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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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International and Area Studies

Yale University

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Decolonization: The Litmus Test Of The Human Rights Framework, Isiuwa Omoigui Aug 2021

Decolonization: The Litmus Test Of The Human Rights Framework, Isiuwa Omoigui

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

This literature review examines the complicated relationship between anticolonial activism and the human rights framework that emerged in the wake of the Second World War. I contextualize the scholarly debate on the tension between conceptions of human rights as an individual entitlement and the collectivist nature of African anticolonial struggles. The universalism of the human rights framework endures the harsh light of critique, given its emergence from the twentieth-century European experience of genocide and great powers’ competing commitments to democracy and empire. The crimes against humanity committed in the name of colonial conquest and rule challenge the great powers’ moral …

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“Our Neighbors In The Americas”: Obama, Empathy, And The Cuban Thaw, Sarah Mckinnis Aug 2021

“Our Neighbors In The Americas”: Obama, Empathy, And The Cuban Thaw, Sarah Mckinnis

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

In the study of International Relations, there is growing research and consideration of the significance of empathy in political communications and nation-to-nation relationships. This article examines cognitive empathy, the ability to understand the perspectives and feelings of another, in the case of the Cuban Thaw, the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and The United States. It traces President Obama’s use of empathy in publicly communicating intentions towards Cubans and Americans, a rhetoric that marks a contrast from the previous U.S. administrations’ attitudes toward Cuba. This article then analyzes the efficacy of that rhetoric, finding that though there are indications …

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Troubles Of The Coast: Industrialization, Climate Change, Marginality, And Collective Action Among Fishing Communities In Kerala, India, Abigail Maher Aug 2021

Troubles Of The Coast: Industrialization, Climate Change, Marginality, And Collective Action Among Fishing Communities In Kerala, India, Abigail Maher

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper explores the ways in which small-scale fishing communities in Kerala, India are affected by both industrialization and climate change, how they respond to these challenges, and the spatial, political, and social context in which these communities are situated. In order to do this, a combination of primary source materials and scholarly work is utilized. Construction of small-scale fishing communities as culturally “primitive”, as well as caste prejudice on the part of the government and industrial fishers, has resulted in increased marginalization of fishing communities and increased difficulty in adapting to the adverse changes associated with both climate change …

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The Cuban Vote: How A Very Unreligious Group Votes For A Very Religiously Affiliated Party, Kelly Gouin Aug 2021

The Cuban Vote: How A Very Unreligious Group Votes For A Very Religiously Affiliated Party, Kelly Gouin

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

While there is a strong recorded correlation between religiosity and Republican Party affiliation, Cuban Americans report low religiosity but strong support for the GOP (58% of Cuban Americans are affiliated with the GOP). This is only one way in which this community is an outlier: Cuban Americans do not behave like other Hispanics; do not vote like other religious groups; are more liberal than the average Republican voter; and have not experienced the religious revival often observed in citizens of former communist regimes. These particularities suggest that Cuban Americans’ reaction is very specific to the combination of their experiences in …

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The Impact Of Climate Change On Security In The Middle East: A Review Of The Literature, Yara El-Khatib Aug 2021

The Impact Of Climate Change On Security In The Middle East: A Review Of The Literature, Yara El-Khatib

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

The Middle East, which is already plagued by a series of security threats–such as terrorism, religious conflict, political instability, and more–is also an increasingly water-scarce and climate-vulnerable region. In this review, I examine the most recent and relevant literature on the debate of: how will, and how has climate change affected security in the Middle East? I examine five articles and one book that tackle this question, and I organize these sources based on the extent to which they argue that climate change is a determinant of insecurity in the region. While a few authors argue that climate change has …

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Social Movements In The Information Communication Technology Age: The Case Of Hong Kong, Justin Jin Aug 2021

Social Movements In The Information Communication Technology Age: The Case Of Hong Kong, Justin Jin

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper develops current understandings of social movements by incorporating research on state formation and counterinsurgency, expanding political process theory by introducing the concepts of legibility and capacity. It then considers the changes caused by widespread use of Internet communications technologies (ICTs). The paper conceptualizes state-movement contention as a competition for access to civil society and its resources. Movements and states attempt to maximize their access, otherwise known as capacity, and minimize that of their rival. The legibility of society to either side impacts their success. Success, or lack thereof, determines future capacity. Increased usage of ICTs and digital surveillance …

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