Political Science Commons^™

Righting Past, Present And Future Wrongs, Rhona Smith

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Three legal issues are raised by the centerpiece of this month’s Roundtable: Does the legal definition of torture include “enhanced interrogation techniques”? What are the legal responsibilities of a State when torture is committed by its agents? and What should the State do now to prevent future violations of human rights? In other words, one must characterize the actions of the past, ameliorate the damage in the present, and prevent a recurrence in the future.

June Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Red Cross Torture Report: What It Means.” by Mark Danner. The New York Review of Books. April 30, 2009.

Response To Mark Danner’S “The Red Cross’ Torture Report: What It Means”, Charli Carpenter

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Danner’s NY Review of Books treatise on torture calls our attention to many significant issues, but in his key argument he is critically wrong.

Torture—And Our Broader Understanding Of Human Rights, Mark Gibney

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Like most other human rights scholars, I am appalled at the idea that those people in the Bush White House who designed the administration’s policy on torture (but calling it something else) will in all likelihood go unpunished. In my view, the law is clear on this matter: those who directed and/or carried out torture must be held accountable for their actions. However, rather than focusing on the issue of accountability, I will use the issue of torture to make a broader point about how we have come to conceptualize the extent and scope of a state’s human rights obligations.

The Moral High Ground In An Age Of Vulnerability, Tyler Moselle

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Mark Danner’s New York Review of Books piece on torture in conjunction with John Nichols’ comment on the Bush administration, outline moral, legal and political problems related to the global war on terrorism and the ascendancy of the American imperial presidency. Most people seem to be repulsed by the idea of torture but are not morally committed enough or fully dedicated to prevent it from being employed to defend their way of life. Torture is a policy decision predicated on fear, self-defense, and vulnerability in an age of globalized insurgency: one way to respond is to take the moral high …

The Samurai's Rebirth - Japan's Increasing "Offensive" Security Capabilities, Patrick Bright

Political Science Theses and Capstones

This thesis studies the increasing "offensive" nature of Japanese security capabilities in nation which has major restrictions on military capability. There are regional tensions in East Asia that have the potential to escalate to armed conflict. Other countries in the region have increased their levels of armament but how has Japan reacted? I look at three major acquisitions by Japan that have created controversy, then examine the role public opinion has towards issues of defense, including external and domestic considerations. Two major data sets on public opinion, the Global Attitudes Project and the Asia Barometer, are used. I find that …

Domestic Radical Islamic Insurgency By Ones And Twos And The Politics Of Self-Delusion, Robert J. Bunker, Hakim Hazim

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The contention being made is that governmental officials are downplaying a threat to the US homeland—that compromised of a small, yet virulent, component of domestic radical Islamic insurgency derived from the actions of one and two man cells. While a well intended policy, such actions may be in actuality setting up our nation for some sort of disaster down the road.

Violent Non-State Actors In 2030: Suggested Dutch Armed Forces Response, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Applying The Information Age Combat Model: Quantitative Analysis Of Network Centric Operations, Sean Deller, Shannon R. Bowling, Ghaith A. Rabadi, Andreas Tolk, Michael I. Bell

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

The nature of and the approach to command and control is evolving in order to meet the challenges of Information Age warfare. One of the main tasks of command and control is the arrangement of the assets within a combat force in order to ensure their ability to manage and exploit information. Connectivity between the various assets represents existence, capacity, reliability, and other attributes of links establishing the connectivity. The Information Age Combat Model was introduced by Cares in 2005 to contribute to the development of an understanding of the influence of connectivity on force effectiveness that can lead eventually …

Reconceptualizing The 2006 Qdr Threat Categories, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Projections of the future national-security environment are always laden with uncertainty and ambiguity. However, they help to serve an early-warning function concerning emergent threats and the nationalist capabilities that will be required to respond to them. With this in mind, I would like to offer a reconceptualization of the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR, threat categories by viewing these threat potentials through a modified perceptual lens.

Canada (En)Counters Terrorism: Us-Canada Relations And Counter-Terrorism Policy, Veronica Kitchen, Karthika Sasikumar

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the role of identity in shaping counter-terrorism policy in Canada. We show that identity functions in three ways: constitutively by defining the range of choices a state is likely to consider; strategically by being a resource to buttress arguments based in economic or sovereignty interests; and heuristically by using identity as a marker for risk. This three-faceted explanation helps explain why, despite close economic, social, and political links between Canada and the United States which might lead us to expect Canada to follow American counter-terrorism policy, Canadian counter-terrorism policy often diverges from the American lead.

Interview And Interrogation: A Perspective And Update From The Usa, Randy Borum, Michael Gelles, Steven Kleinman

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Identifying The Postmodern/Cold War Interlock— Soliciting A Security Studies Pedagogy Au Courant, Michael R. Mcrill

Global Tides

One scholarly faction contends that the arenas of security studies and international politics have remained essentially the same post-World War II. The other sees the 1960s as illuminating a fundamental paradigm shift concerning security studies. The latter group asserts that the majority of security concerns has either been dropped or sharply shifted post-Cold War. Since then, studies have expanded to encompass a scholarly plea for broader definitions of national security. The advent and increase of nonmilitary threats has led many to argue that these threats must be considered within the arena of national security concerns, and other scholars assert that …

Cuba, U.S. Naval Blockade Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview and analysis of the U.S. naval blockade of Cuba during this conflict.

Explaining The Deadlock Of Military Modernization In Taiwan During 2001 To 2007: A Political-Economic Analysis, Pei-Shiue Hsieh

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tries to explain why the Taiwanese have postponed several critical defense plans for seven years while China's threat toward Taiwan is increasing year by year. Many observers and scholars relate the deadlock over arms procurement in Taiwan to domestic political struggles since the DPP is not the majority party in the Legislative Yuan and opposition parties, such as the Kuomintang (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP), have repeatedly boycotted President Chen Shui-bian's policies. However, I found that domestic politics is insufficient for explaining such a deadlock. Rather, the U.S.China- Taiwan triangular relationship, including the variation of the …

A Battle Of Wills: Examining The Religious Factor In Hizbullah's 2006 Ground Engagements With Israel, Arwa Salah Mahmoud

Archived Theses and Dissertations

[abstract not provided]

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

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, …

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 …

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 …

November Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Foreign Policy Myths Debunked." The Nation. October 6, 2008.

China-Russia Security Relations: Strategic Parallelism Without Partnership Or Passion?, Richard Weitz Dr.

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

This report argues that, although Chinese-Russian relations have improved along several important dimensions, security cooperation between Beijing and Moscow has remained limited, episodic, and tenuous. The two governments support each other on select issues but differ on others. Since these interests conflict as well as coincide, the relationship is not necessarily moving in an anti-American direction. Although no action undertaken by these two great powers is insignificant and Washington must continue to monitor carefully developments in Beijing and Moscow, thus far their fitfully improving ties have not presented a major security challenge to the United States or its allies. Nevertheless, …

Global And Functional Strategic Issues, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Laser Weapons: An Emerging Threat, Robert J. Bunker, Dan Lindsay

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Laser and beam weapons have been the stuff of science fiction lore for many years. Good science fiction, however, is based on some kind of science fact and, if done properly, will become less implausible over time. This now is occurring with lasers--both when used in an improvised weaponry role and when produced as dedicated laser weapons.

Convergence: The Changing Missions Of Police And The Military, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The continued convergence of policing and military missions represents the new world in which we increasingly find ourselves. The need for such convergence can be explained at both the operational and strategic levels of analysis. This document will use four conceptual figures to aid understanding of the convergence.

Debat Ketiga: Memikirkan Kembali Keilmuan Hubungan Internasional, Aryani Kristianti, Musa Maliki

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

This article will argue that Third Debate is the 'revolution turn' in the study of international relations. There are some explanations to conduct this argument: the description of the history of international relations thought and epistemological problem. This illustration will lead us to understand that there is a deeply dynamic debate in philosophy circumstances. We can not close the eyes to this debate otherwise we will be stucked and trapped in the dogmatism, stagnatism and ideology. Epistemological problem of philosophy is one of the foundations of the entire big problem that should be discussed. From epistemological scrutiny, this article believes …

Thugs And Drugs: The Terrorists And Drug Networks Of The Islamic Movement Of Uzbekistan, Ian Nash

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Recent analyses of terrorist groups reveal their dependency on complex logistical, financial, and operational relationships with other groups. Advantaged by the technological advancements of the last two decades, many terrorist and criminal organizations are now linked through complicated networks. Therefore, experts dedicated to uncovering and unraveling terrorist strategy, can easily get lost in the scattered patterns of today’s terrorism. A web-like structure allows for flexible, though well-connected leadership, and widespread recruitment opportunity. One recent terrorist group that has benefited from network organization is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The IMU was a formidable group because of its experienced and …

Immigration: An Escalator To The American Dream Nicaraguans’ Experiences With Immigration To The United States In The Midst Of The War On Terror, Allison Koenker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

What Are America’S Obligations To Iraq After An Unjust War?, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Since the goal of a just war is to restore a political condition of peace and justice, and since allowing a just war is always a mournful concession to the reality of injustice, a country that wins a war has post-bellum obligations to advance the common good within the losing nation and among the community of nations. It has the moral duty to make up for the damage it has caused, even if it was justified in causing that damage. (Note that the idea of a "just" war is not that war is a good in itself, but that it …

Correspondence: Does Terrorism Ever Work? The 2004 Madrid Train Bombings, William Rose, Rysia Murphy

Government and International Relations Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.