Soon after the end of the Civil War, Lebanon witnessed the birth of its first audio-visual law: the Broadcasting Act of 1994. This Act was, according to the Document of National Reconciliation that ushered in the end of the Civil War, considered to be crucial in ending civil strife in Lebanon. The 1994 Act was also the first legislation for private broadcasting to be passed in the Arab world. The introduction of the Act created great political upheaval. The present study documents the controversy created by the Act and seeks to understand the extent to which vehement criticism of the Act and of the government behind it were justified. I will seek to do so by examining the various phases of the Act: its inception as a draft; its final wording and the economic and political forces that shaped it; and its implementation, mainly through the creation of a new regulatory body, the National Audio-visual Council (or NAC) responsible for studying license applications. The present study will document the various stages of the new broadcasting law by relying almost exclusively on primary sources: i.e., archival material, most of which is inaccessible to the general public (e.g., application files); and personal interviews with high ranking government officials and media representatives. Finally, by relying on elite theory and an "evolutionary" theory of policy analysis, I will attempt to interpret the findings of the primary research, and to add to our understanding of media, law, and change in post-Civil War Lebanon.

This thesis examines British government policy towards Russian refugees in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War in Russia. As a consequence of these two events, approximately one million Russians opposing the Bolshevik rule escaped from Russia. The Russian refugee problem was one of the major political and humanitarian problems of inter-war Europe, affecting both individual countries of refuge, as well as the international community as a whole. The League of Nations had been formed in 1919 in order to promote international peace and security. The huge numbers of refugees from the former Russian Empire, on the other hand, were seen as a threat to the international stability. Consequently, the member states of the League for the first time recognised the need for international co-operative efforts to assist refugees, and the post of High Commissioner for Russian Refugees was established under the auspices of the League. Significantly, this action marked the beginning of the international refugee regime; the active co-operation of states in the field of refugee assistance. European countries, in addition to international co-operative efforts on behalf of Russian refugees, also took individual actions for their assistance by offering them asylum in their countries. However, there were big differences in the policies of various European countries. Britain had long enjoyed a reputation of being a country of liberal refuge, where political refugees and immigrants could find asylum. This liberalism, however, started to be undermined at the beginning of the 20th century, particularly since the First World War. Although a principle that political refugees should be considered separately remained, my thesis will argue that this rule was not followed in the case of Russian refugees. From the very beginning the British government took a rigid attitude against the admission of Russian refugees to Britain, and strict provisions were set for the entry of individual refugees. Because of this, the number of Russian refugees in Britain was much smaller than in many other European countries, for example France or Germany. The policy of the British government towards Russian refugees thus offers a good example of the general decline of liberalism in Britain.

Founded in 1886 by a local veteran’s organization, the Texas Confederate Home for Men served thousands of veterans throughout its tenure. State-run beginning in 1891, the facility became the center of controversy multiple times, with allegations of mistreatment of residents, misappropriation of funds, and unsanitary conditions in the home. Despite these problems, for several decades the home effectively provided large numbers of needy veterans with a place where they could live out their remaining years. The home was finally closed by the state in 1965, and the buildings were demolished in 1970. The facility’s success helped to inspire Texas to introduce a veteran pension system, and brought forth a new era in the state’s willingness to take care of veterans once their wars were over.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University. / In view of the magnitude and scope of the conflict, the Civil War has been accurately described as the first of modern wars. Because of the heavy burdens imposed in both manpower and money, civilian morale was a factor which assumed great significance. This was particularly so since the people of the North displayed an eager interest in the war. Not infrequently, therefore, military strategy and policies had to be subordinated to political considerations, with the consequence, that the Union government was often unable to proceed as vigorously as conditions might warrant. Since the Lincoln administration could act only as far as public opinion would permit, it was necessary at times to await support from the people before instituting certain measures. Such delays, ironically enough, were often interpreted by the more impetuous as evidences of lack of leadership. There were various means available by which civilians could criticize the war effort. The press was free to report and comment on military matters to a degree which would seem unusual today, and censorship, where it existed, was of a most casual nature. Thus, policies which were suggested or begun by the administration were discussed at length in terms which ranged from approval to frank hostility. Under the guise of comment, partisanship colored criticism, and the ultimate goal of the war itself was called into question by outspoken Copperheads. Nor was the press, potent though it was, the only medium by which citizens could express themselves on the conduct of the war. In mass meetings, petitions to Congress, and private gatherings, civilians in the North analyzed and debated the policies of the administration. All of this comment was not adverse but, as military success evaded the Federal armies, defeatist sentiment bec~une manifest. There was potential danger to the Union cause in the unguided and uninfluenced drift of public opinion. [Truncated]

archives@tulane.edu / This dissertation explores the role of the Guatemalan National Police, from 1954 to 1985, as an institution that in the context of the country’s armed conflict and dirty war, became a key part of the machinery of brutality and violence of the Guatemalan State. The work approaches the police as an institution with its own internal logics, identity and counterinsurgency practices. The dissertation argues that the actions of the Guatemalan police need to be examined as part of a high policing model, where acts of police violence should not be assumed as actions that diverge from the norm, but instead as central to the police function. Especially given the entity’s role in the defense of the status quo and power. The work provides an overview of how the police was structured in a way that blurred lines between the units in charge of everyday policing and political policing. It then provides an ethnographic overview of how the social, economic and cultural condition of the country affected police ranks. The work also examines the relationship between the Guatemalan National Police and the citizens it was expected to serve and protect, to learn how that day-to-day element of community protection led the police to create its own criminal subject and its own notion of the internal enemy beyond the political subversive. The dissertation also sheds lights on the extent to which the police relied on intelligence networks and informants. Showing that citizen collaboration was fundamental to counterinsurgency project of the State. This project begins in 1954, after the U.S.-sponsored coup against democratically elected president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán (1951-1954) and ends in 1985, at the beginning of the country’s democratic transition. It begins in 1954, because the coup marked the beginning of the counterrevolution, a period that set the basis for the political actions that defined the structures of Guatemala during the following three decades. For its part, 1985 was supposed to represent a change for the country, but as the work explores, it is still hard to determine whether democratic transitional periods, with the military still at the forefront, can build lasting democratic projects. / 1 / María Aguilar

No description available.

This study attempts to explain why some countries experience multiple civil wars while others who have experienced a civil war build long-term stability from the rubble of conflict. The explanation of why civil war recurs focuses on the collective action problem, centering on the rebel leaders' ability to solve the Rebel's Dilemma. I further argue that once the Rebel's Dilemma has been solved once it is much easier for rebel leaders to solve it again and again. The empirical finds suggest that the political situation resulting from the first war plays a strong role in the solutions to the collective action problem and thus the long-term stability following a civil war. Namely, the level of democracy, partition and third party enforcement of the peace all affect the ability of the rebel leaders to solve the collective action problem and the likelihood of another civil war.

The contemporary decentralization trend in a number of South European states has been an object of scientific research on numerous occasions. By focusing on the analysis and interpretation of decentralization in Greece, in the post-dictatorial period (1974-1989), a country on which no previous similar research has been undertaken, this study broadens the research area and contributes to the wider debate about the nature of "Central-Local Relations". The analysis of centralization and decentralization tendencies in the Modern Greek State, of the role of Greek local government in politics and public administration and the overview of the related institutional reforms provide the background of the research and show the limitations of approaches which focus on the institutional characteristics in explaining policy changes. An inter-organizational framework of analysis is adopted to explain the nature, timing and evolution of the decentralization reforms. Decentralization is seen as the product of relationships between organizations, entailing the redistribution of resources and the change of rules governing the interactions between central and local government. The politics of decentralization are thus examined under the framework of the relations of political parties, viewed as organizations, with local government. The varying degree of dependence on local government organizations, of political parties in opposition and in government is investigated in the light of the internal dynamics of the party organizations and the scope and intensity of party competition in the related issues. Furthermore, it is shown that these processes of intra and inter-organizational change in political parties have significantly influenced the contents of decentralization policies, their timing and introduction and the growing consensus on decentralization during the period under examination. Intergovernmental relations is the framework of analysis which further interprets the policy process of decentralization. The complex set of power-dependence relationships between central government, the different organizations of the state apparatus and local government explain the formulation and implementation of the decentralization reforms. Two powerful and contradictory influences are examined: those of the bureaucracy tending to hinder and delay the implementation of reforms affecting its power; and those of the professionals within or at the side of government and administration, tending to produce the fragmentation of both central and local government by birth and development of new types of organizations, which by pass bureaucratic routes of communication and exchange. The synthesis of the above-mentioned influences has caused significant alterations in the pattern of intergovernmental relations, which will in turn affect the further process of decentralization in Greece.

Terrorism and civil war have each been studied heavily by scholars of non-state political violence; however, the two have typically been kept analytically distinct. Broadly, this project argues for treating these varying types of violence as more similar than different. While terrorism and civil war are not the same thing, they do exhibit powerful similarities both conceptually and empirically. By treating terrorism and civil war as distinct, scholars have missed out on many new insights gained from a more unified approach to non-state violence.Broadly, this project begins with the basic assumption that civil war and terrorism are not types of violence; rather, they are types of politics. Groups use terrorism and engage in civil war when those tools are available and useful, given the goals of the group. For violent groups, terrorism is versatile tool that can be used in many environments. Civil wars, while larger and rarer, are logically identical; if a group grows to be sufficiently large and powerful, and it is otherwise unable to change policy some other way, a civil war is a natural and unsurprising event.Studying violence by segmenting it into such distinct types has left scholars with disjointed explanations and no ability to bring together small-scale and large-scale events - like terrorism and civil war. The purpose of this project is to act as an initial step by suggesting a framework where varying types of non-state violence can simultaneously exist.In addition to the theoretical contributions of Part 1, the project demonstrates powerful new insights that can be realized by approaching non-state violence in a more unified manner. Part 2 provides two empirical chapters demonstrating insights from approaching terrorism and civil war together. Chapter 4 shows that terrorism data can be used as a temporally specific predictor of civil war onset. Next, Chapter 5 frames international terrorism as a transnational outcome of civil wars. Ultimately, much can be learned from treating non-state violence in a more unified manner.

No description available.