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Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

REVIEW ESSAY

Enjoyment and Ideology: Surplus-Enjoyment-A Guide for the Non-Perplexed Edward Sankowski and Betty Harris

BOOK REVIEW

Mette Lebech European Sources of Human Dignity: A Commented Anthology and On the Problem of Human Dignity: A Hermeneutical and Phenomenological Investigation Robert McNamara

DISCUSSION

Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue: Development Fund for Municipalities in the North of Kosovo Seb Bytyci

Objects Supporting/Resisting a Democracy and Resisting an Occupation: Two Sides of the Same Coin—Kosovo and The Occupied Territories Rory J. Conces

Notes From The Editor: Volume 13, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Review Essay: Enjoyment And Ideology Surplus-Enjoyment: A Guide For The Non-Perplexed Slavoj Žižek. London: Bloomsbury Academic. 2022. Pp. 400., Edward Sankowski, Betty J. Harris

International Dialogue

Slavoj Žižek’s Surplus-Enjoyment-A Guide for the Non-Perplexed is a difficult book. Reading it requires a different approach from what is usual with what seems to us more standardized philosophical or social scientific prose. Our approach initially at least no doubt assumes as our starting point a deploying of our shared norms, shaped by our backgrounds as U.S. based scholars aiming to advance dialogue with Žižek and some of the wide variety of authors with whom Žižek himself engages.

Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue: Development Fund For Municipalities In The North Of Kosovo, Seb Bytyci

International Dialogue

This article deals with the Development Fund for the northern municipalities, as a product of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. The existence of the Fund is largely ignored both by the parties and by the mediators, and there is little knowledge of it even by the citizens, although it is one of the pillars of the autonomy arrangements of the Kosovo Serbs.

Review: European Sources Of Human Dignity: A Commented Anthology Mette Lebech. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2019. Pp. 345. On The Problem Of Human Dignity: A Hermeneutical And Phenomenological Investigation Mette Lebech., Robert Mcnamara

International Dialogue

A coordinating feature of much contemporary discourse—philosophical and theological, social and cultural, political and legal—is the idea of human dignity. The sense of its necessity as an idea grounding and organizing thought, feeling, and action about the human being is shared across different and often otherwise contrary worldviews. But to what does the expression “human dignity” refer? What is human dignity? And why is it important? Anyone who has looked at the problem with anything more than a cursory glance knows that these are not easy questions, and Mette Lebech sets herself the task of attaining an answer in two …

La Curp No Sirve Para Nada: How The Curp And Other Temporary Documentation Fail To Protect The Human Rights Of Migrants In Transit Through Mexico, Harper Hoover

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This work concerns the use of temporary documentation by migrants in transit through Mexico, specifically an identification known as the Clave Única de Registro de Población (CURP.) In recent years, migrants have employed a strategy entailing applying for asylum in Mexico solely to obtain a temporary CURP, falsely believed to provide safe transit through Mexico. Past research on similar temporary documentation concludes that issuing permission to travel through the country is typically ineffective at providing safety from corruption and crime. Documentation also fails at providing reliable access to human rights guaranteed to all by the Mexican Constitution and Immigration Law …

Objects Supporting/Resisting A Democracy And Resisting An Occupation: Two Sides Of The Same Coin—Kosovo And The Occupied Territories, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

I thought I knew all there was to know about evocative objects, at least as much as I needed to know to talk about ordinary (political) ontology. But I was very wrong, as wrong as I could ever be. I didn’t know much about those objects. And maybe I still don’t, even after spending a chunk of my life in Bosnia and Kosovo and immersed in their ethnic divisions and enclaves. What I concluded from my Balkan experience was that since peace and democracy building were the ultimate goals for the region, the divisiveness of ethnic enclaves and the objects …

Shifting Tides: Egypt’S Unexpected Path After The 1973 War, Ali E. Hillal Dessouki

Faculty Journal Articles

What prompted Egypt to move from a socialist state to a capitalist one, from Israel’s adversary to its reluctant diplomatic partner, from being a country with a strong national identity to a deeply divided one? The answer is war.

The 1973 War And Its Aftermath: The View From Damascus, Murhaf Jouejati

Faculty Journal Articles

Syrian gains in the conflict were elusive as an unilateral strategic move from the Egyptians put them in jeopardy.

United States Diplomacy And The 1973 War, Daniel Kurtzer

Faculty Journal Articles

Before the October 1973 War, U.S. administrations showed little interest in trying to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. The war was pivotal in launching U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East and kick-starting serious steps toward Egyptian-Israeli peacemaking.

Miscalculations And Legacies: A Look Back At The 1973 War Half A Century On, David Makovsky

Faculty Journal Articles

Historians continue to debate “what if” scenarios about the pivotal conflict which reshaped the Middle East.

The 1973 October War And The Soviet Union, Vitaly Naumkin, Vasily Kuznetsov

Faculty Journal Articles

The Soviets tried to work out viable policies to deal with the fallout of the October War and Egypt’s pivot to the West.

Gaza Conflict Cascading Effects: The Rafah Question, Maryam El-Prince

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Ringside Seat To Real-Time Radicalization, Lawrence Pintak

Faculty Journal Articles

Research on radicalization finds that exposure to violence leads to further violence. Israel’s military campaign has made Gaza a “living Hell.”

Failures Of International Law And Violence In Gaza, Abigail Flynn

Faculty Journal Articles

The recent attacks on Gaza have raised important questions regarding the effectiveness of international law in preventing violence.

‘I Just Wish Palestinians Would Disappear’, Geoffrey Aronson

Faculty Journal Articles

The war being fought today offers the latest evidence that the brutal reality of Palestinian dispossession has changed little in the decades since Israel’s founding.

Biden Aims To Contain Violence In Israel/Palestine. His Policy May Be Stoking It Instead, Shibley Telhami

Faculty Journal Articles

Biden’s recent attempts at deescalation do not challenge or overturn decades of America enabling Israel’s violent occupation of Palestine. Instead, Biden has continued to systematically dismantle any non-violent avenues for Palestinian resistance while strengthening the militant Israeli far right.

Delivering The Palestinians To Israel: The Lasting Effects Of The 1973 War On The Palestinian Question, Khaled Elgindy

Faculty Journal Articles

In the years following the creation of Israel, the United States became the game master of the Arab-Israeli peace process. For Palestinians, this meant that they would not have a seat at the table for decades to come.

October 1973: Memoires Of A Soldier And Scholar, Abdelmonem Said Aly

Faculty Journal Articles

Reflections on how I experienced the war, first as a student-activist, then as a soldier, and later as a political scientist.

Israel And The United States Did Not See The 1973 War Coming, Zaki Shalom

Faculty Journal Articles

Israel’s mistaken pre-war assumptions about the 1973 War caused it to fail to foresee the potential outbreak of a war with Egypt and Syria. What were these calculations based on and why did the United States follow suit?

Desapariciones De Migrantes En La Frontera: Un Análisis De Factores Influyentes, Reyna Krystal Blakeman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La migración latinoamericana a los Estados Unidos ha sido prevalente durante casi un siglo. Con una cantidad cada vez mayor de migrantes cruzando la frontera, las medidas de la Patrulla Fronteriza se vuelven más estrictas mientras pasan los años. Pero las consecuencias de estas regulaciones han sido fatales para los migrantes, y han resultado en un aumento en la cantidad de muertes y desapariciones de migrantes. Sin embargo, se ha realizado poca investigación sobre el tema de las desapariciones de migrantes, lo que resulta en que los desafíos que enfrentan los migrantes al cruzar la frontera sean ignorados por los …

Unveiling The Impact: Mexico's Decree On Genetically Modified Corn And Its Ramifications On Food Security, Lauren Mcshea

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research delves into the repercussions of Mexico's presidential decree in late 2020, which imposed a ban on the human consumption of genetically modified (GM) corn by January 2024. In a trade dispute under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the decree has sparked tensions between Mexico and the United States, particularly concerning the disruption of GM corn exports. Beyond trade dynamics, the study aims to address the broader impact on Mexico's food security landscape, exploring the intricate connections between the ban and various factors, including agricultural practices, economic implications, and shifts in the corn market dynamics. This research seeks to …

Scouring For Meaning, And Hope, In The Rubble Of Gaza, Karim Haggag, Firas Al-Atraqchi

Faculty Journal Articles

The latest war in Gaza has shocked the world by its sheer violence, and the potential to escalate into a full-blown regional conflict. Worst of all has been the international community’s deafening silence.

Visualizing Affective Democracy: Learning Community In China And Taiwan Through Images Of Foreigners, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In the past few years, cross-strait relations have been in the news again, especially in terms of China’s hard power reunification strategy and its sharp power influence operations. Indeed, much ink has been spilled about what lessons Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Taiwan’s presidential election in January 2024 has also led to increased analysis on Beijing’s use disinformation, misinformation, and other influence operations to favor candidates more friendly to the PRC. Indeed, Chinese military’s daily testing of Taiwan’s air and sea defense is both a hard power and a sharp power strategy because …

Motivations, Policies And Performance: A Review Of China’S Culture ‘Going Out’ Strategy, Jihua Yang, David Ocon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Few countries have advanced their culture globally as China has done in the last two decades with its culture ‘going out’ strategy. Promoting cultural goods and services overseas and fostering cultural exchanges, the strategy is also part of the country’s efforts to advance its soft power abroad. Broadly, there are two contrasting perspectives on the strategy’s performance. Because of its stability and financial muscle, local analysts generally praise it, while the overarching official involvement provokes suspicion in some international contexts. This article provides a neutral assessment of the implementation, achievements, and impact of China’s culture ‘going out’ strategy, investigating its …

Progress Reimagined: A Generation Z Perspective On Belfast In Relation To The Unsdgs., Lucy Love Haman, Rebecca F. Macleod, Emilee E. Ernster, Camryn Moore, Erin Miller, Daron Baltazar, Ricardo Jackson

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This research explores a contemporary outsider view of Belfast, through the eyes of Generation Z visiting college students, in relation to how three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are carried out (Good Health and Well-Being, Climate Action, and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). To learn through firsthand accounts, the researchers utilized ethnographic and phenomenological methods, as interacting with locals to gather community inputs, surveying different groups in the city, Abstract: recording quotes said by citizens and displayed at billboards, and For Peer Review applying personal sensory experiences. It was found that a political deadlock plays a major role in the …

The Provenances And Postscripts Of 1989, Jokubas Salyga

Political Science Faculty Publications

The books under review exemplify some of the finest recent work on the historically informed political economy of Central and Eastern Europe. While different in their conceptual frameworks and geographical foci, the titles converge in the advancement of nuanced and convincing arguments, displaying both theoretical acuity and empirical depth to great effect. Bartel, Fabry, and Pula all share a resolute dedication to illuminating the under-explored provenances of neoliberalism and/or globalization in the region, that predate the annus mirabilis of 1989. Their contributions situate the ‘Eastern bloc’ states within the contours of evolving global political economy and the existential crises engulfing …

The Complex Intersections Of Being A Latina Immigrant Survivor: How Multiple Systems Of Oppression Enable Intimate Partner Violence, Zulema Aleman

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The realm of intimate partner violence education, prevention and awareness is one that is currently growing. Even though there are improvements happening, there are communities being left out of both the movement and body of research. This paper aims at connecting the stories of undocumented Latinas who are survivors of intimate partner violence in the central coast of California with the current body of research on immigrant survivors. In doing so, it seeks to explore the areas where the body of research matches the stories of these women in the central coast of California and where there is a lack …

How Propaganda Affects Public Opinion In China: Evidence From The First Phase Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Dan Chen

Political Science Faculty Publications

During a national crisis, can state propaganda shift public opinion, and if so, in what direction? Existing studies show that the effects of state propaganda on public opinion in China are mixed. Analysing data from an online survey experiment conducted during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, this article finds that the Chinese public responded positively to propaganda that promoted Xi Jinping’s leadership, when these messages included text as well as images that showed Xi being compassionate during his visit to Wuhan. However, when textual propaganda focused on familiar narratives, such as Xi’s leadership, international praise …

Demographic Structure And Voting Behaviour During Democratization: Evidence From Malaysia's 2022 Election, Sebastian Carl Dettman, Thomas B. Pepinsky

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Malaysia’s fifteenth general election (GE15) was a milestone in the country’s democratization process, with new parties and political movements competing with established political coalitions. In this paper, we investigate how Malaysia’s cleavage structure—a central feature of Malaysia’s prior authoritarian regime—shapes electoral competition in a newly competitive political environment. We find that the “race paradigm” (Milner, Embong, and Tham 2014) remains central to explaining party strategy and coalition behavior in GE15, but that more democratic competition has increased the salience of regional differences—both between peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, and within peninsular Malaysia itself. Our analysis reveals the structural foundations of …