political terrorism designed to eliminate Black electoral participation and reverse Reconstruction gains. Triggered by Black political mobilization and white supremacist resistance, the violence unfolded over several days in September 1868 and resulted in widespread murder, intimidation, and property destruction. The essay challenges the historiographical minimization of the event, emphasizing how organized …

The Influence Of China’S Economic Soft Power: The Perceptions Of Youth In The Case Of Cambodia As A Small State, Mommarolin Srey

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The debate on the continued rise of China remains relevant and central in global politics. China has been employing soft power as a strategic approach to enhance its reputation as a global power on the international stage. While China has made tremendous efforts in soft power diplomacy to foster positive perceptions among many countries, the global survey on the perception of China remains largely negative with only a slight increase in positive perceptions. This thesis examines the younger generation or youth perceptions of China’s economic soft power. This qualitative research uses the case study of Cambodia as small state and …

The Fatality Of Rights-Based Argumentation: Conservative Co-Optation, Liberal Fragmentation, And The Battle For The Narrative, Yesha Shah

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Rights-based liberal argumentation has become increasingly vulnerable to conservative co-optation. Because rights language is often indeterminate and easily reinterpreted, conservatives can appropriate liberal rhetoric, recast it in service of contrary ends, and redirect attention away from substantive policy consequences. This Article examines that dynamic through case studies on abortion, criminal justice reform, and affirmative action, and argues that liberals should rely more heavily on cost-benefit analysis as a complementary framework for political messaging. More concrete and empirically grounded than abstract rights rhetoric, cost-benefit analysis may be less susceptible to rhetorical hijacking while still supporting progressive policy outcomes.

การเพิ่มประสิทธิภาพการบังคับใช้กฎหมายของเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจ ต่อกลุ่มเด็กและเยาวชนที่ก่ออาชญากรรมรุนแรงในพื้นที่กรุงเทพมหานคร, ชัญญรัชต์ จรัสพัชรนนท์, กัญญ์ฐิตา ศรีภา, ธีรวุฒิ นิลเพ็ชร์

Journal of Social Sciences

ในปัจจุบัน สถานการณ์อาชญากรรมรุนแรงที่กระทำโดยเด็กและเยาวชนมีแนวโน้มทวีความรุนแรงและเพิ่มสูงขึ้นอย่างต่อเนื่อง โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งในเขตกรุงเทพมหานคร ซึ่งนับเป็นพื้นที่ที่มีอัตราการก่ออาชญากรรมในระดับสูง การวิจัยครั้งนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาบทบาทและหน้าที่ของเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจในกระบวนการบังคับใช้กฎหมาย รวมถึงปัญหาและอุปสรรคที่เกิดขึ้นในการปฏิบัติงาน ตลอดจนแนวทางการเพิ่มประสิทธิภาพการบังคับใช้กฎหมายต่อกลุ่มเด็กและเยาวชนผู้กระทำความผิดในคดีอาชญากรรมรุนแรง การวิจัยครั้งนี้ใช้ระเบียบวิธีวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพ (Qualitative research) โดยมีเครื่องมือหลักในการเก็บรวบรวมข้อมูล ได้แก่ การสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึก (In-depth interview) กับผู้ให้ข้อมูลสำคัญ (Key informants) จำนวนทั้งสิ้น 13 คน ประกอบด้วย เจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจ นักจิตวิทยา นักสังคมสงเคราะห์ และพนักงานอัยการ

ผลการวิจัยพบว่า เจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจมีบทบาทครอบคลุมกระบวนการทุกขั้นตอน ได้แก่ การป้องกันการกระทำความผิดผ่านโครงการและกิจกรรมเชิงรุก การจับกุมโดยใช้มาตรการที่เหมาะสมกับสภาพจิตใจและพัฒนาการของเด็ก การควบคุมตัวในสถานที่แยกจากผู้กระทำความผิดที่เป็นผู้ใหญ่ และการสอบสวนแบบสหวิชาชีพร่วมกับนักจิตวิทยา นักสังคมสงเคราะห์ และพนักงานอัยการ อย่างไรก็ตาม การวิจัยพบปัญหาสำคัญหลายประการ อาทิ ช่องว่างของบทบัญญัติทางกฎหมายที่เปิดโอกาสให้ผู้ใหญ่แสวงหาประโยชน์จากเด็กและเยาวชน ความซับซ้อนของกระบวนการและข้อจำกัดด้านระยะเวลา การขาดสมรรถนะและความเชี่ยวชาญของบุคลากร ภาวะการขาดแคลนกำลังพลเฉพาะทาง เป็นต้น

Behemoth Unbound: An Internal Critique Of Carl Schmitt’S Nazi-State Structure, Zaynamin Murtaza

CMC Senior Theses

This paper offers an internal critique of Carl Schmitt's Nazi-era state theory from the perspective of the counterrevolutionary political-theological tradition to which Schmitt belongs. Using Schmitt's political-theological method which holds that all political theories have a systematic theological structure, the paper argues that Schmitt's 1933 turn to National Socialism contradicts this tradition. The paper proceeds in five sections. The first establishes the political-theological framework that will be utilized throughout the paper. The second develops Schmitt's concept of the katechon—the restrainer of lawlessness drawn from Christian eschatology— which he uses as a model for his theory of the state. The …

Who Gets To Stay? Selective Compliance, Local Power, And The Politics In San Juan Capistrano, Daniel Fernández

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how California cities can satisfy state housing mandates while systematically under producing affordable housing. Using San Juan Capistrano as a case study, it documents a pattern of selective compliance. That is, a formal planning obligations are met while local governance tools, place-based identity, and discretionary processes that consistently filter housing outcome towards market-rate development and away from lower-income production. The findings suggest that closing California's affordability gap requires enforcement tools capable of reaching beyond formal planning compliance to address the governance mechanisms that shape what actually gets built.

Parks Under Pressure: Policy Threats And Advocacy Coalition Resistance In 2025, Rachel Supnick

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the 2025 policy changes affecting the National Park Service (NPS) and their implications for the agency’s mission and advocacy coalition. Historically a bipartisan and widely trusted agency, the NPS has evolved from a conservation-focused mandate into a complex institution balancing environmental protection, recreation, scientific research, and cultural interpretation. Recent policy actions represent not only operational disruption but an unprecedented politicization of the Park Service, reflecting a shift toward centralized executive control. These changes have constrained the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission and placed it within broader ideological conflicts over land use, historical interpretation, and federal authority. …

The Vestiges Of The German Democratic Republic: Memory Politics And Xenophobia In Former East Germany, Diana Zhou

CMC Senior Theses

From the 2015 migration influx onward, xenophobic and nationalist sentiments permeated Germany’s national political discourse. The former socialist territories in eastern Germany have proven particularly susceptible to far-right, anti-immigration, and anti-integration rhetoric. This thesis explores the mnemonic foundations of xenophobic sentiments in former East German states, tracing the development of an antifascist yet ethnically nationalist mnemonic framework to the state-sanctioned myths and invented traditions of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). As the loss of a collective GDR identity produced a reactionary rehabilitation of this framework post-unification, the racial and ethnic “other” — migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees — became constructed …

Gendered Punishment? How The Corruption Of Female Politicians Affects Public Opinion Of Female Political Leadership, Byung-Deuk Woo, Mi-Son Kim, Tracy Osborn

Political Science Faculty Publications

Does the corruption of a woman politician decrease public support for other women political leaders? To answer this question, this article examines how the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, the first female president of South Korea, affects people’s perceptions of women’s political leadership in South Korea. We argue that in South Korea, the high-level political corruption scandal of the first woman president led to lower evaluations of women’s political leadership because of the intense and gendered media coverage of Park’s failure. Using the two waves of the World Values Survey conducted in South Korea before and after Park Geun-hye’s impeachment in …

Framing The War On Terror: Media Narratives And U.S. Foreign Policy After 9/11, Neva Essex

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The media plays an essential role in developing an informed public and the shaping of information. Foreign policy and the coverage of the U.S. movements abroad drastically changed with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This paper seeks to examine the ways in which media coverage of presidential rhetoric in regard to the U.S. response to terrorism changed over the course of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. With the use of qualitative narrative analysis of print news media sources and official statements made from the White House, this paper will identify the patterns and changes which occurred over the …