Political Science Commons^™

A Perspective Of Global Capitalism, James Soller

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the 1970s, the political-economic structure of global society has undergone drastic restructuring. International political economy is concerned with providing explanations for these changes. This thesis will provide an alternative view of international relations that is often marginalized in the mainstream literature. It will be argued that global society needs to be understood under the historical context of capitalism and the class relations that stem from it. Central to this argument is a Gramscian derived articulation of hegemony. Thus, hegemony will be conceptualized in this thesis as a transnational class that governs over global society through consent and coercion. While …

Leadership Survival And The Process Of Economic Integration, Schuyler Richard Porche

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The central contribution of this dissertation to political science is explaining the role of leadership survival theory in shaping the political process of initiation, broadening, deepening, and failure of economic integration agreements by nation states. The empirical research involves the creation of a dataset recording changes in economic integration for the period 1950-1999 and utilizing advanced quantitative methods to study the process. Most existing research focuses on the initiation of trade agreements. I demonstrate that the process of economic integration agreements among polities is shaped by iterated political interaction at both the domestic and international levels. The critical test in …

Kathie Barrett On The Global Justice Movement: Cross-National And Transnational Perspectives Edited By Donatella Della Porta. Boulder, Co: Paradigm Publishers, 2007. 278pp., Kathie Barrett

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Global Justice Movement: Cross-National and Transnational Perspectives edited by Donatella Della Porta. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2007. 278pp.

David P. Forsythe On John Charvet And Elisa Kaczynska-Nay. The Liberal Project And Human Rights: The Theory And Practice Of A New World Order. New York, Ny: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 446pp., David P. Forsythe

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

John Charvet and Elisa Kaczynska-Nay. The Liberal Project and Human Rights: The Theory and Practice of a New World Order. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 446pp.

Purpose Transitions: China And The American Response, Jeffrey W. Legro

Political Science Faculty Publications

We know that China is rising, but what will China do with that power? Distracted by power trends, both American policymakers and political scientists have not paid enough attention to purpose--what states intend to do with their power. Power is critical in international relations, but it is not destiny. The dominant lens for understanding the rise of China has been power transition theory, which insightfully probes the effects of power trajectories between rising and falling countries (e.g., the expected future of China and the United States). Yet what we also need to understand is "purpose transition"--that is, when and …

Dilemmas Of Strategy, Melvyn P. Leffler, Jeffrey W. Legro

Political Science Faculty Publications

America’s crystal ball on strategy is murky. Officials in the next administration will face a complex world, will receive conflicting advice, and will need to mobilize domestic support for their policies. They must nonetheless act, most likely without the convenience of a single threat such as the Soviet Union during the cold war or terrorism in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In this conclusion, our aims are to highlight the decisive issues of consensus and contention that resonate across the chapters. We seek to delineate the trade-offs involved in making choices, and we hope to illuminate the national …

Introduction, Melvyn P. Leffler, Jeffrey W. Legro

Political Science Faculty Publications

For many Americans, the past decade has been a bewildering era. They have seen their country attacked and their husbands, sons, wives, and daughters sent to war in faraway places. They have read about orange alerts and red alerts. They have waited on long lines at airport security checks. They know that defense expenditures have soared and that Homeland Security has mushroomed. They have seen gruesome daily headlines about the carnage in Iraq, the strife in Afghanistan, and the turmoil in Pakistan. They read about the suicide attacks that were prevented or aborted in Europe, and they know, darkly, that …

March Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Waving Goodbye to Hegemony” by Parag Khanna. New York Times Magazine. January 27, 2008.

Goodbye Hegemony, Hello.?, Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Parag Khanna’s analysis of American hegemonic decline paints a bleak picture for the future of America’s role in the emerging global order. He is correct to emphasize how the misguided policies of the Bush administration have done untold damage to America’s credibility, prestige, and overall influence in international affairs. It is thus difficult to find fault with such a sobering analysis of the immense challenges that lie ahead for the next U.S. president in the realm of foreign affairs.

The Roman Catholic Church: A Transnational Challenge To State Sovereignity?, Ashley Regina Hudson

Archived Theses and Dissertations

[abstract not provided]

Matthew S. Weinert On Constructing Justice And Security After War Edited By Charles T. Call. Washington: United States Institute Of Peace, 2007. 432pp., Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Constructing Justice and Security after War edited by Charles T. Call. Washington: United States Institute of Peace, 2007. 432pp.

Matthew S. Weinert On A Decade Of Human Security: Global Governance And New Multilateralism By Sandra Maclean, David Black, And Timothy Shaw. Aldershot, Uk: Ashgate, 2006. 264 Pp., Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

A Decade of Human Security: Global Governance and New Multilateralism by Sandra MacLean, David Black, and Timothy Shaw. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2006. 264 pp.

Bilateralism, Jeffrey W. Legro

Political Science Faculty Publications

Bilateralism concerns relations or policies of joint action between two parties. It can be contrasted with unilateralism (where one party acts on its own) and multilateralism (where three or more parties are involved). Typically, the term has applications concerning political, economic, and security matters between two states. Bilateralism has both costs and benefits, and there is a debate on its merits relative to unilateral or multilateral approaches.

Security And International Relations By Edward A. Kolodziej (Cambridge, Uk: Cambridge University Press, 2005), Tyler Haupert

Global Tides

A book review of Security and International Relations by Edward A. Kolodziej (2005).

International Security Problems And Solutions By Patrick M. Morgan (Washington, D.C.: Cq Press, 2006), Jacqueline Sittel

Global Tides

Book review of International Security Problems and Solutions by Patrick M. Morgan (2006).

Confrontation Cinema In The Age Of Neoliberalism; Where Brazil And The United States Meet, Rachel F. Rosenfeld

CMC Senior Theses

Contents: Introduction; The Smell of Revolution and Popcorn; Filling the Gaps: Historical Context; Brazilian Cinema in the Age of Neoliberalism and Political Discourse of the New Brazilian Left; US Films and the Iraq War: This isn’t my America; Epilogue

Ayse Betul Celik On The Age Of Apology: Facing Up To The Past Edited By Mark Gibney, Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, Jean-Marc Coicaud, And Niklaus Steiner. Philadelphia: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. 333 Pages., Ayse Betul Celik

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Age of Apology: Facing Up to the Past edited by Mark Gibney, Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, Jean-Marc Coicaud, and Niklaus Steiner. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. 333 pages.

Integrating China Into An International Human Rights Regime: The Case Of Darfur, Harry Kreisler

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Chinese leaders find themselves in unknown territory as they guide the Chinese state. Their unusual experiment combines Communist party rule with unbridled capitalism. Under these unique circumstances, a major challenge they face is to define their country’s global role as an emerging power. From what compass will they navigate their direction? If their guidance system is built for a world of international anarchy, national interest and power politics, then the direction of their course is clear. Because of U.S. neglect and indifference, Africa, rich in natural resources, is up for grabs. Flexing its muscles on the world stage with its …

Global Governance And The Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

An Independent Special Panel Was Established By Prime Minister Harper On Friday To Review Canada’S Mission And Future In Afghanistan, Cris De Clercy, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

An edited version of this article was published as "Is Afghanistan panel just a crass bid to deflect critics?” in London Free Press on October 17, 2007. London Free Press : http://save6.sunmedia.ca/Save/classic/doc?docid=34038784&q=Is%20Afghanistan%20panel%20just%20a%20crass%20bid%20to%20deflect%20critics&stem=false&spaceop=AND&ttype=xsl&tval=headline_sun&pos=0&hn=1&pubAbbrev=sunmedia&dtokey=yvwzsa#anchor34038784

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 …

Water And The Treaty Of Peace Between Israel And Jordan, Maya Manna

Macro Center Working Papers

The Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was signed at the southern border crossing of Wadi Araba on October 26, 1994. It symbolized one of the world’s most famous water – sharing agreements – in addition to making Jordan the only Arab country after Egypt to normalize relations with Israel. The Jordanian – Israeli Peace Treaty is part of the efforts towards joint management of water resources.

Paul J. Magnarella On European Court Of Human Rights: Remedies And Execution Of Judgments. Edited By Theodora Christou And Juan Pablo Raymond. London, Uk: British Institute Of International And Comparative Law, 2005. 115 Pp., Paul J. Magnarella

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

European Court of Human Rights: Remedies and Execution of Judgments. Edited by Theodora Christou and Juan Pablo Raymond. London, UK: British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 2005. 115 pp.

We Were Allies Once: Lessons Of D Day, 1944, Nigel Hamilton

New England Journal of Public Policy

Nigel Hamilton swivels the century around the pivot of the massive cooperation and collaboration between the United States and its allies during World War II. In the early years, European and British troops suffered a series of discouraging defeats by the Nazis, and then when the United States entered the war the great collaboration among the allies was instrumental in achieving victory in Europe. This joint effort of nations continued for a time with such institutions as the UN and NATO and other international bodies. The war in Iraq ruptured the alliance. American unilateralism has distinguished most of the debacle …

Cruel Science: Cia Torture And U.S. Foreign Policy, Alfred W. Mccoy

New England Journal of Public Policy

The roots of the recent Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal lie in CIA torture techniques that have metastasized inside the U.S. intelligence community for the past fifty years. A contradictory U.S. foreign policy marked by both public opposition to torture and secret propagation of its practice has influenced American response to UN treaties, shaped federal anti-torture statutes, and produced a succession of domestic political scandals. After a crash research effort in the 1950s, the CIA developed a revolutionary new paradigm of psychological torture and then, for the next thirty years, disseminated it to allies worldwide. After September 11, the U.S. media …

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

In the months preceding the U.S. presidential election in November 2004, George Bush and John Kerry conducted what passed for a serious debate on U.S. foreign policy, especially the rationale for the war in Iraq and on the state of the "war on terror." It was easy to lose sight of the primary purpose of these two special issues of the New England Journal of Public Policy on war. So I should, perhaps, remind our readers.

The question posed was: what lessons can we draw from the wars and conflicts of the twentieth century that might help us to take …

Weapons Of Mass Destruction & Public International Law, Michael Donlan

New England Journal of Public Policy

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) into the hands of rogue dictators and terrorists has brought a sea change in strategic international relations, and is accelerating the necessity of public international law to protect humanity. Traditional balances of power have little force left to deter WMD. Major powers must seriously revamp and proactively exploit public international law, and, to that end, bolster multilateral institutions to marshal an action plan to leash this unacceptable risk. Leadership is needed on three levels: 1) promote a new mission for public international law to address WMD; 2) muster a broad-based coalition of …

Power And Freedom/I Am Right; You Are Dead, Wole Soyinka

New England Journal of Public Policy

Focuses on issues concerning political power and freedom. Discussion on the concept of quasi-state; Disadvantages of having a quasi-state; Importance of the experience of Algeria in post-colonial reconstruction on the developmental transformation of African nations; Need to accept the factor of power as an unquantifiable element governing social and nation relationships.

Grand Strategy Analysis: A Proto-Theoretical Approach, Patrick Magee

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

International relations scholarship begins and ends with assumptions—about human nature; about human interaction; about starting points, relative information, and outcomes. Such assumptions are necessary to further the intellectual coherence and development of scholarly work. However, they restrict the applicability of scholarly research to those situations that parallel the work's underlying assumptions.

This work argues the body of international relations scholarship as a whole would benefit from the development of a pre-theory state, absent any assumptions about international relations, from which observers can identify those works of scholarship that are most effective in explaining perceptive states and the strategic decisions taken …

Neotrusteeship In Afghanistan, Melanie Kawano

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Afghanistan is currently under the tentative rule of an international administration, or neotrusteeship, thereby restricting its national sovereignty. However, self-determination and nonintervention have never been persistent features of Afghanistan. Foreign interventions, invasions and great power showdowns on its territory have made a truly autonomous Afghan state a shortlived phenomenon. The outcome at each stage of Afghan history has been an unstable state that seems to invite even more external involvement.