There were a number of very strong final papers in this class, including a very interesting and important video project by Scott Kelly which will not be posted because it involved military officers reflecting on the nature of power in the Army hierarchy. (I would invite him, however, to post to the blog or comment here about what insights he gained from his project).
I would like to highlight four papers here that focused on different facets of the question of authority, power and force. These papers are made available to readers of the blog by permission of the authors.
In her paper, Breaking the Glass Ceiling? The Paradox of Female Leadership in Sri Lanka, Ruth Canagarajah wrote about what happens to women who rule in traditional patriarchal societies by focusing on two important leaders in Sri Lanka, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the first female Prime Minister, and her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, the first woman elected President of Sri Lanka.
August Dombrow writes about the dichotomous mode of thinking that dominates the language of the US counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in the context of the Global War on Terror in his paper, Lock Away the Thunderbolts.
Andrea Leshak draws on ecofeminist theory to articulate a connection between the subordination of women and the degradation of the environment in her paper, How Dualism and the Patriarchal View of Women and Nature as the 'Other' Result in the Subordination of Women and the Degradation of the Environment.
Finally, Dan Huff writes about the inconsistencies between the US application of "hard" and "soft" power during the Cold War and the post-Cold War era in his paper, U.S. Applications of Hard and Soft Power.
Each of these papers and the other very excellent papers and projects produced for this course engaged the question of power, force and patriarchal authority in nuanced and substantive ways. They demonstrate the importance, complexity and wide-ranging relevance of these issues for the practice of politics.
I would like to highlight four papers here that focused on different facets of the question of authority, power and force. These papers are made available to readers of the blog by permission of the authors.
In her paper, Breaking the Glass Ceiling? The Paradox of Female Leadership in Sri Lanka, Ruth Canagarajah wrote about what happens to women who rule in traditional patriarchal societies by focusing on two important leaders in Sri Lanka, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the first female Prime Minister, and her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, the first woman elected President of Sri Lanka.
August Dombrow writes about the dichotomous mode of thinking that dominates the language of the US counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in the context of the Global War on Terror in his paper, Lock Away the Thunderbolts.
Andrea Leshak draws on ecofeminist theory to articulate a connection between the subordination of women and the degradation of the environment in her paper, How Dualism and the Patriarchal View of Women and Nature as the 'Other' Result in the Subordination of Women and the Degradation of the Environment.
Finally, Dan Huff writes about the inconsistencies between the US application of "hard" and "soft" power during the Cold War and the post-Cold War era in his paper, U.S. Applications of Hard and Soft Power.
Each of these papers and the other very excellent papers and projects produced for this course engaged the question of power, force and patriarchal authority in nuanced and substantive ways. They demonstrate the importance, complexity and wide-ranging relevance of these issues for the practice of politics.