Political Theory Commons^™

Politics Of Peace: How Social Media Impacts Advocacy In Relation To International Conflict, Madeline Shonholtz, Christopher M. Jackson

Honors Thesis

Social Media is one of the great communicators with hundreds of platforms being used regularly to connect with others, share important life updates, and occasionally see news postings. This paper tackles the question of whether or not social media, with a focus on three platforms: Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter), make an impact when it relates to an individual's opinion on International Conflict. Through data comparison and analysis, the answer will be uncovered as to whether or not social media has an impact and if so, how has that impact changed overtime with the comparison of data from 2016 …

Institutions Matter: How So?, Alper Duman

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This paper examines the influential theory of Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson (AJR) on the role of institutions in economic development, highlighting its strengths, limitations, and areas for further research. A central contribution of their work is the emphasis on power and conflict in institutional formation and change.

The theory's focus on the interplay between inequality, political power, and institutional change provides a valuable framework for understanding development trajectories. This paper also considers critiques of AJR's work, including the lack of robustness of the positive correlation between inclusive institutions and economic performance in lower-income countries and the significant …

Rhetoric Vs. Reality: A Study Of Public Rhetoric And Private Behavior Across Party Lines, Elizabeth Callecod

Bakerman Student Research Awards

In the United States, Republicans and Democrats are viewed as being intrinsically distinct in their moral convictions. More specifically, Republicans are generally viewed as the party which more frequently upholds and uses religious and moral rhetoric, particularly regarding sexual activity, while Democrats are generally thought to rely on more pragmatic and inclusive rhetoric. Previous explanations explore why these partisan stereotypes exist but fail to compare how these different rhetorical styles compare to the actual behavior exhibited by both parties’ members. By using measurements of how often individuals from both parties participate in sexual morally contentious activities, such as viewing pornography, …

The Cost Of Happiness: The Implications Of Utilitarianism On Economics, Adam Opp

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Bentham and Mill proposed the utilitarian theory, which has moral and economic applications. Bentham and Mill differed slightly in their ideologies, as Mill critiqued Bentham and argued that man is in a separate category from beasts. To assess this, one must study human nature and if man really is different from the beasts. To this end, utilitarianism will be discussed, but also Aristotle’s discussion on virtue, the magnanimous man, and generosity. The next critical area to discuss is what differentiates humans from beasts, and if humans are distinct. Several characteristics that differentiate men from beasts include mental, psychological, moral, and …

Placing The Four Rounds Of Israeli Palestinian Negotiations In The Twenty-First Century In The Context Of Ir Theory, Notably Realism Theory, Michael J. Reimer Dr

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

On October 7, 2023, Hamas unleashed a vicious attack on Israeli civilians in the southern part of Israel. The plans for this attack were likely many years in the making. Nine hundred miles of tunnels crisscrossed Gaza with the terrorist infrastructure coinciding with the location of hospitals, school, Mosques and shelters above. On October 6, 2023, the history of the four rounds of Israeli Palestinian negotiations of the earlier part of the twenty-first century had been largely forgotten and completely ignored. The Likud coalition in Israel in 2023 - 2024 was in complete agreement with Hamas’ sponsor that no negotiations …

Morality, Outgroups, And Politics, John Jostes

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Moral differences between Democrats and Republicans contribute to affective polarization, or how negatively each side feels toward one another. Partisans are also generally aware of and sensitive to which social groups comprise the other political party. The present study examines if changes to the United States population, and thus levels of support for the two parties, will influence affective polarization. To do so, participants were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions in which they read about demographic changes reported in the 2020 U.S. Census, or a control condition. I find that the treatment conditions did not have a …

Recovering Constitutional Identity In Colonial South India: Sedition, Sovereignty, And Small-C Constitutionalism In Pudukkottai, Bharath Gururagavendran

National Law School Journal

Constitutional identity is easiest to identify when it has already been credentialed: by a constitutional text, constituent authorisation, or judicial recognition. What remains visible when those markers are absent? Through a historically grounded study of the ‘Little Kingdom’ of Pudukkottai, a princely state in colonial South India, this article examines whether constitutional identity can be recovered from the small-c life of a polity whose opportunities for formal constitution-making were structurally foreclosed. Pudukkottai had no big-C moment. Its constitutional life, if it had one, must be reconstructed from less authoritative materials. The article argues that the absence of a constitutional text …

Casar Public Lecture: The Results Are Out! Implications Of The Us 2024 Elections On Egypt & The World: Looking At A Broader Perspective’, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

DONALD TRUMP WON THE 2024 US ELECTIONS!

CASAR Public Panel Discussion: The results are out! Implications of the US 2024 Elections on Egypt & the World: Looking at a Broader Perspective."

Speakers: From AUC: Amb. Karim Haggag - Dr. Manar El-Shorbagi , and from the University of Central Florida Mr.David Dumke.

The panel was moderated by CASAR Director Dr.Mark Deets.

The panelists deliberated about the possible implications of this election round from several perspectives, analyzing the impact on Egypt, the region & the world.

Learn more about CASAR and follow us: CASAR website: https://gapp.aucegypt.edu/academics/c...

Facebook: / casar-auc-egypt-461110727349183

Instagram: https://instagram.com/casar2003?igshi.. …

Rethinking Autonomy In The Digital Age: Between Human Exceptionalism, Hybridity And Conviviality, Anne Hoss

Human-Machine Communication

In the humanities and social sciences, there is a long tradition of discourses on the relationship between automats and human autonomy. Socio-technological transformation processes of the past decades have revitalized related discussions. At the same time, based on ideas of either human exceptionalism or hybridity, current debates tend to focus on ontological questions and comparisons between humans and machines. This paper aims to widen recent discursive foci by introducing Ivan Illich’s work which highlights institutions, power structures, and the social shaping of technology as key factors of humanartifact relations and autonomous action. It will be argued that Illich’s approach contributes …

Bottom-Up Global Change: Stealth Action In A Decentralized World, Art Blaser, Trinity Huynh

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

The climate justice and disability rights movements reflect a paradigm shift from a top-down approach to policy-making to one that emphasizes local efforts by non-state actors.

Sci-Tech System Reform Requires A New Paradigm: Theoretical Exploration, Yuehong Zhang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has comprehensively promoted the reform of the sci-tech management system, and has made significant progress. Nevertheless, facing the recent massive transformation in science and technology, China not only requires intensifying and deepening the sci-tech reform, but also demands profound reflections on its current reform mode and further exploration of a new reform paradigm compatible with China’s endeavor for a world power of science and technology. This study analyzes the challenges of China’s sci-tech transformation and the bottleneck of the problem-oriented repair paradigm for sci-tech reform, …

Building A New Paradigm For Sci-Tech System Reform: Practice Of Chinese Academy Of Sciences, Yuehong Zhang, Fang Jiang, Xue Wang, Guang Chen, Xiaoning Li

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Facing the immense challenges of sci-tech transformation, the national urgent needs for building a world power of science and technology, and the strong inertia of its institutional development, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has practiced the new reform paradigm, and launched a prudent and resolute, partial and systematic, unified and diverse exploration of sci-tech reform. Firstly, based on the structural paradigm theory proposed by the preceding work, this study introduces CAS’ endeavor to clarify the vision of “seizing the commanding heights of science and technology”, shape multiple structural tensions, and build dual-track reform framework. Secondly, it presents the practice that …

Transformación De La Sociedad Saharaui: Evolución Histórica Y Reorganización Social, Mustapha Ouzir

Journal of Maya Heritage

Este artículo analiza la evolución histórica y los cambios sociales en la región sahariana, desde Oued Nun hasta el río Senegal, destacando el impacto de la llegada de las tribus Banu Hassan sobre la población autóctona amazigh Sanhaja. Se exploran los cambios en la estructura social, caracterizados por una nueva jerarquía étnica y tribal. Además, se examina la influencia de la colonización española en la transformación de la sociedad saharaui, que pasó de un estilo de vida nómada a uno más sedentario. El estudio destaca el proceso de sedentarización y los cambios socioculturales resultantes, como la alteración de roles familiares …

Taxation's Limits, Luís C. Calderón Gómez

Northwestern University Law Review

Countless pages have been devoted to the question of why everyone should pay tax, yet its opposite has gone largely unnoticed: why should some people and organizations not pay tax? Our tax system exempts from ordinary income taxation a wide and diverse array of people and organizations engaged in significant economic activity—from parents providing childcare services for their family to consular activities and charities operating animal shelters—seemingly without a convincing explanation. Perhaps because of the dizzying diversity of tax-exempt activities, scholars and policymakers have avoided comprehensively or coherently justifying our exemption regimes.

This Article develops a novel normative theory that …

Tendencias Fonéticas Y Aspectos Gramaticales Del Español Hablado En El Sáhara, Mustapha Ouzir

Journal of Maya Heritage

Este estudio analiza las tendencias fonéticas y los aspectos morfosintácticos del español hablado en el Sáhara, una región marcada por su historia colonial como territorio español. Mediante una metodología cualitativa, que incluye observación libre, conversaciones grupales y pruebas fonológicas, se investigan las características lingüísticas de los hablantes saharauis, cuya lengua materna es el hassanía. Los hallazgos revelan una interferencia fonética significativa, como la neutralización vocálica, la reducción de diptongos y la influencia del español canario. También se identifican desviaciones morfosintácticas respecto al español estándar, incluyendo problemas de concordancia gramatical, tiempos verbales y uso de preposiciones. Estos fenómenos reflejan el impacto …

Survivor Skills: Authenticity, Representation And Why I Want To Teach Reality Tv, May Friedman

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This paper will consider the pedagogical potential in constructing a class on the phenomenon of reality television by exploring the possibilities and pitfalls of a shared viewing of these “texts” as a site of critical engagement with popular culture. A course on reality TV would require a deep analysis of the topics of representation, authenticity, and audience reactions. The course I would like to teach would also consider the ways that reality TV is simultaneously emblematic of, and contributes to, the foregrounding of neoliberal discourses. This paper addresses some of the pedagogical implications of an analysis of reality TV by …

Revisiting Marcuse On Repressive Tolerance: A Twenty-First Century Retrospective, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Herbert Marcuse’s essay Repressive Tolerance (RP) has been praised by the Left and vilified by the Right for its alleged promotion of censorship targeting reactionary opinions and actions. I argue that this interpretation of the text is mistaken. According to my alternative reading of the text, RP should be understood as an exercise in provocation and irony aimed at defending civil disobedience and dissent. Marcuse’s defense of dissent, however, appeals to a critique of pure tolerance that exposes the unavoidably partisan practice of tolerance, which invariably favors the reigning undemocratic status quo. The choice whether to tolerate in a manner …

Martial Spirits And Marital Rites: Assessing Rousseau's Critique Of Commerce's Devaluation Of The Military And The Family, Jacob A. Harvey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation will investigate Rousseau’s critique of how commercial society devalues soldiers and families and the responses provided by defenders of commerce. I will examine Rousseau’s corpus to demonstrate how Rousseau viewed commerce as a threat to both the responsibilities that men in a political community must be willing to fight and die for their country, as commercial societies intensify the hedonistic risk-averse calculations within members of the community. I will also show how Rousseau’s concerns towards commerce extended to the family, inhibiting the joys that can come with being part of a family and inhibiting citizens' willingness to have …

Mutual Recognitions Across Generations, Steven L. Winter Walter S. Gibbs Distinguished Professor Of Constitutional Law

Law Faculty Research Publications

“Sovereignty,” Arendt says, “is contradictory to” the human condition. It is not, in any event, the kind of thing that can be shared across generations. Subsequent generations lack sovereignty to the precise degree that they are bound by the decisions of their predecessors. It is no answer to say that contemporary citizens participate in the sovereignty of a whole, transgenerational people. To paraphrase de Tocqueville, later generations are not free because they are not entirely equal, and they are not equal because they are not entirely free.

Where “sovereignty” is a metaphysical concept that transcends time, recognition is an act …

Un/Learning To Disagree. A Response To "Pragmatist Thinking For A Populist Moment: Contingency And Racial Re-Valuing In Education Governance", Edda Sant, Marta Da Costa

Democracy & Education

How should education governance respond to increasing polarized perspectives? Drawing on contemporary African American pragmatism, Knight-Abowitz and Sellers’s article "Pragmatist Thinking for a Populist Moment: Contingency and Racial Re-valuing in Education Governance" interrogated the critical case of Black Lives Matters and anti-critical race theory protests in the USA education governance and concluded that inquiry and deliberation are needed to embrace more pluralistic forms of democracy. In our response, in which we engage with decolonial, agonistic, and speculative theories, we share Knight-Abowitz and Sellers’s analytical framings. Yet we wonder to what extent inquiry and deliberation can push off racial habits and …

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 …

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 …