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Boxing With Shadows: Contentious Politics, Culture Jamming, And Radical Creativity In Tactical Innovation, David Matthew Iles, Iii

LSU Master's Theses

Dominant theories of tactical innovation in contentious politics suggest that actors innovate in times of crisis or at the margins of familiar forms of action in order to achieve strategic advantage. I argue that these theories do not satisfactorily account for the tactical creativity of a form of contention called culture jamming. Instead, I employ a biographical theory of tactical innovation to explain their distinct repertoire of contention. This theory claims that tactics are partially explained as emanations of or congruent with the life experiences, identities, dispositions, and values of actors. Bourdieu’s field theory allows me to identify a social …

Machiavellian Heroes Through The Prism Of Aristotle, Robert Acosta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis examines the relationship between the political philosophies of Machiavelli and Aristotle. It hypothesizes that Machiavelli incorporates three fundamental premises of Aristotle's political philosophy: 1. Politics is the master science 2. Man is a political animal 3. Aristotle's conception of human nature. In order to test the hypoThesis the Thesis utilizes case studies in the form of Machiavelli's four excellent men (Theseus, Romulus, Cyrus, and Moses) that are named explicitly in Chapter VI of The Prince . It is concluded that there is an element of Aristotle's fundamental political philosophy that is incorporated by Machiavelli. This relationship is often …

Unexpected Events In Interstate Wars, Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

This is the data for unexpected events on interstate wars associated with Is This a Private Fight or Can Anybody Join? The Spread of Interstate War. Please see that work for a description of the coding and please cite that work when using this data.

Lee Harris: Al-Qaeda’S Fantasy Ideology Study Guide, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

International Resources Selected Websites, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

South Park And Absurd Culture War Ideologies, The Art Of Stealthy Conservatism, Drew W. Dungan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

South Park serves as an example of satire and parody lampooning culture war issues in the popular media. Since it targets culture war issues, it is relevant to analyze its political and social stance on the issues as presented within. Both extremes in political and social ideology are targeted. Although the program notes an ideological absurdity in extremist points-of-view, the presentation of the issues attempts to create a sense of moderate ideology criticizing both the far left and far right, when in fact, closer analysis provides evidence that South Park serves a stealthy conservative perspective. Stealthy conservatism presents itself as …

The Origins Of Ethno/National Separatist Terrorism: A Cross-National Analysis Of The Background Conditions Of Terrorist Campaigns, Brandon Charles Snell

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This study measures the influence that multiple social, political, and economic conditions have on the development of ethno/national separatist terrorist organizations. It begins by analyzing the nationalist theories of primordialism, modernism, and ethnosymbolism, and the terrorist theories of strategic logic and psychology. The nationalist theories consider cultural symbols a powerful component behind nationalist movements and populations with significant symbolic attachments especially prone to react aggressively against perceived threats to those symbols. Proponents of strategic logic and psychological theory also view terrorism as reactive but deviate on whether this response is conceived rationally. Examining the origins of Basque and Catalan terrorism …

The Outsourcing Of National Defense, Christopher Weimar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The outsourcing of military activities and services has grown dramatically in recent decades. My objective is to understand and explain this phenomenon at work in the United States Department of Defense (DoD) using theoretical frameworks of strategic efficiency, political ideology and organizational theory factors. This study seeks to answer the question, why has the DOD outsourced support activities and functions that contribute to larger national security objectives and were traditionally performed by DoD personnel? I'll use a case-study methodology to examine outsourcing in the DoD between 1970 and 2005, to include an in-depth look at the information technology (IT) networks …

The Bush Administration's Decision To Invade Iraq: Did They Fall Victim To Groupthink?, Joel Nantais

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the George W. Bush administration became victims of groupthink when they made the policy decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Groupthink is a policy-making model which was first put forward by Irving Janis which attempts to explain how experienced and elite policy-makers can make decisions which lead to disastrous outcomes due to conditions which cause defective decision-making. Research was conducted through a qualitative, within case study which was made possible through the inherent process tracing method of the groupthink model. Mainly secondary sources which detailed the historical case of the decision …

The United Arab Emirates Political Stability And Economic Growth, William Chandler

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Coercion In U.S. Foreign Policy: Evaluating The Utility Of The Jentleson And Whytock Model, John D. Hamilton

Masters Theses

This thesis seeks to test the utility of the Jentleson and Whytock (2006) model, which stems from their study of U.S. foreign policy with Libya. Their study established a model of foreign policy coercion, which they maintain helps explain why Libyan foreign policy changed so radically during the presidency of George W. Bush. The model is applied to American policy, implemented from the Carter administration to that of George W. Bush, towards Iran, Burma (Myanmar) and North Korea. The coercive strategies used by each administration are compared against the prescription and projection purported by the model in order to determine …

India And China Space Programs: From Genesis Of Space Technologies To Major Space Programs And What That Means For The Internati, Gaurav Bhola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Indian and Chinese space programs have evolved into technologically advanced vehicles of national prestige and international competition for developed nations. The programs continue to evolve with impetus that India and China will have the same space capabilities as the United States with in the coming years. This will present new challenges to the international community in spheres civilian, to space and military applications and their residual benefits.

Aristotelian Liberalism: An Inquiry Into The Foundations Of A Free And Flourishing Society, Geoffrey Allan Plauche

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation builds on the recent work of Douglas Rasmussen, Douglas Den Uyl and Roderick Long in developing an Aristotelian liberalism. It is argued that a neo- Aristotelian form of liberalism has a sounder foundation than others and has the resources to answer traditional left-liberal, postmodern, communitarian and conservative challenges by avoiding certain Enlightenment pitfalls: the charges of atomism, an a-historical and a- contextual view of human nature, license, excessive normative neutrality, the impoverishment of ethics and the trivialization of rights. An Aristotelian theory of virtue ethics and natural rights is developed that allows for a robust conception of the …

Tahira Khan On Women As Weapons Of War: Iraq, Sex And The Media By Kelly Oliver. New York, Ny: Columbia University Press, 2007. 208pp., Tahira Khan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex and the Media by Kelly Oliver. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2007. 208pp.

Disease In The Desert: Las Vegas As A Case Study Of How First Responders And Emergency Managers Understand Novel Threats To Human Health And Plan To Respond During Biological Emergencies, Monique Williamson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over recent years it has become clear that technological advancements, globalization, and ecological change, combined with the onset of increased terrorist incidents, are all currently working to create an extremely hazardous environment in terms of pathogenic invasion. Realizing that infectious diseases are both newly emerging and re-emerging in many parts of the world, the question of how prepared an expansive United States will be in the face of an oncoming global pandemic is easily raised. Using Las Vegas as an example of just how unequipped a largely visited U.S. city may be in the face of such a situation, this …

Selectivity In Imaging The First Emperor, K. E. Brashier

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The story of Qin may vaunt grandiose armies and new empires that encompass all under heaven, but it also extends to more humble images:

Li Si, [the chief minister of Qin], was a man of Shangcai in Chu. In his youth, when he was a minor clerk in the province, he noticed rats eating filth in the latrines of the clerks’ hostel; and if they approached a man or dog, they were generally scared of them. But when Si entered a granary, he observed that the rats in the granary were eating the stored-up grain, living underneath the main chamber …

Explaining The Deadlock Of Military Modernization In Taiwan During 2001 To 2007: A Political-Economic Analysis, Pei-Shiue Hsieh

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tries to explain why the Taiwanese have postponed several critical defense plans for seven years while China's threat toward Taiwan is increasing year by year. Many observers and scholars relate the deadlock over arms procurement in Taiwan to domestic political struggles since the DPP is not the majority party in the Legislative Yuan and opposition parties, such as the Kuomintang (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP), have repeatedly boycotted President Chen Shui-bian's policies. However, I found that domestic politics is insufficient for explaining such a deadlock. Rather, the U.S.China- Taiwan triangular relationship, including the variation of the …

The Chinese Scramble In East Africa: The Growing Interest Of China In Uganda, Kenya, And Tanzania, Ara Jannie Jo

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

China Hax!1!

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Chinese hackers may (we should stress, may) have struck again. Just two weeks after Newsweek reported (in the juicy campaign expose published in last week’s issue) that last summer both the Obama and McCain campaign computers were infiltrated by hackers who copied documents on policy issues (speculated to be either Chinese or Russian), yesterday Fox News announced that the Pentagon was banning the use of external computing hardware after a worm was found to bespreading through its computing network.

There do not seem to be any online reports linking the new regulation specifically to Chinese hackers, but Fox News anchors …

American Challenges, Jim Gomes

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

In the autumn of 2008, with the United States facing myriad problems both foreign and domestic and entering the final stage of a historic election, The Boston Globe asked Mosakowski Institute Director Jim Gomes to write a series of op-ed pieces about critical issues on the nation’s agenda. The result is the six columns collected here in American Challenges. “When I wrote these pieces,” said Gomes, “the country had entered a period of great uncertainty. So much of what had been taken as a given in the last half of the 20th century, from broadly shared prosperity to the health …

Demographics In World History—Population Explosion And Implosion, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Responsibility To Protect And The Failure To Respond, Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Commentators on global politics frequently observe the abject failure of states and global institutions to respond to local, regional, and global crises ranging from dramatic climatic events, humanitarian crises, warfare and violence, to the continuation of unsavoury rights-abusive regimes. In my own work in the field of the comparative politics of human rights, the types of observations that Abramowitz and Pickering make in this piece are all too common, and have led many in the past to make similar such observations that powerful states constantly engage in a grand human rights “double standard.”

The Right To Party, En Masse, Haiyan Lee

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The most clichéd way of referring to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in English-language media has been “China’s coming-out party.” The slightly condescending undertone is nonetheless mingled with well-wishing that the debutante will give the world a heck of a party, the glitches and disappointments in the run-up notwithstanding. For this precious moment, China chose Zhang Yimou, arguably its most talented film director, to chaperone itself onto the world stage.

By all indications, it was a good choice. The 50-minute multi-million-dollar extravaganza was so spectacular that the only appropriate response, it would seem, was a WOW! Or to wonder, like …

Global And Functional Strategic Issues, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Shades Of Green: The Use Of Force Debate In The German Green Party, 1990--2002, Scott H. Brunstetter

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Utilizing an heuristic model that incorporates aspects from several theoretical perspectives this dissertation examines the German Green Party debate on the use of military force from 1990-2002. From the absolute rejection of any use of force to evict Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War in 1991, the Greens evolved over the course of a decade to support the deployment of German forces to Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This dissertation argues that this evolution was the result of a conscious will to govern by German political leaders in particular and external shocks—Srebrenica, Kosovo, and 9/11. It …

Drawbridge Diplomacy: Romanian-American Relations, 1963-1968, Brett A. Jerasa

History Theses & Dissertations

Entering the White House in 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson pursued a policy of "bridge building" to Eastern Europe, finding agreement on small issues of economics and foreign relations in order to decrease tension between East and West. Johnson targeted Romania as the show case for bridge building because of its growing autonomy from the Soviet Union. Romania's policies of rapid industrialization and foreign policy independence offered potent possibilities. However, Johnson's bridge building faced many difficulties. His administration pursued a dual Cold War policy: he fought communist belligerency in Vietnam while affirming the positive behavior of Eastern European satellites. Despite the …

Bush V. Boumediene: The Court Is Back, Jay Dratler

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This short article is a follow-up to a piece I wrote two years ago on Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, SSRN No. 913822. While applauding the result in Hamdan, I critiqued the Supreme Court for missing a “teachable moment” and obscuring the great issues at stake in prolixity and mind-numbing technical detail.

In this article, I applaud the Boumediene v. Bush Court not only for its result—that the Constitution’s Suspension Clause can require habeas corpus for aliens held abroad under certain circumstances—but for its reasoning and style as well. This time, the majority of five did not miss its “teachable …

The Power Of Language: In Politics, Genocide, And Politicide, Heather Rademacher

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Devil’S Calculus: Mathematical Models Of Civil War, Ajay Shenoy

Honors Scholar Theses

In spite of the movement to turn political science into a real science, various mathematical methods that are now the staples of physics, biology, and even economics are thoroughly uncommon in political science, especially the study of civil war. This study seeks to apply such methods - specifically, ordinary differential equations (ODEs) - to model civil war based on what one might dub the capabilities school of thought, which roughly states that civil wars end only when one side’s ability to make war falls far enough to make peace truly attractive. I construct several different ODE-based models and then test …

Competing Visions: The Cia, The Congress For Cultural Freedom And The Non-Communist European Left, 1950-1967, Scott Kamen

Honors Theses

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that by utilizing cultural influence and adopting Silone's vision, the CCF was able to pursue the support of left-leaning European intellectuals, writers and artists who were often alienated by the policies of both the US and the USSR. The ability of the CCF to reach out to these individuals made it an extremely valuable asset to the CIA and contributed to the CIA's emerging strategy of promoting the NCL as a reliable anti-communist force that would come to be the theoretical foundation of the CIA's political operations against communism over the next …