Policies and Protocols (Asynchronous Session)
State Secrets: A Case Study of Conscience in the US Military's Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Weapons Program View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lisa Martino-Taylor
A top-secret US Department of Defense project during the Vietnam War involved the spraying of defoliants and chemical weapons. Portions of the program were expanded into the United States and other countries where military personnel were ordered to spray unidentified material into the air and environs. This case study involves one officer's questions regarding what was being sprayed into the open-air, his subsequent refusal to participate in potentially harmful spraying, and the resultant harsh sanctions that abruptly ended a stellar military career.
Voter Suppression of Hispanics in the United States of America: A Strategy to Ensure the Maintenance of Political Power
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Henry Flores
The Republican Party has systematically developed an array of strategies to suppress the votes of Latinos in the United States in order to maintain their position of political power. This study considers these strategies, based on changing demographics since 1963, and the inability of the Republican Party to attract minority voters to their cause.
The Coronavirus Pandemic: Resilience and Change in World History View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Valentine J. Belfiglio
Roman and American physicians treated novel pandemics without existing cures or vaccines with similar protocols. This paper uses historiography and conceptual analysis of the writings of physicians in ancient and modern times. Ancient and modern physicians used a similar protocol for the study of unfamiliar pandemics. This protocol included: (1) subjective information from the patients, (2) the objective findings of physicians, (3) assessment of these findings and their correlation with other patients with similar subjective and objective data, (4) formulating a treatment plan. They also used a similar protocol for treatment of novel pandemics. This protocol included: (1) Mitigation, (2) Treatment of symptoms, and (3) Experimentation with novel therapies. In conclusion, Roman and American physicians treated novel pandemics without existing cures with similar protocols.
A Critical Examination of Indigenous Governance and Self-determination
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session David Wilkins
This paper examines the structures, methods, and values of Indigenous Nations in the U.S. that are in the process of revising or creating new governing systems to better reflect their political, legal, and cultural identities in the twenty-first century. Since Native nations continue to be subject to congressional plenary (virtually absolute) power, their political reform efforts may be quashed or substantially constrained if they are perceived by federal policy makers as acting in a manner that threatens the perceived superiority of the state. Notwithstanding those constraints, many Native nations are drawing upon their distinctive Indigenous cultural identities to arrive at new institutional configurations that more closely comport with historically-derived values and principles.
Featured India's Quest with Neoliberalism: The Challenges to Peace and Security View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rajit Das
India's strength as a global power has grown over the years. The country has taken the initiative to address foreign policy issues that affect global politics. Nevertheless, within India, certain sections of society are skeptical of what the current government is doing. India is following the status quo seen with the developed world, which emphasizes neoliberalism. The behavior exhibited by India supports this assertion, from the country’s economic relationship with countries like the United States and France, the strategy being applied to Kashmir, global support for counter-terrorism, and its increasingly powerful voice as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. On the other hand, members of the opposition parties in the Indian Parliament are challenging the type of laws passed, some of which resulted in protests throughout the country, such as the bifurcation of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship Amendment Act, and the National Registry of Citizens. A recent development has severely affected India, and China bilateral relations is the border issue over territorial claims on the Line of Actual Control between the two countries. All four issues are testing India governance and policymaking. This paper, a piece focused on interpretative research, unravels fault-lines exposed in its handling of them – creating challenges for India’s policymakers and concludes with recommendations to tackle the fault-lines, to enhance peace and security for the country.
The Historical-legal Configuration of the Bajo Segura as a Hydrological Asset View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session María Francisca Zaragoza Martí
Water is considered from its origins an essential resource for humanity. The humanistic vision of water shared by the Romans and the Arabs is evident in the configuration of water as a vital resource for all, generating social, economic, legal, health, and cultural values, connoting and defining the people who were supplied with it. The concern for the supply of and access to water has always been present in Spain, since territorially Spain has a unique configuration, which in turn marks a peculiar normative regulation of its natural resources, as well as the traditional historical law that regulates the operation of institutions such as the Water Tribunal of Valencia, the Council of Good Men of Murcia or the Private Water Courts, among others. This and the new European regulation on environmentally sustainable development, has intensely affected the Bajo Segura area, transforming a marshy territory into the Huerta de Europa, with policies of reuse in three hydrological cycles, reconversion of dry land areas into other production areas, with symbiosis between dead and living waters, and a clear distinction between traditional irrigation and water transfers. Consequently, combining the legal methodology with the DAFO analysis, the aim of this study is to analyse, from a historical-legal perspective, how the diverse regulations have shaped the governance of water resources throughout history, delimiting the agricultural and territorial landscape of the Bajo Segura until this area became a reference in the use and exploitation of water resources, from time immemorial and with a future perspective.
Bipolarity: The Wrong Concept for US-China Relations View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Brian Muzas
It is frequently argued or assumed that the present US-Chinese rivalry will culminate in a bipolar, or two-superpower, competition. The two countries, both nuclear powers, far outstrip all others in terms of economic might and military spending. However, the concept of a bipolar world, which carries with it certain widely accepted and supposedly-unique characteristics, is a flawed framework with grave shortcomings from the perspectives of explaining history, understanding current events, or generating policy to address future contingencies. I explore three views of bipolarity, two standard and one alternative, with corresponding historical illustrations. I argue that none are appropriate for modeling contemporary US-Chinese relations and offer policy recommendations.
Social Exclusion and Right-wing Populism in Europe: Moderating Effect of Mega-sport Events View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lumin Fang
Since the end of the Cold War, perhaps one of the most prominent features of Europe's political landscape is the emergence and rise of right-wing populism. Much research suggests that countries with a higher proportion of socioeconomically excluded population show a higher probability to support the radical right parties. However, there remain few studies that explore the condition under which the fundamental relationship will be more or less pronounced. This paper interprets social exclusion in the context of European society as a result of being deprived by ethnic outgroups and introduces mega-sport event as an innovative perspective, to examine whether and how the relationship between social exclusion and the support for the European radical right would be moderated by mega-sport event. As mega-sport event is not just about sport, but crossing borders of ethnicity, social identity construction, and state-building, it can be viewed as a political tool of nationalist mobilization. It is argued that the positive relationship between social exclusion and the support for the radical right parties would be stronger with the ethno-nationalism mobilized by the mega-sport event. The major contribution of this study is that, as indicated, it integrates the nationalized and ethnicized characteristics of sport mega-events into observing the variation in the level of social exclusion as well as its political effects.
Decentralisation in India: Use of the Federal Structure during the Pandemic View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Purusharth Chawla
Decentralisation in India is facilitated by the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution. During the pandemic, the federal structure of the country worked tirelessly to provide basic amenities to citizens. Whether it is was the decision to provide free ration to 800 million people or distribution of masks, PPE kits, and low cost/free of cost tests to contain the spread of the virus in rural areas, the federal structure that includes the government at the centre, state, and village level, worked in tandem with each other despite being at the political crossroads. Similarly, the ongoing vaccination process in the country is facilitated by the extensive use of the federal structure. However, experts believe that certain changes are required to improve this structure including. The paper focuses on the analysis of the decentralisation model, the extensive use of the decentralisation model of governance in the country during the pandemic, and the ways in which the structure can be strengthened despite political differences.
