Political Science Commons^™

War As Political Work: Using Social Science For Strategic Success, Matthew J. Schmidt

Political Science Faculty Publications

Army culture favors a quantitative/predictive approach to analyze problems. The author argues, however, that strategic thinking requires the relative subjectivity of a qualitative approach to problem solving.

Prosecution Complex: America's Race To Convict And Its Impact On The Innocent, Kathleen M. Donovan

Political Science Faculty/Staff Publications

In lieu of an abstract, here is the review's first paragraph:

They say the first step to curing addiction is admitting that you have a problem. Daniel Medwed’s terrific book, PROSECUTION COMPLEX: AMERICA’S RACE TO CONVICT AND ITS IMPACT ON THE INNOCENT, attempts to do exactly that. The thesis of the book is laid out in the first few pages: prosecutors are professionally and politically incentivized to earn the greatest number of convictions. In conjunction with vast discretion over an individual’s case and powerful psychological forces that discourage prosecutors from critically entertaining the possibility of being wrong, an estimable but …

Op-Ed: Not Your Grandfather's Insurgency - Criminal, Spiritual, And Plutocratic, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

...Quite possibly, while it now finds itself in a reflective mood, the corporate Army will be more receptive to some of the insights provided herein, concerning the new forms of insurgencies. But first, before delving into how new insurgency forms are “new,” we must ask the question what insurgencies were like in your grandfather’s day.

Civil-Military Relations In Emerging Democracies: A Case Study Of Turkey, Melissa Deorio

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Within the study of democratic consolidation, the role of the military has been identified as an increasingly important aspect of a country’s ability to achieve democracy. The military plays a particularly influential role in countries in Latin America and the Middle East where country’s exhibit strong military traditions. This study of applies the theories of democratic consolidation and civil-military relations to Turkey, a country who has been able to make significant progress toward the end of military tutelage. Constitutional separation, punishment and national identity will be analyzed as explanatory variables for a lack of military intervention in Turkey during the …

Front Matter

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

front matter

The House That Julia (And Friends) Built: Networking The Chicago Juvenile Court, Carol Nackenoff, K. S. Sullivan

Political Science Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Sovereignty And Intervention In The Middle East: From The Fall Of The Ottoman Empire To The Arab Spring, Raslan Ibrahim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research provides an institutional explanation of the practices of external intervention in the Arab state system from the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 to the Arab Spring.

My explanation consists of two institutional variables: sovereignty and inter-state borders. I examine the changes in regional and international norms of sovereignty and their impact on the practices of external intervention in the Arab state system. I also examine the impact of the level of institutionalization of inter-state borders in the Arab World on the practices of external intervention. I argue that changes in regional and international norms of sovereignty …

The International Human Rights Policies Of New Democracies: Brazil And Chile In Comparative Perspective, Claudia Fuentes Julio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the majority of Latin American states have attempted to incorporate in some way or another human rights concern into their respective foreign policies, highlighting a history of human rights abuses and the return of democratic political rule as a trigger for galvanizing a commitment to assist in preventing such violations in other countries. Yet, while human rights have come to play a non-trivial role in the contemporary foreign policy of many Latin American states, there is great diversity in the ways and the extent to which they go about incorporating human rights concerns into …

President Obama's Executive Action & The Affordable Care Act, Katie Bullek

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

Valuing Governance, Beatriz Trigo

Spanish Faculty Publications

Book Summary: As has been abundantly documented in the popular and academic press, the humanities are facing challenging times marked by national debate regarding the importance of the humanities in higher education, program and budget cuts, and an ever-decreasing number of tenure-track jobs. In addition, the humanities face quite literally a quantification of their value as the Academy adopts a more corporate mindset.

This volume provides advice to professionals in the humanities on how to forge a useful, compelling, and productive career. The book’s 13 chapters address professional approaches to developing and maintaining an active research agenda, fomenting the ideals …

Remapping Trade Relations In The Americas: The Influence Of Shifting Power, Gaspare Genna

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

Institutional And Partisan Sources Of Legislative Conflict: The Brazilian Case, Taeko Hiroi, Lucio Renno

Selected Works Temporary Series

We assess the effects of individual, partisan, and institutional dimensions of conflict on the duration and outcome of the legislative processes in the Brazilian Congress. Our analysis indicates that legislative approval is more likely when the size of the governing coalition is either relatively small or extremely large and least likely when the coalition size is barely over the supermajority threshold to approve constitutional amendments. In contrast, legislative rejection is less likely with either modestly sized coalitions or very large coalitions, but most likely when it is approximately the size of the supermajority threshold. We also find that the effects …

Ua68/4/1 Potter College Of Arts & Letters Political Science Administration, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records regarding the administration of the Political Science Department.

Sarajevo Heart Of Europe? Global Politics, Symbol(Ism) & Liminality In The Centenary Of Ww1, Joan Davison

Faculty Publications

The analysis highlights the inter-connection and intra-connection between societal facts (mythology, symbols, and religion), socio-anthropological concepts (imitation, liminality), and psychological factors (human will and “I will”) with global politics. The approach identifies dynamics and “repetitions” which can affect individuals and societies, perpetuate tension and violence, and constrain certain political outcomes. Thus follows the particular shortcoming of International Relations theory as the product of rational choice, which strives to separate the unconscious from the conscious, to understand and remedy certain socio-political conflicts. Conversely, this analysis employs the theory on mimesis, imitation, hence, memory “me willed” (as the distillate of modernity). The …

Electoral Systems And Ethnic Conciliation: A Structured, Focused Analysis Of Vote-Pooling In Northern Ireland Elections 1998–2011, Callum J. Forster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project examines the role of electoral system rules in affecting the extent of conciliatory behavior and cross-ethnic coalition making in Northern Ireland. It focuses on the role of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system in shaping party and voter incentives in a post-conflict divided society. The research uses a structured, focused comparison of the four electoral cycles since the Belfast Agreement of 1998. This enables a systematic examination of each electoral cycle using a common set of criteria focused on conciliation and cross-ethnic coalition making. Whilst preference voting is assumed to benefit moderate candidates, in Northern Ireland …

Winning Well: Civil Resistance Mechanisms Of Success, Democracy, And Civil Peace, Jonathan C. Pinckney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several recent studies indicate that revolutions of non-violent civil resistance lead to more democratic and peaceful political transitions than either violent revolutions or elite-led political transitions. However, this general trend has not been disaggregated to explain the many prominent cases where nonviolent revolutions are followed by authoritarianism or civil war. Understanding these divergent cases is critical, particularly in light of the problematic transitions following the "Arab Spring" revolutions of 2011. In this paper I explain why nonviolent revolutions sometimes lead to these negative outcomes. I show, through quantitative analysis of a dataset of all successful non-violent revolutions from 1900-2006 and …

20 Years On: Manfred Wӧrner’S Impact As Nato Secretary General, Ryan Hendrickson

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

20 Years On: Manfred Wӧrner’S Impact As Nato Secretary General, Ryan C. Hendrickson

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Swiss Neutrality Examined: Model Or Exception Or Both, John Dreyer, Neal G. Jesse

Political Science Faculty Publications

Neutrality is a difficult position to maintain in a hostile international system. Switzerland is often seen as a successful case of neutrality, managing to both remain neutral and avoid conflict for centuries. This paper examines the possible reasons for the success of Swiss neutrality. It also positions the Swiss experience in comparison to other neutral states. Building upon and consolidating previous research and thought, we define three attributes that allow the Swiss to successfully maintain their neutrality. First is the armed deterrent worked into the national culture; armed neutrality is not just a policy position but a way of life …

Creating Knowledge, Volume 7, 2014

Creating Knowledge

Dear Students, Faculty Colleagues and Friends, It is my great pleasure to introduce the seventh volume of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences’ Creating Knowledge—our undergraduate student scholarship and research journal. First published in 2008, the journal is the outcome of an initiative to enhance and enrich the academic quality of the student experience within the college. Through this publication, the college seeks to encourage students to become actively engaged in creating scholarship and research and gives them a venue for the publication of their essays.

Beginning with the sixth volume of the journal, we instituted a major …

Dr. Strangedragon Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Rise Of China, Garrett Beaulieu

Washington Semester Program

No abstract provided.

The Globalization Of Human Rights In Post-Genocide Rwanda, Sadara Shine

Bridges: A Journal of Student Research

In the past two decades, Rwanda has been through major changes, from a conflict-ridden society with deep divisions between the two main ethnic groups–Hutus and Tutsis–to a case of impressive economic growth. Despite the progress, deep divisions and human rights issues exist. To avoid the recurrence of any conflict, both state and non-state actors are playing varied roles in a post-genocide Rwanda. Based on both primary and secondary sources, this article argues that in an era of globalization and postgenocide in Rwanda, non-state actors like international non-governmental organizations have the most impact in the preservation of human rights. So, in …

Cedaw And Gender Violence: An Empirical Assessment, Neil A. Englehart

Political Science Faculty Publications

Does the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) reduce violence against women? CEDAW has the distinction of being an unusually effective human rights treaty: promoting women’s political rights in particular, having a modest effect on women’s social rights, but showing little or no effect on economic rights.1 However, unlike these other rights, the CEDAW Treaty does not explicitly mention violence. The CEDAW Committee interpreted the Treaty as covering gender violence after the fact. It issued General Recommendations in 1989 and 1992 mandating states to collect information and take action on the issue, respectively.2 The …

Book Review: James Phelps, Jeff Dailey, And Monica Koenigsberg, Border Security, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Robert J. Bunker reviews the book, Border Security, by James Phelps, Jeff Dailey, and Monica Koenigsberg. (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2014)

Managing Budgets During Fiscal Stress: Lessons For Local Government Officials, Jeremy M. Goldberg, Max Neiman

McCarthy Center Student Scholarship

Like many local governments across the nation, cities and counties in California were impacted heavily by recent economic problems. This report examines what happened to local California government revenues during this period, which services have been adjusted, how employee benefits have been treated, and what innovations have been introduced.

The report is based on both a web-based survey of 245 California city government officials and face-to-face interviews with chief financial officers in most of the state’s major cities (Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Riverside, Pasadena and Los Angeles). The authors write, “There has always been much interest in the …

Trading With Foreigners: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of China’S Core Interests In Trade And Foreign Policy, Phoenix X.F. Cai

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article takes an interdisciplinary approach by drawing on political science, international relations, and legal global governance literatures to explain how China’s foreign policy impacts and guides its trade policy, which is manifested in the three core interests. The article makes the case that the core interest analysis holds promising explicative, predictive, persuasive, and coalition-building value in the arenas of global trade policy and dispute settlement.

This article proceeds in five main parts. Part II traces the contours of China’s three core interests in action, both in the domestic and international spheres. While not purporting to be exhaustive, it takes …

James Wilson's Judge As Agent-Plus, Geena Bournazian

Undergraduate Review

James Wilson’s theory of constitutional interpretation is based on a multidimensional view of sovereignty, both principled and derived. While the American people serve as the principle sovereign, they delegate authority to the Court (their agents) to uphold the Constitution and educate the American people about the Constitution, its principles, and the duties of the sovereign people. In rendering their decisions, Wilson argues that judges should apply principles of common sense natural law and natural right that informed the sovereign people’s original understanding of the Constitution. By applying Wilson’s multidimensional concept of sovereignty, the role of the judge can be used …

Adam Smith - Providing Morality In A Free Market Economy, Kendra Tully

Undergraduate Review

Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and Wealth of Nations (WN) appear to suffer from an irresolvable tension: TMS extols human sympathy whereas WN extols the consequences of self-interest. This paper takes a comprehensive approach, adding to scholarship on what has become known as the “Adam Smith Problem.” Through a textual analysis of TMS and WN that focuses on prudence, the nature of happiness and Smith’s rhetorical style, the inconsistency between his two texts disappears. The emphasis Smith places on prudence in WN can only be properly understood when one considers its foundations in sympathy found in TMS. By …

Elect Her Campaign College Women To Win Program, Judith Puncochar

Grants

ELECT HER Campaign College Women to Win Program encourages and trains young women to run for student government on college campuses and become active in civic engagement. Northern Michigan University was one of 10 universities selected for the first ELECT HER programs. Elect Her has been an on-going annual March event at NMU since 2010. Four of the last five ASNMU presidents have received Elect Her training.

2014 Forecast La Conference Book, Fernando J. Guerra, Brianne Gilbert, Brittany Machado, Berto Solis

Forecast LA

No abstract provided.