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Articles 1 - 30 of 32
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Comparing The Us Response To The Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan And The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine: Learning From The Past And Planning For The Future, Zachary Hogan
Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals
As the Russo-Ukrainian war continues to rage, the decisions of the present are of paramount importance. In order to make the most positive and well-supported decisions in this ongoing conflict, it would be wise to look to past instances of similar situations. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is such an instance. The parallels between the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the past Soviet invasion of Afghanistan are extensive and, more importantly, informative for U.S. foreign policy. It is with this lens that this paper will pursue a historical foreign policy analysis of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, its circumstances and …
Revolution, Regime Change, And Rosewater: The United States’ Role In The Arab Spring, Grace Lewis
Revolution, Regime Change, And Rosewater: The United States’ Role In The Arab Spring, Grace Lewis
Capstone Showcase
This thesis seeks to determine which international relations theory best explains the United States involvement in the Arab Spring, and to ascertain if the goals set by those theories were met. Through the literature, I determine that two theories offer reasonable yet competing explanations of US involvement, and that these theories are first, defensive realism, and second, democratic peace theory. I employ the analytic method of pattern matching to compare each theory against the empirical record. In my analysis, I match empirical data from five affected countries to determine the strategic importance to the United States of the outcome of …
Moving Beyond The Crossroads: Strengthening The Atrocity Prevention Board, James P. Finkel
Moving Beyond The Crossroads: Strengthening The Atrocity Prevention Board, James P. Finkel
Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal
No abstract provided.
Al-Qaeda In Syria: Implications For Middle Eastern Security And U.S Foreign Policy., Ibrahim Pataudi
Al-Qaeda In Syria: Implications For Middle Eastern Security And U.S Foreign Policy., Ibrahim Pataudi
CMC Senior Theses
This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive description and analysis of Al-Qaeda affiliates fighting in Syria. The implications for Middle Eastern Security, US foreign policy and Islamic extremism in the future are projected.
“Failed States Are Everyone’S Problem”, Devin Joshi
“Failed States Are Everyone’S Problem”, Devin Joshi
Human Rights & Human Welfare
This article raises interesting issues but cannot answer its own puzzles because it fails to define what constitutes a threat or danger to US national security. As an American citizen, the security of the Central African Republic is in my personal interest. The CAR is a country where it has been reported that one out of every sixteen mothers dies during childbirth. That is a serious problem! Who is to say it is not in Americans’ interest to prevent state failure there? If the US government is not interested in Central Africans' security, obviously, there is a disconnect between the …
We Do Indeed Reap What We Sow, Walter Lotze
We Do Indeed Reap What We Sow, Walter Lotze
Human Rights & Human Welfare
When violence first broke out in Tunisia in January 2011, few observers would have predicted that waves of unrest would engulf North Africa and the Arab world. When demonstrations swiftly spread to Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and Jordan, observers hastened to place bets on which regime would be the next to fall. That Hosni Mubarak would be felled next came perhaps as no surprise; Egypt had for years been on a knife’s edge, liberalizing and modernizing society while closing all space for political and social participation. Most analysts then turned their attention to Sudan, Yemen, and Bahrain, predicting that …
I Will Survive, Robert Funk
I Will Survive, Robert Funk
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Academics do not often quote 70s disco tunes. At least not in print. But if there is one thing that has been striking about the events in Libya in recent weeks—and indeed looking back over decades—it is the sheer ability of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to survive. He is, perhaps with Fidel Castro, the world’s greatest survivor. He has indeed learned how to carry on.
The Cold War's Last Battlefield: Reagan, The Soviets And Central America, Edward A. Lynch
The Cold War's Last Battlefield: Reagan, The Soviets And Central America, Edward A. Lynch
Books by Hollins Faculty and Staff
"Central America was the final place where U.S. and Soviet proxy forces faced off against one another in armed conflict. In The Cold War's Last Battlefield, Edward A. Lynch blends his own first-hand experiences as a member of the Reagan Central America policy team with interviews of policy makers and exhaustive study of primary source materials, including once-secret government documents, in order to recount these largely forgotten events and how they fit within Reagan's broader foreign policy goals. Lynch's compelling narrative reveals a president who was willing to risk both influence and image to aggressively confront Soviet expansion in …
August Roundtable: Human Rights And Foreign Policy Introduction
August Roundtable: Human Rights And Foreign Policy Introduction
Human Rights & Human Welfare
An annotation of:
“A humane nation is a safer nation” by Tom Porteous. The Guardian. July 7, 2010.
Hope, Despair, And Human Rights, James Pattison
Hope, Despair, And Human Rights, James Pattison
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Joshua Kurlantzick's “The Downfall of Human Rights” in Newsweek makes for a sobering read. The major Western states, he argues, are no longer interested in the promotion of human rights, but are instead focused on rebuilding themselves after the global recession. Kurlantzick notes further that the Obama administration avoids strong criticism of China, Russia, and other human rights violators because of its desire to demarcate itself from the previous administration's moralizing democracy promotion. To add to Kurlantzick's case for the West's lack of concern about human rights, one could cite the recent and blatantly human rights-violating anti-terror laws of several …
Human Rights Pragmatism Under Obama, Sonia Cardenas
Human Rights Pragmatism Under Obama, Sonia Cardenas
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Bypassing realists and idealists, President Obama has staked out a boldly pragmatic approach to human rights. Critics depict the policy shift as “the downfall of human rights” and a set of “empty promises.” The problem is not with Obama’s embrace of pragmatism, or his rejection of ideology, to advance human rights. The problem is in the emphasis: human rights pragmatism should not privilege external inducements over vital on-the-ground domestic realities.
Genocide Myopia: How Reframing Mass Atrocity Could Backfire, Sonia Cardenas
Genocide Myopia: How Reframing Mass Atrocity Could Backfire, Sonia Cardenas
Human Rights & Human Welfare
The United States has long viewed genocide and mass atrocity as tragic, moral problems divorced from national interests. This may be changing under the Obama administration, with genocide and mass atrocity being reframed as problems to be solved pragmatically. Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher celebrate this “unprecedented breakthrough” in Foreign Policy, urging President Obama to follow up with specific measures: strategic military planning, interagency coordination, firm leadership, and concrete action on Darfur. Despite the promise of overcoming inaction and focusing on prevention, the new vision of genocide and mass atrocity Abramowitz and Woocher depict remains myopic. It is narrowly focused …
A Break From The Old Routine...., Todd Landman
A Break From The Old Routine...., Todd Landman
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Abramowitz and Woocher highlight a potentially significant shift in policy discourse in international relations with respect to humanitarianism and the prevention of genocide. For many years, the United States has suffered from the twin problems of the human rights “double standard” and “Catch-22.” On the one hand, particular countries have been seen as vital by the United States for intervention on humanitarian grounds even though many believed other geostrategic interests are at stake (e.g. Kosovo in 1999) and others have not (e.g. Rwanda in 1994). On the other hand, US intervention on humanitarian grounds can be criticized as heavy-handed or …
Do Drones Have A Silver Lining?, David Akerson
Do Drones Have A Silver Lining?, David Akerson
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher’s article, “How Genocide Became a National Security Threat,” flags an important milestone in American foreign policy, namely that mass atrocities might now be appropriately viewed as the national security threats that they are. The problem with translating this policy development into action is the next and not insignificant challenge. Aerial drones may be key to overcoming it.
On Genocide And The National Interest, James Pattison
On Genocide And The National Interest, James Pattison
Human Rights & Human Welfare
In the second presidential debate, Barack Obama said, in response to a question about the crisis in Darfur, that “when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us. And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible.” In a similar vein, Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher highlight how genocide is increasingly being seen as a security threat by the White House.
April Roundtable: Genocide And Us National Interests Introduction
April Roundtable: Genocide And Us National Interests Introduction
Human Rights & Human Welfare
An annotation of:
“How Genocide Became a National Security Threat” by Michael Abramowitz & Lawrence Woocher. Foreign Policy. February 26, 2010.
Fostering Global Security: Nonviolent Resistance And Us Foreign Policy, Amentahru Wahlrab
Fostering Global Security: Nonviolent Resistance And Us Foreign Policy, Amentahru Wahlrab
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation comprehensively evaluates, for the first time, nonviolence and its relationship to International Relations (IR) theory and US foreign policy along the categories of principled, strategic, and regulative nonviolence. The current debate within nonviolence studies is between principled and strategic nonviolence as relevant categories for theorizing nonviolent resistance. Principled nonviolence, while retaining the primacy of ethics, is often not practical. Indeed, most nonviolent movements have not been principled, or solely principled. Strategic nonviolence is attractive because it does not require any individual or group to believe in a particular faith or ethical tradition. However, strategic nonviolence is problematic as …
November Roundtable: Introduction
November Roundtable: Introduction
Human Rights & Human Welfare
An annotation of:
“Foreign Policy Myths Debunked." The Nation. October 6, 2008.
Speak Softly...With Everyone You Can, Todd Landman
Speak Softly...With Everyone You Can, Todd Landman
Human Rights & Human Welfare
From the Monroe Doctrine to the Bush Doctrine, United States foreign policy has been predicated on the assumption that somehow it knows what is best for the rest of the world. Monroe feared a potential encroachment from Russia and meddling in the "American" Hemisphere by the European powers and issued what originally appeared as a modest statement about resistance to intervention by any other country than the United States . Ironically enforced by the British Navy at that time, the Monroe Doctrine went far beyond its modest beginnings to set a precedent for the development of U.S. foreign policy. The …
Human Rights And The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, Brent J. Steele
Human Rights And The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, Brent J. Steele
Human Rights & Human Welfare
There has been a vivid tendency this year by the conventional keepers of Washington wisdom to explicate the two presidential candidates' foreign policy views using old frameworks of "hawk" and "dove." Not only is this binary wrong, it fundamentally obscures some rather ironic potentials for how each candidate, if elected president, will focus upon human rights in their foreign policy. McCain's neoconservative view of the world is founded upon the Wilsonian call for democratization-culminating in what he terms a "League of Democracies." To use a concept that Arnold Wolfers first coined, and one which Joshua Muravchik has proffered as well, …
Myths, Reasonable Disagreement, And A League Of Democracies, James Pattison
Myths, Reasonable Disagreement, And A League Of Democracies, James Pattison
Human Rights & Human Welfare
The United States ' election in 2004 was based on a number of foreign policy myths. Three of the most obvious were:
- The war in Iraq was necessary as a response to the threat of international terrorism. As a result, the world is now a safer place;
- The institutions of the UN are corrupt and do nothing but restrict American power;
- Al Qaeda and international terrorism more generally are extremely significant threats to American national security
America As An Ordinary Nation, William F. Felice
America As An Ordinary Nation, William F. Felice
Human Rights & Human Welfare
For decades, scholars of international relations have called attention to the limits of American power. For example, in 1976 Cornel University Press published America as an Ordinary Country: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Future , edited by Richard Rosecrance. As the title indicates, Rosecrance's book analyzed the impact of the economic, military, and foreign policy setbacks of the 1970s on U.S. power. Suddenly the U.S. seemed less the powerful, "indispensible" leader and more the vulnerable, "ordinary" country unable to control external forces lashing the society's economy and foreign policy. These insights led many scholars to call for a reassessment of …
May Roundtable: Introduction
Human Rights & Human Welfare
An annotation of:
“The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency” by Mahmood Mamdani. London Review of Books. March 8, 2007.
Politics Of Naming And Politics Of Responsibility, Rhoda Howard-Hassmann
Politics Of Naming And Politics Of Responsibility, Rhoda Howard-Hassmann
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Mahmood Mamdani is right to complain that the American—and international—public is unaware of the political complexity of the Darfur conflict. He is also right to point out that selective or inconsistent uses of the terms “genocide,” “civil war,” and “insurgency” can mask covert, or even overt, political agendas. His comparison of Darfur to Iraq is telling. And he is right to point out that even with the best of humanitarian intentions, the presentation of a simplified version of Darfur, in which “Arabs” persecute “Africans,” can play into the “war on terror,” insofar as, in the minds of at least some …
The Return Of Moral Equivalence, J. Peter Pham
The Return Of Moral Equivalence, J. Peter Pham
Human Rights & Human Welfare
During the latter stages of the Cold War, one school of ethical analysis, ultimately labeled as “moral equivalence” by the late Jeane Kirkpatrick, measured Western liberal democracies against utopian standards in a radical critique which redefined the political discourse, erasing distinctions between the Soviet Union and its satellites on the one hand and the United States and its allies on the other.
Missing The Point, Colin Thomas-Jensen
Missing The Point, Colin Thomas-Jensen
Human Rights & Human Welfare
“What would happen if we thought of Darfur as we do of Iraq, as a place with a history and politics—a messy politics of insurgency and counterinsurgency?” (§4). This is the most telling question posed by Professor Mahmood Mamdani in “The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency.” The implication is that the growing public demand for strong international action—military or otherwise—to halt the atrocities in Darfur is somehow unwarranted because people have failed to understand that the systematic crimes against humanity committed against civilians in Darfur (and indeed Iraq) are an inevitability of “the messy politics of insurgency and …
The Moral Vocabulary Of Violence, David L. G. Rice
The Moral Vocabulary Of Violence, David L. G. Rice
Human Rights & Human Welfare
What is at stake in labeling a particular incidence of large-scale violence “genocide”? Mahmood Mamdani rightly argues that “genocide” is an insufficient description of the conflict in Darfur. I would suggest that the problematic nature of that terminology goes back to its inception after World War II. Activists have inherited the concept of “genocide” from a particular historical moment. Now, “ genocide” carries unique moral weight in the discourse of international politics. When violence against civilians has been widely accepted as a necessary outcome of the preservation of peace, activists find it necessary to imagine a worse evil than the …
Human Rights And The War On Terror Second Edition: Introduction, Jack Donnelly
Human Rights And The War On Terror Second Edition: Introduction, Jack Donnelly
Human Rights & Human Welfare
“9/11 changed everything.” Not really. In fact, there has been far more continuity than change over the past six years in both international and domestic politics. Nonetheless, human rights often have been harmed—although not by terrorism but by “the war on terror.”
Chechnya: Human Rights Issues, Latife Bulur
Chechnya: Human Rights Issues, Latife Bulur
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Chechnya is a country plagued by terrorism and human rights abuses. A primary source of these issues is the unsettled situation between local insurgents and the Russian military. This conflict, increasing in magnitude over time, makes it incredibly difficult to negotiate the terms of Chechnya’s independence perpetuating the crisis. Rising violence fuels Russia’s frustration in addressing the conflict with Chechen groups. Russia has and continues to employ various tactics to minimize the violence, but such tactics have all so far been unsuccessful.
United States Foreign Policy: Liberty And Security?, Jessi Schimmel
United States Foreign Policy: Liberty And Security?, Jessi Schimmel
Human Rights & Human Welfare
Prior to September 11, 2001, the United States had the reputation of being a leader in the field of human rights. As information of torture and abuse in Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and secret CIA detention centers has surfaced, however, the image of America has changed from human rights champion to that of violator. In large part, the international community of scholars and activists has come to deride the foreign policy of the United States as misguided and out of balance with the threats the country faces. However, there are also plenty of outspoken defenders who believe that the tactics …