Political Science Commons^™

A Survey Of Terrorism And Human Rights In Uganda, Arika Long

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Tragically, Uganda is a primary example of a country dominated by terror and human rights violations. In a 2006 interview with Integrated Regional Information Networks IRIN, the news department of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland, called the conflict in Uganda “the worst form of terrorism in the world.” Defining terrorism as indiscriminate violence against civilians, he declares that nowhere in the world is there a more concentrated area where so many people are being terrorized, and have been for such a long period of time. According to …

Chechnya: Human Rights Issues, Latife Bulur

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Chechnya is a country plagued by terrorism and human rights abuses. A primary source of these issues is the unsettled situation between local insurgents and the Russian military. This conflict, increasing in magnitude over time, makes it incredibly difficult to negotiate the terms of Chechnya’s independence perpetuating the crisis. Rising violence fuels Russia’s frustration in addressing the conflict with Chechen groups. Russia has and continues to employ various tactics to minimize the violence, but such tactics have all so far been unsuccessful.

Civil Society And Human Rights, Ken Bonneville

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A dynamic civil society is essential to a functioning democracy. After the fall of the Soviet Union there was hope that Russia could create a robust civil society to compliment its burgeoning democracy, but 15 years after the fall neither occurrence appears to be the case. Instead of an open society, Russian civil society faces challenges of oppression, threats of violence, an overbearing bureaucracy, and a constitution open to interpretation. The following research outlines some of the obstacles facing Russia’s civil society and addresses how the government is restricting civil society functions.

Disability Rights, Annika Johnson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Disability rights are often ignored in discussions of human rights. Recently, however, scholars and activists have begun producing a body of literature on disability rights in Russia and the former Soviet bloc states. Much of the literature focuses on children’s rights with an emphasis on the right to inclusive education. The literature addressing adult issues includes articles considering civil society, civil rights, and community integration. Finally, several articles address the intersection of disability rights with gender rights and ethnic minority rights.

Gender And Human Rights, Lisa Weilminster

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Russia’s historical transition from a communist society to a system of democracy and free market practices has resulted in major social changes affecting the rights of men and women. Analysis of gender and human rights in Russia requires an evaluation of the changing social relations within post-Soviet society, which are shaped by the complex factors of ethnicity, economic class, gender norms, and the role of the state in shaping present gender inequities that hinder the realization of universal human rights. Looking particularly at how gender issues relate to changing identities, employment opportunities, health care and conditions, and public and private …

Violations Of Human Rights In The Russian Military, Cathy Smith

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 2005, an estimated 450 deaths were caused by injuries due to internal military violence. The degradation inflicted on Russian soldiers within their regime necessitates reformation by the government and implementation of resolutions. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian military has been experiencing heightened levels of personnel decline despite the compulsory draft. The prestige that the Soviet Army of the 1950s received through the late 1980s is dwindling rapidly. Despite the military code of conduct, today’s army is afflicted with perpetual violations of human rights. For the future of the Russian military, extensive action must include systemic …

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 …

Sudan: A Survey Of Terrorism And Human Rights, Arika Long

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Sudan is a primary example of a country dominated by terror and human rights violations. Upon the release of Amnesty International’s 2007 annual report, Secretary General Khan described the continuing conflict in Sudan's Darfur region as a “bleeding wound on the world’s conscience.” In the report, the authors declare that the world has been “impotent” in the face of major crises like Darfur. They state that policies linked to the “War on Terror” are creating a more polarized and dangerous world, with grave effects in Sudan. In addition to the terror and human rights violations permeating the North, frustration also …

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 …

Ethnic Conflict, Kristina Libby

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has experienced high levels of ethnic conflict with regard to exit claims by former satellite states that no longer want to be part of the federation. Exit claims often antagonize the state. However, political leaders of titular ethnicities maximize ethnic revivals to keep traditions alive, and to minimize the amount of exclusion vis-à-vis the center. Massive human rights violations have resulted because of misperceptions between the center and the periphery, especially in Chechnya, the Volga-Ural’s Region and Eastern Siberia.

The Health Crisis In Russia, Christine Danton

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A health crisis has emerged in Russia due to declining health and inadequate health care. The crisis is so severe that the term “disappearing population” has been applied to Russia due to a high death rate, low birth rate, and low life expectancy among its people. These factors continue to worsen due to inefficiency and a lack of resources throughout the health care system. The government has been slow to respond to the current crisis, often ignoring calls to reform the system and sometimes passing inappropriate measures. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and medical professionals report there is an urgent need to …

Violations Of Human Rights During Military Operations In Chechnya, Federico Sperotto

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights concerning violations of human rights law during armed conflict has been extended after the first decisions on cases arose from violations, committed during the war in Chechnya between 1999 and 2000. In the words of the Court, at that time the situation called for exceptional measures, in order to regain control over the Republic and suppress an illegal armed insurgency. The Court has been ready to admit those measures, including the deployment of army units equipped with heavy combat weapons, military aviation and artillery, were necessary to counter the aggressiveness of …

The Scientific Study Of Judicial Activism, Stefanie A. Lindquist, Frank B. Cross

Scholarship@WashULaw

Claims of judicial activism are common, from both the right and the left, but they are seldom scrutinized closely. Prior tests of judicial activism have involved simply counting the number of cases in which justices vote to invalidate statutes. This data provides a rough guide but omits any consideration of the judicial legitimacy of the statute - a decision to strike down a plainly unconstitutional statute is appropriate judicial behavior. To provide a better test, we adjust the count of statutory invalidations for each justice of the Burger Court, based upon the degree to which the votes show a consistent …

Not Just Doctrine: The True Motivation For Federal Incorporation And International Human Rights Litigation, Daniel Abebe

Faculty Scholarship

The legal status of international human rights litigation under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) has been the subject of much debate, culminating in the Supreme Court's decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004). The debate has been almost exclusively doctrinal and has focused on the Judiciary Act of 1789, the historical treatment of the law of nations as general or federal common law, the evolution of the Supreme Court's international law jurisprudence, and the integration of customary international law (CIL) into the domestic legal system.

This Article argues that the focus on doctrine masks underlying international relations …

To Condone Or Condemn? Regional Enforcement Actions In The Absence Of Security Council Authorization, Monica Hakimi

Faculty Scholarship

The U.N. Charter establishes that regional arrangements may not take enforcement actions without authorization from the Security Council. Yet the international community does not always enforce this Charter rule. Major international actors repeatedly tolerate deviations from it even as they assert that it allows no exceptions. This Article examines that practice, arguing that two different legal systems govern enforcement actions taken by regional arrangements. One system is reflected in the Charter text and publicly endorsed by major international actors. The second, more nebulous system is based on expectations and demands in the absence of Security Council authorization. Under this second …

The Race To The Center And Other Lessons Of Globalization, Jagdish N. Bhagwati

Faculty Scholarship

An Interview with Kenta Tsuda, New York, NY, 1 June 2006.

]agdish Bhagwati is a professor of economics and law at Columbia University and senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. His publications include The Economics of Underdeveloped Countries and In Defense of Globalization. He is the founder of the Journal of International Economics and Economics & Politics.

Historical Background: Evolution Of The International Criminal Law, Individual Criminal Accountability And The Idea Of A Permanent International Court, Cenap Cakmak

Human Rights & Human Welfare

© Cenap Cakmak. 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 for any paper posted here, nor will they be responsible for notifying others if the URL is changed or the paper is taken off the site. Electronic copies of this paper may not be posted on any other website without express permission of the author.

The New Biopolitics: Autonomy, Demography, And Nationhood, Jedediah Purdy

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sarah Bania-Dobyns On New Terror, New Wars By Paul Gilbert. Washington, Dc: Georgetown University Press, 2003. 176pp., Sarah Bania-Dobyns

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

New Terror, New Wars by Paul Gilbert. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2003. 176pp.

The Hermeneutic Foundations Of Qualitative Research, Bernd Reiter

Government and International Affairs Faculty Publications

This article is the result of reflection that emerged while conducting qualitative field research on nationalism and exclusion in Portugal. The problem I confronted was when to stop interviewing. Stated more precisely, I was seeking an answer to the question of when one has collected enough empirical data to support or reject one’s hypotheses. This initial problem led me to a rather old discussion on the difference between natural and human sciences that has characterized German academic life for many years–in fact, since the early 19th century–producing some more heated phases of academic dispute, known as the Positivismusstreit in the …

"Why Clerk? What Did I Get Out Of It?", Stephen L. Wasby

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Religion, Law, And Judiciary In Modern India, Tahir Mahmood

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Freedom And Democratic Change In Spain, Javier Martinez-Torron

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining One's Own Concept Of Existence And The Meaning Of The Universe: The Presumption Of Liberty In Lawrence V. Texas, Mitchell F. Park

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reviewed Work: Understanding Institutional Diversity By Elinor Ostrom, Jonathan G.S. Koppell

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

No abstract provided.

Donors, Modellers And Development Brokers: The Pork Barrel Of Water Management Research, Julie Trottier

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Donors are shaping the mainstream research agenda concerning water management around the world. As large sums are made available within applied research programmes, many actors are competing to access them. This has led to the development of a new class of actors: the water research development brokers. Development brokers have mostly been studied in the developing world. They are usually defined as local actors who master the knowledge framework of donor organizations while their social positions and local networks allow them to act as intermediaries between the local population targeted by the donor and the donor itself. Such a position …

Tom Delay: Popular Constitutionalist?, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Expanding Development Through Human Rights, Dina H. Sherif

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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. …

The Good Governance Agenda Of International Development Institutions, Kerry L. Hofheimer

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

International development institutions (IDIs) have increasingly emphasized good governance and democratic reform in the provision of foreign assistance. This is especially apparent with respect to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank, European Union (EU), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This project describes and explains the good governance and democracy promotion program of each institution.

Previous studies have accounted for IDIs' good governance and democracy promotion in the 1990s in a generalized way. They have taken into consideration external international changes such as the fading of the Cold War and increased global interdependence between the North …