Political Science Commons^™

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 …

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.

Music, The Non-Governmental Actor Changing Political Policy: Have We Failed The Power Of Music?, Alex Hershey

Senior Honors Projects

Music, the Non-Governmental Actor Changing Political Policy: Have We Failed the Power of Music? People learn that making music as well as listening to it frees them from the toil and tedium of a life dominated by the privileged and the powerful. Music means trouble for those who would own and control it as they perpetuate injustice and suffering. – Mat Callahan It is believed that the pen is mightier than the sword, but is the guitar playing vocalist, a beatnik, mightier than the M-16 machinegun and an American political oligarchy? To find the answer to this question we must …

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 …

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 …

Naccs 34th Annual Conference, National Association For Chicana And Chicano Studies

NACCS Conference Programs

Sociological and Ideological Shifts: Chicana/o Migratory Movements and Immigration Passages
April 4-7, 2007
Fairmont Hotel

Toward A Dialogue With The West: The Use Of Eliot's Modernism In Al-Sayyab's City Poetry, Saddik M. Gohar

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Throne Names, Pen Names, Horse Names, And Field Names: A Look At The Significance Of Name Change In The Ethiopian Political Sphere, Krista Mehari

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the motivations for name changes and the purposes the chosen names accomplish, specifically relating to the Ethiopian political sphere. Throne names and horse names were used solely by the emperors and the ruling class. Those name changes exalted the bearer by either stating his authority or connecting him to divine power. Pen names and field names were used by people not in power to hide their identity from people with the power to harm them. Although the purpose of those name changes was to disguise, the names that were chosen identified the bearer with another person or …

Human Rights Education: The Third Leg Of Post-Conflict/Transitional Justice, David E. Guinn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Emerging out of the same foment of war and violence that led to the recognition of international human rights, post-conflict or transitional justice represents one of the most important political developments in efforts to advance human civilization to arise during the course of the twentieth century.

© David E. Guinn. All rights reserved.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL …

Profiles Of Key Democracy And Good Governance Ngos/Agencies, Aaron Stuvland

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

Often referred to as an infrastructure or a‘democracy bureaucracy’, the worldwide net- work of democracy promotion and good governance non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations (IOs), and bilateral agencies is immense and multi- faceted. Although they share a general mission of promoting democracy, each operates with varying goals and foci ^ and somewhat different definitions of democracy. Nevertheless, they share many common ends: free and fair elections, a responsive and participatory citizenry, rule of law, and transparent institutions.

The Suits That Counted: The Judicialization Of Presidential Elections, Charles Anthony Smith, Christopher Shortell

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The litigation resolving the 2000 election received extensive attention, but there was also an increase in pre-election litigation in 2000, suggesting an increased reliance on courts even prior to Bush v. Gore. Did this trend of judicialization of presidential elections in the United States accelerate in 2004? To answer this question, we collect data on pre-election litigation from 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. Our findings show that the rate of prospective litigation increased dramatically in the 2004 election, even accounting for state and federal electoral reform from 2001-2004. Beyond the increase in raw numbers, we find that the litigation was …

Religion, Politics, And Sugar: The Mormon Church, The Federal Government, And The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907 To 1921, Matthew C. Godfrey

All USU Press Publications

One famous target of Progressive Era attempts to rein in monopolistic big business was the eastern Sugar Trust. Less known is how federal regulators also tried to break monopoly control over beet sugar in the West by going after the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, a business supported and controlled by the Latter-day Saints church and run by Mormon authorities. As sugar beet agriculture boomed, the Mormon church's involvement led directly to monopolistic practices by Utah-Idaho Sugar and to federal investigations. Church leaders encouraged members, a majority population in much of the intermountain West, to patronize the company exclusively, as suppliers and …

Mccarthy Hearings, Paul Achter

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

What have become known as the “McCarthy hearings” refer to 36 days of televised investigative hearings led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954. After first calling hearings to investigate possible espionage at the Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, the junior senator turned his communist-chasing committee’s attention to an altogether different matter, the question of whether the Army had promoted a dentist who had refused to answer questions for the Loyalty and Security Board. The hearings reached their climax when McCarthy suggested that the Army’s lawyer, Joseph Welch, had employed a man who at one time …

Connecticut Government And Politics: An Introduction, Gary L. Rose

Sacred Heart University Press Books

Connecticut Government and Politics: An Introduction is a thoroughly revised and updated version of the author’s book, Connecticut Government at the Millennium (Sacred Heart University Press, 2001). Like the first edition, it is intended to introduce students and general readers to the historical development and current operation of Connecticut’s political system. Individual chapters explore constitutional history in “The Constitution State,” the transformation of Connecticut politics, the various mechanisms through which citizens can participate in political affairs, the structure and powers of the three branches of government, and the pivotal role of the mass media, newspapers in particular, in protecting the …

Radicalism In American Political Thought : Black Power, The Black Panthers, And The American Creed, Christopher Thomas Cooney

Dissertations and Theses

American Political Thought has presented somewhat of a challenge to many because of the conflict between the ideals found within the "American Creed" and the reality of America's treatment of ethnic and social minorities. The various forms of marginalization and oppression facing women, blacks, Native Americans, and Asian-Americans have been as much a part of the story of America as have been natural rights and the Constitution.

Taking this into account, this thesis is an effort to argue that the radicalism on display in the Black Panther Party, a group that emerged in the turmoil of the 1960' s, was …

Attacking The Body Politic: The Terroristin In 1970s German Media, Clare Bielby

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

In a 1977 special feature on female terrorism, the German weekly newsmagazine, Der Spiegel, published a photograph of a woman with a bomb strapped to her front, masquerading as a pregnant woman. This image perfectly encapsulates the "paradoxical" quality of the female terrorist, who instead of giving life takes it. Furthermore, if, according to Tamar Mayer, women are represented in national and cultural narratives as "the nation's social and biological womb," the threatening quality of such representations for the body politic of the nation starts to become clear. As Mayer asserts "an attack on these [female] bodies becomes an …

'I Hope He's Not Korean', Edward J.W. Park

Asian and Asian American Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

College Students And Voter Mobilization Campaigns : A Grounded Communication Theory For Increasing Political Efficacy And Involvement, Vanessa M. Robinson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examined which channels, messages, and sources were most effective in increasing political involvement among college students. Political participation among college students has decreased in every election since eighteen year- olds were given the right to vote. Numerous campaigns targeted to increase political participation among college students have been implemented but there is no evidence that these campaigns have been effective.

This study developed a grounded theory for increasing political participation among college students l;!ased on several focus group interactions. Students were asked to report on which channels, messages and sources they currently received political information from and were …

Joel R. Pruce On The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches And Documents From Ancient Times To The Present (Second Edition), By Micheline R. Ishay. New York, Ny: Routledge, 2007. 592pp., Joel R. Pruce

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches and Documents from Ancient Times to the Present (Second Edition), by Micheline R. Ishay. New York, NY: Routledge, 2007. 592pp.

The Roma: During And After Communism, Florinda Lucero, Jill Collum

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Roma are an interconnected ethnic and cultural group that migrated out of India more than ten centuries ago. In the Czech Republic, they may have been present since the 15th century. Although relations within Czech lands began honorably, they quickly disintegrated into enmity and within a century Czechs could kill the Roma with impunity. Legislation restricting Roma movement came about in 1927 with Law 117: the “Law on Wandering Gypsies,” which stated that the Roma were now required to seek permission to stay overnight in any given location. In the run-up to World War II, parallel restrictions to those …

Totalitarianism: The Case Of Turkmenistan, Hayden Gore

Human Rights & Human Welfare

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, Saparmurat Niyazov, the former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan and self-styled “Turkmenbashi” (Father of All Turkmen), became the country’s first president, quickly fashioning Turkmenistan into one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Declared president-for-life after a dubious parliamentary election in which he selected all of the candidates, Niyazov has created a Stalinistic personality cult to glorify his image and to solidify his control over the state. His “reforms” have outlawed political dissent, marginalized ethnic and religious minorities, gutted the public health system, and enforced a campaign …

Review Of Dripping Dry: Literature, Politics, And Water In The Desert Southwest, By David N. Cassuto, Cory Shaman

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Concentrating primarily on the environmental history of the last 100 years in the American Southwest, David N. Cassuto examines what he suggests is the nexus of political dispute regarding water in the region: the intractable tension between the ideologies of reclamation and restoration. After an initial chapter on John Wesley Powell and the 19th century origins of the hydraulic West, the book proceeds with an exploration of four representative texts in order to demonstrate what Cassuto has identified as the successive stages of the reclamation movement: "At the beginning of the twentieth century, Mary Austin believed in spite …

Naccs 33rd Annual Conference, National Association For Chicana And Chicano Studies

NACCS Conference Programs

Linking Local and Global Struggles for Social Justice: Transnational Chicana and Chicano Studise
June 28-July 2006
Hotel Fénix and Hotel Morales

Draft Effects Report: Potential Transfer Of Garrison Project Lands Within The Fort Berthold Reservation Boundaries, Pursuant To The Fort Berthold Mineral Restoration Act, Us Army Corps Of Engineers, Omaha District, Nebraska

US Government Documents Related to Indigenous Nations

This report, dated May 2006, from the United States (US) Army Corps of Engineers (Omaha District, Nebraska) explains the potential transfer of unused lands from the Garrison Dam Project back to the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Reservation. The land transfer proposed to return a portion of land out of the 153,000 acres taken by the US Government for the construction of the Garrison Dam. The authority of this transfer is granted by the Fort Berthold Mineral Restoration Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-602). This report is broken into four sections: Introduction, Background, Proposed Determination, Public Comment and Response. …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 81, No. 40 [44], Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. Articles in this issue:

• Paul, Corey. Preacher, Students Clash – Donnie Morris
• Coulter, Amber. Regents to Vote on Fee
• Coulter, Amber. Rapid Change Coming for Western Leadership - John Petersen, Sherry Reid, Elmer Gray
• Harrell, Bobby. Singing Opera Is Music Professor’s ‘Quintessential Art’ – Robert Pope
• Paul, Corey. Death Investigation Continues – Allison Carter
• Sad Reminder – Allison Carter
• Maggert, Terry – PETA Not That Great
• Lucas, Brandon. Student Government Association is Useless
• Tetreault, Jeff. Immigrants Should Stay
• Miller, Stephen. Police Officers Should Slow Down
• Schmidt, Tara. Ryan Dillion’s …

There's No "I" In Team: Individualism, Private Property, And Propriety In Cicero's De Officiis, Alex C. Parrish

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Three Kinds Of Culture In Mainstream Civilizations, Kazutake Miyahara

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Socialism's Muse, Naomi J. Andrews

History

The disappointment of feminist aspirations in 1848 nevertheless demands more thoroughgoing explanation than its impracticality in politically charged times. We must not lose track of the fact that during the July Monarchy a truly remarkable intellectual revolution took place. For the shy twenty years of Louis Philippe’s reign the formerly unthinkable became relatively commonplace: women’s equality came to be a central tenet of the most avant-garde intellectual and political movement of the day, romantic socialism. Given its integral importance to the earliest pronouncements of socialist philosophy, the totality of feminism’s neglect during the moment of political opportunity afforded to socialism …

The Reinvention Of Nato, Robert M. Antis

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

In 2006, NATO is operating well out of area and conducting missions beyond the collective defense limits of its founding Treaty. NATO increasingly supports humanitarian relief operations, while also engaged in Afghanistan, the Mediterranean, and African crisis spots.

These changes provide the reason to examine the thesis: only if NATO is able to effectively transform will it be able to continue in its role as the primary European security institution. This transformation of the Alliance is a process, and one that could yet come to an untimely conclusion following any crisis. How NATO has adapted so far, and the potential …

Nicaragua's Survival: Choices In A Neoliberal World, Stanley G. Hash Jr.

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

In January 1990 the Nicaraguan electorate chose to abandon the failing Sandinista Revolution in favor of the economic neoliberal rubric. However, since 1990 Nicaragua's economy has been stagnant. Today it is one of the four poorest states in Latin America having been one of the wealthiest before 1975.

The purpose of this work is to explain Nicaragua's poor performance since 1990. The hypothesis is that domestic independent variables are central to recovery and are the underlying causes of Nicaragua's failure to fully recover.

The abuses of the Somozas' ancien régime before the 1979 revolution are well documented; less well documented …