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A Tragedy Of Incommensurability: Indigenous Rights And The Limits Of Human Rights Law, Zeina Ali 2025 American University in Cairo

A Tragedy Of Incommensurability: Indigenous Rights And The Limits Of Human Rights Law, Zeina Ali

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the tragedy of incommensurability between indigenous rights and international human rights law. Despite the emergence of frameworks like the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), indigenous calls for sovereignty remain fundamentally unintelligible within a liberal order structured to preserve settler-state legitimacy. Tracing the historical and theoretical evolution of indigenous advocacy, this study critiques the strategic shift from demands for self-determination to claims of cultural rights. It argues that this shift offers no real alternative: self-determination and cultural rights are functionally equivalent, as both are ultimately filtered through legal and political frameworks that cannot …


Awareness And Change In Socrates Political Thought, Mohamed Talaat 2025 Future University in Egypt

Awareness And Change In Socrates Political Thought, Mohamed Talaat

Future Journal of Social Science

The research paper explores the importance of public political awareness in Socratic philosophy in relation to societal and political changes that can happen as a consequence. By seeing how Socrates emphasized moral integrity, critical thinking, and pursuit of knowledge in order to achieve virtue. The research tests the hypothesis that an increased level of awareness can lead to a societal and political transformation. The research tackles some questions, such as the steps needed for a political change, the tools to increase awareness, and the role of philosophers and great thinkers in guiding their societies to such a path. Through analyzing …


Political Sociology, Talha C. Issevenler 2025 City College of New York

Political Sociology, Talha C. Issevenler

Open Educational Resources

This open-access textbook on political sociology introduces and problematizes the classical categories and parameters of the field. It explores the main approaches to the state and governance, while conceptualizing a turn toward network power. Specific chapters address political spacetime, violence, secrecy, social movements, politicization, interdisciplinarity, media, biopolitics, and event-analysis. Multimedia pedagogical exercises accompany the conceptual exposition.


The Invisible Hand Of Networked Repression, Thuy Anh Tran 2025 CUNY Graduate Center

The Invisible Hand Of Networked Repression, Thuy Anh Tran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

U.S. history is awash with contentious episodes involving a legion of governmental and non-governmental actors operating through an array of means and arenas to destroy the political opposition. Yet, there has been little systematic examination in the repression literature of how and why repressive efforts proliferate so far beyond the police, military, and intelligence agencies tasked and equipped to preserve the existing order. This dissertation presents a novel framework for studying the relational basis of repression—particularly as it is organized, mobilized, and extended through a networked social structure. Social network analysis and interpretive case studies are conducted on two historical …


Guardians Of The Iranian Revolution: Clerical Authority, Bonyads, And The Irgc In Iran's Economic Landscape, Chase M. Toscano 2025 CUNY Graduate Center

Guardians Of The Iranian Revolution: Clerical Authority, Bonyads, And The Irgc In Iran's Economic Landscape, Chase M. Toscano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis investigates the ideological and institutional foundations of Iran's post-revolutionary political economy, focusing on the triumvirate of clerical authority, bonyads (charitable foundations), and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Drawing on Kevan Harris’s “subcontractor state” framework, this study argues that Iran’s political economy is simultaneously a decentralized yet state-dominated system, where semi-public institutions like the bonyads and the IRGC act as key subcontractors, enabling the Islamic Republic to further economic development and circumventing Western sanctions. This analysis examines the development of Iran’s political economy from the 1979 revolution to identify the influence of left-wing Islamic ideologues like Ali Shariati …


Agents Of Alignment: Political Realignment As Social Movement Strategy, Matthew Miles Goodrich 2025 CUNY Graduate Center

Agents Of Alignment: Political Realignment As Social Movement Strategy, Matthew Miles Goodrich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The fields of social movement studies and political realignment theory do not often overlap in political science. But by conceiving of realignment as a strategy of social movements, this paper reveals terrain in the political struggle that conventional scholarship can miss. I draw from two historical case studies – the industrial labor movement in the 1930s and the civil rights movement in Mississippi the 1960s – to explore how social movement strategists fought to shape the contours of emerging political orders to achieve their goals. I find that the labor movement pursued a reciprocal strategy of alignment with the Democratic …


The Activists’ Choice: Ballot Initiatives As A Step Towards Pro-Choice Efforts, Levi C. Mahler 2025 California State University, Monterey Bay

The Activists’ Choice: Ballot Initiatives As A Step Towards Pro-Choice Efforts, Levi C. Mahler

Culture, Society, and Praxis

Following the overturn of Roe V. Wade, many U.S. state legislatures failed to implement abortion rights that satisfy the general population. When the public disapproves of legislative law, some U.S. states allow citizens and activists the right to pursue a ballot initiative. With enough voter signatures, these ballots can turn into new laws. However, with ballot initiatives being a multi-step, lengthy process, what ultimately pushes activists to pursue this path? My research analyzes this novel intersection of political science and sociology fields to contribute to the current lack of literature on activists' decisions to pursue ballot measures for abortion rights. …


Does Choice Of Media Amplify Support For Political Violence?, Nathan Palomares 2025 Chapman University

Does Choice Of Media Amplify Support For Political Violence?, Nathan Palomares

Political Science Student Papers and Posters

Acts of political violence have increased in frequency and exposure to American society via news media. Violent rhetoric is a common theme among many forms of media Americans consume, including social media, which has become an essential platform where Americans increasingly get political news information. The events of the January 6 Capitol Riots and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in late 2024 show how urgent the rise of political violence is and its destabilization of American Democracy. In this paper, I examine the relationship between the types of news media people consume and their potential to increase people’s …


A Jus Ad Bellum Analysis Of The American Revolution, Lindsey Allen 2025 Liberty University

A Jus Ad Bellum Analysis Of The American Revolution, Lindsey Allen

Senior Honors Theses

America is a rose among the thorns of history, owing her existence to her remarkable victory in the Revolutionary War. However, America's end cannot necessarily justify the means of her creation. This qualitative thesis will determine whether the American Revolution was just by examining the jus ad bellum perspective of Just War Theory. This philosophical purview will focus on the justness of the colonists’ initiation of the American Revolution, with its criteria being last resort, legitimate authority, just cause, probability of success, right intention, and proportionality. This thesis will synthesize the contributing elements and arguments for the defense of the …


Secularism, Illiberalism, And Latino Voters In The 2024 Presidential Election, Jocelyn D. Lopez 2025 Georgia Southern University

Secularism, Illiberalism, And Latino Voters In The 2024 Presidential Election, Jocelyn D. Lopez

Honors College Theses

This paper examines the intersection of secularism, illiberalism, and the shifting political alignment of Latino voters in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It challenges assumptions that Latino voters naturally align with liberal democratic ideals, arguing instead that religious commitments, particularly among Christian Latinos, have increasingly aligned some with illiberal political movements. The analysis explores how conservative appeals to religious values resonate with voters who feel alienated by the perceived secularism of the Democratic Party. At the same time, these voters may overlook moral inconsistencies in candidates like Donald Trump if they believe he respects religious communities and challenges liberal norms …


Beyond Victory And Settlement: Rethinking War Termination Through Post-Conflict Conditions, Emery C. Thigpen 2025 University of Mississippi

Beyond Victory And Settlement: Rethinking War Termination Through Post-Conflict Conditions, Emery C. Thigpen

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how different war termination types—decisive military victory, negotiated settlement, and ceasefire—shape long-term political stability through the mechanisms of enforcement, political inclusion, and economic recovery. While much of the existing literature focuses on civil wars, this study applies those insights to interstate conflicts, arguing that stability depends not on how wars end, but on whether post-war structures support compliance, legitimacy, and economic resilience. The central claim is that post-war peace is more likely to endure when enforcement mechanisms deter spoilers, inclusive political frameworks prevent renewed grievances, and economic recovery restores state capacity and legitimacy. Using a most similar …


Does Choice Of Media Amplify Support For Political Violence?, Nathan Palomares 2025 Chapman University

Does Choice Of Media Amplify Support For Political Violence?, Nathan Palomares

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Acts of political violence have increased in frequency and exposure to American society via news media. Violent rhetoric is a common theme among many forms of media Americans consume, including social media, which has become an essential platform where Americans increasingly get political news information. The events of the January 6 Capitol Riots and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in late 2024 show how urgent the rise of political violence is and its destabilization of American Democracy. In this paper, I examine the relationship between the types of news media people consume and their potential to increase people’s …


Government Trust And Its Influence On Voter Turnout During Wartime, Samantha Claire Richard 2025 Chapman University

Government Trust And Its Influence On Voter Turnout During Wartime, Samantha Claire Richard

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

What impact does the public's level of trust in government during wartime have on voter turnout in US elections? Previous research focuses primarily on the impact public trust has on political parties and tends to neglect the impact wartimes may have on these factors. I will argue that during wartime, there is a negative relationship between public trust and voter turnout. Oftentimes, those who find themselves not trusting the government have a stronger desire to vote in hopes of changing the system; in comparison to those who have a high level of government trust, they feel a weaker desire to …


Concurrently Implementing Islam And Democracy In Afghanistan: Failure Causes And Future Prospects., Mohammad Riaz Nassiry 2025 University of Louisville

Concurrently Implementing Islam And Democracy In Afghanistan: Failure Causes And Future Prospects., Mohammad Riaz Nassiry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Islam and democracy have been widely considered incompatible, especially in Muslim-majority countries. This thesis, with a contextual focus on Afghanistan, looks into the failure of the concurrent implementation of Islam and democracy in that country. The thesis takes a nuanced perspective and proposes a theory in which institutions (laws and regulations) and education play a prominent role in consolidating Islam and democracy. The research employs a mixed-method research design, with an aim to explore the influence of constitutional design and public education in shaping democratic outcomes within Islamic contexts. The findings reveal that Afghanistan’s constitution and laws were broadly compatible …


Querying The Ecological Sublime: Colonial Aesthetics, Anticolonial Thought, And The ‘Double Fracture’, Tacuma Peters 2025 CUNY Hunter College

Querying The Ecological Sublime: Colonial Aesthetics, Anticolonial Thought, And The ‘Double Fracture’, Tacuma Peters

Publications and Research

This article examines the ecological sublime in its relationship to the history of colonial aesthetics, anticolonial thought, and contemporary colonialism. It argues that, while Edmund Burke utilized the sublime in support of colonialism (including settler colonialism) in North America and colonial slavery, Samson Occom and Ottobah Cugoano developed versions of the sublime to contest British colonialism in the Americas. The history of this aesthetic contestation has not been represented in scholarship on the ecological sublime, which, this article shows, has a vexed relationship with historical and contemporary colonialism. The article argues that the ecological sublime exhibits the “double fracture” of …


Deep-Fake Revenge Porn: The Intersection Of Artificial Intelligence And Revenge Porn For A Modern Attack On Women, Eva C. Hunt 2025 California State University, Monterey Bay

Deep-Fake Revenge Porn: The Intersection Of Artificial Intelligence And Revenge Porn For A Modern Attack On Women, Eva C. Hunt

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This study aims to provide a legal analysis grounded in gender legal theory to critique current legislation enacted in the United States. It focuses on the societal and gendered impacts of revenge porn, particularly examining how victimization differs across genders. The legal analysis explores state-by-state legislation addressing revenge porn, assessing the severity of criminal penalties and the timeline of enactment. For current contextual reasons, the study evaluates how emerging Deepfake artificial intelligence technologies intersect with and complicate existing revenge porn laws. Finally, it analyzes the extent to which each state has incorporated Deepfake AI considerations into its legal framework.


Dekonstruktion Der Afd: Eine Analyse Der Rechtspopulistischen Deutschen Partei Der„Alternative Für Deutschland”, Elizabeth A. Breckenridge, Elizabeth Breckenridge 2025 University of Mary Washington

Dekonstruktion Der Afd: Eine Analyse Der Rechtspopulistischen Deutschen Partei Der„Alternative Für Deutschland”, Elizabeth A. Breckenridge, Elizabeth Breckenridge

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Die Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) ist eine rechtsextreme populistische Partei, die innerhalb eines Jahrzehnts rasch an Macht gewonnen hat, insbesondere in den ostdeutschen Bundesländern, aufgrund ihrer Betonung der Nationalisierung, ihrer populistischen Rhetorik und ihrer Anziehungskraft auf Wähler, die Ängste vor Einwanderung und kulturellem Wandel hegen. Die AfD hat es innerhalb von fünf Jahren geschafft, eine starke Wählerschaft zu mobilisieren, 2017 Sitze im Bundestag zu erringen und gilt nun als wichtigste Oppositionspartei zu den etablierten Parteien. Die AfD ist die erste rechte Partei seit 1945, die aufgrund des Aufstiegs rechtspolitischer Ideologien bedeutende Wahlerfolge erzielen konnte. Aufgrund des reaktionären Pendelschwungs nach dem …


The Politics Of The Black Womb: How Education And Power Reinforce The U.S. Black Maternal Health Crisis, Foluke Akinkunmi 2025 University of Connecticut - Storrs

The Politics Of The Black Womb: How Education And Power Reinforce The U.S. Black Maternal Health Crisis, Foluke Akinkunmi

Honors Scholar Theses

This study investigates the alarming maternal mortality rates among Black women in the U.S. today first by exploring the historical exploitation of Black maternal bodies during enslavement and with the rise of professionalized gynecology. It challenges the narrative that attributes these outcomes to individual choices or supposedly inherent biological factors, arguing instead that the devaluing of Black women’s well-being and authoritative knowledge have been constructed along with the United States itself. To advance a constructive response, the paper analyzes curriculum competencies for obstetric and midwifery healthcare providers, surveys of Black women's birthing experiences in the previous 20 years, and interviews …


Representation Styles Amongst Establishment And Non-Establishment Parties In Germany, Nicco T. Elie-Pierre 2025 Binghamton University

Representation Styles Amongst Establishment And Non-Establishment Parties In Germany, Nicco T. Elie-Pierre

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

The question of representation and its typology is still an ongoing discussion in the literature. There has, however, been a seminal approach, first posited by Hanna Pitkin, discussing a polysematic view of representation. There has, however, been a lack of coverage of how political parties utilize the different forms of representation Pitkin describes. This project studies political posters around the city of Leipzig, Germany, categorizing them based on their displayed messages into the three applicable types of representation (Symbolic, Descriptive, and Substantive). Through this lens, we will analyze how the political parties in Germany use these differing representation styles, and …


Penggunaan Retorika Dalam Pidato Pengunduran Diri Mikhail Gorbachev: Kajian Wacana Kritis Norman Fairclough, Muhammad Shanneva Raynadi 2025 Program Studi Rusia, Fakultas Ilmu Pengetahuan Budaya, Universitas Indonesia

Penggunaan Retorika Dalam Pidato Pengunduran Diri Mikhail Gorbachev: Kajian Wacana Kritis Norman Fairclough, Muhammad Shanneva Raynadi

Multikultura

This study analyzes the use of rhetoric in Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation speech on December 25, 1991, using one of Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach, namely rhetorical aspect. This speech marked the dissolution of the Soviet Union and reflected the socio-political changes during Gorbachev's leadership, particularly concerning glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) policies. Through an analysis of Aristotle's five rhetorical elements—inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria, and pronuntiatio—this study finds that Gorbachev employed rhetorical strategies to reframe his reform ideas, establish credibility, and influence public perception of the ongoing political transition. The findings indicate that the speech was …


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