2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Saturday, April 5-4:45 pm
Paper
Paper
Disc.
No Exit And Out of Time: Why Imperfect Villians Target
Civilians
My paper forwards that military-strategic explanations of mass
atrocities better captures elite motivations to target civilians in the
first place. What existing theories do not do is explain variations in
the patterns of violence within conflicts.
John A. Stevenson, University of Chicago
hegemon@uchicago.edu
Robust Peacekeeping: Confronting the Failures of United
Nations Traditional Peacekeeping in Preventing Human Rights
Violations By Kofi Nsia-Pepra
I seek to analyze both the operational and internal characteristics of
traditional peacekeeping operations in an effort to understand the
hindrances to achieving the objective of protecting human rights
using both statistical models and case studies
Kofi Nsia-Pepra, Wayne State University
ak8677@wayne.edu
Gregory Gilbert Gunderson, Eastern Kentucky University
gregory.gunderson@eku.edu
17-16 EXAMINING THE LETHALITY OF CIVIL WARS
Room PDR 5 on the 3rd Floor, Sat at 4:45 pm
Chair Thomas Plümper, University of Essex
tpluem@essex.ac.uk
Paper Looting, Ethnicity, Counterinsurgency Explaining Civilian
Targeting in War
What explains the targeting of civilians in internal armed conflicts
Using new data on civilian targeting, this paper offers new insights
into a previously underexplored topic.
Livia Isabella Schubiger, University of Zurich
schubiger@pw.uzh.ch
Markus Stierli, University of Zurich
stierli@pw.uzh.ch
Paper Constructing a Severity Index in Civil Wars
This paper attempts to expand the notion of severity of a civil war
from just the number of battle deaths and develop a severity index
that will provide a more accurate and reliable measure of a civil
conflict.
S. P. Harish, McGill University
harishsp@gmail.com
Paper Abuse by Proxy: Assessing (and Assigning) Responsibility for
Gross Violations of Human Rights
This paper examines the role of domestic actors (not directly
affiliated with the government) in human rights abuse.
Denese McArthur, South Texas College
dmcarthu@binghamton.edu
Paper Insurgent Motivations for Targeting Civilians in Civil Conflicts
This paper argues that extant theories explaining violence
perpetrated against civilians are insufficient when taken
independently; however, they are compatible and highly explanatory
when viewed as part of a strategic process.
Reed M. Wood, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
rmwood@email.unc.edu
Paper Reconceptualizing the Causes of Genocide
This paper presents a hybrid-structuralist theory of genocide. I
outline six key factors for genocide to occur, and draw on Armenia,
Germany, Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia as illustrations.
Ernesto Verdeja, Wesleyan University
everdeja@wesleyan.edu
Disc. Thomas Plümper, University of Essex
tpluem@essex.ac.uk
18-8 DILEMMAS OF MIDDLE POWER FOREIGN
POLICY
Room Salon 3 on the 3rd Floor, Sat at 4:45 pm
Chair Rashida Hussain, Wright State University
rashida.hussain@wright.edu
Paper Coping with the Security Dilemma in Turkish American
Relations
This paper focuses on explaining how alliance security dilemma
created in Turkish-American relations with the war in Iraq and the
factors that further complicated the situation and Turkey's responses
to mitigate the security dilemma.
Saadet Gulden Ayman,
guldenayman@gmail.com
Paper A Medium State's Foreign Policy: The Case of South Korea
My paper seeks foreign policy behavior of a medium power by
focusing on South Korea's security policy. I analyze South Korea's
policies on nuclear armament, Theater Missile Defense, and ballistic
missile development.
Tae-Hyung Kim, Daemen College
tkim@daemen.edu
Disc. Rashida Hussain, Wright State University
rashida.hussain@wright.edu
19-15 IGOS, NGOS, AND TRANSNATIONAL ACTORS
Room Suite 9-250 on the 9th Floor, Sat at 4:45 pm
Chair Jeremy Youde, Grinnell College
youdejer@grinnell.edu
Paper Conflict Diamonds and the Kimberley Process: Agenda Setting
and Tripartism
This paper studies the role of global actors, including states, NGOs,
TNCs, and IGOs in putting conflict diamonds on the global agenda,
deciding on solutions, and implementing a global agreement.
Franziska Bieri, Emory University
fbieri@emory.edu
Paper
Paper
Paper
Disc.
The European Union-Africa Strategic Partnership: Path to
Africa’s Revival
The EU and Africa are reckoned as two unions with a shared past
and a outlook on the future. Europe is impacted by Africa’s security
challenges-Africa needs a partnership with the EU that can boost its
capacity to tackle its huge security challenges.
Anita Lum Wanki, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
anwanki@vub.ac.be
International Actors Leading in Relief Efforts: Indian Ocean
Tsunami Aid Assessment
This paper addresses the question of which international actors have
been most successful in providing aid to Southeast Asia following
the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Courtney M. Page, Indiana Wesleyan University
courtney.page@student.indwes.edu
International Organizations and Global Cooperation in Disaster
Reduction
the meaning of policy coordination and global cooperation will
be defined. then, the analytically framework will be established to
explore the relationships between international organizations and
global cooperation.
Chun-yuan Wang,
g885422@seed.net.tw
Yan-yi Chang, Coastal Carolina University
d9135005@ccu.edu.tw
Jeremy Youde, Grinnell College
youdejer@grinnell.edu
309