Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Knocking On Europe's Door: A Comprehensive Analysis Of The European Response To The 2015 Refugee Crisis And The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis, Jacob J. Mckim

Global Studies Senior Capstone

Europe is, and has long been at the center of refugee reception for many areas of the world due to its geographical position and general security. However, the European response to refugees has varied drastically in different situations. This paper examines the European response to both the 2015 Refugee Crisis and the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis. The focus being on what factors, whether political, racial, or religious, has led for some individuals to be received more favorably in Europe than others. Through examining this, the conditions for successful and long-lasting refugee reception hopefully be more clearly seen.

The Moralist International: Russia In The Global Culture Wars, Kristina Stoeckl, Dmitry Uzlaner

Politics

The Moralist International analyzes the role of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state in the global culture wars over gender and reproductive rights and religious freedom. It shows how the Russian Orthodox Church in the past thirty years first acquired knowledge about the dynamics, issues, and strategies of Right- Wing Christian groups; how the Moscow Patriarchate has shaped its traditionalist agenda accordingly; and how the close alliance between church and state has turned Russia into a norm entrepreneur for international moral conservativism. Including detailed case studies of the World Congress of Families, anti-abortion activism, and the global homeschooling …

Explaining Reproductive Health Disparities: Violence In The “Colorblind” Institution Of Medicine, Chineze Osakwe

Honors Scholar Theses

Medical policies have resulted in violence that has a formal role in regulating the reproductive rights of women of African descent in the United States from the Jim Crow era (circa 1965) to present day (2021), resulting in significantly racialized reproductive health disparities regardless of social or economic influences. This thesis explores why reproductive violence against African-American women persists, regardless of women’s own class and educational background. I have focused on the potential impact of two structural components that I hypothesized contributed to the perpetuation of reproductive violence against Black women and persistent health disparities. The two factors explored in …

The Performance Of The Christian Faith Under A Populist President: The Case Of The Philippine Church Under Duterte, Ruben C. Mendoza

Theology Department Faculty Publications

President Rodrigo Duterte has been consistent in his attacks against the Catholic Church. True to his campaign promise, he has unleashed his brutal "war on drugs" which has resulted to the deaths of thousands of suspected drug dependents and pushers. In response to his criticisms and the excesses of his anti-illegal drugs program, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has issued various pastoral statements in faithfulness to its mission.Nevertheless, the majority of Filipinos continue to support Duterte and his anti-illegal drugs stance. In this context, the call of Pope Francis for the church to become a "field hospital" becomes …

Oppression Or Occupation: Conflicting Views On The Nature Of Sex Work In France And Under International Law, Carver Wolfe

Politics and International Relations Presentations

Although there is some debate over the exact number of victims of sex trafficking, it is agreed upon that it is an issue that affect primarily women and girls around the world. This paper will examine modern day slavery and the unresolved, century-old debate surrounding sex trafficking and sex work. While abolitionists advocate for total eradication of all sex work, whether it is consensual or not, libertarians support the right to voluntary sex work while condemning the coercion and exploitation that surrounds all forms of trafficking. I will use an analysis of international conventions and will begin a comparative analysis …

Oppression Or Occupation: An International Analysis Of Sex Work And Sex Trafficking, Carver Wolfe

International Relations Summer Fellows

Although there is some debate over the exact number of victims of sex trafficking, it is agreed that it is an issue that affects primarily women and girls around the world. This paper will examine modern-day slavery and the unresolved, century-old debate surrounding sex trafficking and sex work. While abolitionists advocate for the total eradication of all sex work, whether it is consensual or not, libertarians support the right to voluntary sex work while condemning the coercion and exploitation that surrounds all forms of trafficking. I will use an analysis of international conventions and will begin a comparative analysis by …

Rhetoric And International Human Rights: The Case Of The Senegalese Talibés, Christopher Parisella

Senior Honors Projects

CHRISTOPHER PARISELLA

(Political Science, Writing & Rhetoric, French)

Rhetoric and International Human Rights: The Case of the Senegalese Talibés

Sponsor: Lynne Derbyshire (Communication Studies, Honors Program)

While in Senegal, I witnessed the hurdles faced by proponents of international human rights standards. Thousands of Muslim boys, called talibés, undertake their Koranic education in Senegal. Many are forced to beg in the streets by their educators, and abuse in the schools is common. Still, this education is considered a valuable part of the boys’ spiritual development. Despite the multitude of countries that have openly supported and ratified international human rights compacts, many …

The Political Development Of Capital Punishment In The Modern Moroccan State, Mia Barr

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The modern Moroccan state seen today is very young. Having only been independent from France since 1956, the country has spent the last sixty-four years crafting its post-colonial statehood. What has emerged is a hybrid political system with powers split, however unequally, between the King and his inner circle, known as the makhzen, and the Parliament. Not only is the monarchy constitutional—meaning that its legitimacy is literally written into the primary governing document of Morocco, which had its last referendum in 2011—but it is also self-sustaining and self-legitimizing, for the monarchy uses its constitutional powers to grant itself further powers …

Community Land Trusts: A Help Or Hindrance To Community Development In The United States, Andrew Kuka

Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development—Student Research

The availability of affordable housing in the United States continues to be an issue for Americans who are on the brink of homelessness, rely on housing subsidies, or struggle to pay their mortgages or rents. These issues, as well as the gentrification threat that community development poses to low-income residents can have deleterious effects on democratic participation and community development efforts. One proposed solution to these problems is the implementation of more community land trust programs nationally. This paper will assess the practicality of CLTs, and what such an implementation would mean for individuals, government entities, community members, and community …

U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings On Korea During The 113th Congress 2013-2014: Overseeing Multifaceted Aspects Of Washington's Peninsular Interests, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Numerous U.S. government agencies are involved in developing and implementing U.S. policy toward Korean Peninsula events, trends, and developments. Those studying U.S. government policies toward this region need to pay particular attention to the role played by U.S. Congressional committees in this policymaking. Congressional committees are responsible for approving new legislation, revising existing legislation, funding U.S. government programs and conducting oversight of these programs. This work examines Congressional committee hearings and debate during the 113th Congress (2013–2014) and reveals that multiple Congressional committees with varying jurisdictions seek to shape U.S. government Korean Peninsula policy and that this policymaking covers more …

Does The Dao Support Individual Autonomy And Human Rights?, Caroline M. Carr

Summer Research Program

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) lists what have come to be called “first” and “second” generation rights. First generation rights are civil and political (for instance, the right to vote, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble); second generation are social, economic, and cultural (protection against unemployment, universal healthcare, equal pay). However, Western and Asian nations are in disagreement about whether or not all of these generations of rights should be universal. While Western nations strongly believe that first generation rights should be universal, Asian nations insist that their unique “Asian values” require second generation rights to precede first …

Ratification, Reporting, And Rights: Quality Of Participation In The Convention Against Torture, Cossette D. Creamer, Beth A. Simmons

All Faculty Scholarship

The core international human rights treaty bodies play an important role in monitoring implementation of human rights standards through consideration of states parties’ reports. Yet very little research explores how seriously governments take their reporting obligations. This article examines the reporting record of parties to the Convention against Torture, finding that report submission is heavily conditioned by the practices of neighboring countries and by a government’s human rights commitment and institutional capacity. This article also introduces original data on the quality and responsiveness of reports, finding that more democratic—and particularly newly democratic—governments tend to render higher quality reports.

Impact Of The “Nirbhaya” Rape Case: Isolated Phenomenon Or Social Change?, Tina P. Lapsia

Honors Scholar Theses

In December 2012, a twenty-three year old college student, who was given the pseudonym “Nirbhaya” (“fearless”), was fatally gang-raped on a private bus in Delhi, India, galvanizing the country to swiftly adopt new legislative measures and catapulting the issue of violence against women in India into the international spotlight. Although assault and rape cases have made India infamous for its high volume of crimes against women, the reaction to this particular incident was much different from before. This paper investigates whether the governmental and societal responses represent social change, as indicated by changing attitudes towards violence against women in India. …

Living Without Recognition : A Case Study Of Burmese Refugees In Malaysia., Meagan Floyd, Michael Zeller, Jason P. Abbott

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Emerging From The Shadows: Civil War, Human Rights, And Peacebuilding Among Peasants And Indigenous Peoples In Colombia And Peru In The Late 20th And Early 21st Centuries, Charles A. Flowerday

Anthropology Department: Theses

Peacebuilding in Colombia and Peru following their late-20^th and early 21^st century civil wars is a challenging proposition. In this study, it becomes necessary as indigenous peoples and peasants resist domination by extractive industries and governments in their thrall. Whether they protest nonviolently or rebel in arms, they are targeted for human-rights violations, especially murder, disappearance and displacement. The armed actors, state, insurgency, paramilitaries or drug traffickers, destroy civic institutions (local or regional government) and the civil (nonprofit) sector and replace them with their own authoritarian versions. Therefore, peacebuilding has emphasized rebuilding civic institutions, civil society and local …

Reconciling Positivism And Realism: Kelsen And Habermas On Democracy And Human Rights, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

It is well known that Hans Kelsen and Jürgen Habermas invoke realist arguments drawn from social science in defending an international, democratic human rights regime against Carl Schmitt’s attack on the rule of law. However, despite embracing the realist spirit of Kelsen’s legal positivism, Habermas criticizes Kelsen for neglecting to connect the rule of law with a concept of procedural justice (Part I). I argue, to the contrary (Part II), that Kelsen does connect these terms, albeit in a manner that may be best described as functional, rather than conceptual. Indeed, whereas Habermas tends to emphasize a conceptual connection between …

We Do Not Enjoy Equal Political Rights: Ghanaian Women's Perceptions On Political Participation In Ghana, Marie-Antoinette Sossou

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study explores Ghanaian women’s perception and voices about issues of gender equality in terms of exercising their political and decision-making rights in connection with political participation and governance in Ghana. The study uses demographic survey and six different focus group discussions to capture the views of a total of 68 women with different educational, socioeconomical, and occupational backgrounds, in two regions of the Ghana. The findings indicate that even though theoretically the constitution of Ghana gives women equal rights as their male counterparts to actively participate in the governance of their country, in practice, women face issues of gender-based …

Notes In Defense Of The Iraq Constitution, Haider Ala Hamoudi

Articles

This paper is a defense of sorts of the Iraqi constitution, arguing that the language used in it was wisely designed to allow some level of flexibility, such that highly divided political forces could find incremental solutions to the deep rooted sources of division that have plagued Iraqi society since its inception. That Iraq has found itself in such dreadful political circumstances since constitutional ratification is therefore not a function of the open ended constitutional bargain, but rather of the failure of Iraqi legal and political elites to make use of the space that the constitution provided them to develop …

Fall From Grace: South Africa And The Changing International Order, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Post-apartheid South Africa has gone from being a good international citizen to defending a number of authoritarian regimes and obstructing various international initiatives aimed at strengthening the global human rights regime. This article presents this slide as a move from a ‘liberal’ foreign policy to a ‘liberationist’ one and emphasises the external sources of this shift, particularly the influence of the rest of Africa and a rising China.

The Plight Of The Roma In Italy: Human Rights Injustices Of A Feared Minority, Alexandra Errante

Global Studies Student Scholarship

Human rights is unique in that it has a universal affect on everyone world-wide no matter his or her nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or economic standing. In order to narrow this down, the intention of this thesis is to explore a specific topic in regards to the overlying issue of human rights. This thesis provides evidence of the mistreatment and blatant racism that is inflicted upon the Roma living in Italy and this paper makes the claim that this is the fault of the Italian government. The methodology used for the community engagement portion of the thesis …

Of Sweatshops And Human Subsistence: Habermas On Human Rights, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this paper I argue that the discourse theoretic account of human rights defended by Jürgen Habermas contains a fruitful tension that is obscured by its dominant tendency to identify rights with legal claims. This weakness in Habermas’s account becomes manifest when we examine how sweatshops diminish the secure enjoyment of subsistence, which Habermas himself (in recognition of the UDHR) recognizes as a human right. Discourse theories of human rights are unique in tying the legitimacy of human rights to democratic deliberation and consensus. So construed, their specific meaning and force is the outcome of historical political struggle. However, unlike …

Media, Civil Society And Political Culture In West Africa, Mohamed Saliou Camara

Humanities & Communication - Daytona Beach

From the premise that a free and democratic society is impossible without free and responsible media and an active civil society and that freedom and democracy must evolve from within a particular society in order to mature into a way of life for the society and its media, the present study examines the symbiotic role of the media and civil society in West Africa’s struggle for democratic governance. It addresses the question of the independence and accountability of West Africa’s media vis-à-vis foreign donors, local business and political forces along with the effects on local audiences of giant Western/global media …

Media, Civil Society And Political Culture In West Africa, Mohamed S. Camara

Security Studies & International Affairs - Daytona Beach

From the premise that a free and democratic society is impossible without free and responsible media and an active civil society and that freedom and democracy must evolve from within a particular society in order to mature into a way of life for the society and its media, the present study examines the symbiotic role of the media and civil society in West Africa’s struggle for democratic governance. It addresses the question of the independence and accountability of West Africa’s media vis-à-vis foreign donors, local business and political forces along with the effects on local audiences of giant Western/global media …

Profiles Of Key Democracy And Good Governance Ngos/Agencies, Aaron Stuvland

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

Often referred to as an infrastructure or a‘democracy bureaucracy’, the worldwide net- work of democracy promotion and good governance non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations (IOs), and bilateral agencies is immense and multi- faceted. Although they share a general mission of promoting democracy, each operates with varying goals and foci ^ and somewhat different definitions of democracy. Nevertheless, they share many common ends: free and fair elections, a responsive and participatory citizenry, rule of law, and transparent institutions.

Politics, Rights, And The Refugee Problem, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

In The Origins of Totalitarianism, the political philosopher Hannah Arendt pointed to the years between World War I and World War II as the time when the plight of refugees became a pressing political problem.' If Arendt were still alive (she died in 1975), she would no doubt agree that the problem is at least as pressing in the early twenty-first century as it was sixty or more years ago, when she herself was a refugee from Nazi Germany. Who would not agree? According to a report of the U.N. Population Division, 16 million people were refugees at the …

The Mote In Thy Brother’S Eye: A Review Of Human Rights As Politics And Idolatry, William M. Carter Jr.

Articles

Michael Ignatieffs provocatively titled collection of essays, Human Rights As Politics and Idolatry [hereinafter Human Rights], is a careful examination of the theoretical underpinnings and contradictions in the area of human rights. At bottom, both of his primary essays, Human Rights As Politics and Human Rights As Idolatry, make a claim that is perhaps contrary to the instincts of human rights thinkers and activists: namely, that international human rights can best be philosophically justified and effectively applied to the extent that they strive for minimal ism. Human rights activists generally argue for the opposite conclusion: that international human rights be …

Law And Religion In Israel And Iran: How The Integration Of Secular And Spiritual Laws Affects Human Rights And The Potential For Violence, S. I. Strong

Faculty Articles

Because law and religion are by themselves complex cultural and historical issues, any study of the interaction between the two will be at least as complicated. If one is to understand both a State's current re­ligio-legal regime and what reform measures are most likely to succeed there, it is necessary to understand at least a little of the nation's history and majority religion. Therefore, Part I of this article provides a brief sketch of the principles of the two majority religions at issue in this dis­cussion and an overview of the history of both Israel and Iran. It explains why …