Political Science Commons^™

Assessing Paths To Greenlandic Independence: Reconciling Inuit Cultural Autonomy With Danish Rule, Leo Freedman

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

This analytical paper seeks to understand what political, economic, and sociocultural barriers inhibit Greenlandic independence from Denmark. The concept of independence must be conceptualized from an Inuit perspective in order to analyze what sacrifices Greenland’s largest ethnic group is willing to make to achieve an independent state. The resource extraction industry offers one path towards independence by reducing dependency on Danish and EU funding. However, this paper argues that Inuit cultural values, especially an inherent connection with the physical and spiritual health of the natural environment, is of higher value than the economic benefits of investing in the resource extraction …

How Christian Dominionism Threatens U.S. Democracy, Julie Ingersoll

Department of Religion Events

Part I of "God and Country: The Rise of American Theocracy". Video is unavailable for this installment.

As the rising tide of Christian nationalism continues to spread across the country and imperils American democracy, understanding the origins and impact of the movement has become increasingly urgent. This installment of the Department of Religion's webinar series examines the rise of Christian theocracy within the far-right ranks of American Evangelicalism. Dr. Julie Ingersoll, a leading national expert on extremist forms of American Christianity, discusses how Dominionism grew to such a dominant and influential movement within U.S. politics today and why it poses …

Federal Election Commission And Indiana Secretary Of State Campaign Finance Information Resoures, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This presentation covers campaign finance information resources produced by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Indiana Secretary of State. It describes how these agencies began, details how they oversee and regulate U.S. federal and Indiana state elections, and documents contributions made by individuals, organizations, political parties, and political action committees to individual candidates and organizations. Reporting documentation on these election races is also included.

Deciphering The Local Origins Of Neoliberalism In Central And Eastern Europe: The Example Of Lithuania, Jokubas Salyga

Political Science Faculty Publications

This article studies the local lineage of neoliberalism in Lithuania, examining its intellectual pedigree, early proponents and the structural shifts that facilitated its rise. The latter are attributed to the openings created by perestroika and the development of the communication network linking economists within the Reform Movement of Lithuania, émigré intellectuals and Hillsdale College in Michigan. Information exchanges produced within this network generated embryonic neoliberal ideas before 1991. The network also contributed to the establishment of an influential think tank, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), whose policy influence is illustrated by surveying monetary and pension privatisation reforms.

Failing To End Genocide: Structural Factors, Triggers, And Ineffective Responses, Tutku Ayhan

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Why do ongoing genocides persist despite global condemnation? This paper examines the challenge of ending ongoing genocides and argues that the persistence of genocides can be largely attributed to the interaction of structural factors and triggers with inadequate responses at the national, regional, and international levels. The analysis focuses on the genocidal experiences of the Yezidi and Rohingya communities, which were triggered by the 2014 attacks in Sinjar, Iraq, and the 2017 actions in Rakhine State, Myanmar. By viewing genocide as a process rather than an isolated act of violence and recognizing cultural genocide as genocide, this study aims to …

Conceptualizing Great Power Perpetrators, Federica D'Alessandra

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

For over a decade, shifting geopolitics, a changed global security environment, and countless failures of diplomacy have raised important questions on how to collectively grapple with a widely-perceived “crisis of multilateralism,” and reignited debate on the fitness of the UN Security Council to deliver on its mandate under these circumstances. Among other issues, ongoing polarization when not outright “gridlock” among the Permanent Members (P5) has fueled the Council’s apparent inability to respond to threats to civilian life and to countless mass atrocities around the world. Even worse, as this article argues, some P5 today possess both the willingness and unprecedented …

Revivifying The Responsibility To Protect: Strengthening The Normative Consensus For Atrocity Prevention, Matthew Levinger

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This paper examines weaknesses in the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle, drawing on the scholarly literature on norm diffusion and norm cooptation. Despite having been unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2005, the R2P doctrine almost immediately attracted criticism that it reinforced a neocolonial stance by nations of the Global North toward those of the Global South. This critique grew in force during the chaotic aftermath of the 2011 intervention in Libya, which had been authorized as an R2P mission. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the intensifying competition between the United States and China …

Lessons Learned: Overcoming Obstacles To Inference And Synthesis In Atrocity Prevention Research, Tallan Donine, Daniel Solomon, Lawrence Woocher

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In this paper, we argue that atrocity prevention (AP) researchers face obstacles to inference and knowledge synthesis in the study of AP strategies and tools. We argue that researchers can begin to address obstacles to inference by using rigorous social-science methods and can address obstacles to knowledge synthesis through greater coordination and transparency about concepts, methods, and data. Our argument proceeds in four parts. First, drawing on a systematic review of three decades of research about AP tools, we survey key analytic obstacles to drawing conclusions about the effects of AP policy. Second, we survey four separate methods that researchers …

Bridging Thought And Action: History, The Digital Humanities, And Building The Foundations Of Asian/American Political Thought, Vivian Yan-Gonzalez

Asian American Studies Faculty Articles and Research

This article argues that understanding the historical contours of Asian American electoral engagement provides an essential foundation for studying Asian/American political thought. However, historians have tended to adopt a broad understanding of "politics" beyond traditional civic and electoral politics, due to limited historical sources on Asian American electoral engagement and the longstanding interest among Asian Americanist scholars in alternative politics. I reintroduce Asian American electoral history as a vital and viable subject of study by exploring how scholars can use digital humanities tools and methods to build the archives of Asian American politics and to explore new insights and questions.

Power Politics And Nuclear Weapons: A Geopolitical Analysis Of Iran’S Nuclear Program, Jade Matthias

Rwanda: Post-Genocide Restoration and Peacebuilding

Abstract

Iran's nuclear program has long been a central concern in global security, influencing both regional power dynamics and international relations. This paper examines how geopolitical factors shape Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology, particularly in relation to its national security, regional dominance, and diplomatic leverage. While Iran’s nuclear ambitions are often analyzed in isolation, this study situates them within the context of the evolving global power landscape, particularly the rise of China and the perceived decline of U.S. influence. The paper argues that Iran’s nuclear program functions as both a defensive measure and a strategic tool in power politics, serving …

Manipulating The Masses? Right-Wing Populist Messages, Political Ideology, And Public Support For Multilateral Development Aid In Germany, The United States, And The United Kingdom, A. Burcu Bayram, Sebastian H. Schneider, Jorg Faust, Caterina Thompson

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

How does right-wing populism affect public preferences for foreign development aid spending across the liberal/conservative ideological spectrum? This research examines the complex interplay between exposure to right-wing populist messages targeting aid and political ideology at the mass level in Germany, the United States (U.S.), and the United Kingdom (UK) with data from original survey experiments. First, the experiments indicate that populist rhetoric reduces public support for foreign aid across all countries albeit to varying degrees. Second, the moderating role of political ideology is variable and complex across the different countries. In Germany, populist anti-aid messages reduce support among voters on …

Ua12/2/2 Talisman: Legacy, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

Fall 2024 Talisman:

• Our Mission
• Harrington, Ragan & Cecilia Alali. Legacy
• Muscutt, Carson. The Spirit of Western – Big Red
• Hardesty, Emma. Beyond the Letters – Fraternities & Sororities
• Lein, Samantha. The Iceberg Beneath You – Poem
• Pollard, Evynn. Echoes of the Past – Jonesville
• Sutton, Avery. Tasting Tradition – Recipes
• Phelps, Brett. The Hill
• Colovos, Christina. Pale Blue Dot – Poem
• Rainwater, Riley & Carson Muscutt. Marking Time – Marching Band
• Vickers, Abigail. Grassroots – Political Campaigns
• Muscutt, Carson. Horoscopes
• Legacy Issue 17 Playlist
• Lasting Impact

Fear Of Widespread Voter Fraud In The United States, Will Basnight

Political Science Student Papers and Posters

Millions claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen; there was even an insurrection to try and stop the election from being certified. Despite the lack of evidence, too many people trust politicians who claim elections were rigged or stolen. In this paper, I will study the type of person who fears widespread voter fraud, what media sources are pushing voter fraud headlines, as well as the patterns in social media usage when related to fearing voter fraud.

I will do this by using the Chapman survey of American fears, a representative national sample of U.S. adults in 2024. I found …

2024 Quality Of Life Survey - Orleans And Jefferson Parishes, Edward E. Chervenak, Anthony Liciardi

Survey Research Center Publications

The University of New Orleans Survey Research Center (SRC) conducted a live interviewer telephone survey of active registered voters in Orleans Parish and Jefferson Parish. Four hundred and ninety-one randomly selected respondents from Orleans Parish and 487 randomly selected respondents from Jefferson Parish were interviewed from September 9th through October 1st, 2024. Each survey yields a margin of error of +/- 4.4% at a 95% confidence level.

Notes From The Editor

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

International Dialogue

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

INTERVIEW

Analysis of the PLO and Hamas: Interview with Sir John Jenkins Raphael Cohen-Almagor

REVIEW ESSAYS

What Freedom? Edward Sankowski and Betty J. Harris

Ethnocratizing the “Holy Land” Curtis Hutt

BOOK REVIEWS

Rochelle Terman The Geopolitics of Shaming: When Human Rights Pressure Works—and When It Backfires Brett J. Kyle

Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origin of Durable Authoritarianism Joseph L. Derdzinski

POETRY

Arabic قصیدة بلا عنوانأسماء عزایزة

English Untitled Poem Asmaa Azaieh

What Freedom? Freedom-A Disease Without Cure. Slavoj Žižek. London: Bloomsbury Academic. 2023. Pp. 328., Edward Sankowski, Betty J. Harris

International Dialogue

Slavoj Žižek's outpouring of books continues, including the volume, Freedom-A Disease Without Cure (2023). The title is somber, but the contents do not signal an unrelievedly depressed attitude on the part of the author. Rather, the book manifests expanding curiosity and far-reaching originality. That is, however, supplemented by some self-criticism, e.g., when the author broods about the apathy in himself and others that he claims is a result of the hyperactivity enjoined by and observed in contemporary capitalism. We hope to go beyond critical interpretation and evaluation of Žižek, to express our own new insights beyond those formulated or hinted …

The Geopolitics Of Shaming: When Human Rights Pressure Works—And When It Backfires Rochelle Terman. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023. Pp. 216., Brett J. Kyle

International Dialogue

In The Geopolitics of Shaming: When Human Rights Pressure Works—and When It Backfires (Princeton University Press, 2023), Rochelle Terman takes on the important and interesting question of the effectiveness of states’ denunciation of each other in the enforcement of human rights. “Naming and shaming” states for their human rights abuses has long been a feature of international relations. Despite its consistent presence in the international arena, it is often met with skepticism by IR scholars and seen as nothing more than power politics in disguise. Rather than seeking to downplay or push back against this criticism of norm enforcement, Terman …

Ethnocratizing The “Holy Land” The Politics Of Sacred Places: A View From Israel-Palestine Nimrod Luz. London, New York And Dublin: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. Pp. 223., Curtis Hutt

International Dialogue

In this review essay, I will engage with some critical issues raised by Nimrod Luz in his recent book, The Politics of Sacred Places: A View From Israel-Palestine. This is a follow up to earlier articles that I have written for ID: International Dialogue and elsewhere related to holy sites as well as pilgrimage to, from, and within what is commonly known in the Western Christian world for the last one thousand years as the “Holy Land.” 1 It is also a companion piece to a recent review I have written of Marshall J. Breger and Leonard M. Hammer’s landmark …

Revolution And Dictatorship: The Violent Origin Of Durable Authoritarianism Steven Levitsky And Lucan Way. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022. Pp. 656., Joseph L. Derdzinski

International Dialogue

W h y do s o m e ––a nd not other, of course— regimes survive? Surveying a comprehensive range of historical and more contemporary examples, Levitsky and Way's Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism is an important contribution to scholarship that seeks to answer this fundamental question. While much of comparative political specifically, and political science more broadly, centers on democratic regimes and their fragility (and cases of stability, to be fair), why some authoritarian regimes "succeed" over multiple generations is less well understood. By focusing on the authoritarian regimes that emerge from social revolutions, Levitsky …

Untitled Poem (In Arabic), Asmaa Azaizeh

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Untitled Poem (In English), Asmaa Azaizeh

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Plo And Hamas: Interview With Sir John Jenkins, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

International Dialogue

Sir John Jenkins is currently a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange, the London-based think tank, for whom he has written extensively on Islamism and extremism more generally. Between 1980 and 2015 he served as a British diplomat, initially in Abu Dhabi (1983–86), Malaysia (1989–92) and Kuwait (1995–98) before being appointed Ambassador to Burma (1999–2002). He was subsequently HM Consul-General, Jerusalem (2003–06), Ambassador to Syria (2006–07), FCO Director for the Middle East and North Africa (2007-09), Ambassador to Iraq (2009–11), Special Representative to the National Transitional Council and 1subsequently Ambassador to Libya (2011) and Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia …

Federal Aid To Women And Children: The Children’S Bureau, The Social Security Act, And Political Development Victories And Failures, K. S. Sullivan, Carol Nackenoff

Political Science Faculty Works

The Social Security Act of 1935 and its 1939 amendments included federal programs for maternal and infant welfare, child welfare services, and Aid to Dependent Children (ADC). Inclusion of these programs is largely owing to women reformers’ long advocacy for public assistance to families in need. The Social Security Act nationalized aspects of the program championed by the Children’s Bureau, itself a product of women’s civic organization and institution building. These advances laid the ground for crucial components of the contemporary American welfare state, which included surveillance and intrusion into the lives of ADC families and the perpetuation of a …

Leader Age And Conflictual Behavior In International Relations, Michael B. Cox

Student Publications

The United States 2020 election of Joe Biden over Donald Trump led many Americans to argue the need for younger politicians and presidential candidates, as they had concerns that older presidents, like Trump and Biden, were unfit mentally and physically to lead the nation. In particular, some expressed fears that these leaders, because of their age, would be more likely to engage the United States in or escalate interstate disputes. Scholarship in the field has found conflicting results, with Horowitz et al. finding older leaders are more likely to engage their states in interstate disputes, while Bertoli et al. found …

Interstate Conflict Initiation And The Age Of International Leaders, Katelyn L. Laplaunt

Student Publications

The 2024 presidential election in the United States amplified concerns regarding the age of international leaders and their ability to lead. Current research indicates that differences in individual characteristics such as ideology, biological sex, and aggression, can cause leaders to interact with foreign countries in varying ways. Especially important is the manner in which a leader’s age might impact their tendency to initiate interstate conflict, as the effects of these conflicts can have major impacts on the international system. In alignment with my hypothesis, most research indicates that older leaders will initiate fewer interstate conflicts than younger leaders. This is …

The Digital Battlefield: Extremists On Social Media, Daniel P. Shanks

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The rise of social media has transformed the battleground for extremist groups like ISIS and the Taliban, enabling them to reach global audiences with unprecedented ease. This dissertation investigates the social media strategies employed by the Taliban and ISIS. These social media strategies are used to further their strategic objectives in propaganda, recruitment, and operational coordination. Through a comprehensive analysis, the study explores how these extremist groups adapt their digital tactics in response to evolving military and political landscapes. Utilizing case studies from key military engagements and applying theoretical frameworks of rational actor theory, social identity theory, and finite and …

Legitimacy At Sea: Expanding Considerations Of Sea Control, Ian Birdwell

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Sea control has been marketed and accepted as a norm within the global commons, with a variety of states arguing for their visions of control to be viewed as legitimate. As a piece of the global commons, sea lanes are a critical enabler for the global economy and possess significant military and political significance, yet the literature revolving around ideas of sea control treats it as a military achievement at the end of a campaign and remains focused on naval power as the key mechanism for state involvement. What best explains the mechanism states use to achieve sea control, especially …

Psci 102: Political Controversies: Democracy, Politics, And Freedom., Antonia Cucchiara

Open Educational Resources

This course aims to provide students with an introduction to the analysis of political controversies stemming from issues related to freedom and democracy in America today. Students will first engage with questions central to the understanding of the concepts above, such as: What is freedom? What is the relationship between freedom and democracy? How have thinkers, from the ancient to modern era, defined freedom? How can we compare and contrast the varied definitions of freedom put forward by thinkers across time? Students will then apply the theories of freedom and democracies to analyze a series of case studies from the …

A Rose Or A Unicorn? Asean’S Mission Under The Spotlight, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In a commentary, SMU President Professor Lily Kong explores the question posed by political scientist Donald Emmerson in 1995 - is Southeast Asia more like a vibrant rose or an elusive unicorn? Against the backdrop of the 44th ASEAN Summit, with the theme "Connectivity and Resilience", Prof Kong highlights ASEAN's efforts in fostering regional connectivity and resilience through economic growth, cultural exchanges, and digital advancements. Despite substantial economic integration and digital connectivity, she points out that ASEAN faces challenges in creating a cohesive regional identity. The piece argues for deeper cultural engagement and a focus on shared values to build …