Political Science Department Dissertations Collection

Journey from Islamism to conservative democracy: The politics of religious party moderation in Turkey

Belcher, Guliz Dinc — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:14:46 PDT

Through the analysis of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey with Islamist roots, this dissertation examines the relationship between “moderation” of religious political parties, i.e. moving towards programmatic positions compatible with liberal democracy and their ongoing mobilization practices. Based on data collected through fieldwork conducted in Turkey over 22 months, from September 2006 through June 2008, this study argues that the transformation of the Islamist party into a mass based center-right party in Turkey was possible to the extent that the AKP pursued “moderation” not only at the external level by moving towards a more accommodative stance vis-à-vis the other political actors and the regime, but also at the intra-party and grassroots levels. This transformation entailed re-drawing the boundaries between religion and politics through efforts to forge a “conservative democratic” party identity within the mass organizational network it has inherited from its predecessors and to develop multiple modes of linkages between the party and mass base moving away from religious mobilization, reconciling the principles of secularism, nationalism and liberal economic policies with its constituents religious sensibilities. AKP’s effort in developing a more inclusive and representative party involved structural transformation through new recruitment patterns, constructing a new party genealogy and diffusing a new symbolic and discursive structure through training and other intra-party activities as well as through the everyday practices of the local party units and municipalities. By continuing to rely on the diffuse Islamic networks for filling the important party positions, the AKP sought to retain its Islamic credentials while shedding Islamic insignia (except for the women’s headscarves), ending gender segregation, incorporating more women into the party’s administrative cadres. At the local level, through its grassroots organizing structure, the AKP has been able to continue to carry on its strong social embeddedness. The AKP’s base units working with the local municipality run by the party communicated the AKP government’s policy positions that dramatically differed from its predecessors without Islamic justification, but instead worked as a liaison between the state and the local constituency, delivering constituency-service effectively through its social service provision and cultural activities.^

Beyond promise: Politics, institutions and neoliberal economic reforms in four African countries

Azindow, Yakubu M — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:11:07 PST

This dissertation examines the factors that account for the variation in policy choices and implementation among sub-Saharan African countries that pursued neoliberal economic reforms since the 1980s. It shows that governments’ response varied both across time and policy areas. Using process tracing and cross-case analysis, this dissertation examines the influence of both international and domestic level factors regarding neoliberal policy choices and implementation in Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. While the strength of the various explanations varies across cases, the empirical evidence shows that crisis, interest groups, and epistemic community are more powerful in explaining governments’ policy choices. Domestic institutions and epistemic community offer the strongest support for policy implementation. Since the epistemic community variable is strong in explaining both policy choice and implementation, these findings are more supportive of the Constructivist explanation for policy reforms. The evidence shows that neoliberal economic reforms in Ghana have been successful while those in Kenya and Zimbabwe have been less successful. Botswana, however, does not fit the crisis-driven conceptual model adopted in this dissertation and therefore requires further examination.^

The world is plural: Democratic contributions of Hannah Arendt

Zuckerwise, Lena Kay — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:18:19 PST

Drawing on seminal texts and lesser known works, this dissertation brings the political theory of Hannah Arendt into the company of several key debates in democratic theory. Though she is most renowned for her theory of political action, it is my contention that Arendt’s concept of World can productively change the very terms by which democratic politics is most often understood and questioned. World, in this case, refers to physical and symbolic matters of commonality that are constructed by and for humans. This project begins with a genealogy of that traces its development of World through Arendt’s own biography including her experience as a female philosopher decades before the feminist movement, German Jewish refugee, and immigrant living in the United States. The following chapter explores the shortcomings of Arendt’s concept of political action, arguing in particular that it limits and forecloses democratic political possibilities. The third chapter brings World to bear on the question of whether unity or difference is necessary for the consolidation of the demos, a well-mined debate in democratic theory that the conceptual terms of World can alter and amend. The final section uses the concept of World to contest the popular depiction of globalization that Thomas Friedman champions in his well known works. This is in service of an argument that World can offer a productive critique of the destructive aspects of globalization, particularly the narrative of capitalist inevitability that often undergirds them.^

Transnational Networks and the Promotion of Conservationist Norms in Developing Countries

George, Kemi D. — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:42:32 PDT

The political economic pressures of development contribute to unsustainable environmental practices in developing countries, and marginalize civil society participation. This dissertation looks at the following countries where policymakers are faced with strong incentives to foster rapid economic growth. In Jamaica, the bauxite industry demands mining rights in sensitive mountainous ecosystems. In Mexico, the tourist industry demands access to construct in vulnerable coastal environments in the southeast. In inland Mexico, unregulated agriculture threatens ecosystems in the Yucatán Peninsula. Finally, tourist and energy industries in Egypt demand access for infrastructure in sensitive ecosystems in the Red Sea region. In all of the cases, the preferences of these sectors threaten to displace local communities, while creating unsustainable pressures on the environment. At the same time, the projected revenues from these sectors justify continued environmental exploitation.

In response, transnational networks of environmental advocates and epistemic communities mobilized throughout the 1990s, lobbying the Global Environment Facility for conservationist projects in each country, and then lobbying governments to effectively implement the projects.

This research finds that three conditions were necessary for transnational networks to influence policies associated with project implementation. First, networks must generate an internal scientific agreement on the dimensions of the environmental problem. By doing so, they can delegitimate competing arguments, strengthening their own claims. Second, networks must build social ties with policymakers in powerful agencies. Social ties increase the likelihood that policymakers will adopt the norms of the network. Third, networks must reframe the discourse on environmental management. At present, policymakers and industry argue that environmental management should be assessed by its contribution to economic development, validating only those policies that lead to sustained revenue generation. By reframing environmental management as an issue impacting the well-being of domestic populations, networks can argue for the greater participation of actors marginalized by the dominance of privileged productive sectors in resource management. Moreover, by linking sustainable resource use to the interests of domestic populations, networks can generate political capital to oppose the most unsustainable environmental practices. This research thus builds on the epistemic communities approach by highlighting the importance of democracy in knowledge building and environmental governance.

The Exclusion of Non-Native Voters from a Final Plebiscite in Puerto Rico: Law and Policy

Rodriguez, Ramon Antonio — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 09:38:28 PST

U.S. Puerto Rico relations have always been mystifying to countless U.S. citizens, due to inconsistent policies and judicial decisions from the United States. Puerto Ricans have no control over immigration, yet they can decide the future of the island nation. Puerto Rico is a nation under colonial rule. Paul R. Bras sistains the possibility of corporate recognition for the ethnic group as a separate nationality within an existing state evocative of the United States. The United States has treated Puerto Rico as foreign country nevertheless at times as domestic. Under U.S. law and jurisprudence Puerto Rico is not part of the United States but rather the island is a possession. The elctoral difference between the two major political parties is less than three percent. Non-native voters in the island can have the clout to decide the ultimate political status of the island. A key concern to the problem is who are considered non-native voters in Puerto Rico. Non-native voters are those who have not been born in the Puerto Rico nor have one of their parents born in the island. The exclusion is legally and politically achievable. There are many countries (Ex. East Timor) in the world, former colonies (Ex. Namibia), and previous U.S. territories (Ex. Hawaii) that serve as examples of exclusion. Voting rights in plebiscites are determined by law. U.N. General Assembly Resolution 1514, states that all powers have to be in the hands of the people of Puerto Rico. International law and policies sustain that the future political status of colonies is to be determined by the nation. Puerto Rico lacks representation in the U.S. Government. When this happens the unrepresented become a separate nation. William Appelman Williams stated thet "the principle of self determination when taken seriously ...means a ploicy of standing aside for people to make their own choices, economic as well as political and cultural." Under international las and policies of self-determination Puerto Rico can exclude non-native voters. Judicial precedents make this point very comprehensible.

Elemental Challenges: Environmental Troubles beyond the Limits of Democracy

Mapes-Martins, Brad — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:08:01 PST

From an examination of how environmental issues reshape politics, this inquiry focuses on the theoretical grounds of deliberative democratic theory to ask whether such a vision offers the best means of resolving environmental problems. Arguing that the very terms in which environmental politics have been defined retain features better suited to previous historical circumstances, the analysis proceeds from features typical of environmental problems to a more context-specific assessment of the role for democratic participation. Engaging the works of Jürgen Habermas, the author details the way in which deliberative democratic theory is indebted to a concept of communicative action that defines complex environmental issues as beyond the scope for successful resolution. Covering theoretical as well as empirical aspects of environmental deliberation, this inquiry includes a comparative framework for evaluating the performance of differing deliberative institutions according to the type of environmental problem addressed. Following this critical assessment of deliberative democratic theory, the analysis turns to the effects of authoritative expertise on democratic involvement in environmental issues. Given that authoritative expertise cannot be dispensed with despite the asymmetry it introduces into the relationship between experts and lay citizens, it is asserted that the conditions for justifiable deference should be encouraged by cultivating institutions that promote trust between experts and lay citizens. The analysis proceeds to link the way in which decentralized institutions decrease the risks inherent in trust with an assessment of the precautionary principle as a standard against which regulatory decisions can be evaluated. The inquiry concludes by turning to proposals for global democratic governance, arguing that the fragmented landscape of international environmental law offers increased opportunities for resolving environmental disputes due to the proliferation of coordinated but decentralized institutions and codification of the precautionary principle.

After the fog of reform: Democratic consolidation in Mexico and Turkey

Celik Wiltse, Evren — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:24:09 PST

Mexico and Turkey experienced significant changes in their political systems in recent decades including a series of reforms to improve their semi-democratic regimes. Both countries had established similar political and socio-economic structures in the early years of their modern republican regimes. Protectionist, state-led development models and highly regulated, corporatist forms of interest mediation continued until they faced severe crisis in the 1980s. Subsequently, both countries adopted the hegemonic neoliberal model. Rapid economic liberalization initiatives were coupled with gradual expansion in political rights and civil liberties. At the turn of the new millenium, the political apertura had beared fruit in Mexico as it successfully ended the seven-decade long single party rule through peaceful, electoral means. Despite its strong centralist state legacy, Mexico managed to improve its democratic status by establishing genuinely competitive elections and expanding its democratic space to include a vocal and pluralist civil society. While Mexico seems to have beaten its structural odds, Turkey continues to struggle with the same political problems that haunted its democracy relentlessly. When we consider Turkey’s long experience with multi-party politics and its close engagement with the EU –a quintessentially democratic union, the underperformance of Turkey becomes even more puzzling. This dissertation attempts to grasp the mechanisms behind the apparent performance gap in the democratic deepening of Mexico and Turkey through a comparative historical framework of analysis. ^

Ideological Endzones: NFL Films and The Countersubversive Tradition in American Politics

Archer, Nicholas R. — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:02:34 PDT

This study examines the role of propaganda and popular culture in constituting the American political tradition through the study of NFL films by employing a decidedly overlooked theoretical conception of the American political tradition—the countersubversive tradition thesis. Originally put forth by Michael Rogin, the countersubversive tradition is defined as “the creation of monsters as a continuing feature of American politics by the inflation, stigmatization, and dehumanization of political foes.” It is my belief that in looking at what constitutes the individual characteristics of the countersubversive tradition in a text like a sports film it is easier to see how it fits into similar theories offered by political scientists and others about the intersections of pop culture, sport, propaganda, and political tradition.

The Business Community and the Forging of Political Consensus Against the Clinton Healthcare Security Act of 1994

Lenz, Michael — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:02:30 PDT

My research provides an insider's view of how political consensus is formed within the business community. More specifically, my research sheds light on the sociological processes of political mobilization within the business community against the Clinton Health Security Act of 1994. In this study, I build off Jill Quadagno's stakeholder thesis which largely attributes the defeat of the healthcare reform effort to the political mobilization of anti-healthcare business forces. I probe Quadagno's thesis a bit deeper in this study by exploring how conflicting business forces resolved policy disagreements on the merits of healthcare reform in order to arrive at the position of unity necessary for its political mobilization against the effort.

THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION OF NOVEMBER 22, 1967: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND LAW IN AN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTING

KIKOSKI, JOHN FRANK — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:01:38 PDT