Search

Begin New Search Publishing Institution Macalester College

21. The Dutch Political Experiment: Phase Three

Author:
Omar El Zoheiry
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
In the past two decades, many Western liberal democracies have undergone fundamental political transformations. Faced with the challenges of adapting to globalization and the world's increasingly interconnected financial system, many of these democracies have found it necessary to implement a technocratic form of governance. The distance between the political elite and the people was allowed to grow under these regimes in order to achieve the much-needed efficiency in policy formulation and international integration. This article utilizes the case study of the Netherlands to analyze the implications of this gap, perhaps the most significant of which being the rise of “contemporary populism.” It attempts to make sense of seemingly random and unrelated events that have recently shocked Dutch society and politics within a framework of structural change instead of treating these events as temporal occurrences. It demonstrates how such a framework is necessary in understanding the true reason behind these events and why a temporal argument might lead to superficial conclusions.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Netherlands and Dutch

22. Mother Nature and the Heavenly Father: Christianity and the Environment in a Globalized World

Author:
Wouter Hammink
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Since its conception, theology has been entwined with ecology. Major or minor, extinct or thriving, all religions give relevance to the meaning of the environment and the relationship of human beings with the Earth. The modern Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all revere the environment and recognize its significance within their respective religious texts. The presence of the Abrahamic religions is visible on every corner of the planet. However, within the status quo, Christianity is the dominant religion at the core of Immanuel Wallerstein's “World-system.” The prominence of Christianity within developed countries, meaning in this case countries that emit the largest percentages of carbon into the atmosphere, raises the question of modern Christianity's relationship with the environment.
Topic:
Climate Change and Islam

23. Seeking Global Reform: The United Nations Security Council, the International Criminal Court, and Emerging Nations

Author:
Ezequiel Jimenez
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles created an international tribunal in order to prosecute Kaiser Wilhelm II for initiating the First World War. However, the Kaiser sought refuge in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria refused to cooperate with the new tribunal or surrender her cousin to the Allied Powers. Much has changed in the Netherlands since. As a pioneer country in the advancement of human rights, the Netherlands has participated actively in the development and enforcement of multiple treaties and conferences hosted by the United Nations. Today, the city of The Hague is proud to call itself an “international city of Peace and Justice.” Indeed, The Hague is the host of multiple international courts; evidencing the Netherlands commitment to protect human rights. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is one of the most prominent institutions the Netherlands honorably hosts.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
United Nations and Netherlands

24. Green Heart Attack: An Environmentalist's Eulogy for the Randstad, Dutch Grand Planning, and the Compact City

Author:
Kate Keleher
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Beneath the drama of current events, a serious paradox, as old as civilization itself, steadily erodes the foundations of modern society: humans rely on Earth to survive, yet their way of life burdens it with increasingly taxing demands. Thus, as humans degrade Earth, they threaten the quality of their own existence. Globalization, the compression of time and space, both exacerbates and alleviates the burden of this environmental paradox. Perceiving time as accelerated and space as condensed alters the ways in which humans interact with their physical environment. For instance, globalization can promote behavior that improves environmental health by fostering creative environmental problem solving and cooperation among groups. It can also construct behavioral patterns that degrade the environment by encouraging resource consumption, waste, and pollution.
Topic:
Climate Change and Globalization
Political Geography:
Dutch

25. Perceptions, Politics, and Peace: The Limits of Globalization in Legitimizing the International Criminal Court

Author:
Aimee Mackie
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
In a globalizing world, the field of human rights has attempted to reach a universal moral consensus that transcends state sovereignty. The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998 provided a new mechanism to support these efforts. Although the jurisdiction of the Court extends across the globe, so far all of the investigations have taken place on the continent of Africa. This fact, along with the details of the cases the Court has taken up, has sparked questions concerning neocolonialism and the political independence of the Court. In order for the Court to improve its reputation in the global community, it must acknowledge, address, and work toward remedying these genuine concerns in a just and open manner. The inability of the ICC to overcome accusations of neocolonialism and the continual obstacle of state sovereignty evidence the complex impact that globalization has had on international criminal law. The ICC has the potential to bring violators of international criminal law to justice, but in doing so it must avoid promoting impunity among the politically powerful and recognize that there are some situations in which arrest warrants and criminal prosecution cannot bring peace.
Topic:
Globalization and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Africa

26. The Last Frontier of Globalization: Asylum and Citizenship in the Netherlands

Author:
Danait Teklay
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Alla Sarkisyan and Ibrahim Mohammed are Dutch citizens who came to the Netherlands seeking asylum less than fifteen years ago. Today, they have accepted the Netherlands as their new home and their adopted country. Yet, indicative of their transnational journey, they continue to harbor strong feelings for their places of origin and culture. As Alla most poignantly stated, “the Netherlands is my home, but Russia and Armenia are in my blood.” Her sentiment reflects the shift towards a transnational conception of identity and moreover illustrates the changing nature of citizenship within this era of globalization. The mixed identity that she and countless others express poses a challenge to the traditional notion of citizenship espoused by the Dutch state. Alla and Ibrahim are just two examples of the thousands of recently arrived refugees and asylees who are reshaping the political and social landscape of the Netherlands. The stories of their integration into Dutch society exemplify the challenges and achievements of redefining citizenship in this time of globalization.
Topic:
Globalization
Political Geography:
Russia, Armenia, Netherlands, and Dutch

27. Editor's Note

Author:
Ahmed Samatar
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
All phenomena, especially those that are the products of the human imagination and action, have a genetic code, even if the precise delineations and movements are not always easily accessible. Our contemporary concerns over human rights are no exception. In an important sense, the historical roots of our preoccupation with the welfare of the “other” could be linked to the coming of all major religious faiths. Reasserting the potential human capacity for empathy, many religions, in one version or another, attempt to convey to their adherents that sympathetic obligation is a virtue, if not a responsibility to fellow human beings.
Topic:
Human Rights and Human Welfare

28. Table of Contents

Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
No abstract is available.

29. Of Witches and Robots: The Diverse Challenges of Responding to Unlawful Killings in the Twenty-First Century

Author:
Philip Alston
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
From its relatively modest beginnings in 1945, the universal human rights regime has come a very long way. Few if any of those who drafted the apparently unthreatening, but nonetheless foundational, provisions of the United Nations Charter dealing with human rights would have imagined that less than seventy years later the Security Council would have taken action in relation to serious human rights violations in a significant range of countries, that governments would have established an International Criminal Court, or that there would be a wide range of mechanisms that regularly and routinely hold states to account for their human rights performance across a very wide range of issues. This is not, however, to suggest that many of the most egregious human rights problems have been radically ameliorated. They clearly have not. The subjugation of women is a continuing phenomenon in a great many societies, and gender equality remains an unachieved goal even in the most developed economies. Racial discrimination is a constant and forms of ethnic and religious discrimination continue to be both inventive and invidious. Hunger, the denial of basic health care, and access to decent housing are problems that persist on a vast scale around the world. In addition, torture, disappearances, and unlawful killings continue to take place in the majority of states.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
United Nations

30. Response

Author:
Ron Barrett
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Professor Rebecca Cook addresses a wide range of issues pertaining to gender discrimination and stereotyping that are good launching points for thinking about human rights in the context of global citizenship. Rather than address all these points, I will provide an anthropologist's perspective on three dimensions of gender discrimination that arose in her essay and presentation. The first is a perceptual dimension in which socially constructed stereotypes become so deeply embedded that they appear to be a natural part of the world. The second is an unwritten dimension in which glass ceilings are built over women's careers with rules of success that are based on a long history of male-dominated work environments. Finally, I will address a systemic dimension in which gender discrimination is connected to other axes of inequality that can affect the very survival of women in developing countries around the world.