International and Area Studies Commons^™

Displacement, Social Justice, And The Right To The City: A Review And Critical Reflections In The 21st Century, Tara Fitzgerald, Brij Maharaj

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This paper aims to review the literature and themes relating to displacement, social justice, and the right to the city in the 21st century. Displacement, in its various forms, is central to understanding the human rights abuses and livelihood implications when urban rights are revoked, forcing inhabitants to the periphery, and is the focus of this paper. Whereas the city’s services, resources, and opportunities should be a collective right advanced by local authorities for all who occupy urban space, displacements lead to resettlement and impoverishment, especially as livelihoods are disrupted. Urban renewal, through mega-projects, clean-up campaigns, and speculative gentrification processes, …

Engaging Survivors In Transnational Justice Governance: Global, National And Local Perspectives From Uganda's Post Lra Insurgency, Dennis Jjuuko

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The end of the Second World War established the Nuremberg trials and the Tokyo tribunal while the United Nations (UN) system established ad-hoc tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and multilateralism facilitated the creation of the present-day International Criminal Court (ICC). These trials and tribunals established liberal approaches to transnational justice governance. Despite the dominance of a liberal universalist justice framework, non-liberal justice approaches have also emerged. Considered as alternative customized justice structures, including South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts, these community emergent approaches emphasize a transformative approach to addressing legacies of civil conflict …

Introduction To The Special Issue

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Volume 26, Issue 2 (Special Issue) -- Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Spaces Of Progress And The Challenge Of “Mindfulness” In A Postcolonial World, M. Satish Kumar

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Progress implied both change and improvement in the colonial and postcolonial world. Such a concept of progress came to be enshrined in specific geographical places. The notions of development and underdevelopment in the postcolonial context thereafter supplanted this idea. Over time, while the structures of colonial domination dissolved, those of embedded regional inequalities came to be deeply entrenched, thereby urging for Thich Nhat Hanh’s approach to “mindfulness” in a “postcapitalist,” postcolonial world. The key question is whether postcolonialism has reached an impasse in its delivery and deployment of ideas across the widening gulf between the spaces of progress and stagnancy. …

Notes On The Future Possibilities Of Engaged Anthropological Research: Why Decolonizing Anthropology Needs Black Diasporic Feminist Theory And Methodologies, Meryleen Mena

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

While in the past decade there have been more ethnographic accounts that shed light on minoritized stories and demystify the specific challenges that women and femmes experience during their research, much is desired to prepare students and junior scholars from marginalized identities for fieldwork research. Reflecting on a moment of precarity in the context of pre-impeachment São Paulo, I explain why the integration of Black diasporic feminist thought, method, and praxis is critical to further decolonizing efforts in anthropology. Beyond reflection, this narrative calls for sustained politically active engagement to establish an anthropology of liberation.

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Notes For Contributors, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Revitalizing America's Low-Yield Deterrent, Alex Kleitz

Space and Defense

An array of low-yield weapons will play a vital role in integrated deterrence. *The following essay, submitted in June 2022, earned the Junior Division USSTRATCOM General Larry D. Welch Deterrence Writing Award.

The Unified Command Plan For A New Cold War, David Stilwell

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Pushing Boundaries: Feminism, Female Leaders, And The Fate Of Feminist Foreign Policy, Sannia Abdullah

Space and Defense

The study challenges the clearest, unqualified liberal claim on feminist foreign policy: namely, women equal peace and security while men equal war. In fact, women approach foreign policy challenges as judiciously as men and have proven their statesmanship. Feminist foreign policy promotes gender equality, women empowerment, and socio-economic parity based on a non-hierarchal system, but it fails to offer a resilient, conflict preventing, and environmentally friendly alternative framework capable of reducing contemporary foreign policy challenges.

Editor's Note, Damon Coletta

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Space And Defense Volume 15 No. 1 Spring 2024 (Whole Issue), Space And Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Ethnodoxy And Immigration Attitudes In The Middle East/North Africa, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Migration is a prevalent social concern in the Middle East/North Africa. In addition to emigration, the countries struggle to incorporate immigrant and transiting populations. This article examines the influence of ethnodoxy—the linking of Arab and Muslim identity—on public opinion on immigrants and migration in the MENA region. Using original surveys of Egyptian and Moroccan Muslims from February and May–June 2023, it shows the more ethnodoxic respondents are, the more likely they are to hold anti-immigrant views. These results are consistent with the principle that social identity complexity encourages tolerance and change acceptance. Thus, this study contributes to the growing literature …

Role Of China’S Belt And The Road Initiative In Global Development Finance, Srinivasa Madhur

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

China’s Belt and the Road Initiative (BRI), introduced in 2013 by China’s President Xi, has been a major milestone in global development finance. Resonating with the historical ‘Silk Road”, BRI attempts to connect many countries and continents around the world. Matching its humongous size of nearly $1 trillion, it covers about 165 countries around the world. Even as the BRI benefitted some of the recipient countries, it has built a mountain of debt among many developing countries. This paper suggests an efficient, equitable, and representative method of resolving the BRI debt-distress through the formation of a BRI Club, which should …

The Years Of Embers In Mauritania: Ethnicity And Narratives, Hawa Saidou Barane Ba

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The borders in Africa were drawn according to the interests of colonial powers and without consideration of the continent’s ethnic, cultural, and linguistic realities. Thus, roughly 80% of African countries borders were drawn without considering the crucial and pre-existing realities of pre-colonial African societies, splitting ethnically and culturally homogenous groups and grouping diverse others under the same political unit. (Beck, 1993; Lefebvre, 2011). Consequently, many African countries end up with an ethnically diverse population that faces the challenge of living harmoniously together in social cohesion, creating an environment prone to ethnic conflicts, political instabilities, and weak national identities. Mauritania, for …

The Absence Of A Hegemonic State In The Yaounde Code Of Conduct Regime In The Gulf Of Guinea, Maulana Ammar Auliaur Rahman

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

In 2013, countries around the Gulf of Guinea established the Yaounde Code of Conduct as a maritime security regime to prevent and counter piracy and other maritime-related problems in the area. It turned out that numerous challenges made the Yaounde Code of Conduct unable to deal with the piracy problem in the area. This research, therefore, aims to explain the Yaounde Code of Conduct’s inability to deal with the problem using the Hegemonic Stability Theory, which is rooted in a power-based approach from international regimes study. By implementing explanative methods, the author argued that the absence of a hegemonic state …

Russia’S Strategy On Strengthening Its Cooperations With The Middle East Countries After Russia-Ukraine War In 2022, Okvivio Vergina Gihoni, Henny Saptatia Drajati Nugrahani

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

ABSTRACT. This research discusses the extension of the conflict between two nations, namely Russia and Ukraine, in 2022. The ongoing tensions between these countries, dating back to 2014 and escalating into a designated military operation declared by Russia in 2022, have precipitated a global crisis. With other nations becoming affected actors, leading to fluctuations in energy prices and a surge in refugee numbers, numerous efforts have been made by many countries, including major global players. Western nations have imposed a series of sanctions on Russia, and Russia has reciprocated in response to these sanctions. Russia has adopted several strategies to …

The New China Model: Combating Economic And Political Order, Jack R. Swords

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Contemporary world politics centers around the actions of the two largest powers on Earth, the United States and China. They are both each other’s greatest adversary yet at the same time are each other’s largest trading partners. This thesis explores the nature of China’s economic climate that has seen it grow to one of the world’s foremost powers. However, the East Asian Nation faces economic challenges centered around the three D’s: Debt, Deflation, and Demographics. This thesis analyses what the nature of these challenges are and how China is responding to them within the ever-advancing world of economic and political …

A Story Of State Transformation In The Global South: Limited Statehood And Governance In Post-Syria Lebanon, Jodor Jalit

Theses and Dissertations

This research thesis analyzes security governance in areas of limited statehood in the context of state transformation. Specifically, it examines the impact of the 2005 Syrian military withdrawal on the Lebanese state in the realm of security. Briefly, the thesis unveils the coexistence of state and non-state groups and the engagement of non-state actors in state-like practices. That is, it assesses the impact of the 2005 Syrian military withdrawal on the Lebanese state to reveal the relationship its new configuration, relationship with non-state actors, and emerging governance practices. In that sense, this thesis pretends to contribute to the larger body …

Missed Exits: Causal Mechanisms Influencing Militarized Interstate Dispute Escalation In Latin America, Colton Arciniaga

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Research on militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) and the reasons for their escalation to interstate war is sparse at the global level and the regional level in Latin America. This thesis contributes new research on militarized interstate dispute escalation in Latin America. In this project, I ask: how do differences in conflict escalation indicators between states affect whether a Latin American country will participate in a Militarized Interstate Dispute that escalates to the use of force? To answer this question, I conduct a case study utilizing the most similar cases analysis approach to compare the cases of the 1995 MID between …

Lawfare As A Policy Tool In Sino-American Relations: The Case Of Huawei Cfo Meng Wanzhou, Zachary S. Souders

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Competition between the United States and China is at an all-time high. Despite decades of diplomacy between the East and West, recent trends suggest the two powers are drifting further apart. To understand US-China relations, it is critical to understand major developments as they occur. This paper examines the geopolitical significance of United States v. Meng (2020), an extradition case in which US authorities requested the transfer of Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou to American jurisdiction. Despite US policymakers declaring Meng and Huawei to be threats to national security, the eventual dismissal of all charges Meng faced presents a puzzle …

Investment Strategies Of Gcc Sovereign Wealth Funds: Aligning National Development And Geopolitical Goals, Roy Conners

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) prioritize and implement investment strategies in the context of national development and geopolitical dynamics. Using a qualitative case study approach, it analyzes the assets, key industries, leadership, and historical evolution of major GCC SWFs (ADIA, Mubadala, ADQ, QIA, and PIF) based on publicly made available information.

The findings show that GCC SWFs prioritize investments in strategic sectors, geographical destinations, and the private sector. These investments align closely with their respective national development plans, such as 'We the UAE 2031', Qatar National Vision 2030, and Saudi Arabia’s …

The Importance Of Sunni-Iraqi Support In The Rise And Fall Of Isis In Iraq, Deja Meekins

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

ISIS, a Salafi-jihadist terrorist organization stationed in the Middle East, has had its fair share of "successes" and "failures," both of which have been present in Iraq. Toward the beginning of the development of ISIS, it garnered a very powerful supporter base in Iraq. However, that has changed since then; ISIS currently, in 2024, no longer has the support of the vast majority of the Iraqi people. What is the reason for this? This research paper will seek to analyze and answer two major questions: what role does the Iraqi Sunni population play in ISIS’s trajectory of successes and failures …

The Contested Domain Of Political Space In Southeast Asia, Meredith Weiss, Eva Hansson

Political Science Faculty Scholarship

Understanding political norms in Southeast Asia requires conceptualising the domain in which politicians, activists, and ordinary citizens exercise and challenge them: political space. We focus here on domestic political space, particularly that in which individuals and organisations champion alternatives to prevailing norms of state and market. This terrain is highly, perennially mutable. In it, we find an array of non-state organisations, from trade unions to non-governmental organisations, as well as media (including online and social media), and a range of structures and associations not inherently political, but potentially so, such as religious bodies. In this chapter, we consider, first, the …

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 …

Socially Racialized And Statistically Invisible: U.S. Census Recognition Of The Middle Eastern And North African Diaspora, Aliana J. Jabbary

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis delves into the recent decision by the U.S. Executive’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to revise the statistical categorization of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) individuals within federal statistical collection, particularly focusing on the U.S. Decennial Census’ racial and ethnic classifications as outlined in the OMB’s Statistical Policy Directive no. 15. Historically classified solely as racially White, the MENA diaspora’s statistical invisibility within federal data has significant impacts on policy eligibility and access to legal protections, contributing to their social erasure from the national identity. Through a comprehensive analysis of racialization and Orientalism scholarship, alongside an …