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Full-Text Articles in Ethics and Political Philosophy

The Modern Administrative State: Why We Have ‘Big Government’ And How To Run And Reform Bureaucratic Organizations, Sean Y. Sakaguchi Jan 2016

The Modern Administrative State: Why We Have ‘Big Government’ And How To Run And Reform Bureaucratic Organizations, Sean Y. Sakaguchi

CMC Senior Theses

This work asserts that bureaucratic organization is not only an inevitable part of the modern administrative state, but that a high quality bureaucracy within a strongly empowered executive branch is an ideal mechanism for running government in the modern era. Beginning with a philosophical inquiry into the purpose of American government as we understand it today, this paper responds to criticisms of the role of expanded government and develops a framework for evaluating the quality of differing government structures. Following an evaluation of the current debate surrounding bureaucracies (from both proponents and critics), this thesis outlines the lessons and principles …

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The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities And (Un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor Jan 2016

The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities And (Un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor

Senior Independent Study Theses

How do political practices influence mass culture? Conversely, how does mass culture influence political practice? This project addresses these questions by turning to the concepts of utopia and dystopia. Imagined utopic and dystopic visions express both the hopes and anxieties of the societies producing them. Dystopias also highlight the mechanisms of power that function within particular social orders. Through readings of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I demonstrate how utopia and dystopia function and how we can respond to dystopic realities by theorizing solutions that are more conducive to the …

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The Case For The International Governance Of Immigration, Javier S. Hidalgo Dec 2015

The Case For The International Governance Of Immigration, Javier S. Hidalgo

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

States have rights to unilaterally determine their own immigration policies under international law and few international institutions regulate states’ decision-making about immigration. As a result, states have extensive discretion over immigration policy. In this paper, I argue that states should join international migration institutions that would constrain their discretion over immigration. Immigration restrictions are morally risky. When states restrict immigration, they risk unjustly harming foreigners and restricting their freedom. Furthermore, biases and epistemic defects pervasively influence states’ decision-making about immigration policy. States should transfer some of their decision-making authority over immigration to more reliable institutions in order to mitigate the …

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The Transformative And Healing Powers Of Compassion, Forgiveness, And Wonder, Anna C. Eriksson-Marty Dec 2015

The Transformative And Healing Powers Of Compassion, Forgiveness, And Wonder, Anna C. Eriksson-Marty

Senior Theses

Since time immemorial, humankind has struggled to coexist peacefully together. As human beings, we strive on our relationships with each other and, yet, with actions of hatred and prejudice, we seem to consistently destroy those very relationships we value so deeply. Our current society is plagued by fear, which seems to run more rampant now – more than ever – with assistance of our rapidly evolving communication technology. The question must be asked, “How can we end this madness and heal ourselves into a kinder and more fulfilling future?” By providing up-to-date scientific research on the human emotions of compassion, …

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The Calculus Of Consent, John Thrasher, Gerald Gaus Dec 2015

The Calculus Of Consent, John Thrasher, Gerald Gaus

Philosophy Faculty Books and Book Chapters

The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy is a groundbreaking work in democratic theory. This chapter argues that it is of continued relevance today, due both to its methodological innovations and its use of those innovative techniques to solve the fundamental problem of democratic justification. In Calculus, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock fuse economic methods, political theory, and the normative project of showing how democratic institutions of a particular sort can be justified contractually, creating a unique form of democratic contractualism that came to be known as “Constitutional Political Economy” and the more general research program of “Public …

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Notes From The Editor, Rory J. Conces Nov 2015

Notes From The Editor, Rory J. Conces

International Dialogue

Notes from International Dialogue's Editor-in-Chief, Rory J. Conces for Volume 5.

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The Battle For Jerusalem: Marcel Dubois' Challenge To Roman Catholics, Israeli Jews, And Christian Zionists, Curtis Hutt Nov 2015

The Battle For Jerusalem: Marcel Dubois' Challenge To Roman Catholics, Israeli Jews, And Christian Zionists, Curtis Hutt

International Dialogue

For several decades, the face of Christian Zionism in Jerusalem was not the International Christian Embassy or John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel but a French/Israeli Professor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University—the Dominican priest, Fr. Marcel-Jacques Dubois. In this paper, Dubois’ once influential form of Christian Zionism is discussed. While few today outside of Israel and Rome are familiar with his brand of non-premillenial dispensationalist Christian Zionism, I will lay out the persuasive relevance and challenge of his work for those making claims on Jerusalem today.

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Sloterdijk: You Must Change Your Life. On Anthropotechnics; In The World Interior Of Capital. For A Philosophical Theory Of Globalization; Globes: Spheres Ii: Macrospherology, Pieter Lemmens Nov 2015

Sloterdijk: You Must Change Your Life. On Anthropotechnics; In The World Interior Of Capital. For A Philosophical Theory Of Globalization; Globes: Spheres Ii: Macrospherology, Pieter Lemmens

International Dialogue

Although the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk (1947) is certainly still not a well-known, let alone “settled” author within the Anglophone philosophical community that leans toward what is still frequently called “continental philosophy,” unlike similarly important figures such as Jean-Luc Nancy, Bruno Latour, Alain Badiou, Giorgio Agamben, Niklas Luhmann and Axel Honneth, his star is nevertheless slowly rising and many of his books have been translated in English in recent years. One of the reasons for this delayed reception in Anglophone academia might be Sloterdijk’s highly idiosyncratic approach to philosophy, his even more idiosyncratic, lavishly exuberant, intensely literary and (in my …

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Wittgenstein: The Fate Of Wonder Wittgenstein’S Critique Of Metaphysics And Modernity, David A. White Nov 2015

Wittgenstein: The Fate Of Wonder Wittgenstein’S Critique Of Metaphysics And Modernity, David A. White

International Dialogue

That Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) was one of the most influential twentieth-century philosophers is hardly a controversial claim. However, Wittgenstein’s own works, principally the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) and Philosophical Investigations (1953; second edition 1997), have engendered a considerable range of widely diverse—and divisive—commentary. In The Fate of Wonder Wittgenstein’s Critique of Metaphysics and Modernity, Kevin M. Cahill has produced a useful and at times provocative addition to this literature.

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Rawls And Religion, Pietro Maffettone Nov 2015

Rawls And Religion, Pietro Maffettone

International Dialogue

John Rawls was the most important political philosopher in the twentieth century. His work has been immensely influential within the Anglo-American philosophical tradition and beyond. As one of his staunchest critics and colleague famously said (as far back as 1973), one has to either work within the Rawlsian paradigm or explain why not. Political philosophers have, to the regret of some, clearly followed Nozick’s suggestion, and scholarship on Rawls’ work has basically become a sub-discipline in U.S. and UK universities. Any addition to this ample and well-developed literature will thus have to meet a relatively high threshold of quality to …

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Deliberative Democracy: Issues And Cases, Clodagh Harris Nov 2015

Deliberative Democracy: Issues And Cases, Clodagh Harris

International Dialogue

Deliberative democracy, a theory of political legitimacy, argues citizens should be given a more central role in political processes, contending that collective decisions are legitimate to the extent that those subject to them have the right, opportunity and capacity to contribute to deliberations on them. It has been at the forefront of political theory in recent decades and has evolved theoretically, empirically and in praxis overtime.

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Dictablanda: Politics, Work And Culture In Mexico, 1938–1968, Maria S. Arbeláez Nov 2015

Dictablanda: Politics, Work And Culture In Mexico, 1938–1968, Maria S. Arbeláez

International Dialogue

Dictablanda is a volume of essays examining three main forms of power in post-revolutionary Mexico: political, cultural, and material power. That is, the scope of powers that rose-up and matured between 1938 and 1968. The study is located at mid-twentieth century when the revolutionary effervescence fizzled out and conservative-reactionary politics matured. These thirty years are considered the heyday of the authoritarian rule of the one party regime led by the Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI). In the following review, I only cover some of the chapters of the compilation. An all-inclusive assessment would have been too extensive and would have left …

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The Question Of Intervention: John Stuart Mill & The Responsibility To Protect, Timothy Mawe Nov 2015

The Question Of Intervention: John Stuart Mill & The Responsibility To Protect, Timothy Mawe

International Dialogue

John Stuart Mill’s “A Few Words on Non-Intervention” (1859) considers both the “sacred duties” owed to the independence and nationality of states and the possible exceptions to the general rule of non-intervention. In The Question of Intervention, Michael Doyle proposes to “comment on Mill’s arguments, defend some, condemn some, and refine others” (10). What emerges is a clear and well-structured overview of the ethics and legitimacy of intervention.

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Truth And Democracy, Yann Allard-Tremblay Nov 2015

Truth And Democracy, Yann Allard-Tremblay

International Dialogue

It is no secret that politicians lie. Yet, most of us feel queasy faced with the level of mendacity and deceptiveness, and with the lack of concern for facts associated with the Bush administration. This unease is certainly due in part to the disastrous consequences this administration had for the lives of thousands and thousands of people in Iraq and the U.S., among other places, and for the stability of the whole Middle-East. Yet, there is more to this unease. We expect dictators and despots to lie and deceive. In contrast, democratic politics should be more concerned with the truth. …

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The Crisis Of The European Union: A Response, Barry Stocker Nov 2015

The Crisis Of The European Union: A Response, Barry Stocker

International Dialogue

A Crisis of the European Union contains the essay “The Crisis of the European Union in Light of a Constitutionalisation of International Law—An Essay on the Constitution for Europe,” the second essay “The Concept of Human Dignity and the Realistic Utopia of Human Rights,” and an appendix “The Europe of the Federal Republic.” The first essay is itself divided into three sections: “Why Europe is Now More than Ever a Constitutional Project”; “The European Union Must Decide between Transnational Democracy and Post-Democratic Executive Federalism,” and “From the International to the Cosmopolitan Community.” The second of these sections is itself divided …

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The Heart Of Human Rights, Brian Kin Ting Ho Nov 2015

The Heart Of Human Rights, Brian Kin Ting Ho

International Dialogue

Allen Buchanan’s book is an impressive addition to the contemporary philosophical discussions about human rights. It covers a wide range of topics, including the nature of justifications in human rights (chapters 2 and 3), the problems existing accounts face (chapter 2), a justificatory account of human rights as a system of international law (chapters 3 and 4), the nature of legitimacy-judgments in political philosophy (chapter 5), the supposed “supremacy” of international legal human rights (chapter 6), and ethical relativism and pluralism (chapter 7).

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The Effects Of Globalization In Latin America, Africa, And Asia: A Global South Perspective, Clark Capshaw Nov 2015

The Effects Of Globalization In Latin America, Africa, And Asia: A Global South Perspective, Clark Capshaw

International Dialogue

Kema Irogbe’s study of the effects of globalization on Latin America, Africa, and Asia, is an informative and interesting read, but, unfortunately, it also suffers from many flaws, most of which derive from information and arguments outside the scope of the subject of globalization and its effects.

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Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters Of Nadya And Slavoj, David S. Moon Nov 2015

Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters Of Nadya And Slavoj, David S. Moon

International Dialogue

In October 2012, Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, both members of the punk-protest group Pussy Riot, were sent to separate Russian penal colonies, charged in relation to an anti-Putin performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour the previous February. During her time in the Mordovian Penal Colony No. 14— and briefly afterwards—Tolokonnikova engaged in the exchange of letters with philosopher Slavoj Žižek collected in Comradely Greetings, alongside Tolokonnikova’s open letter that details her harrowing experience in the camp and announced her hunger strike, just under a year into her sentence. The richness of Žižek and Tolokonnikova’s correspondences—and the …

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Living In Denial: Climate Change, Emotions, And Everyday Life, Eloise Harding Nov 2015

Living In Denial: Climate Change, Emotions, And Everyday Life, Eloise Harding

International Dialogue

The “denial” which is Norgaard’s focus is not the climate change denial (which may be more accurately described as scepticism) which we hear from right-wing politicians: in particular, her participants have no interest in deceiving others, but many motivations to deceive themselves. The residents of “Bygdaby,” a pseudonym for a real Norwegian community, are at the front line of climate change—many of their local industries depend on snow and ice, of which the supply has steadily declined—and they are aware of its impact. However, while registering the effect on activities such as skiing and ice fishing, these residents effect not …

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Democratic Statecraft: Political Realism And Popular Power, John R. Wallach Nov 2015

Democratic Statecraft: Political Realism And Popular Power, John R. Wallach

International Dialogue

This book presents itself as a critique of the idealist strand of democratic theory, via a theory of “democratic statecraft” that relies on “realism,” “pragmatism,” and “skepticism,” rather than “idealism, “moralism,” or “utopianism” for first principles. In order to make his case, the author generates a “composite portrait” of this concept, drawing interesting and idiosyncratically on relatively unknown political thinkers, movies, and selective readings of major figures in the history of Western political thought, theory, and events—for example, Athenian democracy and Aristotle, Bartholomew’s Day, Machiavelli, Traiano Boccalini, Herbert Traubeneck, James Weaver, and The Mission.

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Jewsandwords, Leonard J. Greenspoon Nov 2015

Jewsandwords, Leonard J. Greenspoon

International Dialogue

Can you tell much about a book from its cover? The design of the cover to this volume would lead any attentive reader to an affirmative response. Look at the title, JewsandWords. These letters, without any space separating them into words, recall ancient manuscripts, where the niceties of word division were often sacrificed to allow more writing per (expensive) page. Admittedly, ancient Hebrew manuscripts also dismissed with written vowels, but there’s only so much we modern readers can do without. And then there’s “Jews,” not “Judaism.” For the authors, Jews, flesh-and-blood people, preceded Judaism as a concept and remain the …

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Figures In History, Antonia Von Schöning Nov 2015

Figures In History, Antonia Von Schöning

International Dialogue

The latest publication by the much discussed and broadly received French philosopher Jacques Rancière is actually not that new. Figures of History compiles two essays, “The Unforgettable” and “Senses and Figures of History,” which were written on the occasion of the exhibition Face à l’histoire at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1996. The first text discusses several documentary films that were shown in a program accompanying the exhibition. The second part is an account on history painting in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries written as a catalogue piece. In both essays, Rancière introduces the idea of an age …

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Nationalism And The Rule Of Law: Lessons From The Balkans And Beyond, Joseph L. Derdzinski Nov 2015

Nationalism And The Rule Of Law: Lessons From The Balkans And Beyond, Joseph L. Derdzinski

International Dialogue

The “classic” debate in contemporary comparative politics is over what matters more in shaping political behavior: culture or institutions. The clear answer is that both are important, it’s just that their relative import depends to a large degree on contextual, temporal factors. Iavor Rangelov seeks to straddle—or bridge?—the two theoretical orientations, demonstrating the iterative lives between institutions and society. Rangelov addresses the eternal (or, at least, for the past couple of decades) question: do institutions really matter in emerging democracies? Or, do other intrinsic factors determine democracy’s course? Privileging the rule of law, Rangelov, through three cases from the Balkans, …

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Global Gender Issues In The New Millennium, Mary Ann Powell Nov 2015

Global Gender Issues In The New Millennium, Mary Ann Powell

International Dialogue

Global Gender Issues in the New Millennium is a valuable resource for understanding how gender and gendered processes are broadly influential in our global world. Runyan and Peterson provide clear explanations of terminology needed to participate in meaningful conversations about gender, and they make a strong case for examining the world through a gendered-lens.

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Islamism And Islam, Dale Stover Nov 2015

Islamism And Islam, Dale Stover

International Dialogue

This book offers a concerted effort to provide a comprehensive and unmistakable definition for Islamism, whereas the other term in the title, Islam, is simply what is traditional or classical or taken for granted since little attention is given to defining it. The author lays out six features he considers to be characteristic elements of those contemporary Muslim movements associated with extremist beliefs and behaviors. A separate chapter is devoted to each of these six features of Islamism. They are described by the author in the preface as “its deeply reactionary vision of the world political order, its embrace of …

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Policing Democracy: Overcoming Obstacles To Citizen Security In Latin America, Pablo Policzer Nov 2015

Policing Democracy: Overcoming Obstacles To Citizen Security In Latin America, Pablo Policzer

International Dialogue

Latin America is more democratic today than in the recent past, yet in places also far more violent. Parts of the region suffer the world’s highest crime rates, and a widespread sense of insecurity fuels calls for tougher policing. Understanding the origins of this problem, and suggesting ways out of it, is Mark Ungar’s aim in this ambitious and insightful book.

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Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces Nov 2015

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces

International Dialogue

Table of Contents for Volume 5

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Majority Rule: A Dysfunctional Polity Consensus: An Inclusive Democracy, Peter Emerson Nov 2015

Majority Rule: A Dysfunctional Polity Consensus: An Inclusive Democracy, Peter Emerson

International Dialogue

Numerous electoral systems have been devised over the years but, in decision-making, many forums still rely on the same procedure that was used in ancient Greece: majority voting. Hence, majority rule. In many plural multi-ethnic and/or multi-religious societies, the effects have often been negative. This article considers voting procedures in three inter-related contexts: decision-making, elections, and governance. With regard to conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, and Ukraine, it shows, both in decision-making and in elections, how simplistic win-or-lose ballots have exacerbated tensions. And it then suggests a more inclusive polity in which win-win voting systems might help to alleviate …

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The Mapuche In Modern Chile: A Cultural History, Ramón J. Guerra Nov 2015

The Mapuche In Modern Chile: A Cultural History, Ramón J. Guerra

International Dialogue

In Joanna Crow’s cultural exposition of Chile’s largest indigenous population, The Mapuche in Modern Chile: A Cultural History, she makes a concerted effort to highlight the cultural components of the group’s identity and presence both in negotiation with and in resistance to the larger Chilean state throughout history. As a primary target of her research, the post-colonial approach illuminates the agency-driven Mapuche as being continuously reimagined in the nation’s history—not necessarily restructured but more to the point of being reconsidered. In order to elicit this type of reconsideration, Crow exposes the prominence of the “historic Mapuche” image as the dominant …

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Making Human Rights A Reality, Debra L. Delaet Nov 2015

Making Human Rights A Reality, Debra L. Delaet

International Dialogue

Emilie Hafner-Burton’s Making Human Rights a Reality offers an accessible and informed analysis of the significant gap between the normative universalism of international human rights law and its limited effects in practice. The book’s primary purpose is to offer a pragmatic, strategic alternative to global legalism for promoting the progressive realization of fundamental human rights. In Hafner-Burton’s view, the cause of human rights promotion would be better-served by relying on states with strong human rights records (both in terms of respecting rights at home and commitment to promoting them abroad) to use foreign policy as a tool for changing the …

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