International and Area Studies Commons^™

Living Legitimacy: A New Approach To Good Government In Africa, Ajume H. Wingo

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article argues for the reorientation of African governments from a model that privileges the central or garrison states to one rooted in the living experiences of citizens, such as their economic conditions, fellowship associations, local governments, and community self-reliance. It begins by describing and analyzing in depth an example of a set of moral, political, and social institutions that still work well to make collective decisions that the members of the community consider legitimate and follow without coercion. It demonstrates that a legitimate government is not and should not be a matter of instituting finished, polished, or ready-made solutions …

Animal Protection In A World Dominated By The World Trade Organization, Leesteffy Jenkins, Robert Stumberg

State of the Animals 2001

Animal issues are playing a crucial role in making the World Trade Organization (WTO), the international body responsible for initiating and enforcing global trade rules, publicly visible. Current WTO rules prohibit the types of enforcement mechanisms relied upon by sovereign nations to make animal protection initiatives effective; as a result, many animal protection measures in this country and abroad have been reversed or stymied in the face of WTO challenges or threatened challenges. The WTO’s adverse impact on animal protection is one of the reasons why the WTO’s new-found public image is increasingly a negative one.

Democratization And Human Rights: Affinity Or Tension?, Sharon Healey

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of Democratization and the Protection of Human Rights: Challenges and Contradictions, edited by Patricia J. Campbell and Kathleen Mahoney- Norris. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1998. 140pp.

Historically, studies on democracy and human rights have considered the two as unrelated issues, and where treated as related, many scholars have assumed a positive relationship between democracy, human rights and development. The contributors to Democratization and the Protection of Human Rights, Challenges and Contradictions examine and critique some of the popular conceptions about the relationship between democracy and human rights.

Universal Human Rights And Cultural Diversity, Hilde Hey

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of Human Rights: New Perspectives, New Realities, edited by Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwab. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000. 259pp.

The debate as to whether human rights should be considered universal or culturally relative has come a long way. In 1947, when the Commission on Human Rights considered proposals for formulating a declaration on basic human rights, the American Anthropological Association submitted a statement expressing concern about the universality of the proposed declaration. The association’s main argument was that ideas about rights and wrongs and good and evil that exist in one society are incompatible with the ideas …

Education And Citizenship In Diverse Societies, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The question of the state's role in the control of sponsorship of education is addressed in the light of liberal political principles designed to keep peace and enforce toleration in culturally diverse societies. Some contemporary, self-described liberal philosophers argue for a much more substantial educational role for the state than liberal principles will really allow. Brian Barry's argument for that role assumes that the state can prescribe answers to controversial questions regarding the truth and the good life in which a truly liberal state would take no interest. Stephen Macedo is more accommodating to religious diversity than Barry, but his …

The Social And Economic Status Of Eritrean Women: Advances And Reversals, Asgedet Stefanos

Trotter Review

In assessing the post-independence status of women in Eritrea, I want to pose two questions. First, how did the leadership of the national liberation movement, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), embark on promoting women's emancipation, given the attitudes firmly rooted in the minds of both men and women that ran counter to the idea of an emancipated woman? Secondly, what changes were established in Eritrean women's public and personal lives during the national liberation struggle — in politics, economics, and the social realm?

This is an excerpt of the speech delivered by Asgedet Stefanos at the 20th Anniversary of …

Rethinking Clientelism: Demands, Discourses And Practices In Contemporary Brazil, Robert Gay

Sociology Faculty Publications

It has been more than a decade since the Brazilian military relinquished its hold on the electoral process. Effective democratic governance has yet to be established, however. Traditional elites still dominate the scene, political parties remain weak, fragmented and unstable, and public administrations continue to pay lip-service to demands for citizens' rights. The source of these various problems of democratic governance is, by all accounts, the widespread practice of exchanging votes for favours, otherwise known as clientelism. In this essay, I argue that clientelism is an essential and endearing feature of the Brazilian political landscape. I also argue, however, that …

Introduction: Social Change In Egypt, 1977-1997, Mark C. Kennedy

Faculty Book Chapters

The second of two issues, this volume covers aspects of Egyptian society. Contributors include: Donald Cole, Soraya Altorki, Asef Bayat, Eric Denis, Enid Hill, Ziad Bahaeddin, Malak Rouchdy, Linda Herrera, Jim Napoli, Hussein Amin, Mahmoud al-Lozy, Cynthia Nelson, and Shahnaz Rouse.

The Challenge Of Human Development In Arab Countries, Nader Fergany

Faculty Book Chapters

[abstract not provided]

The Dominican Republic-- After The Caudillos, Emelio Betances, Hobard Spalding

Sociology Faculty Publications

The Dominican Republic played a major role in the early history of NACLA, and it is therefore fitting that the country be re-examined in one of NACLA's thirtieth anniversary issues. It was largely in response to the 1965 U.S. invasion and occupation of the island that a group of academics, clergy and radical activists organized a 1966 conference called the North American Congress on Latin America. The "congress" stayed together beyond the conference, and in February, 1967, began publishing the NACLA Newsletter, which evolved into today's NACLA Report on the Americas.

U.S. Influences On Korean Education: Understructure, Imprint And Overlay, D. Russell Bailey

Library Commons

A sociohistorical analysis of American influence on Korean education philosophy and structures. The intent of this work is to "provide a frame of reference for knowledge transfer", categorize the influences, and subsequently critique them based on their substance and integrity.

The Great Plains Sit-In Movement, 1958-60, Ronald Walters

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In 1960, black youths conducted a "sit-in" in Greensboro, North Carolina to obtain the right to eat at a segregated lunch counter. Others quickly replicated sit-ins throughout the South and, just as quickly, the press labeled Greensboro the "first" sit-in. Historian David Levering Lewis, for instance, said: "There were not a few white southerners, and probably a majority of white northerners, who would have wished to say to the first sit-in students, as did the woman in the Greensboro Woolworth's, 'you should have done this ten years ago.'" Even data-oriented social scientists such as Doug McAdams portray the sit-ins as …

Urban Constraints, Political Imperatives: Environmental 'Design' In Singapore, Victor R. Savage, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

What lies at the heart of the continuing efforts at social education and engineering? We argue that they stem from a political elite which recognises the constraints facing Singapore and the need to deal with them at national level. Specifically, the government in Singapore has recognised the spatial constraints of an island-state and the dangers of a burgeoning population, particularly in relation to the need to sustain a viable urban ecosystem. They have therefore been conscientious in planning and population control. They have also stressed the importance of remaining economically viable in order to survive and an entire survival and …

Social Background And Bureaucratic Behavior In Egypt, Earl L. Sullivan, El Sayed Yassin, Ali Leila, Monte Palmer

Faculty Books

This study of the role of gender and religion in the Egyptian bureaucracy provides general background information pertaining to the three major topics of this book: bureaucratic behaviour, the role of women in Egyptian society and relations between Egypt's religious groups, the Muslims and the Copts. The author hypothesizes that the attitudes and behaviour of Egyptian bureaucrats will differ markedly on the basis of sex, but that the attitudes and behaviour of Coptic bureaucrats will not differ significantly from those of their Muslim counterparts. The two hypotheses were tested in reference to eight sets of attitudes and behaviour, viz. media …

(Review) Revolution At The Grassroots: Community Organizations In The Portuguese Revolution, Robert Gay

Sociology Faculty Publications

Reviews the book "Revolution at the Grassroots: Community Organizations in the Portuguese Revolution," by Charles Downs.

Law And Social Change: An Overview And Assessment, Ahmed Khalifa

Faculty Book Chapters

Many minds, multiple energies and much cooperation has gone into the creation and production of this monograph. Principally it is the outcome of a seminar on the theme of "Law and Social Change: Problems and Challenges" which was organized and co-sponsored within the general framework of the Open University Seminar Series by the Department of Sociology-Anthropology-Psychology of the American University in Cairo and the National Center for Sociological and Criminological Research. The Open University Seminar, held annually, is a forum through which members of the AUC community and interested persons from the larger Egyptian community can come together to express …

An Anthropological Note On Law And Development, Klaus F. Koch

Faculty Book Chapters

Many minds, multiple energies and much cooperation has gone into the creation and production of this monograph. Principally it is the outcome of a seminar on the theme of "Law and Social Change: Problems and Challenges" which was organized and co-sponsored within the general framework of the Open University Seminar Series by the Department of Sociology-Anthropology-Psychology of the American University in Cairo and the National Center for Sociological and Criminological Research. The Open University Seminar, held annually, is a forum through which members of the AUC community and interested persons from the larger Egyptian community can come together to express …