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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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- Democracy (3)
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- Abductive reconstructivist methodology (1)
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- American exceptionalism (1)
- Anti-immigrant sentiment (1)
- Augustine (1)
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- Counterframe; frame contestation; media hegemony; September 11 terrorist attacks; Ward Churchill (1)
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- Gadamer; political theory; solidarity; friendship; recognition; Arendt; Rorty (1)
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Articles 1 - 20 of 20
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Int 312: Collaborative Communication Oer Curation, Chealsye Bowley
Int 312: Collaborative Communication Oer Curation, Chealsye Bowley
Curated OER Collections
This OER curation is an annotated bibliography of prospective OER for the GVSU course INT 312: Collaborative Communication, assembled by request from the instructor.
How Support For Authoritarian Regimes Like Saudi Arabia Has Undermined American Soft Power, Jd Daniels
How Support For Authoritarian Regimes Like Saudi Arabia Has Undermined American Soft Power, Jd Daniels
Honors Projects
The controversial state of Saudi Arabia lies at the forefront of American foreign policy debate. This article examines how and why the United States supports a country that frequently abuses human rights, and how power is involved in that decision. The most frequent reasons used are that Saudi Arabia affords the United States economic hard power (i.e. the ability to coerce others) as a trading partner, and that it acts as a strategic counterbalance to Iranian influence in the Middle East. I find that while this is likely true, it also implicates the United States in almost every violation of …
Max Weber's Living Legacy, Hermann Kurthen
Max Weber's Living Legacy, Hermann Kurthen
Peer Reviewed Articles
June 14, 2020 was the hundred-year anniversary of Max Weber's death. He died in Munich at age 56 after most likely contracting the Spanish flu. He is often considered one of the founding fathers of sociology next to Marx and Durkheim, despite Weber resisting this label. Given Weber's worldwide reception, his enduring relevance for sociology and beyond is unbroken, even though he left a huge unfinished work not intended as a conventional sociological grand theory but as a historical-comparative attempt to understand how humans interact within their social environment and how they construct a social reality of their own making. …
Resisting Hyper-Partisan Silencing: Arendt On Political Persuasion Through Exemplification And Truth-Telling As Action, Andrew D. Spear
Resisting Hyper-Partisan Silencing: Arendt On Political Persuasion Through Exemplification And Truth-Telling As Action, Andrew D. Spear
Articles, Book Chapters, Essays
A central frustration of recent political discourse is the consistent reduction of politically relevant factual and critical speech to mere expression of partisan commitment. Partisans of “the other side”—members of the other tribe—are viewed as de facto wrong, because partisans, even when their speech invokes mere facts or purportedly shared political principles. Ideally, democratic political discourse operates along at least two central dimensions: a dimension of shared factual, historical, and political assumptions, and a more contested dimension of interpretation, prioritization, and evaluation that results in diverse and often competing understandings of what is good, and so of what is best …
Present At The Destruction? Grand Strategy Imperatives Of Us Foreign Policy Experts During The Trump Presidency, Hermann Kurthen
Present At The Destruction? Grand Strategy Imperatives Of Us Foreign Policy Experts During The Trump Presidency, Hermann Kurthen
Peer Reviewed Articles
This article discusses the grand strategy imperatives of 37 foreign policy experts in Washington, DC. in response to President Donald Trump's nationalist challenge to the post-WWII international order concept. Using an abductive reconstructivist methodology to analyze in-depth interviews, five grand strategy imperatives or rules for action shared by all actors were identified: safeguarding US global leadership, maintaining alliances, securing US prosperity, value orientation, and the belief in a mission. Based on the interpretation of these rules for action, four types of foreign policy experts were distinguished: nationalists, realists, pragmatic liberals, and liberals. The latter three expert types, also labelled globalists, …
Planned Obsolescence: The Supreme Court And Partisan Redistricting, Ethan Schafer
Planned Obsolescence: The Supreme Court And Partisan Redistricting, Ethan Schafer
Honors Projects
Partisan redistricting, more commonly known as gerrymandering, is the act of a political party in power using its majority to draw district maps in such a way that it stays in power or increases its power. The United States Census takes place every ten years as mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, when the maps for state and national Congress are redrawn to better allocate representation among the people. Examples of this include the two cases that are discussed in Rucho v Common Cause, the redistricting case from 2019. In this case, both the Democrat-controlled government …
Presidential Power And Its Expanding Influence: Suggestions On How To Strengthen Checks And Balances., Jesse Hooker
Presidential Power And Its Expanding Influence: Suggestions On How To Strengthen Checks And Balances., Jesse Hooker
Honors Projects
The purpose of this essay is to recommend to Congress actions that can be taken to retake power from the Executive Branch without violating the norms of institutional forbearance and mutual toleration. In doing this, the essay first looks at the rise of the Executive Branch and the contributing factors in part two. Part three examines the benefits of checks and balances as well as the founders intent. In part Four, the essay examines congressional actions taken in the past to curb the accumulation of power as well as making suggestions for how Congress and the Supreme Court should act …
The Convergence Of Libraries, Voter Education, And Civic Literacy, Natalie Lowengruber
The Convergence Of Libraries, Voter Education, And Civic Literacy, Natalie Lowengruber
Honors Projects
The aim of this project was to explore how libraries, particularly academic libraries, intersect with voter education in promoting civic engagement. After reviewing research on the library’s role in democracy and civic engagement, I forged this connection through collaborating with librarians to develop an interactive workshop open to the Grand Valley community. The main goal of this workshop was to increase voter education and equip voters with tools to become better informed on candidates, legislation, and policy before the midterm elections of November, 2018. Participation in democracy is a lifelong practice and civic duty that begins with a strong educational …
What Happens Now? The U.S.’S Withdrawal From Paris Climate Agreement, Samantha Klann
What Happens Now? The U.S.’S Withdrawal From Paris Climate Agreement, Samantha Klann
Honors Projects
This research paper investigates what possible consequences President Trump’s removal of the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement could have on world leadership position, international (trade) relations, innovation, and overall economic development of the U.S. President Trump retracted the U.S. from the agreement in June 2017, and although the withdrawal takes years to officially be completed, it is possible to explore possible ramifications for the U.S.’s future (Friedman, 2017). This paper focuses on analyzing how this withdrawal could affect the U.S. world leadership position, international (trade) relations, and innovation, and the subsequent impact on the economic development of the …
Smart Voting Resources, Natalie Loewengruber
Smart Voting Resources, Natalie Loewengruber
Knowledge Market
Americans have a civic duty and responsibility to participate in democracy through voting. Voters can feel overwhelmed and unsure where to go to find the information necessary to cast an informed vote. This document is a product of the workshop "Vote Smart! The Basics of becoming Informed" offering tools, resources, and helpful tips to become better educated on candidates, ballot proposals, and the voting process.
Adapting To American Life: A Look At The United States’ Refugee Population, Bethany Schlosser
Adapting To American Life: A Look At The United States’ Refugee Population, Bethany Schlosser
Honors Projects
This study examines refugees' process of adaptation to life in the United States. It focuses primarily on English learning, self-sustaining employment, and mental/emotional health. It then goes on to identify some ways in which Americans can ease refugees' process of adaptation. It is largely based on eight interviews conducted by the researcher, as well as significant secondary research.
Ticket To The Past: A Political History Of The Mexico City Metro, 1958-1969, Maxwell E.P. Ulin
Ticket To The Past: A Political History Of The Mexico City Metro, 1958-1969, Maxwell E.P. Ulin
Grand Valley Journal of History
This essay outlines the historic political battle between Mexico's longest serving mayor, Ernesto Uruchurtu, and the nation's president, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, over the construction of what would become the second largest subway system in the Western Hemisphere, The Mexico City Metro. The conflict, which eventually resulted in Uruchurtu's resignation, was characterized by latent political tensions between the PRI and Mexican middle class that would erupt in 1968 and lead to the ultimate decline of PRI hegemony. I thus argue that the new Metro project did not reflect Mexico's democratic modernization--as its supporters meant it to do--but rather the vestiges of …
A Multi-Causal Approach To The Thirty Years’ War, Ethan Haan
A Multi-Causal Approach To The Thirty Years’ War, Ethan Haan
Grand Valley Journal of History
The Thirty Years’ War was arguably the most consequential war of the Wars of Religion and of the wider European conflicts in the 17th century. The historiography on the causes of the war has been present ever since literature on the conflict became available shortly after its cessation. Since 1900, the debate over the underlying motivations has intensified and has become muddied in some areas. This study aims to summarize and clarify the previous positions that historians have taken on what caused the war, from religious urges to socio-economic and political factors. This study also attempts to clearly define where …
Spartans In Vietnam: Michigan State University's Experience In South Vietnam, Jake T. Alster
Spartans In Vietnam: Michigan State University's Experience In South Vietnam, Jake T. Alster
Grand Valley Journal of History
In this article, the relations between various colleges (with special attention to Michigan State University) and the United States Government are explored in relation to America’s effort in nation building in South Vietnam in the late 1950s. During America’s efforts in Vietnam more reliance was put upon collegiate institutions to help negotiate foreign policy. One of the major issues regarding South Vietnam was technical assistance, and how we should implement assistance into the third world. Michigan State University, under the presidency of John Hannah, became the most important university in the technical assistance program. John Ernst argues that this was …
Habermas, Same-Sex Marriage And The Problem Of Religion In Public Life, Darren R. Walhof
Habermas, Same-Sex Marriage And The Problem Of Religion In Public Life, Darren R. Walhof
Peer Reviewed Articles
This article addresses the debate over religion in the public sphere by analysing the conception of ‘religion’ in the recent work of Habermas, who claims to mediate the divide between those who defend public appeals to religion without restriction and those who place limits on such appeals. I argue that Habermas’ translation requirement and his restriction on religious reasons in the institutional public sphere rest on a conception of religion as essentially apolitical in its origin. This conception, I argue, remains embedded in a standard secularization framework, despite Habermas’ claim to offer a new account of secularization. This approach betrays …
Augustine’S Contribution To The Republican Tradition, Paul J. Cornish
Augustine’S Contribution To The Republican Tradition, Paul J. Cornish
Peer Reviewed Articles
The present argument focuses on part of Augustine’s defense of Christianity in The City of God. There Augustine argues that the Christian religion did not cause the sack of Rome by the Goths in 410 ce. Augustine revised the definitions of a ‘people’ and ‘republic’ found in Cicero’s De Republica in light of the impossibility of true justice in a world corrupted by sin. If one returns these definitions to their original context, and accounts for Cicero’s own political teachings, one finds that Augustine follows Cicero’s republicanism on several key points. First, civil rule differs from mastery over slaves. Second, …
Imag(In)Ing September 11: Ward Churchill, Frame Contestation, And Media Hegemony, Erika G. King, Mary Deyoung
Imag(In)Ing September 11: Ward Churchill, Frame Contestation, And Media Hegemony, Erika G. King, Mary Deyoung
Peer Reviewed Articles
This study analyzes the Denver Post’s reportage on the frame contest between the dominant narrative of the September 11 terrorist attacks set out by President Bush and a challenge to that narrative in an Internet essay by Professor Ward Churchill. The authors find that by refusing to interrogate Churchill’s sociopolitical argument, reducing it to the offensive rhetorical trope “little Eichmanns” he used to describe the victims of the attacks, and pillorying Churchill as a person and scholar, the Post assured his counterframe would not achieve parity with the dominant frame. The authors interpret this as an example of media …
Friendship, Otherness, And Gadamer’S Politics Of Solidarity, Darren R. Walhof
Friendship, Otherness, And Gadamer’S Politics Of Solidarity, Darren R. Walhof
Peer Reviewed Articles
This article makes the political dimension of Gadamer’s thought more explicit by examining the interplay of three concepts in his work: solidarity, friendship, and the other. Focusing primarily on certain post–Truth and Method writings, I argue that Gadamer’s conception of solidarity has to do with historically contingent manifestations of bonds that reflect a civic life together of reciprocal co-perception. These bonds go beyond conscious recognition of observable similarities and differences and emerge from encounters among those who are, and remain, in important ways other to each other. I make this case through an analysis of Gadamer’s phenomenology of friendship and …
Danger Beyond Dyads: Third-Party Participants In Militarized Interstate Disputes, Renato Corbetta, William J. Dixon
Danger Beyond Dyads: Third-Party Participants In Militarized Interstate Disputes, Renato Corbetta, William J. Dixon
Peer Reviewed Articles
Stuart Bremer often reminded us that third parties—directly or indirectly—affect the initiation, evolution, and termination of conflict. He encouraged scholars to research the phenomenon of joining behavior further and personally investigated it. Questions about joining behavior are indeed deeply intertwined with a variety of theories of conflict. However, existing records on third-party interventions are limited to states’ military involvement in conflict. The limitations imposed by the data can lead researchers to biased or incomplete conclusions about many international phenomena. We heed Bremer’s encouragement and present here the results of an effort to collect new evidence on non-neutral (partisan) interventions in …
Christian Conservatives Go To Court: Religion And Legal Mobilization In The United States And Canada, Dennis R. Hoover, Kevin R. Den Dulk
Christian Conservatives Go To Court: Religion And Legal Mobilization In The United States And Canada, Dennis R. Hoover, Kevin R. Den Dulk
Peer Reviewed Articles
The American exceptionalism thesis holds that American political culture produces an unusually litigious society. The US Christian right has participated in litigation, especially in constitutional rights cases dealing with issues such as religious schools and abortion. However, since 1982 Canada has had a constitutional Charter of Rights and an increasingly active Christian right of its own. We compare data on Christian right involvement in education, abortion, and “right to die” (euthanasia, assisted suicide or mercy killing) cases at the Supreme Court level in both countries. Among North America’s Christian conservatives, exceptionalism has eroded, but not disappeared. We employ interviews and …