Digital Commons Network^™

Explaining The Rise Of Isis, Anas Alqaed

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In this paper I study the circumstances that led to the rise the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/Daesh) and its economic power. I use articles, testimonies before US House of Representatives and analyze economic data to generate facts and draw conclusions. All references rely on primary source documents that were not released in an official capacity by ISIS. These are documents that have been released online by pro or anti-ISIS activists or information that was gathered and analyzed by research centers and international organizations. It is worth noting that non-officially released documents were very helpful in shedding more …

The Great Terror: Violence, Ideology, And The Building Of Stalin's Soviet Empire, Michael David Polano

Wayne State University Theses

“The Great Terror: Violence, Ideology, and the Building of Stalin’s Soviet Empire” is a study of the confluence of terror and ideology in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. I argue that an intersection of Soviet ideology and geopolitical circumstances caused the Great Terror. The Stalinist variant of Soviet ideology evolved from Leninism and Marxism. It consisted of both a vision of an ideal socialist society and explicit practices and policies designed to realize the vision. It was the geopolitical circumstances, both foreign and domestic, that activated this ideology, compelling Stalin and his inner circle to initiate and employ practices …

Featured Piece, Timothy J. Shannon, Ian A. Isherwood, Jill Ogline Titus, Scott Hancock

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

This year the General Editors decided to create a feature piece to show our appreciation for the History Department. We selected four professors from the faculty to answer a question about history: what figure/event/idea inspires your interest in history? Reading their responses helped give us insight into the thoughts of these brilliant minds and further help us understand their passion for the subject we all share a common love and interest in. We hope that you enjoy reading their responses as much as we did.

The four members of the faculty we spoke with are Dr. Timothy Shannon, Dr. Ian …

Reconstructing The War In Iraq: Post-9/11 American War Fiction In Dialogue With Official-Media Discourse, Ashley Kunsa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines American-authored Iraq War fiction within the context of public discourse. Given that modern, industrialized warfare is as much created by and through official-media discourse as represented by it, fictional accounts of Iraq exist not outside or separate from this discourse but rather in a dynamic, continually evolving relationship with it. The three texts explored in this study—Ben Fountain’s Billy Lynn’s Long Half Time Walk (2012), David Abrams’ Fobbit (2012), and Phil Klay’s Redeployment (2014)—thus do more than merely represent the war experience: operating always in conversation with how the war has been constructed, the novels and stories …

Resistance Dynamics And Social Movement Theory: Conditions, Mechanisms, And Effects, D.W. Lee

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Lyric X-Marks: Genre And Self-Determination In The Harp Poems Of John Rollin Ridge, R. Arvo Carr

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Last Chapter Of The Vietnam War: Normalization, Nongovernmental Actors And The Politics Of Human Rights, 1975-1995, Amanda C. Demmer

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation dispels two myths about the Vietnam War. The first is that U.S. involvement in Indochina ended abruptly in April 1975 and the second is that the only exception to complete disengagement was the effort to secure a “full accounting” of missing American servicemen. This project demonstrates that the United States remained actively involved in Vietnam and Southeast Asia as a whole, in large part to address refugee issues. I am particularly interested in the policymaking process, and this project is the first to examine U.S. policies regarding missing American soldiers, boat and land people, Amerasians, and reeducation camp …

Redefining Human Rights: Non-Governmental Organizations, United States Foreign Policy In Chile, And The 1970s, Thomas Michael Spencer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Anxiety Of Automation: Attending To The Deep History Of Automated Entities, Krista Kennedy

Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition - All Scholarship

This article is intended to bring awareness of the deep history of automation and artificial intelligence. There are various tales mentioned in the article that celebrate automated entities as perfect laborers and objects of wonder. There were ancient development of automation like the water clocks that were built during the sixteenth century for marking or keeping track of information.Its important for us to shift our starting point for developing ethical guidelines to another standpoint, one that functions from hopefulness rather than fear and from a goal of providing equitable benefits that are accessible to as many humans as possible.

The Us-Uk Nuclear Relationship: Not Just A Measure For The Cold War, David Kahan

CMC Senior Theses

In 1958 the United States and United Kingdom signed the Mutual Defense Agreement which allowed the two countries to share information and technology concerning nuclear weapons. This paper examines the history of this agreement and the Polaris and Trident Sales agreements which followed. The main focus of the paper is the motivating interests of both countries to maintain these agreements today.

Competition, Compromises, And Complicity: An Analysis Of The Humanitarian Aid Sector, Fiona Bare

CMC Senior Theses

This paper analyzes humanitarian assistance to complex humanitarian emergencies to understand why suboptimal outcomes result even when humanitarians have ethical principles and good intentions. It focuses on the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, and Médecins Sans Frontières to understand their core principles before looking at how these principles operationalize during emergencies. Challenges arise due to complex relationships with donors, local actors, and recipients, along with issues of marketization and competition. This paper’s case studies of the post-genocide Rwandan refugee crisis and post-9/11 Afghanistan explore how humanitarian principles clash with such dilemmas. In the end, humanitarian organizations …

Race And Affirmative Action In “Post-Racial” Democratic Brazil, Alejandra T. Vazquez Baur

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the ways that Brazilians are evaluated for their privileges in qualification for the affirmative action program. It critically examines the existing policies, how they function, and how they affect ideas of race in Brazil for both black and non-black Brazilians. Additionally, it proposes that the policies prioritize phenotype as a primary condition for qualifying for a quota in order to accomplish their initial objectives of fighting racial inequalities, compensating for historical injustices, contributing to the diversity of experiences and perspectives on campuses and in federal offices, and raising understanding of what it means to be black in …

Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, And Champeta: The Colombian Conflict As Case Study In Sovereignty, Anna Shepard

CMC Senior Theses

I will argue that a discussion of sovereignty as it relates to internal conflict deepens our understanding of the Colombian conflict, and in turn, the Colombian conflict deepens the ongoing discussion on sovereignty. Internal armed conflict is a tool to free and dominate populations, to save and kill individuals, and to destroy and build institutions. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke set an initial framework for understanding sovereignty. Armed actors use violence to create a sphere of influence that overlaps with the state’s legal jurisdiction: armed actors use violence as a strategy of hegemonic state building. Overlapping territorial claims challenge the …

Law And Economics Of Information, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

Information is of enormous importance to contemporary economics, science, and technology. Since the 1970s, economists and legal scholars, relying on a simplified “public good” model of information, have constructed an impressively extensive body of scholarship devoted to the relationship between law and information. The public good model tends to justify law, such as the intellectual property laws or various forms of securities regulation that seek to incentivize the production of information or its broader dissemination. This chapter reviews the public choice model and identifies two recent trends. First, scholars have extended the public good model of information to an ever-increasing …

New Paradigms, After 2001, Gerry Canavan

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Laying The Foundation: The Private Rental Market And Affordable Housing, Ezra Rosser

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Contemporary Marketing, R Henry Migliore

Migliore Collection

No abstract provided.

Ngo Statement On Reported Changes To U.S. Policy On Use Of Armed Drones And Other Lethal Force, American Civil Liberties Union (Aclu), Amnesty International, Center For Civilians In Conflict (Civic), Center For Constitutional Rights, Coalition For Peace Action, Friends Committee On National Legislation, Human Rights Clinic, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Interfaith Network On Drone Warfare, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Open Society Foundations, Reprieve

Human Rights Institute

The Trump administration’s failure thus far to release and explain the changes it has made to a previously public policy is a dangerous step backwards. Transparency around the use of lethal 2 force is critical to allowing independent scrutiny of the lawfulness of operations and to providing accountability and redress for victims of violations of international law. Transparency also helps governments identify and address civilian harm. It enables the public to be informed about some of the most important policy choices the government makes in its name – ones that involve life and death decisions. While transparency can enhance the …

Psychopolitics Of The Current Nationalism, Karl Umbrasas

Journal of Strategic Security

This article examines the current rise of Western nationalism. The deleterious effects of globalization have inflicted a narcissistic injury on vulnerable groups in Western society. The affected masses seek affiliation with an ideology that empowers them and that has the potential to effect change in their favor. A range of security issues are inherent in this psychopolitical phenomenon, including a rise in ethno-nationalist terrorism. Policy makers must reconsider global policy in a manner that takes this psychopolitical phenomenon into consideration.

A Turn To Realism And Humanism From Propaganda: Chinese Photojournalism Practices Between 1976 And 1988, Shi Li

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

China’s photojournalistic field undertook great transformations in the 1980s. While the conservatives continued to cling to the propagandistic doctrine, a more progressive trend was emerging. The tension between these two forces had its historical roots and would go on to shape the way Chinese photojournalism developed. Based on archival research and in-depth interviews, this paper revisits the history of Chinese photojournalism practices between 1937 and 1988 and identifies the key features of these three periods: the wartime propaganda of 1937—1949, the intensification of propaganda of 1949 —1976, and the transformation to realism and humanism in 1976—1988.

The Looming Demise Of The Icc's Complementarity Principle: Israel, U.S. Interests, And The Court's Future, Adam Oler

Emory International Law Review Recent Developments

The reported detention of a retired Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) officer by British authorities in late 2015 should reignite concerns among senior officials in Washington and elsewhere about the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The issue for U.S. and other policy makers is whether to denounce detention incidents like the one in Britain and insist that the ICC respect the foundational limits on its jurisdiction. At a minimum, the U.S. President should call on the ICC Chief Prosecutor to repudiate efforts to haul IDF veterans into the Court's chambers, and terminate her preliminary enquiry into IDF conduct during …

Britain's Green Fascists: Understanding The Relationship Between Fascism, Farming, And Ecological Concerns In Britain, 1919-1951, Alec J. Warren

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between fascism, fascist ideas, and environmental consciousness in Britain during the pre- and post-World War II decades. In examining this topic, two main questions arise. First, why did fascist intellectuals support environmentally conscious ideas, and how did they relate these positions to their political ideologies? Second, why were many environmentally conscious thinkers during this period attracted to fascism? This thesis will also address several related issues regarding fascism and environmental consciousness. These issues include what role environmental concerns played in the British Union of Fascist’s platforms and in fascism’s public appeal, and how that role …

Freedman On Machiavelli, Philip C. Bobbitt

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter links Freedman’s work to that of Niccolò Machiavelli through constructivist realism, which is an apposite term for the two thinkers, as the unchanging sense of human nature interacts with ever changing context, and humans have to adapt to new circumstances, but with the limitations imposed on them both by themselves or situations. Despite their biographical parallels, it is the similarities and complementarities in their thinking that are more profound reasons to associate them. Both wrestle with the challenge of understanding the ways and the extent to which it is possible to anticipate and to shape the future to …

"Cybervandalism" Or "Digital Act Of War?" America's Muddled Approach To Cyber Incidents Will Not Deter More Crises, Charles J. Dunlap Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

If experts say a "malicious [cyber] code"' has "similar effects" to a "physical bomb,"' and that code actually causes "a stunning breach of global internet stability," is it really accurate to call that event merely an instance of a "cyber attack"?

Moreover, can you really expect to deter state and non-state actors from employing such code and similarly hostile cyber methodologies if all they think that they are risking is being labeled as a cyber-vandal subject only to law enforcement measures? Or might they act differently if it were made clear to them that such activity is considered an "armed …

International Hurdles In Nazi-Era And Russian Revolution Cultural Property Cases, Jennifer Anglim Kreder

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The FSIA, however, did not do away with the common law act of state doctrine, which is another hurdle plaintiffs must overcome. Under the act of state doctrine, U.S. courts decline to hear suits challenging the acts of another sovereign in its own territory. This doctrine, too, is grounded in flexible principles of international comity. This essay discusses both the FSIA and the act of state doctrine in the context of cases seeking to recover art and cultural property taken during the Nazi-era and Russian Revolution after providing necessary historical background.

Impact Of Data On Litigation: Enhancing Cybersecurity In The Private Sector By Means Of Civil Liability Lawsuits - The Connie Francis Effect, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

In order to explore the threats posed by cybersecurity breaches, first outline the steps taken by the government to address those threats in private sector economy, and then call attention to the ultimate solution, which will most certainly spur private businesses to create a more secure cyber environment for the American people - a Connie Francis-styled cyber civil action lawsuit. Technological advances opened up the unfathomable marvels of cyberspace and, by so doing, spawned a modern world that is now completely dependent on cyber, particularly in the context of sustaining and operating our critical infrastructure. Unfortunately, if supervisory control and …

The Power Of Word-Of-Mouth: A Study On The Impact Of Interpersonal Communication Using Arts Festivals As A Case Study, Holly Ní Ghráda

Theses

The purpose of this study is to investigate the importance of interpersonal communication tactics in building and maintaining key relationships in the arts festival context, using two Irish traditional music festivals as its case studies. The main objective of this research is to demonstrate the effectiveness of word-of-mouth endorsements among stakeholders for small organisations.

This research undertook three stages of study. The first stage of this thesis took the form of a literature review - also known as the secondary research phase. Throughout this stage the author found relevant academic opinions and definitions based on selected public relations, culture, and …

What If The International Criminal Court Could Prosecute President Al-Assad For The Chemical Weapon Attacks In Ghouta?, Paul Cho

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Forces Of Federalism, Safety Nets, And Waivers, Edward H. Stiglitz

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Inequality is the defining feature of our times. Many argue it calls for a policy response, yet the most obvious policy responses require legislative action. And if inequality is the defining feature of our times, partisan acrimony and gridlock are the defining features of the legislature. So being, it is worth considering what role administrative agencies, and administrative law, might play in ameliorating or exacerbating economic inequality. Here, I focus on American safety net programs, many of which are joint operations between federal administrative agencies and state governments. In this context, a central mode of bureaucratic policy innovation comes in …

The Analysis Of Contact-Era Settlements In Clay, Lowndes, And Oktibbeha Counties In Northeast Mississippi, Emily Lee Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project is to compare the spatial distribution of sites across Clay, Lowndes, and Oktibbeha counties between the Mississippi and Early Historic periods using site files from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), sites were mapped chronologically to examine change through time to investigate how people reacted to European contact and colonization. Site locations and clusters also were used to evaluate possible locations of the polities of Chicaza, Chakchiuma, and Alimamu discussed in the De Soto chronicles. Sites in Clay, Lowndes, and Oktibbeha counties were chosen due to the existence of …