Political Science Commons^™

Soft Power With Chinese Characteristics: Promoting Creative Industries While Maintaining Political Control, Thomas Glucksmann-Smith

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On October 15-18th 2011 during the latest Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, China’s leaders discussed ways to make China a ‘culturally strong nation’ (文化强国) and defined strategies to enhance China’s international soft power. This meeting coincided with tax evasion charges laid against China’s world renowned artist Ai Weiwei—charges he now plans to challenge.

Ai Weiwei, recently described by Art Review as the ‘world’s most powerful artist’ would, in any other nation, be regarded as a perfect diplomat for his country’s cultural industries. But, for China’s CCP leaders Mr Ai’s political activism and provocative behaviour has gone too …

The Perseverance Of Neoliberalism: Why Obama Has Not Shifted Trade Policy In Response To The Great Recession, Brian Pratt

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis examines Obama’s reasons for not shifting trade during the recession. The author goes into depth about how business groups influence Obama and his decisions on trade policies. Obama’s and Clinton’s administrations and their policies, through documents, speeches, and other sources, are also compared due to the fact that Clinton was the last Democratic president. Scholarly literature is also examined in regards to both Clinton’s and Obama’s presidency.

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 8: 230,000 Internally Displaced Persons (Idps) In Mexico And ‘Narco-Refugee’ Potentials For The United States, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 7: Us National Security And The Mexican Cartels: Proceso Magazine Interview With Dr. Robert J. Bunker, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Growing Mexican Cartel And Vigilante War In Cyberspace: Information Offensives And Counter-Offensives, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This short essay blends traditional Mexican cartel analysis indicative of earlier Small Wars Journal writings by this author with advanced (5th dimensional) warfighting concepts. These concepts have utility for engagement with non-state (new warmaking) entities. They are being increasingly discussed now that cyberspace and ‘dual dimensional’ operations are more frequently breaking out in the Mexican conflict.

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 3: U.S. Strategy To Combat Transnational Organized Crime: Doa (Dead On Arrival)?, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note No. 3: Narco Armored Vehicle Threats And Countermeasures, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note No. 6: Cross Border Incursion With Swat Teams Responding: 15 Cartel/Gang Gunmen Cross Into Us Near Escobares, Texas, Robert J. Bunker, Sid Heal

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Criminal (Cartel & Gang) Insurgencies In Mexico And The Americas: What You Need To Know, Not What You Want To Hear, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

We need this basic premise to be clear—that Mexico is facing something way beyond an organized crime threat. With this as the premise from which it starts, this congressional testimony will posit that the Mérida Initiative as it stands is too myopic in nature given the on-the-ground realities currently present in Mexico. These two contentions will herein be discussed in more detail and their merits supported by evidence from my own work and that of other area and subject specialists. Of necessity, therefore, the testimony will focus upon the broader security environment and the policy and strategic levels of analysis. …

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 5: Border Corruption Of Us Officials By The Mexican Cartels & Cases Shown, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mexican Cartel Strategic Note No. 4: Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Extreme Barbarism, A Death Cult, And Holy Warriors In Mexico: Societal Warfare South Of The Border?, Robert J. Bunker, John P. Sullivan

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This short essay is about impression—gut feelings combined with a certain amount of analytical skill—about recent trends taking place in Mexico concerning the ongoing criminal insurgencies being waged by the various warring cartels, gangs, and mercenary organizations that have metastasized though out that nation (and in many other regions as well). The authors spent over eight hours sequestered together about a month ago on a five-hundred mile ‗there and back again road trip‘ to attend a training conference as instructors for the Kern County Chiefs of Police. Our talks centered on Mexican Drug Cartels, 3rd Generation Gangs, 3rd Phase Cartels, …

The Projected Al Qaeda Use Of Body Cavity Suicide Bombs Against High Value Targets, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This work is initially derived from a non-public disclosure series of early warning presentations, first delivered in September 2006, by the author on the projected terrorist use of body cavity suicide bombs against high value targets. Subsequent terrorist use of such a device, in August 2009 in Saudi Arabia by an Al Qaeda operative, has allowed for this body of research (along with post-incident analysis) to now be published in an open venue. The work provides a historical overview of the use of suicide bombs by military forces and terrorists; addresses the co-evolution of suicide bombs and countermeasures by security …

The Ister: Between The Documentary And Heidegger’S Lecture Course Politics, Geographies, And Rivers, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

The Ister, the 2004 documentary by the Australian scholars and videographers, David Barison, a political theorist, and Daniel Ross, a philosopher, appeals to Martin Heidegger’s 1942 lecture course, Hölderlins Hymne «Der Ister»and the video takes us «backward» as the river flows: beginning from the Danube’s delta where it ends in the sea and «journeying» with it to its source in the Alps.

the value of the Barison/Ross documentary for both political theory and philosophy is its illustration of the technological incursions or assaults on the river itself, that is to say: its representation of the ‘uses’ and hence …

Pledge Your Body For Your Bread: Welfare, Drug Testing, And The Inferior Fourth Amendment, Jordan C. Budd

Law Faculty Scholarship

Proposals to subject welfare recipients to periodic drug testing have emerged over the last three years as a significant legislative trend across the United States. Since 2007, over half of the states have considered bills requiring aid recipients to submit to invasive extraction procedures as an ongoing condition of public assistance. The vast majority of the legislation imposes testing without regard to suspected drug use, reflecting the implicit assumption that the poor are inherently predisposed to culpable conduct and thus may be subject to class-based intrusions that would be inarguably impermissible if inflicted on the less destitute. These proposals are …

Off To The (Horse) Races: Media Coverage Of The "Not-So-Invisible" Invisible Primary Of 2007, Lori Cox Han

Political Science Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"While it may seem obvious to even the casual observer of U.S. politics how important news media coverage is for a presidential candidate in the heat of the primary or general election battle, it is the media attention garnered during the pre-nomination phase of the campaign that can play a crucial role in deciding if the candidate even makes it to the first nominating contest. Often referred to as the "invisible primary;' the pre-primary period for the 2008 election occurred earlier and lasted longer than in any previous campaign in modern American history...This chapter will consider two aspects of news …

Changing Tunes For Public Diplomacy: Exploring The Domestic Dimension, Ellen Huijgh

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

The era where public diplomacy could turn its back on its domestic public and look solely towards the international stage has ended. Even so, the clash of opinion continues over whether public diplomacy ought to include a domestic dimension. The paper aims to explore this understudied facet of public diplomacy while drawing attention to issues pertinent to further research. It argues that despite the challenges of breaking with conventional mindsets, moving beyond “new” public diplomacy requires a more holistic approach to public engagement in foreign policy.

Does Deliberation Make Better Citizens? Examining The Case Of Community Conflict Mediation, Heather Pincock

Political Science - Dissertations

In this dissertation, I explore the educative effects of deliberation through interviews and observation at two community mediation organizations in Toronto. Theorists have long claimed that participation in deliberation can change the skills and dispositions of participants in ways that make them better citizens. Despite the normative work such claims perform in justifications for participatory and deliberative democracy, they remain theoretically and empirically underscrutinized. I seek to address this by developing empirically grounded insights about the educative potential that can realistically be attributed to deliberative processes. I argue that educative claims can best be examined when parsed into three categories …

Treatment As A Common Good: Adopting Hiv/Aids Policy In Russia And South Africa, 1999-2008, Vladislav Kravtsov

Political Science - Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to increase our understanding of domestic policy responses to initiatives and expertise as provided by international health organizations. Although following international recommendations often improves domestic public health, in certain circumstances resistance to adopting them persists. My core theoretical argument suggests that a strong societal agreement about what constitutes the "common good" served by state (e.g., "social purpose") informs how domestic policy-makers evaluate the benefits of adopting international recommendations. This agreement also affects how governments frame the provision of treatment, decide which subpopulations should benefit from the consumption of public good, and choose their partners …

The Relation Of Theories Of Jurisprudence To International Politics And Law, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

In this essay we shall be concerned with the real world relevance of theories of international law; that is, with the question of the theories themselves as a factor in international decision-making. To do this it is first necessary to review briefly the substance of the jurisprudential debate among legal scholars, then to view some basic jurisprudential ideas as factors in international views of "law," and finally to reach the question of the operative difference a study of these theories might make in world politics.