International Relations Commons^™

Interview With Mel Gurtov, Mel Gurtov, Jacob Hutchins

Conflict Resolution Oral Histories

Professor Mel Gurtov was interviewed on May 21, 2020, by Jacob Hutchins in Portland, Oregon.

In this interview, Gurtov discusses his career trajectory and history, detailing his involvement with release of the Pentagon Papers and his work studying the Vietnam War for the government. He explains how he came to teach political science and international studies at Portland State University, and his part in building and implementing the Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution program. He gives his views on the nature and value of political science regarding international conflict, and answers questions about his shifting political position during the war …

Interview With Tom Hastings, Tom Hastings, Patricia A. Schechter

Conflict Resolution Oral Histories

Professor Tom Hastings was interviewed by Professor Patricia Schechter on May 8, 2020, in Portland, Oregon.

In this discussion, Dr. Hastings recounts his professional development as a scholar and practitioner of nonviolence. The first half of the story involves his youth, early activism, and college training in Wisconsin. The second half involves his move to Portland, Oregon in 2000 and his growing involvement with Conflict Resolution at PSU.

Thucydides In Pyongyang: Fear, Honor And Interests In The 1968 Pueblo Incident, Benjamin Young

Research & Publications

Purpose: On January 23, 1968, North Korean naval forces captured a U.S spy ship, the USS Pueblo, off the coast of Wonsan. This incident nearly led to a second Korean War and heightened hostilities between the U.S and North Korean governments. This article demystifies the strategic thinking of Kim Il Sung’s regime and clarifies the reasoning behind Pyongyang’s risky undertaking in capturing the Pueblo and its crewmen as a rational and pragmatic action.

Design, Methodology, Approach: While the Pueblo crisis has been examined by a number of historians, this article which is based on former Eastern bloc archival documents and …

When The Lights Went Out: Electricity In North Korea And Dependency On Moscow, Benjamin Young

Research & Publications

The division of the Korean Peninsula has been symbolized by electricity. While South Korea lights up on satellite images, North Korea is dark. Using archival documents from North Korea’s former communist allies and Pyongyang’s state-run media, the author argues that the DPRK’s electricity shortages were not a result of the regime’s Juche ideology but rather an outcome of overreliance on Soviet assistance. This analysis disputes the notion of North Korea’s Juche ideology as a totalizing phenomenon within the DPRK’s political structure. By presenting a multifaceted history of North Korea’s electricity sector, the author highlights the ways in which Pyongyang engaged …

2020 Children's Story Cards, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Arif: "I like being in school again."

Norina: "We laugh a lot but I also worry."

Nooda: "I came on a boat. It was a big boat!"

Madina: "I just want to live in a safe place..."

Shurangez: "Sometimes we didn't feel safe at school."

Alex: "I'm from Nigeria. Coming to Italy was very difficult-very, very difficult, a real struggle."

Danial: "I want to be a useful person and follow my dreams."

Firoz: "I am 13 years old and I am worried about my family."

Ali: "Ali lived in Afghanistan. One day while walking to school a bomb exploded near …

Samuel Huntington's Clash Of Civilizations And Its Allure For The Past Thirty Years, Michaela Munda

Departmental Honors Projects

Political scientist Samuel P. Huntington wrote, taught, and advised on United States defense and foreign policy for over fifty years. The 1996 book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, is by far the most prominent of Huntington’s works. Though the work pertained to the world order following the collapse of the Soviet Union, his urging to understand factors that would set up the next stages of world conflict seem to hold truth throughout the last thirty years, and even in the present. Huntington argues that culture and identity will be at the forefront of global conflict. …

Rawah, Rawah, Brandi Kilmer

TSOS Interview Gallery

No abstract provided.

Modern Peace Keeping In Africa: Lessons From Nigeria, Solomon Hailu

College of Arts and Cultural Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship

Solomon Hailu, "Modern Peace Keeping in Africa: Lessons from Nigeria," The Journal of African Policy Studies, Volume 26 No. I, 2020, pp. 69-86

Different approaches to conflict resolution and peacekeeping in African failed states have taken the centre stage of this analysis. These approaches are based not merely on theory or doctrine but on the self-perceived interests of the stakeholders in peacekeeping inside Africa. The Western powers have repeatedly expressed the view that they will not commit their armed forces to resolve African conflicts. The West's desire to place responsibility on African states, rather than sharing it, will not bring …

A Relentless War: America, Israel, And The Fight Against Terrorism, Elyse Keener

Senior Honors Theses

For Israel, terrorism has plagued the nation since its beginning. Terrorism rears its ugly head in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons; however, in both the United States and Israel, Islamic extremism has presented itself as the largest threat. Since its birth as a nation, the United States has been involved in numerous conflicts, from the Revolutionary War to World War II and beyond. These wars were fought between nation-states and traditional powers, but since the attacks on 9/11, the United States finds itself in a new kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy. …

Living Through The Chilean Coup D’Etat: The Second-Generation’S Reflection On Their Sense Of Agency, Civic Engagement And Democracy, Denise Tala Diaz

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation illuminates how the experience of growing up during the Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990) affected the individual's sense of self as citizen and the impact on their sense of democratic agency, civic-mindedness, and political engagement in their country's current democracy. To understand that impact, the researcher chose to study her own generation, the “Pinochet-era” generation (Cummings, 2015) and interviewed those who were part of the Chilean middle class, who despite not being explicit victims of perpetrators, were raised in dictatorship and surrounded by abuse of state power including repression, disappearance, and imprisonment. The theoretical frame of the Socio-Political Development Theory …

"Review Of Stephen Huggins America's Use Of Terror: From Colonial Times To The A-Bomb," 2020. Journal Of Interdisciplinary History 51(2): 328--29., Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Scramble For Texas: European Diplomacy And Imperial Contest In The Republic Of Texas, 1835-1846, Penelope Lea Jacobus

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The story that this Dissertation analyses is the attempted European penetration of the North American borderlands during the independence of the Texas Republic. It will analyse how the independence of Texas ties into new forms of imperialism exercised by Europeans and U.S.-Americans during the first half of the nineteenth century, a time when shifting ideas about freedom and coercion, international law and rights, civilisation, nationhood, and trade redefined imperial possibilities. Imperialism in the nineteenth century had to be increasingly compatible with ideas of freedom and justice, such as free trade, free labour and the use of fair legal tenets in …

Gopniki: Peripheral Masculinity In Post-Soviet Russia, Eli Loeb

Pomona Senior Theses

In the 1990s, packs of tracksuit-clad youth from the suburbs known as gopniki descended on Russia’s cities. These problematic youth, embodying a unique strain of violent masculinity, rapidly rose in prominence during a time of national crisis. The gopniki faded just as quickly when Russia entered the new millennium. The influence of gopnik worldview did not diminish with the movement, however, and gopniki continue to influence Russian culture. This study of primary Russian source material examines the theoretical, ideological, and historical origins of this under-researched group, and explains their lasting influence on Russians in a rapidly changing world.

Emergent Women's Global Political Leadership: Progress Despite Constraints, Aoife Meehan

Dissertations and Theses

“Emergent Women’s Global Political Leadership: Progress Despite Constraints” seeks to trace why and how female political leaders emerge at the global level. Evidence points to certain cultural factors, often expressed by laws, constraining or supporting women as they seek political advancement. Data shows women leaders are emerging more and more, though slowly, as political leaders around the world. Reviewing women’s participation and representation regionally and nationally in parliaments, as ministers, and as heads of governments and states confirms that women can and do emerge as political leaders. Finally, learning about and examining women leaders themselves, their style and substance, proves …

Legal Frameworks For Protecting Cultural Heritage In Conflict Zones, Marcie M. Muscat

Dissertations and Theses

Cultural heritage has always been at risk during times of war. UNESCO first endeavored to address the issue shortly after World War II, in 1954, when it passed the first of three signature conventions to protect against the damage, destruction, and pillage of cultural property in times of armed conflict. Lacunae and other deficiencies in their frameworks, however, rendered these conventions difficult to enforce and largely ineffectual. This study offers an assessment of the strengths and limitations of the UNESCO system of cultural-heritage protection, with a particular focus on the 1954 Hague Convention. It is argued that, by superseding certain …

The State And War On Poverty: British Welfare Development And Its Legacies For Malawi, 1930s-1983, Gift Wasambo Kayira

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation documents the struggles and dilemmas that the Malawian state endured as it attempted to achieve its developmental goals from the 1930s to 1983. It contributes to histories of development by focusing on the interventions both the colonial and postcolonial states made to improve the living standards of African rural communities, the ideas which shaped state programs, and the behavior of the state which such interventions reveal. Scholars typically argue that state policy in Malawi was necessarily destructive and limited the economic progress of the local communities. The state deliberately pursued land, market, and other agricultural policies that constrained …

Role Of Art In International Relations : Analysis Of The Key Operational Patterns On The Example Of French Cultural Cluster, Maria Meshcherskaya

MA Theses

Reflecting on the role of art in the socio-cultural context would be unfair not to notice its unconventional nature of the transformation, definition, and understanding, depending on the time, place, and society, which would start the dispute. Yet, there is still no one answer or guide on how does art work as a singular system, using multiple mediums for translating, spreading, and sharing values from one culture to the another, without destroying origins of the message, but organically adopting it for the new environment. Luckily there is a set of tendencies kept by centuries, analysis of which might bring a …

Persistence Of Jewish-Muslim Reconciliatory Activism In The Face Of Threats And “Terrorism” (Real And Perceived) From All Sides, Micah B.D.C. Naziri

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation concerns how Jewish-Muslim and Israel-Palestine grassroots activism can persist in the face of threats to the safety, freedom, lives, or even simply the income and employment of those engaged in acts of sustained resistance. At the heart of the study are the experiences of participants in the Hashlamah Project, an inter-religious collaboration project, involving Jews and Muslims. Across chapters and even nations, chapters of this organization faced similar threats and found universally-applicable solutions emerging for confronting those threats and persisting in the face of them. This raised the question of whether revolutionaries and activists in general can persevere …

Ethical Eating: Overcoming Alienation In The Industrial Food System By Aligning Our Practices With Our Principles, André Kushnir

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis arose out of a moment of discord, while an environmental philosopher was eating blackberries in the middle of a blizzard in Missoula, Montana. What follows is an attempt to bridge the gap between our principles and our practices, by asking the questions: What does ethical eating look like? Is it possible within our current industrial food system? and If not, what needs to change? Responding to the publication of the 2019 EAT-Lancet report, this essay moves beyond thinking of ethical eating as “healthy” and “sustainable” and challenges the networks of suffering and labour that we take for …

Human Rights? What A Good Idea! From Universal Jurisdiction To Crime Prevention, Daniel Feierstein

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Over the last decades, Genocide Studies has entered in a “comfort zone.” With fellowships and support from governments or NGOs, we have developed a very comfortable environment in which the knowledge we produce about genocide prevention is neither critical nor useful. We have become trapped by assumptions we have never checked against reality and many of us have chosen to work inside the circle of those assumptions: genocide and mass violence are horrible acts committed by horrible people; we cannot stand by and do nothing; we have the responsibility to protect civilian populations and that responsibility takes the form, as …

Torn Apart: A Closer Look At Our Cover Image, Sandra Rios

Culture, Society, and Praxis

No abstract provided.

Special Relationships: Anglo-American Latin America Policy And The Redefining Of National Security, 1969-1982, Benjamin Jared Pack

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From 1969–82, the United States and Great Britain redefined national security in a distinctive way, separating the notion of national security from its traditional foundations in realist thought. The way the two powers come to define national security was the result of more than a century of historical interaction with Latin America and their own historical experience with ideology, imperialism, and colonialism. As such, the way the United States and Great Britain perceived their respective special relationships influenced the way they chose to intervene in matters of national security, particularly in Latin America’s Southern Cone countries of Chile and Argentina. …

Human Rights And Justice Rights Approaches To Gender-Based Violence (Gbv): The Case Of Kenya’S Sexual Offenses Act (Ksoa), Maryanne W. Kamunya

Graduate Masters Theses

Sexual violence produces detrimental and long-lasting physical and psychological trauma that deters a victim’s ability to fully participate in the economic, political and social development of their community and nation-state (Legal Action Worldwide, 2014). To fight this crime, the UNDP has developed an International Sexual Violence Protocol. This Protocol recommends consolidation of sexual violence legislation into one document called the Sexual Offense Act. These laws tend to use a justice through rights approach to effectively criminalize and prosecute sexual violence within a comprehensive human rights-based model. By using a justice over human rights-based approach; Kenya’s Sexual Offense Act (KSOA) deviated …

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Jorge Baron, Maria Kolby-Wolfe, Kristen Smith Dayley, Twila Bird, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Program has been around for 35 years, started in 1984 specifically to help Central American refugees during the mid-1980s, when they were fleeing civil wars. A pro-bono group of attorneys performing "direct legal representation", helping low income community members who are navigating different aspects of the immigration system. NWIRP also engages in "systemic advocacy" which attempts to change systems and policies revolving around asylum and immigration rights.

Book Review: The New Immigrant Whiteness: Race, Neoliberalism, And Post-Soviet Migration To The United States, By Claudia Sadowski-Smith, Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Making The War Colleges Better, Richard A. Lacquement Jr

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces

International Dialogue

Table of Contents for Volume 2

Institutionalized Violence In The History Of Mind/Body Dualism And The Contemporary Reality Of Slavery And Torture: Reflections On Elaine Scarry And The Body In Pain, Wendy Lynne Lee

International Dialogue

Wendy Lynne Lee argues that the dualistic impulse Bibi Bakare-Yusef identifies in Elaine Scarry’s analysis of the experience of pain has its roots at least as far back as Aristotle’s hylomorphism, and that a clear view of contemporary structural inequality requires a grasp of how “mind” and “body” continue to inform even anti-dualist social theory. Lee argues that insofar as this impulse informs Scarry’s The Body in Pain, it distorts Scarry’s analysis of the experience of pain in ways that elide important aspects of that experience. Understanding the nature of this distortion, however, sheds light on some forms of violence …

Using Bourdieu To Answer Spivak: On The Study Of Historical Subaltern Religious Practices, Curtis Hutt

International Dialogue

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, in her 1988 publication “Can the Subaltern Speak?,” famously challenges the ability of scholars—educated and operating within the dominating power structures of oftentimes European colonizing transnational political and religious movements—to ever grasp subaltern religion. This skepticism logically extends to the work of historians investigating the obscured religious traditions of past cultures that have been overlooked, overwhelmed, and suppressed. In this paper, I lay out a restrained strategy inspired in part by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and based upon my own historical work for circumventing some forms of historical blindness that conceal subaltern pasts. In conclusion, a …

Rethinking Secularism: P. Harrison, É. Balibar, T. Asad: The Territories Of Science And Religion; Secularism And Cosmopolitanism: Critical Hypotheses On Religion And Politics; Secular Translations: Nation-State, Modern Self, And Calculative Reason, Sotiris Mitralexis

International Dialogue

I will discuss here three recent books that both directly and indirectly discuss religion and secularism, in different contexts and certainly from different perspectives; one by historian Peter Harrison, one by cultural anthropologist Talal Asad, and one by philosopher Étienne Balibar. All three authors have invested a sizable part of their scholarly career in studying religion/secularism, and the books reviewed are revised collections of relatively recent lectures and essays (rather than, for example, texts authored with the explicit purpose of comprising a monograph); this entails that each of these books is, so to speak, the distillate of a career in …