Political Science Commons^™

Book Review - Abandonment In Dixie: Underdevelopment In The Black Belt, Allison Galloup

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Imagining Post-Neoliberal Regulatory Subjectivities, Mika Viljanen Dr, Mikko Rajavuori, Tal Kastner

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

To explore these tentative diagnoses and conceptualizations we called for papers engaging different aspects of law's subjectivity turn. A selection of papers that map the possible genealogies for the emergence of post-neoliberal law, address the implications of anthropomorphic corporate regulation, or analyze transformations in sovereign subjectivities is now published in this symposium issue. The papers take up and make salient an array of the big questions of our day.

While overlapping, the papers can be broadly divided into two categories. The first category consists of papers that explore the internal make-up of legal and regulatory subjectivities. Drawing on history, queer …

Personality, Interpersonal Disagreement, And Electoral Information, Jeffrey Lyons, Anand E. Sokhey, Scott D. Mcclurg, Drew Seib

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Interpersonal disagreement has been linked to a variety of democratic outcomes, and classic theories of social influence place it at the heart of opinion formation. We examine the relationship between exposure to disagreement and information seeking during elections, while developing and testing a theory of heterogeneous effects based on recent work on personality and discussion (e.g., Gerber et al. 2012). Using a simulated campaign experiment (Lau and Redlawsk 2006) and data from the 2008–9 ANES panel study, we find consistent evidence that personality conditions responses to disagreement in expected ways—it enhances effects for those with certain traits, while suppressing it …

Will The Vice Presidential Candidates Matter This Year? Maybe, But Not The Way You Think, Kyle C. Kopko, Christopher J. Devine

Political Science Faculty Publications

Veepstakes speculation is rampant as we approach the national conventions for both major political parties.

Media reports have detailed the wide array of options available to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as they decide who will be their number twos for this campaign, and perhaps for four or eight years to come.

Who will Trump and Clinton pick? That depends on each candidate’s goals – both for the remainder of the presidential campaign and after Nov. 8. Political observers widely agree that the most important characteristic to look for in a running mate is the ability to serve as president …

United States Interventions: Power Vacuums And The Rise Of Extremist Groups, Sarah Nicole Pedigo

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine U.S. foreign policy in Iraq and Syria and the rise of violent extremist groups such as ISIS. By utilizing the integrated theory of violations of international criminal laws and the realpolitik theoretical frame, this qualitative case study analysis will explore how the U.S. foreign policy, driven by realpolitik and neo-liberalism in Iraq and Syria, resulted in the rise of violent extremist groups such as ISIS. It was concluded that if the United States were to remove the Assad regime and dismantle the Alawite ruling class as it did with the Hussein regime …

Collisions Of Local And Global: Transnationalizing A South African Domestic Workers' Union, Moriah Elise Shumpert

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This thesis explores how domestic worker trade unions’ functions have experienced a shift in their priorities as a result of the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Convention 189, which standardizes rights for domestic workers worldwide. The adoption of this policy has diverted local unions’ efforts away from their original goals of mobilizing workers in this marginalized sector to focus instead on implementing this international policy. I argue that this shift reflects a larger tension where goals defined by international governance institutions and the dynamics of a larger transnational movement collide with the objectives and aspirations of a once autonomous grassroots trade …

The Specter Of Climate Refugees: Why Invoking Refugees As A Reason To “Take Climate Change Seriously” Is Troubling, Gregory White

Government: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Singapore's Elected President: An Office That Is Still Evolving, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Constitutional changes effected to Singapore's Constitution in 1991 transformed the office of President from a purely ceremonial one chosen by the Parliament, to one directly elected by the people exercising certain discretionary powers. Among other things, the President may now veto attempts by the Government to deplete the nation's past financial reserves, and to effect unsuitable appointments to or dismissals of key public officers. Now, the Government is proposing to tweak the system further.

The African Group On The United Nations Human Rights Council: Shifting Geopolitics And The Liberal International Order, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

During the early years of the United Nations Human Rights Council, formed in 2006, the African Group obstructed efforts to scrutinize and improve human rights in specific countries, notably in the cases of Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, in recent years the African Group has become willing to address country-specific human rights violations, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire, Libya, and Eritrea. This article documents the African Group's shift and asks why it occurred. Against the backdrop of debates about whether the liberal international order can survive a decline in American dominance, the study of the African Group's …

The Challenge Of Adopting Sexual Orientation Resolutions At The Un Human Rights Council, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since the mid-1990s, UN special procedures reports have increasingly addressed human rights violations related to sexual orientation. However, it was not until 2011 that the first UN resolution on human rights and sexual orientation was adopted. After considerable difficulty, a follow-up resolution was adopted in late 2014. This policy and practice note examines the challenges of adopting sexual orientation resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council. The discussion is organized around six challenges: the need for Southern leadership, the strong counter-reaction that sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) issues generate at the UN, finding a strong leader, divisions within civil …

The Umbrella Movement And The Political Apparatus: Understanding "One Country, Two Systems", Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Prior to the Umbrella Movement, there was little reason for people who were not from Hong Kong to care much about its politics, unless, of course, one were a devoted reader of The Economist, which did cover Hong Kong as a former British colony. Alas, my experience in the academy corroborates the former sentiment: when I began studying Christian involvement in Hong Kong’s politics in the late 2000s, nobody was interested. “You have to study Christianity in China,” one advisor said, “because that’s where the jobs are.” The growth of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), especially the explosion of …

Introduction: The Umbrella Movement And Liberation Theology, Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

September 28, 2014, is usually considered the day that the theological landscape in Hong Kong changed. For 79 days, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens occupied key political and economic sites in the Hong Kong districts of Admiralty, Causeway Bay, and Mong Kok, resisting the government’s attempts to clear them out until court injunctions were handed down in early December. Captured on social media and live television, the images of police in Hong Kong throwing 87 volleys of tear gas and pepper-spraying students writhing in agony have been imprinted onto the popular imagination around the world. Using the image …

Epilogue: Conscientization In The Aftermath Of The Umbrella Movement, Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The essays in this volume have demonstrated that the Umbrella Movement brought about a new theological moment in Hong Kong. As discussed in the introduction, theological actors in Hong Kong can be described as having followed the see-judge-act process of liberation theology. Indeed, the seeing and judging of Hong Kong’s situation that began with Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) in 2013 culminated unexpectedly with the action of the 2014 protests, transcending the wildest imaginations of the seers and the judges. In turn, the authors of this book have seen the 2014 protests and have also judged them theologically. …

Visegrad Revival: Where Less Is More, In The Prospect Of Smaller Numbers, Aaron G. Sander

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This project began a number of years ago, in 2011, as a final paper for a class on the topic of Europe and the world, for which I wrote what is effectively the chapter on European defense and the formation of the Visegrad battlegroup. The topic interested me as I was perplexed when, on the matter of inter-state cooperation set against the backdrop of the formation of the EU, it was possible that the four states of Visegrad were able to agree and formulate a plan on how to get this battlegroup off the ground, all the while not having …

The Franchising Effect On The Al-Qaeda Enterprise And Related Transnational Terror Groups: Patterns Of Evolution Of Al-Qaeda Affiliates In The 21st Century, Nicholas Benjamin Law

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The attacks of September 11, 2001 by Al-Qaeda-sponsored militants represented a high- water mark for the terrorist organization in its self-styled journey to become the inspirational Islamic vanguard for disenchanted Muslims across the globe. In the years that followed these attacks, the Al-Qaeda enterprise underwent a constant rate of evolution and mutation, resulting in a phenomenon of parallel and like-minded Islamist groups pledging allegiance to Usama bin Laden and his ideological vision of a global jihad. Instead of strengthening the overall organization, this expansion diluted the command and control of Al-Qaeda senior leaders in their ability to shape the overall …

Assessing The Role Of The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Extraterritorial Activities In Attaining Iran’S Foreign Policy Goals, Hamza Demirel

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation aims at analyzing the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) extraterritorial activities in attaining Iran’s foreign policy goals. Based on observations and assessments from internal and external determinants, Iran’s foreign policy goals are defined as follows: regime survival, which is an indispensable goal of Iranian foreign policy, is above everything; state security and survival; projecting power and becoming the dominant power in the region.

The regime has deliberately supported several armed non-state actors to achieve the aforementioned goals, and as seen in the case studies, the IRGC has served as a node in providing a broad …

Bahram & Camila, Bahram, Camila, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Bahram tells the story of the Afghanistan's 1992 government collapse and subsequent civil wars that destroyed the city of Kabul. "There was war in every alley, every house, every area and every village. 60,000 people were killed." Their family emigrated to Pakistan and after living there for some time, some relatives of a friend from their village travelled to Pakistan and required lodging so they stayed with Bahram's family. In some developing and under-developed countries, the custom of arranged marriage to child and infant daughters is practiced. These house guests demanded their one-year-old daughter be given in marriage to a …

Mina And Gulyar, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Mina:

Mina was the second polygamous wife to her husband in Afghanistan. After her husband’s death 16 years ago, her husband’s first wife and children took all the husband’s belongings as their own, including the house and land. Forced to find another place to live, Mina and her sons fled to Pakistan, where they lived until returning to Afghanistan to ask for their share of Mina’s husband’s property. In response, both Mina and her children were beaten, resulting in the death of her oldest son. Mina and her younger son, Gulyar, escaped, and as Gulyar hid, Mina buried her older …

Lima And Hanif, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

In Afghanistan, Lima worked as a teacher, and her husband worked (and continues to work) for the government as an agricultural manager. She has a fourteen-year-old son who is deaf and has related speech problems; he could not be treated for them properly in Afghanistan. Because her uncle was very wealthy, Lima received daily threats that her son would be kidnapped and held for ransom. Her uncle went to Germany with his own children and her son to protect them from the kidnapping threats.

Although Lima’s son was safer in Germany, she still faced threats because of her work as …

Being Strategic: Black Legislative Representation In The Republican-Controlled South Carolina House Of Representatives, Willie James Black

Theses and Dissertations

Under what circumstances, can descriptive representatives produce a representation, which may not be merely descriptive, but still substantive in nature? In other words, do descriptive representatives provide representation that produces salient black constituency policies, yet not be strictly black interest substantive policies? Do these black Democrats still “substantively represent” their black constituents and if so, to what extent? More importantly, what legislative actions do they undertake to represent their black constituents? Moreover, can these black Democratic legislators form strategic alliances successfully to prevent passage of policies detrimental to the interest of their black constituency? Can they form alliances to enhance …

Nothing Is The Matter With Kansas: White Southern Exceptionalism In American Politics, Paul White Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

There are two research questions at the heart of this dissertation: Does the American South have a distinct political environment in comparison to other regions? If so, how does this distinction influence American politics? I argue that the American South has long been politically distinct from other regions in the United States. This southern ethos, this southern way of agrarian politics, is predicated on three factors- State Centered Federalism, Racial Conservatism, and Religious Conservatism. I consider these factors in a model I call “The Determinants of Southern Exceptionalism” or the D.S.E. Model. It views the American South as remaining distinctive …

Courts Owe Common Sense On Cannabis Deadline, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

A newspaper column by Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications:

Great Falls Tribune, June 29, 2016

Montana Standard, June 30, 2016

Montana Public Radio, July 1, 2016

Helena Independent Record, July 3, 2016

Billings Gazette, July 6, 2016

Missoulian, July 13, 2016

Montana Cowgirl Blog, August 6, 2016

Hise, Elijah, 1802-1867 (Sc 3018), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3018. Letter, 14 November 1844, of Elijah Hise, Russellville, Kentucky. After giving details of a debt collected on behalf of the recipient, Hise requests that "General McCalla," a fellow Democrat, be informed of Hise's delight at the election of James K. Polk to the presidency. He lists eight of the issues at stake in the election that he believes have been resolved by Polk's victory.

Toward Regional Resilience In Toronto: From Diagnosis To Action, Zack Taylor, Leah Birnbaum

Western Urban and Local Governance Working Papers

Greater Toronto is recognized as a high-performing urban region. Over the past decade, however, negative social, economic, and environmental trends have emerged that threaten the region’s future. On the basis of documentary research and four focus group workshops with a diverse array of professional practitioners, this paper assesses the Toronto region’s current assets and vulnerabilities in relation to future risks.The discussion is framed by the concept of resilience—an increasingly popular, yet abstract, concept in urban planning and public administration. This paper proposes, first, that planning and policymaking be directed toward increasing the region’s resilience, understood as the diversity and redundancy …

De La Gestión De Recursos Al Activismo Social: Los Caps Y La Gobernanza Del Agua Rural En Nicaragua, Sarah T. Romano

All Faculty Work

Asegurar el acceso sostenible al agua es un problema cada vez más agudo y de alcance global. De la gestión de recursos al activismo social: Los CAPS y la gobernanza de agua rural en Nicaragua, destaca como este problema es también uno que se entrecruza de formas cruciales con los procesos políticos democráticos. Con base en trece meses de trabajo de campo en Nicaragua, esta investigación examina cómo los administradores de recursos comunitarios y proveedores del servicio de agua trascienden sus comunidades rurales para involucrarse fundamentalmente en nuevas formas de participación política, incidencia y establecimiento de redes.

Después de treinta …

Why Are Russian Youth Less Supportive Of Democracy Than Older Generations?, Anthony D. Castaneda

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

What explains support for democracy among Russian youth? Studies in political socialization conducted in the early 1990s, incorporating generational change, suggest that Russia’s main obstacle to the consolidation of democracy was nostalgia for the Soviet Union. The passing of time now allows for the inclusion of the post-Soviet generational cohort, also referred to as the Putin Generation. The post-Soviet youth are a byproduct of political instability and economic turmoil with little or no direct personal experience of the Soviet period. These developments allow for new theoretical mechanisms related to government legitimacy to be included in the analysis. Drawing upon 2011 …

Facebooking The Tanzanian Elections: Citizen And Party Campaigners In The Social Media Ecosystem, Deodatus P. Shayo

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The 2015 presidential election cycle in Tanzania featured social media networks in electoral campaigning. Citizen and party campaigners emerged and used Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp mobile instant-messaging application to recruit and mobilise voters. This article attempts to examine the most recent explosion of citizen and party election campaigners on Facebook. The analysis focuses on their engagement with Facebook campaigns, and whether the use of this social media platform amplified the promotion of presidential candidates. The findings indicate that some presidential candidates were hardly visible on Facebook and could not get citizen and party campaign-initiated support. Some were actively …

Rebuilding Our Democracy Constitutionally, Evan Barrett, Bob Brown

Highlands College

A newspaper column by Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications:

Montana Standard, June 17, 2016

Billings Gazette, June 18, 2016

Missoulian, June 21, 2016

Flathead Beacon, June 22, 2016

Ravalli Republic, June 25, 2016

Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy: Staking A Claim Against The Macrostructural Unconscious, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Critical pedagogy currently exists today as precariously as a shabby lean-to room added to a typical American hall-and-parlor house. I am referring to the type of house that formed the basic English prototype for the classic American building we see everywhere in New England and on the East Coast. If the hall-and-parlor house represents education in the main, then we critical educators are as rare as hen’s teeth, shunted to the rear of the house, squatters huddled under a slanted roof, wearing fingerless gloves, clutching our tin cups of broth, spearing biscuits and dreaming of the day when we will …

(Mis)Representation By Bravo: Maintaining/Countering Stereotypes Of Black Women On Reality Television, Michelle Mayfield

Honors Theses

This honors thesis investigates the use of stereotypes used to portray Black women on reality television.  Focusing on Bravo’s Blood Sweat and Heels, this project utilizes an Afrosemiotic framework, which is a combination of Afrocentricity and Semiotics.  Afrocentricity focuses on the agency and consciousness of Africans and African Americans.  Semiotics focuses on the study of signs and the explicit and implicit markers of these signs.  The first season’s narrative focuses on the positive lives of single, successful Black women but shifts to mainly negative portrayals inspired by Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise.  This project focuses on stereotypes associated with Black …