Political Science Commons^™

Insecure Hegemony: The Cultural Construction Of 'Righteous Retaliation' In The Hunt For Osama Bin Laden, Marisa Tramontano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines the American “authorized discourse” about the hunt for and killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to better understand it as an episode in American cultural hegemony maintenance. Through a structural hermeneutic analysis of presidential speeches and widely-circulated national strategy documents, high distribution news coverage, and entertainment media, alongside one-on-one interviews and focus groups, I illuminate the symbolic mechanics by which the death of Osama bin Laden was constructed as righteous and legitimate retaliatory violence in response to the unprompted, offensive violence of the 9/11 attacks.

Drawing on an array of theoretical approaches including classical sociologists Karl …

Quantitative Methods, Ahmed Elkhouly

Open Educational Resources

Quantitative Methods Syllabus

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Psy 3103/Pol 3101 (Political Psychology), Nicholas Juszczak

Open Educational Resources

This course is an exploration of political behavior from a psychological perspective, with special attention devoted to selected topics. What is Political behavior and what shapes it? Is it the situation in which we find ourselves, or our internal psychological makeup such as our beliefs and values? Perhaps neurology and physiology contribute as well? We will explore political psychology from within this situational-dispositional framework. Thus, we will look at behaviorism, obedience, personality, groupthink, cognition, affect, emotions and neuroscience as they relate to topics such as voting behavior, racism, terrorism, and more!

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Pol 1101 (American Government: Practices And Values), Elizabeth Stone

Open Educational Resources

This is an introductory course to the institutions, processes, and history of American government. We will review the foundational concepts and landmark debates in the development of the American political system and relate these concepts and debates to current political issues.

The Relationship Between Right-Wing Authoritarianism & Support For Military Action Among Millennial Voters, Jessica A. Nemet

Student Theses

This thesis examined the relationship between Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Militarism among millennial students at John Jay College. Previous studies have already suggested a relationship between RWA, heightened perceived individual or communal threat, and aggressive attitudes – especially towards outsiders. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to gauge the level of authoritarianism and that was endorsed by each subject and these RWA factor scores were contrasted between participants who endorsed Militarism as a viable U.S. foreign policy tactic and those who did not. Consistent with our hypothesis, results suggest that individuals who supported militarism as a viable means to solving international …

Civilization, Again!, Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Islamic Terrorism In The United States – The Association Of Religious Fundamentalism With Social Isolation & Paths Leading To Extreme Violence Through Processes Of Radicalization., Shay Shiran

Student Theses

This exploratory study focuses on identifying motivations for religious terrorism and Islamic terrorism in the United States in particular. Terrorism is a crime of extreme violence with the end purpose of political influence. This crime is challenging to encounter for its multi-faced characteristics, the unusual motivations of its actors, and their semi-militant conduct. The hypothesis of this study asserts that religious terrorists are radicalized by passing from fundamental to extreme devout agendas, caused by isolation from the dominant society, and resulted in high potential to impose those agendas by extreme violence. Under the theoretical framework of subculture in criminology, this …

Kang Teaches The Political Economics Of The Far East, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“All my life North and South Korea have been a divided country. Almost all young people in South Korea have to serve in the military. I felt that I needed to understand what is going on in the world—not only international relations, but political economy and social relations. I tried to figure it out, and that was the motivation. Another thing was my ignorance of international relations, especially political economy.”

That’s how Dr. Myung-koo Kang explains why he became the political economist he is today. After studying international relations at Seoul National University, he received a master’s and a doctoral …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Pol 3345 (Contemporary International Conflict), Aaron M. Zack

Open Educational Resources

The title of the course is Contemporary International Conflict; however, since significant political violence takes place within states and is conducted by non-state actors, the course will not confine itself to conflict between states. After first considering sovereignty and the parameters of violent conflict, we shall explore three subjects in particular depth: terrorism; the actual and potential impact of nuclear weapons on global conflict; and the risk of great power war between America and China. We will also discuss transnational criminal organizations.

Proposition 47 And Crime: A Difference In Differences Analysis Of Incarceration Rates And Crime Using Border Counties, Brian J. Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

California passed Proposition 47 by vote and changed the way the state punishes drug and theft. I find an increase in crime using a difference in differences model by computing the change in thefts with the change in inmates. This effect sides with anecdotal claims and disagrees with empirical studies.

Perceived Corruption In Ukraine: A National Analysis Using Individual Level Data From 2012-2014, Cody X. Weglinski

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship of perceived corruption in Ukraine and the factors that influence that perception. In particular, this paper investigates the idea that an influential Russian presence affects the perception of governmental corruption amongst Ukrainian business owners and managers.

Universal Alienation And The Real Subsumption Of Daily Life Under Capital: A Response To Hardt And Negri, David Harvey

Publications and Research

This contribution is part of a debate between Michael Hardt/Toni Negri and David Harvey on the occasion of Marx’s bicentenary (May 5, 2018). The discussion focuses on the question of what capitalism looks like today and how it can best be challenged. In this article, David Harvey responds to Hardt and Negri’s previous debate-contributions.

The Rise Of Right-Wing Populism In Poland: Comparative Analysis Of Social Structure And Party Strategy, Patrycja J. Koszykowska

Student Theses and Dissertations

Under the puzzling circumstances of a strong domestic economy and the relatively stable mainstream policymaking of the incumbents, Law and Justice (PiS), a right-wing populist party, momentously won the 2015 presidential and parliamentary elections in Poland. Using a comparative approach, the thesis examines the structural forces and policy dimensions/goals, which have provided the necessary conditions for the populist right-wing program to appeal to a wide variety of demographic groups, resulting in an electoral victory and to some degree in the redrawing of political and social boundaries. The conducted field study served as a hypothesis-generating exercise to gauge the voter sentiment …

Angelenos, Vivian Liang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of Los Angeles’s city myth on the lived realities of its minority populations. I assert that the abstract erasure of the city’s Mexican past is mirrored in the physical concealment and removal of its minority populations. This paper pays particular attention to the ways in which the city’s foundational myth is intertwined with both the racialization of Mexican-Americans in the early 20th century and the rising prominence of neoliberal urbanism in the latter half of the 20th century. The LAPD and city council’s racialization of Mexican-Americans as dangerous and undesirable …

(Dis)Unity In The Un Security Council: Voting Patterns In The Un's Peace And Security Organ, Paul M. Romita

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The conventional wisdom is that the international system in the Cold War was defined by the struggle between East and West. While this was certainly the case, voting patterns in the UN Security Council present a more nuanced picture. Counterintuitively, France, the United Kingdom and the United States—three of the five permanent members of the Security Council (the Permanent 3 or P3) and members of the NATO alliance—voted apart on Council resolutions far more frequently in the Cold War, when they faced the common threat of the Soviet Union, than in the post-Cold War era. This dissertation observes that they …

Dolls Who Speak: Sex Robots, Cyborgs And The Image Of Woman, Victoria E. Pihl Sorensen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the emerging phenomenon of sex robots from a feminist materialist perspective. I explore the current scholarly and popular debates on sex robots, and suggest a reading of sex robots in their machinic, literary and cinematic expressions to move beyond the moral-ethical impasse that seems to dominate sex robot discussions. Employing Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Myth” on a methodological and theoretical level, I argue for an interdisciplinary approach to studying sex robots, which proceeds carefully so as to avoid contributing to sex panic, and which thinks critically about what it might mean to assess sex robots from a feminist …

Venezuela: Oil And Madness. Politics, Propaganda, And Realities Of The Chavista Era, Alvaro E. De Prat

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis is an interdisciplinary exploration of Venezuela’s political paradoxes and their consequences during the Chavista years. On a concrete level, in this work I propose how the manner in which Hugo Chávez implemented his at first apparently benign redistributive politics in fact precipitated the country's current humanitarian crisis and what I will argue are the times of starkest inequality in modern Venezuelan history. Integral to this, although on a more philosophical level, here I also offer a theory of how and why Chávez’s representations might have been so misinterpreted.

The list of eminent political thinkers who have vouched for …

Out Of The Shadows: Women Of The Fmln Guerrilla Army In El Salvador’S Civil War, 1979–1992, Erica Gonzalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the course of a century, revolutionary movements have emerged every few years across the region of Central America, movements that fought for overturning dictatorships and confronting socio-economic inequalities. Women experience higher levels of poverty, human rights violations and discrimination due to gender inequalities. Representing 30% of the FMLN guerrilla army, women in El Salvador took a quantum leap into one of the most horrific and violent armed conflicts in the history of the country (Montgomery 123). Theorists have sought to explain why women became involved in the war. Experts of insurgent collective action agree that women's participation played a …

The Dictators’ Dilemma: Repression Or Concessions In The Face Of Resistance, Chris Massaro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Arab Spring revolts of late 2010 and 2011 were a profound moment in the history of a region troubled by decades of authoritarianism. Years of economic mismanagement and security force repression trammeled on the rights and aspirations of people striving for a better life. When social movements and anti-government protests erupted throughout the region, each country responded to the uprisings with different methodologies. This research closely examines why autocratic regimes of the region chose such divergent responses, with some opting to use violent repression, others attempting to make concessions and most combined repression with concessions. I will make the …

The Study Of Soft Power: China’S Presence In African Region, Jessica Huang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Western media and policy analyses frequently give negate give portrayals of China’s presence in developing countries. This study, however, explores why China’s soft power succeeds in developing regions of the world. In particular, why is it that while China’s soft power is not quite universally accepted, it works in developing nations such as those in Africa? This paper makes the argument that the constructivist idea of identity is instrumental in understanding Chinese soft power within Africa. That is, the key components of China’s soft power reflect shared identities with the developing world and especially Africa nations, and as a …

Persistence Of Cultural Heritage In A Multicultural Context: Examining Factors That Shaped Voting Preferences In The 2016 Election, Anna M. Schwartz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The prevailing discourse about the myth of the “melting pot” of American culture implies that heritage cultures are eliminated in favor of a homogenous “American” norm. However, this myth belies the persistence of our cultural heritage in forming our attitudes, morals, and habitual patterns of thought, each of which shape how we participate in our democracy through voting. By contextualizing voting predictors such as authoritarianism, social dominance, and sexism in developmental and ecological theories, this dissertation shows how they are shaped by culture and transmitted through consumption of media and interaction with members of one’s community and family. In an …

Merging Subsistence Perspective And Buen Vivir: An Alternative To Damming The Mekong, Aaron B. Eisenberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper will examine the planned development on the Mekong by looking at the historical, political, and economic reasons why largescale hydroelectric dams are now being pushed upon the river. It will then critique the international state sovereignty system focusing directly on the Mekong River Commission and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) for their inabilities to mitigate environmental impact while pursuing development. I analyze how the “global city” discourse cannot rationally be applied to Southeast Asia and how the urban-rural divide in Southeast Asia creates only greater problems as dam production on the Mekong accelerates. I propose an alternative …

Politics As Loot: Reflections On Theories Of Decline In Political Thought, Milo Ward

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis responds to the perennial theories of political decline in Western political thought by reimagining politics as a part of the loot plundered by the victors of history. It unpacks and critiques prognostications of the impending end of politics, specifically those of theorists Wendy Brown and Hannah Arendt, by dredging up the colonial and the capitalist logics that covertly underpin assumptions that politics is something that can be exclusively possessed. The forensic treatment of narratives of political decline reveals the unmistakable tracks of the rationality of property relations behind laments over the fate of political traditions that also withhold …

Building Brand Kurdistan: Helly Luv, The Gender Of Nationhood, And The War On Terror, Nicholas S. Glastonbury

Publications and Research

In the early 2000s, the Kurdistan Regional Government hired a US-based firm to begin a public relations campaign called “The Other Iraq.” Since that time, it has worked with a number of PR and lobbying firms to build a cultural, political, and financial apparatus that I refer to as Brand Kurdistan. This apparatus aims to prove to Western audiencesthat the Kurds are a liberal exception in an illiberal Middle East, and to build prospects of KRG’s eventual national independence. This article explores the connections between Brand Kurdistan and the gendering of Kurdish nationalism, focusing particularly on Kurdish pop diva Helly …

Oops!... I Infringed Again: An Analysis Of U.S. Copyright And Its Intended Beneficiaries, Gabriele A. Forbes-Bennett

Student Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to establish the reasons why federal copyright protection was created, discuss the shifts in reasoning behind major amendments, and explore its effects on copyright holders and the public, with a slight focus on the music industry. Federal copyright has existed in the United States since the late 1700s, with the creation of the Copyright Act in 1790. Adopted from the first copyright law ever created, the English Statute of Anne (1710), the Copyright Act was meant to protect citizens from piracy in a world where the risk of such a thing was rapidly increasing. The stated objective …

The Prometheus Bomb: The Manhattan Project And Government In The Dark By Neil J. Sullivan, Peter Parides

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Advocate, Spring 2018, Vol. 29, No. 3-4, Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Editorial:

- Revolution and CUNY: Remembering the 1969 Fight for Open Admissions. Bhargav Rani (p. 3)

Features:

- The Power and Political Potentials of Images. Zehra Husain (p. 8)

- Ethnography as Espionage: An Interview with Katherine Verdery. Nicholas Glastonbury (p. 14)

- Neoliberal Fictions. Nandini Ramachandran (p. 27)

Debate:

- Settler Marxism and the Murdered and Missing Revolutionary Actors. Sean M. Kennedy (p. 38)

Technology and Politics:

- Unmasking Musk: Envisioning HyperCapitalist Futures. Hillary Donnell (p. 44)

- Salami Tacticals: Little Nukes — No Big Deal? Clifford D. Conner (p. 58)

CUNY Life:

- The Campaign …

Advocate, Spring 2018, Vol. 29, No. 1-2, Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Editorial:

- On Being Late. Nandini Ramachandran (p. 3)

Features:

- Imperialism and Class Struggle in Chagos and Mauritius. Gordon Barnes (p. 8)

- The Streets Tell What the Press Hides: Disaster Capitalism in Puerto Rico. Maria Heyaca (p. 20)

- Moral Depravity, Discontent and Socialism: The Politics of the Urban Revolution. Harry Blain (p. 35)

- Neoliberalizing Childhood and Education: WeWork’s “Entrepreneurial” Schools. Hillary Donnell (p. 46)

CUNY Life:

- CUNY-Wide Conference in Defense of Immigrants Held at Grad Center. CUNY Internationalist Marxist Club (p. 52)

- A New Era. CUNY Struggle (p. 58)

- Accessing …

Turning To Political Violence: The Emergence Of Terrorism By Marc Sageman (Review), Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Which Wars Spread? Commitment Problems And Military Intervention, Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

This article argues that wars caused by commitment problems are more likely to experience outside military intervention than are wars with other causes. Wars caused by commitment problems are more likely to draw in outside states because they tend to be more severe and produce larger war aims. These larger stakes create both threats and opportunities for non-belligerent states thereby prompting military intervention. The greater stakes also generate incentives for belligerent states to seek outside aid. This relationship between commitment problems and intervention implies that while certain types of wars may be more likely to experience intervention, the same causes …