Political Theory Commons^™

Mothers On The Ballot: Gender And Partisan Dynamics In The Evaluation Of Maternal Political Candidates, Jimena Sanchez

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

While scholarly research on the interaction between gender and political candidacy has grown, there is limited research on the way mothers are perceived in politics when they choose to run for office. The goal of the paper is to answer the following research question: how do partisanship and gender influences public perceptions of mothers running for political office, and to what extent does social desirability shape these attitudes? Through a list experiment, I surveyed individuals in the United States to capture the beliefs of the public toward mothers running for political office. Specifically, I analyze the opinions of survey participants …

Examining Variations In The Kremlin’S Repression Of Non-Systemic Political Opposition Parties Under The Putin Regime, Brock B. Anderson

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

What factors illustrate the differences in how the Kremlin under President Vladimir Putin responds to non-systemic political opposition groups in Russia? While existing literature on political opposition theory is expansive, more research specifically addressing contemporary Russian opposition forces is necessary. In particular, it is useful to zoom in on specific non-systemic opposition parties within Russia, as opposed to the customary method of using countries holistically as cases (Kubát 2010; Helms 2023; Eckstein 1967; Taylor 1988) . As such, my research seeks to demonstrate the value of appropriate theoretical frameworks to understand and measure individual non-systemic opposition parties’ actions and subsequent …

The Populist Paradox: A Critical Framework Proposal, Megan Morrell, Seth Masket

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Donald Trump’s presidency has undeniably reignited academic interest in understanding the populist phenomenon and its political implications. Trumpian politics are frequently considered to be a stark departure from status quo politics, in favor of a radical right populism. Yet, the Trump presidency and populist theory itself poses a key contradiction, namely a populist paradox. I will propose a critical framework to understand populism as a mechanism of political power by the liberal state. In What is Populism?, Jan-Werner Müller identifies a contradictory nature to populism, as it often perpetuates the same political problems that the populist politics sought to replace. …

Identifying Patterns In The Structural Drivers Of Intrastate Conflict, Jonathan D. Moyer, Austin S. Matthews, Mickey Rafa, Yutang Xiong

Global and Public Affairs: Faculty Scholarship

Quantitative methods have been used to: (1) better predict civil conflict onset; and (2) understand causal mechanisms to inform policy intervention and theory. However, an exploration of individual conflict onset cases illustrates great variation in the characteristics describing the outbreak of civil war, suggesting that there is not one single set of factors that lead to intrastate war. In this article, we use descriptive statistics to explore persistent clusters in the drivers of civil war onset, finding evidence that some arrangements of structural drivers cluster robustly across multiple model specifications (such as young, poorly developed states with anocratic regimes). Additionally, …

Shapes Of Commitment: Forms Of State Support To Nonviolent Mass Resistance, Maria A. Lotito

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nonviolent mass movements are an important and increasingly ubiquitous element of interstate politics in the 21st century. Diverse states - democratic, autocratic, rich, and developing – all have supported movements in some form. Explaining the convergence of such state actors on support for usually pro-democratic mass resistance challenges our existing scholarly frameworks. Using a new dataset, I reconcile the differing explanations of foreign assistance to movements that political science would offer with deep descriptive analysis pursued inductively. First, I propose a conceptual foundation for external support, couching an individual state’s support as the manifestation of an outcome-oriented foreign policy and …

Microfoundations Approach To Risk And Uncertainty In The Uppsala Internationalization Process, John P. Merli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study answers rising calls in International Business to employ a microfoundations approach for greater insight on differences in managerial cognition for entering business in high-risk locations. Consequently, findings challenge the Uppsala model’s longstanding stance concerning the risk-internationalization association governed by strict firm-level analysis. I examine CEO decision-making through the lens of their values, represented by their political ideology score along the liberal-conservative continuum, to offer greater predictability for rationalizing strategic choices. Accordingly, political ideology proved a significant predictor for explaining the circumstances in which CEOs elect high-risk locations based on their political ideology’s degree of liberalism. Additionally, its interactions …

Community Unclaimed: Plurality And The Problem Of Sovereignty In Bataille, Nancy, And Blanchot, Gregory J. Grobmeier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation takes up the exchange between three prominent French thinkers on the question of “community”: Georges Bataille, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Maurice Blanchot. Taken together, and starting with Bataille’s prewar writings and communitarian activism in the 1930s, the exchange between them now spans nearly a century. Georges Bataille’s importance as a political thinker and writer was brought out of relative obscurity with the publication of Jean-Luc Nancy’s “La Communauté désoeuvrée” in 1983. Less than a year after the appearance of Nancy’s inaugural essay, Maurice Blanchot, a close friend of the late Bataille, published La Communauté inavouable. Blanchot’s text was …

Black Finesse Amidst The Political Science Paradigm: A Race-Grounded Phenomenology, Janiece Zalina Mackey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, I develop a methodology that I call Race-Grounded Phenomenology (RGP). The scope of this study investigates how Black undergraduate students navigate the discipline of political science. An eclectic array of critical theories of race unveil the ways in which Black undergraduate students exhibit flair and tenacity, or what I call Black Finesse. The eclectic array of critical theories of race utilized in this study include critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, and identity enactments. However, this study focuses on the Black student experience amidst the socialization of political science or what I call the political science paradigm. …

The Foundations Of Aleksandr Dugin's Geopolitics: Montage Fascism And Eurasianism As Blowback, Grant Scott Fellows

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of Aleksandr Dugin's The Foundations of Geopolitics, of which I have translated important sections into English and these are included as an appendix. Despite the importance of Foundations of Geopolitics to Russian strategic thought there has not been a translated edition published in English. This work was published in 1997 and has been quite influential for Russian political and military leadership. I strive to provide context for the setting in which Foundations of Geopolitics was created through an analysis of the social and political conditions that existed in Russia while the text was being …

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 …

The Ethics Of ‘Responsibility While Protecting’: Brazil, The Responsibility To Protect, And Guidelines For Humanitarian Intervention, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the aftermath of the NATO intervention in Libya, the responsibility to protect (RtoP) doctrine has received considerable blowback. Various states, most notably some of the ‘BRICS’ states (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), claimed that NATO exceeded its mandate given to it by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1973 (by allegedly focusing on regime change rather than on the protection of civilians), was inappropriate in its target selection, violated the arms embargo by transferring arms to rebels, and generally caused too much harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure.1 It was also suggested that the UK, US, and …

Myths About Syria, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In my contribution, I want to focus on five fallacious claims and arguments that have been presented about the conflict in Syria. (Please note that this piece was written in Dec 2012).

Corruption And Human Rights: Exploring The Relationships, Berihun Adugna Gebeye

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Corruption is a global phenomenon which every society faces though its degree of severity varies from country to country. Despite its long history, there is no single universally agreed upon definition of corruption. Moreover, its causes, forms and impacts are diverse and multi-faceted. Understanding corruption by itself is a complex undertaking. However, it is agreed that corruption is inimical to public administration, undermines democracy, degrades the moral fabrics of the society and violates human rights. The pain of corruption touches all the human family but it disproportionately affects the vulnerable sections of the society. It reinforces discrimination, exclusion and arbitrariness. …

Edzia Carvalho On Human Rights In The Global Political Economy: Critical Processes. By Tony Evans. Boulder, Co: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011. 232pp., Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Rights in the Global Political Economy: Critical Processes. By Tony Evans. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011. 232pp.

The Moral International Sphere As A New "Civic Virtue", Claudia Heiss

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Liberal political theory, the predominant paradigm at least since the 1970s, rules out as oppressive the imposition of any substantive notion of a "good way of life" and proposes instead a neutral conception where each individual should have the right to pursue his or her own preferred project of life. This opposition of an ancient "virtue" and a modern "freedom" seems challenged by current debates about morality and the responsibility to protect innocent civilians from massive crimes. The moral outrage of the international community may be interpreted as a signal of a perhaps minimal notion of civic virtue, which translates …

Tahira Khan On Wives, Widows, Concubines: The Conjugal Family Ideal In Colonial India By Mytheli Sreenivas. Bloomington, In: Indiana University Press, 2008. 169pp., Tahira Khan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Wives, Widows, Concubines: The Conjugal Family Ideal in Colonial India by Mytheli Sreenivas. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008. 169pp.

Craig Berry On Global Ethics And Civil Society Edited By John Eade And Darren J. O’Byrne. Aldershot, Uk: Ashgate, 2005. 180pp., Craig Berry

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Global Ethics and Civil Society edited by John Eade and Darren J. O’Byrne. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2005. 180pp.

Emilian Kavalski On The Liberal Archipelago: A Theory Of Diversity And Freedom By Chandran Kukathas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 292pp., Emilian Kavalski

Human Rights & Human Welfare

No abstract provided.

Hijacked Justice: Domestic Appropriation Of International Norms, Jelena Subotić

Human Rights & Human Welfare

This paper explores the domestic politics of international norm diffusion, using the global transmission of transitional justice norms as the empirical context of the research. Applying sociological institutionalism as the principal theoretical framework, I argue that the motivation of states to adopt international models of transitional justice has changed over time. The transitional justice norm - that posits that war crimes and massive human rights abuses must be dealt with in a proper legal setting and not through “victors’ justice” or impunity - was institutionalized in large part as the result of a strong domestic demand for transitional justice in …

International Humanitarianism In The Contemporary World: Forms And Issues, David P. Forsythe

Human Rights & Human Welfare

© 2004 David P. Forsythe. All rights reserved.

This paper was commissioned by the U.S. Social Science Research Council and the United Nations University, for a research project on multilateralism starting Fall 2004.

The paper may not be quoted or referred to in any reference without the written permission of the author. Suggested revisions are welcomed by the author via his email address. This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission …

State Sovereignty And Human Rights, Jack Donnelly

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Sovereignty and human rights typically are seen as fundamentally opposed: the rights of states pitted against the rights of individuals; 1648 (the Peace of Westphalia) versus 1948 (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL for any paper posted here, nor will they be responsible for notifying others if the URL is changed or the …

United Nations: A Social Studies And Literature Simulation, Institute For The Development Of Gifted Education, Ricks Center For Gifted Children, University Of Denver

Ricks Curriculum Units Series

So much of education is about inspiration. As teachers and learners, all things poetic, justified, important and meaningful inspire us to be the best people we can be, active and fair in a world changing at awesome speeds and in sometimes, unimaginable ways. This curriculum for gifted learners' grade 5-8, was designed out of a sense of authentic inspiration around just the conceptual magnitude of the phrase, United Nations. Also written about, around, and in response to the events of September 11, 2001, this curriculum reflects only one of the ways in which the field of education has responded to …

Negotiating Toleration: Engagement, Enforcement, And The Politics Of Recognition, Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Toleration and Identity: Foundations in Early Modern Thought by Ingrid Creppell. New York: Routledge, 2003. 212pp.

and

How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West by Perez Zagorin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. 371pp.

Eric Munoz On The Geopolitics Of Hunger 2000-2001: Hunger And Power Edited By Action Against Hunger. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000. 354pp., Eric Muñoz

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Geopolitics of Hunger 2000-2001: Hunger and Power edited by Action Against Hunger. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000. 354pp.

Addressing Fundamentalism By Legal And Spiritual Means, Dan Wessner

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Religion and Humane Global Governance by Richard A. Falk. New York: Palgrave, 2001. 191 pp.

Gender and Human Rights in Islam and International Law: Equal before Allah, Unequal before Man? by Shaheen Sardar Ali. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2000. 358 pp.

Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women edited by Courtney W. Howland. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. 326 pp.

The Islamic Quest for Democracy, Pluralism, and Human Rights by Ahmad S. Moussalli. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001. 226 pp.

Questioning The Universality Of Human Rights, Paul J. Magnarella

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Universal Human Rights? edited by Robert G. Patman. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. 244pp.

and

Dealing with Human Rights: Asian and Western Views on the Value of Human Rights edited by Martha Meijer. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, 2001. 183pp.

and

The Philosophy of Human Rights by Patrick Hayden. St. Paul: Paragon House, 2001. 686pp.

Politics, Pragmatism, And Human Rights, Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Rights Horizons: The Pursuit of Justice in a Globalizing World by Richard A. Falk. New York: Routledge, 2000. 288pp.

and

Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry by Michael Ignatieff (edited by Amy Guttman). Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. 187pp.

Horror Unmasked: Truth Or Fiction?, Lars Buur, Eric Harper

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

A Country Unmasked: Inside South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Alex Boraine. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 448pp.

Opening The Dichotomy Of Universalism And Relativism, Chih-Yu Shih

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Negotiating Culture and Human Rights edited by Linda S. Bell, Andrew J. Nathan and Ilan Peleg. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. 428 pp.

and

East Meets West: Human Rights and Democracy in East Asia by Daniel A. Bell. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 369 pp.

Loosening The Bounds Of Human Rights: Global Justice And The Theory Of Justice, Christina Jones-Pauly

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Bounds of Justice by Onora O’Neill. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 219pp.