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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Apotheosis Of The State And The Decline Of Civilization: A Systems Approach, Robert Bedeski Mar 2024

Apotheosis Of The State And The Decline Of Civilization: A Systems Approach, Robert Bedeski

Comparative Civilizations Review

Humanity is undergoing a second Axial Age. The first, as described by Karl Jaspers, brought transcendence into the vision and self-understanding of humans and the world. The rise of secularism and “Death of God” is dissolving and fragmenting that transcendence — a vital subsystem of the civilization system. Economy, knowledge and government comprise three additional subsystems and have coalesced to form the modern sovereign state, diminishing the traditional place of religion, art and philosophy in civilizations. An example of a state lacking common institutions of transcendence was the Mongol empire. Ruling Russia for a quarter millennium, its state form was …


The Future Of Civilization: A Systems Approach, Robert Bedeski, Ph.D. Sep 2022

The Future Of Civilization: A Systems Approach, Robert Bedeski, Ph.D.

Comparative Civilizations Review

Civilization is one of several stages of human evolution and forms a system of interaction. Its past dominance is now challenged by growth of three subsystems — state, economy, and science/technology. These three subsystems have matured through application of rational knowledge. The vertically integrated state now dominates society and demarcated territory. The horizontally integrated global economy and global science/technology society have become worldwide in scope. State domination is reinforced by autonomous global science and international capital. The remaining subsystem of Moral Knowledge occupies present non-material civilization and is characterized by organic knowledge and embracing the unprovable, which includes religion, art, …


‘It All Comes From Me’: Bahu Begam And The Making Of The Awadh Nawabi, Circa 1765–1815, Nicholas J. Abbott Jan 2022

‘It All Comes From Me’: Bahu Begam And The Making Of The Awadh Nawabi, Circa 1765–1815, Nicholas J. Abbott

History Faculty Publications

This article examines the durable, yet largely overlooked, claims of Bahu Begam (1727–1815) to dynastic wealth and authority in the Awadh nawabi (1722–1856), a North Indian Mughal ‘successor state’ and an important client of the East India Company. Chief consort (khass mahal) to Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula (r. 1754–75) and mother to his successor Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula (r. 1775–97), Bahu Begam played a well-documented role in the regime’s tumultuous politics, particularly during Warren Hastings’s tenure as the Company’s governor-general (1773–85) and his later parliamentary impeachment. But despite her prominent political influence, little attention has been paid to the substance of her …


Law Library Blog (September 2020): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law Sep 2020

Law Library Blog (September 2020): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.


The Mapuche And Chilean State: An Analysis Of The State Reaction To Mapuche Protests, Mckenna Gossrau May 2020

The Mapuche And Chilean State: An Analysis Of The State Reaction To Mapuche Protests, Mckenna Gossrau

Honors Theses

The history between the Mapuche and Chilean state is long and complex. Since 2000, the conflict between the state and Mapuche has periodically drawn wider public attention as well as public demands for change. In this thesis, I look to examine how the Chilean state has reacted to the demands of the Mapuche since 2000. Mapuche activists have protested violently and peacefully against state policy that has left many rural Mapuche impoverished and landless. This project assesses the impact of protests on state-Mapuche policy. The project also examines how deeply entrenched neoliberal fiscal policies of the state play a central …


The State And War On Poverty: British Welfare Development And Its Legacies For Malawi, 1930s-1983, Gift Wasambo Kayira Jan 2020

The State And War On Poverty: British Welfare Development And Its Legacies For Malawi, 1930s-1983, Gift Wasambo Kayira

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation documents the struggles and dilemmas that the Malawian state endured as it attempted to achieve its developmental goals from the 1930s to 1983. It contributes to histories of development by focusing on the interventions both the colonial and postcolonial states made to improve the living standards of African rural communities, the ideas which shaped state programs, and the behavior of the state which such interventions reveal. Scholars typically argue that state policy in Malawi was necessarily destructive and limited the economic progress of the local communities. The state deliberately pursued land, market, and other agricultural policies that constrained …


Review Of The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, And American Culture, 1940-1975. By Steven K. Green, John W. Compton Sep 2019

Review Of The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, And American Culture, 1940-1975. By Steven K. Green, John W. Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

A book review of Steven K. Green's The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, and American Culture, 1940-1975.


Ming China As A Gunpowder Empire: Military Technology, Politics, And Fiscal Administration, 1350-1620, Weicong Duan Dec 2018

Ming China As A Gunpowder Empire: Military Technology, Politics, And Fiscal Administration, 1350-1620, Weicong Duan

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the transformation of Ming China in the gunpowder age. Focusing on the relation between military technology, politics, and fiscal administration, it closely traces the change of the Ming state in association with the gunpowder revolution. Two aspects of institutional change receive special attention. The first aspect is the formation of an absolute authority in the Ming period, a development exhibiting many parallels with the absolute monarchies of other major gunpowder states in Europe and the Islamic world. The second is the modification of the Confucian bureaucratic government. The revolutions in gunpowder technology had a complex impact on …


The Socioeconomic Impact Of Indian Gaming On Kumeyaay Nations: A Case Study Of Barona, Viejas, And Sycuan, 1982 - 2016, Ethan L. Banegas Jan 2017

The Socioeconomic Impact Of Indian Gaming On Kumeyaay Nations: A Case Study Of Barona, Viejas, And Sycuan, 1982 - 2016, Ethan L. Banegas

Theses

This study will use the reservations of Barona, Viejas, and Sycuan to measure the socioeconomic impacts of gaming within the Kumeyaay nation. It will also draw on information available from other gaming tribes. To organize my research, I will use the following categories: health, education, economics and infrastructure. Within these four topics I will cover: investment capital, poverty, higher education, internet access, alcohol addiction, suicide rates, obesity, diabetes, and other socioeconomic indicators. Once this is accomplished I will assess the social and economic impact of gaming on Barona, Viejas, and Sycuan and include the possible implications to heal historical trauma …


Selfhood, Historical Consciousness, And The State In International Relations Theory, Edinson Oquendo Jan 2017

Selfhood, Historical Consciousness, And The State In International Relations Theory, Edinson Oquendo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work seeks to examine the role of the state in international relations. While international relations treat states as institutions endowed with agency, they lack any means of explaining how the state can gain agency, autonomy, and rationality.

My dissertation seeks to reorient the theoretical assumptions of international relations in two ways. I develop a theory of the of the state that seeks to explain the mechanisms by which individuals are able to form collective social institutions and to endow them with authority and agency. I examine the relationship of the individuals to collective bodies such as states that can …


Voter Identification Laws: In The Name Of Reform Or Suppression?, Melissa Rodriguez Jun 2016

Voter Identification Laws: In The Name Of Reform Or Suppression?, Melissa Rodriguez

Honors Theses

Voter identification laws have been at the center of controversy in political discourse for some time now. Proponents of voter identification laws claim that they are necessary in order to curb public opinion regarding voter identity fraud. Even if there were no evidence of fraud in the system, they would still be necessary to protect the integrity of the system. Opponents counter back that due to the lack of evidence of voter identity fraud, these requirements are a part of partisan politics in which the right wing is attempting to disenfranchise groups that tend to vote democratic. These attempts are …


Palestinian Refugees: Dethroning The Nation At The Crowing Of The 'Statelet', Randa Farah Dec 2005

Palestinian Refugees: Dethroning The Nation At The Crowing Of The 'Statelet', Randa Farah

Randa R Farah Dr.

The Oslo agreements proposed a two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza existing alongside Israel. However, the refugees’ right of return and claims to land and property expropriated by Israel during the 1948 were removed from the equation, although they represent the core issues in the conflict. Based on the territorial divisions that preceded the 1967 war, or the ‘green line’, the agreements implicitly rendered the 1948 war and its consequences for the majority of the Palestinian population a non-negotiable historical reality. In a manner of speaking, the crowning of the ‘state’ …


Curves, Conflict And Critical Points: Reformulating Power Cycle Theory For The 21st Century, Dylan Kissane Jan 2005

Curves, Conflict And Critical Points: Reformulating Power Cycle Theory For The 21st Century, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

This thesis provides a reformulated power cycle methodology to enhance the utility of power cycle analysis in the twenty-first century, while also pointing to future research which might develop the reformulated model further, particularly in measuring soft power.


A Diabolical Disneyland In Zion: The Mormons And The Mx, Jacob W. Olmstead Jan 2005

A Diabolical Disneyland In Zion: The Mormons And The Mx, Jacob W. Olmstead

Theses and Dissertations

In September 1979 President Jimmy Carter publicly announced his decision to support the deployment of the MX missile and mobile basing scheme in Utah and Nevada. Despite local opposition and the close proximity of the proposed base to its headquarters, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) remained silent until 5 May 1981, when the First Presidency issued a statement opposing the MX plans. The purpose of this work is to narrate the history of the development of the Mormon position regarding the deployment of MX missile in the Great Basin and evaluate the response to the statement …


The Mormons In Wilhelmie Germany, 1870-1914: Making A Place For An Unwanted American Religion In A Changing German Society, Michael Mitchell Jan 1994

The Mormons In Wilhelmie Germany, 1870-1914: Making A Place For An Unwanted American Religion In A Changing German Society, Michael Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

Between 1853 and 1914 the kingdom of Prussia and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, disagreed over the issue of Mormon missionaries proselyting in Prussia. In 1853 royal magistrates banished all Mormon missionaries from the kingdom for advocating emigration. A new church policy of preaching without seeking for official permission, in addition to an improved relationship between the Mormons in Utah and the United States government after the Manifesto of 1890, led to an increase in missionaries sent to Germany, including Prussia. By 1900 mormon success alarmed the Prussian Protestant clergy and a few Prussian governors …