Political Science Commons^™

Sub-Saharan Africa: Searching For A Social Contract, David D. Mayen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the phenomenon of civil war and state failure in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from a social contract perspective. Its main hypothesis is that authoritarianism will lead to state failure in the context of SSA. In this regard, SSA states are political communities that have not done enough to promote and develop a social contract that is compatible with the region's sociopolitical and structural peculiarities. Since civil war and state failure have hampered different dimensions of human progress in SSA, analyzing the main patterns of conflict will inevitably lead to an underlying incompatibility between existing governing political structures and …

Mozambique's "Land Grab": Exploring Approaches To Elite Policymaking And Neoliberal Reform, Hannah Wittmeyer

Political Science Student Work

Large-scale farmland acquisitions in Africa – widely known as “land grabbing” – have increased dramatically over the past few years. By the end of 2011, governments negotiating these leases transferred over 50 million hectares of fertile land to foreign investors. Alarmed by the implications of food and bio-fuel crops being grown and exported from food-insecure states, international media and activist organizations have used “neo-colonialism” as an epithet to describe the wave of investments – implying exploitation by foreign powers and corporate interests.

This contribution instead analyzes “land grabbing” from a competing perspective. I begin by asking why African states choose …

Power And The Polis: A Study In Macintyrean State Theory, Benjamin Sehnert

Classics Student Work

Alasdair MacIntyre’s theory of the state is often viewed by critics as being unnecessarily hostile to modern political arrangements, particularly the modern state. However, many critics of MacIntyre do not argue on MacIntyre’s own terms, that is, they argue from distinctly modern positions. The first section of the thesis will be devoted to explaining why such criticisms of MacIntyrean state theory are bound to fail or at least be easily dismissed. I will discuss in particular MacIntyre’s theory of tradition-dependent rationality and how one must work to develop an idea within a tradition rather than attacking it from the outside. …

On A Condition Or A Mission?: Examining The Political Histories Of Anti-Poverty Policies In Brazil, Venezuela And Colombia, Diego A. Melo

Latin American Studies Honors Projects

Political culture, fiscal constraints and institutional incentives have shaped the making and implementation of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) in Latin America. However, why have CCTs consolidated in Brazil, been secondary in Colombia and remained absent in Venezuela? Brazilian authoritarian legacy and neoliberal rationality combined with strong federalism during economic downturn and provided room for experimentation in social policy, eventually leading to the incorporation and future universalization of CCTs (Bolsa Família). In contrast, less rationalized bureaucracies in Colombia and Venezuela have operated under strong presidentialism, allowing economic recessions and executive electoral incentives to shape weak CCT implementation (Familias …

John G. Roberts And Supreme Court Civil Rights, Sanaz Talaifar

The Dialogue

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of International Human Rights Legislation: 111 Arab Nations And Their Compliance With The Iccpr, Gareth Riley-Ayers

The Dialogue

No abstract provided.

New Directions In Comparative Public Law, Leila Kawar, Mark Fathi Massoud

Political Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Force Protection And Suicide Bombers: The Necessity For Two Types Of Canadian Military Red Teams, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This article will discuss why the use of two types of red teams - analytical and physical - to identify and then simulate ‘suicide bomber threat scenarios’ is necessary for the force protection training of deploying Canadian military units. Red teaming as a discipline can be divided into two basic forms: (1) analytical red teaming, which is diegetic in nature; that is, based upon descriptive products and decision support functions and (2) physical red teaming, which is mimetic in nature; that is, derived from live-action and role playing-based training with an opposing force (OPFOR) deployed against a friendly military unit. …

Cultural Relativism And Afghanistan: A Failure Of Policy Not Counterinsurgency Efforts, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

While it may be true that many Afghani people yearn for our freedoms and system of governance, such nation building cannot be done without radically reengineering Afghani tribal society. Incising only the offending portions of Afghani culture, as the sergeant suggests, will not work. Do we eliminate blood feuds but not child brides and the honor killings of soiled daughters? Do we stop the execution of Muslim converts to Christianity?

The Discursive Frames Of Political Psychology, Paul Nesbitt-Larking, Catarina Kinnvall

Data and Test Instruments

The aim of this article is to apply elements of contemporary social theory to the major theoretical, methodological, and ideological divisions across political psychology and to consider both the origins and the impact of a range of theories and models. In so doing, we clarify some of the complexity surrounding the discursive and cultural origins of political psychology. On the basis of this analysis, we aim to overcome the redundant binaries and dualisms—both conceptual and geo‐spatial—that have characterized the field up to now. These binary pairs relate to matters of epistemology, ideology, and methodology, and we show how each pair …

Beyond The “Three Bs”: How American Christians Approach Faith And Politics, Amanda Friesen, Michael W. Wagner

Political Science Publications

While it is well-known that religiosity measures inform modern political alignments and voting behavior, less is known about how people of various religious orthodoxies think about the role of religion in society. To learn more about this veritable “black box” with respect to whether and why people connect their spiritual life to the political world, we conducted several focus groups in randomly selected Christian congregations in a mid-sized Midwestern city. Our analysis offers confirmatory, amplifying, and challenging evidence with respect to the “Three Bs” (believing, behaving, and belonging) perspective on how religion affects politics. Specifically, we show that while contemporary …

Anti-Trafficking Legislation In Sub-Saharan Africa: Analyzing The Role Of Coercion And Parental Responsibility, Ruby Andrew, Benjamin N. Lawrance

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 4th (2012)

This article discusses the effect of US and international support for local laws to combat child trafficking in sub-Saharan African states. The annual ranking of African anti-trafficking measures, produced by the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (OMCTP) in conjunction with the UN Office on Crime and Drugs, not only provides an important source of data but also creates a powerful incentive for African states to effect legislative change.

We argue that, although the US supports criminalization of traffickers and the OMCTP espouses laws to deter parental inducement to support trafficking activities, the implementation of …

No. 13: The State Of Food Insecurity In Harare, Zimbabwe, Godfrey Tawodzera, Lazarus Zanamwe, Jonathan Crush

African Food Security Urban Network

Harare is at the epicentre of the economic meltdown and political crisis that has devastated Zimbabwe over the last decade and led to a mass exodus from the country. Those who remained in Zimbabwe’s largest city and capital endured unprecedented hardship as the formal economy collapsed, unemployment soared and poverty deepened. Household surveys conducted in Harare with official sanction between 2003 and 2009 appear to demonstrate that food insecurity was not a particularly serious problem, a conclusion sharply at odds with reality. In 2008, at the height of the crisis, AFSUN therefore implemented its own baseline food security survey in …

Film: The Trial Of Socrates Study Guide, 2012, Steven A. Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Marcello Pera: Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians Study Guide, 2012, Steven A. Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Marcello Pera’s Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians provides a framework for understanding the moral crisis of our age represented by liberalism’s diversion from its foundations in a Christian culture and its conversion into a corrupter of that culture through what he calls “the secular equation.”

Dr. Patrick T. Conley On The Law And Order Constitution, Patrick T. Conley

Dorr Scholarship

In this interview, Dr. Patrick T. Conley, constitutional historian and Dorr scholar, discusses the deficiencies of the Law & Order Constitution of 1843, the provisions of the People's Constitution of 1841, and his personal involvement in the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention of 1977.

To view this video interview please visit the Dorr Rebellion Project web site’s video gallery: http://library.providence.edu/dps/projects/dorr/video.php.

Raymond Lavertue On Dorr And The Anti-Slavery Movement, Raymond Lavertue

Dorr Scholarship

In this interview, Raymond Lavertue of St. Catherine's College, University of Oxford, discusses Thomas Wilson Dorr's evolving relationship with the anti-slavery movement.

To view this video interview please visit the Dorr Rebellion Project web site’s video gallery: http://library.providence.edu/dps/projects/dorr/video.php.

Egypt At A Crossroads: An Analysis Of Morsi's Strategies Of Military Control In The Post-Revolutionary State, Emma H. Macfarlane

CMC Senior Theses

Following Tunisia, Egypt was the second Arab nation to engage in the Arab Spring, as massive civil uprisings in protest of its former repressive dictator Hosni Mubarak succeeded in toppling his regime after thirty years of rule. After seventeen months of military rule in the period following Mubarak’s fall, Mohamed Morsi, a member of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, was elected the fifth president of Egypt. Morsi is Egypt’s first civilian president. Ever since the Free Officers Revolution of 1952, Egypt has been ruled by a succession of military leaders, including Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak. Consequently, political and …

Examining The Role Of Identity In Negotiation Decision Making: The Case Of Cyprus, Cigdem Sirin

Departmental Papers (PS)

This study examines the effects of ethnic and social identities on negotiation decision making in the context of the Cyprus conflict. I conduct a theory-driven case study of the 1959 Zurich-London agreements on Cyprus, analyzing the positions of Turkey, Greece, Britain, and the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities during the negotiation process. I find that even in the presence of adversarial ethnic ties, decision makers who have a shared (and salient) social identity are more likely to employ collective-serving decision strategies and seek evenhanded solutions that will not jeopardize their mutual interests. In contrast, decision makers with severe ethnic fragmentation …

Political Performance, Leadership, And Regional Integration In Europe, Gaspare Genna, Birol Yesilada, Peter Noordijk

Departmental Papers (PS)

No abstract provided.

Ford Foundation, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

No abstract provided.

Mexico & Venezuela: Losing The Soft Power Sweepstakes At The Polls, Rick Rockwell

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

This research article compares how the public images of Venezuela and Mexico have been shaped by the presidential election cycle of 2012 in each country. The results show that political leaders in both countries seem much more concerned about domestic issues rather than projecting a more positive public diplomacy image. The paper focuses on the history and political culture of both countries, which inevitably frames how both dealt with negative international impressions resulting from the elections. Although Venezuela has had many more demonstrations of national plebiscites and elections than any other Latin American country during the era of President Hugo …

Sports Diplomacy In A Conflict Environment: The Case For Continued Efforts In Afghanistan, Ryan Robertson

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

Over thirty years of war and centuries of tribal and ethnic marginalization and centralization have left Afghanistan a nation both war-torn and in search of an identity. During the ten years of Operation Enduring Freedom, Coalition Forces and the Afghan government have tried to find ways to keep the nation's immense youth population away from insurgent influence. To date, the most effective method appears to be the implementation of sports diplomacy initiatives targeted at both the youth and female populations. With these government-run programs, Afghan youths and women are being offered an alternative to violence and respite from continued conflict. …

The Interaction Of Political Capacity And Economic Growth To Attract Foreign Direct Investments At The Provincial Levels Of Developing Countries, Murniz Allen Vasay Coson

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation will explore how developing provinces within countries attract foreign direct investment. The policy implication to this study is important because it could account for the uneven distribution of growth in developing countries that so frequently leads to dual economies. To attract foreign direct investments, provincial governments compete among themselves trying to appeal to international investors. There is consensus in the economic development literature that both economic and political variables interact to advance a nation's economy. The ability for a country to provide a free market economy to exchange goods and ideas makes the environment more favorable for investors, …

Toward Understanding The Nature Of Leadership In Alleviating State Fragility, Ajay Tejasvi Narasimhan

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Approximately sixty countries have been designated `Fragile States' by international development agencies. Home to two billion of the world's poorest people, these fragile states are characterized by violence, weak institutions and shattered economies. Not only do they pose a challenge to regional security, they often become the breeding grounds for terrorism.

Donor agencies pour billions of dollars annually into these countries - through policy advice and conditional loans - to alleviate fragility and promote development. Development, however it is defined, involves economic, social and political transformation. Such a transformation is shaped by ideas, engages multiple interests, and proceeds within rules …

Africa's Unresponsive Democratization: The Relationship Between Regime Type And The Quality Of Life In Africa, Caryn Anne Peiffer

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Scholars and policy makers alike argue that leaders of democracies should find it in their interest to provide high levels of social services due to a fear of being voted out of office. Yet, I find that Africa's newer democracies provide levels of social services strikingly similar to what the continent's existing non-democracies supply. This dissertation seeks to explain why this is the case.

I start by exploring the determinants of Africa's most recent wave of democratization, and find that much of Africa's 1990s democratic wave can be attributed to changes in foreign circumstances rather than from pressures from domestic …

Idealism And Actualization. Saint-Just In Theory, Practice, And Exigency, Craig R. Schamel

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Louis-Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (1767-1794) was a revolutionary, a statesman, and a political philosopher, yet it is largely only as a revolutionary that he is remembered. As a political person who occupied these three different but overlapping roles, Saint-Just is ideal as the subject and center of a study of actualization, the taking of political ideals into reality. Saint-Just’s political philosophy was that of an idealist, and yet he, by force of circumstance, ability, and audacity, had the opportunity in his short life to attempt to establish and put into practice his political ideals. In his work as a political …

Book Review By John Gale: Invited Review Of "Free Burma: Transnational Legal Action For Corporate Social Accountability" In The Book Of Perspectives On Politics, Tun Myint, John G. Gale

Political Science Faculty Work

No abstract provided.

Fear Factor: The Role Of Fear In A Liberal Democracy, Sasha Stillman

Featured Research

What is the most appropriate role of fear in contemporary democratic politics? Political figures and institutions harness and even create public fear for power and for maintaining order and structure. This thesis explores the moral dimensions of the use of fear in politics. I expected to find that not all politically premeditated uses of fear are undesirable. Could it be morally acceptable then, or even praiseworthy to use politically-motivated fear in certain cases? In certain situations, public fear may, in fact, be used to enhance democracy. This essay clarifies situations in which the political use of fear is both desirable …

Vol. 6 No. 1, Moynihan European Research Centers, Winter 2012, Moynihan European Research Centers

Newsletters from Moynihan European Research Centers

German Consul General discusses the Euro crisis -- Panel at the CNYCSS conference -- Global Europe -- Graduate student EU simulation -- Atlantis transatlantic degree program -- Certificate of Advanced Study