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Disjunctive strategies of empire : colonial narratives and readings in international relationsYew, Kong Leong. January 2000 (has links) (PDF)
Bibliography: leaves 286-299. This thesis demonstrates how it is possible to think of colonial discourse and the literature of international relations as productive of the dilemmas faced by western culture in coming to terms with contemporary forms of imperialism. As such it is a fusion of cultural studies and critical international relations. (preface)
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Freireian approach to peacebuilding and development| An in depth case studySchmidt, Sarah 17 December 2015 (has links)
<p>Freireian Approach to International Peacebuilding and Development:
An in Depth Case Study
ABSTRACT
Paulo Freire, in his seminal work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, counters the antidiological and destructive tendencies of the elite with concepts focused on humanist action.
With a Freireian approach to International Peacebuilding and Development, engagement and dialogue at a grassroots level has the potential to create an environment of empowerment for individuals and communities, ultimately leading to positive change and increased equality. By implemented Freireian concepts and models, practitioners have the opportunity to combat what Freire calls ?false generosity?. The integration of Freireian ideals would not only give a voice to the targeted population or region, but it would also combat the North-South divide mentality that is ingrained in the interactions of stakeholders at all levels. Whether applied to a macro scale, such as a government and its people or a micro scale, like the concept of peace education and the democratic relationship between teachers and students, a Freireian lens allows the struggle toward personhood and liberation to be framed in critical thought, praxeological dialogue, and conscientization. The setting from which creativity, liberty, and positive peace are realized is fed by these principals and helps overcome antidiolagical action intended to snuff out the solidarity of a united group of revolutionaries.
Teachers stand on a unique platform to engage with youth in the developing world through classroom experiences, and praxeological learning opportunities. Teacher training programs based in the United States uphold a unique interaction through development efforts in the education sector worldwide. While some enable an antidiological approach to international interactions, others have encouraged positive and constructive training and implementation to help combat false generosity. Through responsible and sustainable projects, practitioners have the opportunity to stand in solidarity, creating an environment where awareness is raised, change is possible and positive peace can not only develop, but also flourish among the ?radical? dialogue of those fighting for a more equal and less exploitive world.
Through an in depth case study of a Freireian framed teacher training program implemented in Haiti, the practices, attitudes, and outcomes of practitioners and stakeholders will be analyzed and evaluated, ultimately shedding light on the effects of a Freireian approach to development.
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Civil society governance decisions: certification organization response to artisanal and small-scale gold miningSippl, Kristin 09 November 2016 (has links)
Why do global governance organizations enter some economic sectors but not others? A simple model of material incentives suggests that similar organizations should make similar choices. Yet in the empirical realm of jewelry industry governance, similar organizations diverge in their response to artisanal and small-scale gold mining: certification organizations Fairtrade International and the Alliance for Responsible Mining have entered the sector, while the Rainforest Alliance has stayed out. To explain this puzzle and its implications for human development, the project proceeds in two steps.
First, it enriches the simple model by taking a discursive institutional approach that traces the process by which norm entrepreneurs, organizational cultures, and network effects shape the sector entry decisions of organizations. Drawing on interview, document, and hyperlink data, the project argues that the interaction of norm entrepreneurs and organizational culture, more than network effects, explains sector entry decisions in the gold governance case.
Second, the project uses the details of the certification standards to conduct a decision analysis that estimates their impact on human development. The analysis finds that certification organizations are likely to increase a miner’s income by 41%-79% over the status quo, which may lift some, though not all, miners out of poverty. It further finds that degree of environmental protection as well as which organization is best at providing it depends on the gold price and the governance context. At prices below $26,666, the Alliance is best and competition creates better or equal outcomes than monopolies. At prices above $26,666, however, Fairtrade is best, and competition creates perverse incentives for pollution reduction. This surprising finding suggests that in the realm of global governance, there can be too much of a good thing.
The project argues that governance without governments can foster human development, but that better outcomes are possible in the gold mining case. It concludes by recommending that certification organizations do three things to maximize their positive impacts: 1) prevent de-certification, 2) cooperate rather than compete, and 3) aim to be irrelevant, because mining should be a transitory, not permanent, developing country livelihood.
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Rethinking Disarmament: The Role of Weapons in the Resolution of Internal Armed Conflicts.Levin, Jamie. Unknown Date (has links)
Since the end of Cold War there has been an increase in the number internal conflicts and with it a corresponding rise in the number of third party interventions. Third parties, motivated by humanitarian concerns and spillover effects, have sought to create stable conditions for the termination of internal conflicts and the reconstruction of shattered societies. The disarmament of combatants has emerged as a leading practice. Disarmament is based on the arrestingly simple logic that the elimination of weapons removes the means by which combatants fight, thereby forcing them to commit to peace. Despite this emergent practice, however, belligerents consistently retain, and, in some cases, acquire weapons, even after signing peace agreements. Proponents of disarmament tend to view the retention of weapons as evidence of spoiling, yet disarmament leaves actors with little recourse in the likely event that a peace process collapses and conflict resumes. I argue that actors often retain weapons because the risk of violent reversal remains high even after the signing of a peace agreement. In the likely event of the breakdown of peace, weapons can be used to help ensure survival of those who retain them. This research explores the role of weapons and disarmament in internal conflicts with reference to both historical (the American War of Independence) and contemporary examples (Israel-Palestine and El Salvador). Though not all are examples of successful peacemaking, weapons played a productive role not only securing combatants, but also by allowing them to make more credible commitments and take greater risks associated with peace. This research reveals a paradox: while weapons provide belligerents with much-needed insurance, allowing them to take risks associated with peacemaking, retaining weapons appears to magnify the likelihood that an agreement will fail. Nevertheless, belligerents have at their disposal various ways to overcome this problem. I conclude by discussing the ways in which third parties may better support such initiatives.
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Tocqueville in Miami : political culture and political organizing in Miami's Cuban communityCeresa, Robert 02 October 2009 (has links)
This study examines the effectiveness of civic organizations focusing on leadership and the role of culture in politics. The study is based on a quasi-experimental research design and relies primarily on qualitative data. The study focuses on Miami's Cuban community in order to examine the role of public initiative in grassroots civic and community organizations.
The Miami Cuban community is a large, institutionally complex and cohesive ethnic community with dense networks of community organizations. The political and economic success of the community makes it an opportune setting for a study of civic organizing. The sheer number of civic organizations to be found in Miami's Cuban community suggests that the community's civic organizations have something to do with the considerable vibrancy and civic capacity of the community. How have the organizations managed to be so successful over so many years and what can be learned about successful civic organizing from their experience?
Civic organizations in Miami's Cuban community are overwhelmingly ethnic-based organizations. The organizations recreate collective symbols that come from community members' memories of and attachments to the place of origin they hold dear as ethnic Cubans. They recreate a collective Cuban past that community members remember and that is the very basis of the community to which they belong.
Cuban Miami's ethnically based civic organizations have generally performed better than the literature on civic organizations says they should. They gained greater access to community ties and social capital, and they exhibited greater organizational longevity. The fit between the political culture of civic organizations and that of the broader political community helps to explain this success. Yet they do not perform in the same way or in support of the same social purposes. Some stress individual agency rather than community agency, and some pursue an externally-oriented social purpose, whereas others focus on building an internal community.
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Democratic purgatory : the failure of democracy in VenezuelBrown, Christopher M. 15 May 2009 (has links)
This research provides an understanding of the conditions that presage the failure of consolidated democratic political regimes through constitutional processes. In seeking to answer the question of how democracy might fail through democratic means, this study has revealed a gap in the literature on democratization. Venezuela was selected as a heuristic case study to explain this phenomenon. Heuristic case studies place less emphasis on the more configurative or descriptive elements of the case itself, and instead see the case as a point of departure for the formulations of theoretical propositions. While in-case hypotheses are possible, heuristic case studies make it an explicit research plan to tease out mechanisms that exist in a particular case study that might survive in other situations.
This study demonstrates that the elements in society that act as direct participants in the establishment of a democratic political system are able to maintain their position in the new order largely through an expansion of their ability to meet popular demands through clientelistic arrangements. While these corporatist groups may serve to facilitate social mobilization during the establishment of democratic regimes, they do so only in so far as they can maintain social control of in-group membership without fully providing parts of the democratic structure, these corporatist arrangements provide for a type of unstable democratic purgatory: democracy is not fully representative, yet it is not completely unresponsive to the demands of the electorate.
The condition of democratic purgatory produces a paradox whereby democracy can be undemocratic under certain conditions. The stability of these regimes allows for democratic consolidation, despite the undemocratic basis of legitimacy. While these regimes can undergo consolidation, ultimately, this condition is unstable: either these regimes must establish an endogenous basis of political legitimacy (one that is not simply a function of the corporatist/clientelistic political structure), or the democracy will suffer a qualitative decline that may result in a democratic breakdown. Furthermore, this study finds that the viability of any type of democratic regime rests upon its adaptability to ensure adequate representativeness.
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Towards realism in international political theory : a defenseGriffiths, Martin January 1990 (has links)
In the discipline of International Relations, the term "realism" has been severed from its association with ordinary usage, and is attributed to a school of thought according to which international politics is essential1y an asocial realm of conflict and struggles for security and power among states in an anarchical environment. The two main post-war theorists associated with this approach are Hans Morgenthau and Kenneth Waltz. This thesis argues, contrary to conventional wisdom, that realism is not a meaningless term in common parlance, nor is it redundant as an attribute of thought about international politics. I argue that it has been inappropriately applied to the work of these two "grand theorists" whose approach does not merit the label. Instead, this dissertation concludes that they are more appropriately characterised as idealists. In contrast to Morgenthau and Waltz, whose work suffers from the shortcomings of (in Morgenthau's case) nostalgic idealism and (in Waltz's case) complacent idealism, I argue that what is referred to as the "Grotian" approach to the study of international politics is more deserving of the label "realism."
The argument is explicitly based on the interpretation of the meaning of the terms "political realism" and "political idealism" contained in Robert Berki's book, On Political Realism (London, 1981). Consistent with the logic of ordinary usage, Berki argues that realism is an attribute of thought which presupposes that "reality" is the dialectical interplay between
necessity and freedom, constraints and opportunities. Idealism, in contrast, is the ontological denial of this presupposition, and the reification of either necessity or freedom. These abstractions are then imposed upon political practice leading to an evaluative stance of nostalgia and complacency, or revolution (the "idealism of imagination"). Realism transcends the false bifurcation between these extremes.
In light of Berki 's analysis, Hedley Bull's theoretical approach to international politics - which recognizes its heterogeneity as a social and "rule-governed" domain - is defended as a more realistic starting-point for thinking systematically about the source and nature of order among states than that provided by either Morgenthau or Waltz. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate
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The Prolific Goddess: Imagery of the Goddess within Indian LiteratureUnknown Date (has links)
Goddess imagery in contemporary novels by Indian women. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of International Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2003. / November 7, 2003. / India, Goddess / Includes bibliographical references. / Kathleen Erndl, Professor Directing Thesis; Burton M. Atkins, Committee Member; J. Grant, Committee Member.
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Economic Relations Between Brazil and Africa: A Brick in the Southern Bridge to Multilateralism?Unknown Date (has links)
Globalization has been associated with the hegemony of traditional Western economic powers. However, the twenty-first century announced the emergence of new economic powers. The financial crisis crippling the West has not been as detrimental to these Southern economies and could introduce a new international balance of power. It also demonstrated that economic activities should serve humanity. While the BRICS club (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) constitutes a plurilateral - because of its selectiveness - challenge and strength to multilateralist Western institutions, developing economies are attracting growing attention, especially Africa in the past decade. Similarly, Brazil's social and political conditions have been considerably ameliorating, thus distinguishing it from the other emerging powers. The South-South bridge between Africa and Brazil could then announce a new international economic and diplomatic order. A presentation of Brazil and Africa will lead to the description of the levels of governance interactions between the two regions and their economic exchanges. Finally, the socio-economic prospects of such relation and their consequences in the multilateral globalized world will be presented. I will then argue the possibility for the Brazil-Africa relationship, a mainly plurilateralist one, to initiate a new form of multilateralism, one uniting economic and social development. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of International Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2012. / June 19, 2012. / Africa, Brazil, Economic Diplomacy, Multilateralism, Plurilateralism, South-South Cooperation / Includes bibliographical references. / Jim Cobbe, Professor Directing Thesis; Petra Doan, Committee Member; Alexander Aviña, Committee Member.
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Why the United States Must End the Second Cold War as It BeginsUnknown Date (has links)
The Cold War ended with the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Things were fine for a time, but in recent years tensions have begun to emerge between these two nations. Policy makers in both Washington and Moscow seem to be reverting to their old habits of a Cold War mentality, and some have even said that we are witnessing the beginnings of a Second Cold War. But Cold War is not a natural state. In the over one-hundred and fifty year history of relations between the United States and Russia, only forty of those years made up the Cold War. The majority of these years were characterized by peace, and there were even times when the two called each other allies. Now must be another of those times. The global threats of international terrorism, nuclear containment and proliferation, and plateauing energy supplies cannot be resolved by either the United States or Russia alone. Working for cross-purposes on these issues would lead to failure on both sides. However, due to the existing high tensions over American Anti-Ballistic Missile Diplomacy, NATO expansion into Eastern Europe, and Russia's invasion of Georgia, fruitful negotiations on these issues would be next to impossible at the present time. The solution must be a confidence building measure, but one as far from Eastern Europe and the Caucuses as possible; one excellent opportunity is in Japan. Near the end of World War II, the issue of Russian involvement in the war with Japan was one of the issues of contention which would lead to the Cold War. Because of America's role in Japan during the Cold War, Japan and the Soviet Union would never reach a peace agreement officially ending World War II. Since the end of the Cold War, low motivation and a minor border dispute have kept the two from reaching an official peace agreement. America's role in these negotiations will be to nudge the two towards peace, while at the same time signaling to Russia that the Cold War is officially over and that the United States is open to discussions on the true issues of contention. The United States needs Russia's help with its greatest challenges as it continues in the twenty-first century. The time to end the Second Cold War is now. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of International Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2008. / September 23, 2008. / International Relations, International Affairs, American History, International History, Russia, Japan, Cold War, Second Cold War, War on Terrorism, Atomic Diplomacy, Anti-Ballistic Missile Diplomacy, Anti-Ballistic Missile, Missile Defense, Kurile Islands, Georgia, Chechnya, NATO, Caucasus / Includes bibliographical references. / Jonathan Grant, Professor Directing Thesis; Michael Creswell, Committee Member; Charles Upchurch, Committee Member.
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