Library: Political Science

This study will attempt to answer the question of how can the rise in social violence since the 1980s be explained in the oil-rich nation of Venezuela? The once relatively peaceful nation of Venezuela has seen a dramatic rise in social violence over the last three decades that has placed her amongst some of the world's most dangerous countries. A review of the relevant literature will reveal that the study of a social phenomenon such as violence, in a nation such as Venezuela, is a complicated task because there are a number of different, but in many cases interlinked, variables that contribut...

In Germany, political foundations (Stiftungen) play an important role in shaping civil society through political democracy education. The foundations, however, have also committed themselves to strengthening democratic political and societal structures abroad. Their joint mission abroad is the contribution to democratic structures, information and debate in the countries and regions they are working in. They complement the official German foreign policy, but choose their own priorities and strategies. The focus of this thesis is the German political foundations as actors in democracy assist...

This research is a comparative policy study of Social Security legislation, including Medicare, and tax-deferred retirement savings plan legislation. Specifically, the study sought evidence that would indicate whether the systems are independent, work together, reinforce one another, conflict with one another, or work against one another. Additionally the research looked at whether the original intent of the legislation had been fulfilled. Research indicates that employees need additional pre-retirement education so they learn to save more and invest wisely to maximize their earnings potential...

The military defeat of the LTTE by the Government of Sri Lanka in May 2009 ended twenty-six years of war which have caused the displacement of more than 1.1 million Sri Lankans and claimed more than 150,000 lives. Winning the war represented a great achievement for the Government, and allowed Colombo to lay the foundations for the long-term prevention of a recurrence of war. The victory of a comprehensive peace is, however, still to be achieved. This dissertation analyses the case of Sri Lanka to adapt existing theories of post-war recovery to the aftermath of civil wars ending through a decis...

For the nearly three decades of coexistence between economic liberalization and political authoritarianism, China remains as an anomaly to the liberal mantra of our time. This book explores a segment of the China Paradox, the state-society interaction channeled by the Residents Committee. Being the largest urban neighborhood organization, the committee deserves study because of its controversial status between ordinary residents it claims to represent and the authoritarian state. The committee enters the discourse as a directly congruent example of the same paradox that the whole China displa...

As the sun set on the 20th century, a new age dawned in Japan. This new era, symbolized by the postmodern city of Tokyo, has ushered in not only technological innovation and economic prowess, but changing attitudes and values among Japanese young people. This transformation is not an uncommon or even new phenomenon, but simply the result of modern life. And one of the symptoms of modernity is the prevalence of an “ethics of materialism,” the ever-increasing concern for the acquisition of wealth and commodity goods, sometimes at the expense of the concern for human life itself. Walter Benja...

This study entitled ‘State sovereignty versus individual human rights’ is a critical reflection of the relationship between sovereignty and (individual) human rights especially as it related to the Rwandan genocide in which about a million people perished in only 100 days. The fact that Rwanda government conducted a genocide against its citizens and continued to enjoy the benefits of sovereign rights of independent states such as the protection from foreign interference, well knowing that peoples rights were being violated, moved me to question the legitimacy of state sovereignty of an abusive...

Women and men are socialized to accept and perform certain gendered roles – generally man as warrior/protector and woman as caretaker/protected. The United States Military depends on the wives of servicemen to embrace these gendered roles in order to carry out military operations such as Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF.) The conservative nature of the military, its demand for obedience and loyalty, the dependency of military wives on the military community for financial and social support to cope with the hardships of military life contribute to the reluctance of those opposed to OIF to pub...

This thesis proposes an alternative governance structure for east central Europe – the Intermarium. The Intermarium is based on the development of a supplementary federal structure capable of controlling factionalism and nationalism utilizing concepts from James Madison’s Tenth Federalist. In particular, James Madison’s approach to mitigating and preventing the formation of dangerous factions is found to be compatible with preexisting notions of federalism in east central Europe and offers a potential regional political solution that merits further study. In reaching the above proposal, the ...

The core issue underlying the bulk of scholarly research into the Japanese political economy is the relationship between the bureaucracy and the politicians. My study investigates whether there has been a relative decline in bureaucratic influence and whether politicians are displaying more independence in the policy making process than they did during previous decades. My main hypothesis is that the loss of bureaucratic influence has largely been a function of the declining position of former bureaucrats within the ruling Liberal Democrat Party (LDP), and that it has largely been politicia...