No Blank Check

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Müller
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Congressional Debates ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
Drone Warfare ◽  
Counterterrorism Policy

Much of the academic debate surrounding the War on Terror focuses on presidential power after 9/11. In this context, the role of the US Congress in directing the outcome of national security policies is often overlooked. This book illustrates how Congress played a key role in the War on Terror during Barack Obama’s presidency. Instead of arguing that Congress was a compliant bystander and incapable of making successful counterterrorism policy, the legislative branch did more than hand the president a blank check. In using an innovative data set on congressional debates and policymaking, the book shows that the interaction between congressional entrepreneurs and senior committee/party leaders determined the outcome of controversial policies, including drone warfare, Guantanamo and the NSA’s mass surveillance activities.

scholarly journals Extraordinary Measures: Drone Warfare, Securitization, and the “War on Terror”

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-245
Author(s):  
Scott Nicholas Romaniuk ◽  
Stewart Tristan Webb
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Targeted Killing ◽  
The Us ◽  
Security Label ◽  
Global Terrorism ◽  
Drone Warfare ◽  
Counterterrorism Policy

Abstract The use of unmanned aerial vehicles or “drones,” as part of the United States’ (US) targeted killing (TK) program dramatically increased after the War on Terror (WoT) was declared. With the ambiguous nature and parameters of the WoT, and stemming from the postulation of numerous low-level, niche-, and other securitizations producing a monolithic threat, US drone operations now constitute a vital stitch in the extensive fabric of US counterterrorism policy. This article employs the theories of securitization and macrosecuritization as discussed by Buzan (1991, 2006), and Buzan and Wæver (2009) to understand targeted killing, by means of weaponized drones, as an extraordinary measure according to the Copenhagen School’s interpretation. An overarching securitization and the use of the “security” label warrants the emergency action of targeted killing through the use of drones as an extraordinary measure. We argue that the WoT serves as a means of securitizing global terrorism as a threat significant enough to warrant the use of drone warfare as an extraordinary use of force. By accepting the WoT as a securitization process we can reasonably accept that the US’ response(s) against that threat are also securitized and therefore become extraordinary measures.

scholarly journals Contemplation and the Suffering Earth: Thomas Merton, Pope Francis, and the Next Generation

Open Theology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-227
Author(s):  
Christopher Pramuk
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Formation ◽  
Human Heart ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Technology In Education ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Thomas Merton ◽  
The Impact

Abstract During his address to the US Congress in 2015, Pope Francis lifted up the Trappist monk and famed spiritual writer Thomas Merton as one of four “great” Americans who “offer us a way of seeing and interpreting reality” that is life-giving and brings hope. Drawing from Merton and gesturing to Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, the author explores the epistemological roots of the environmental crisis, arguing that while intellectual conversion to the crisis is crucial, Merton’s witness suggests a deeper kind of transformation is required. Reading Merton schools the imagination in the way of wisdom, or sapientia, a contemplative disposition that senses its kinship with Earth through the eyes of the heart, illuminating what Pope Francis has called “an integral ecology.” The author considers the impact of two major influences on Merton’s thought: the Russian Wisdom school of theology, or sophiology, and French theologian Jacques Ellul, whose 1964 book “The Technological Society” raises prescient questions about the role of technology in education and spiritual formation. Arguing that our present crisis is both technological and spiritual, epistemological and metaphysical, the author foregrounds Merton’s contributions to a sapiential theology and theopoetics while asking how the sciences and humanities might work together more intentionally toward the transformation of the personal and collective human heart.

scholarly journals Is there a Sheriff anymore? Vietnam’s legacy on US-Nicaraguan relations during the Carter Era, 1977-1981

2011 ◽  
pp. 144-148
Author(s):  
Ivan McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Carter Administration ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us

My project explores the extent to which the Vietnam legacy influenced US-Nicaraguan relations during the transition of power that took place in Nicaragua during James Earl Carter’s presidency. The Vietnam legacy is characterised by the increased influences of the US Congress, press, public and Latin America on US executive decisions. Understanding the role of the Vietnam legacy shows that the Carter administration had not regained the US’s ‘lost confidence.’ The US’s anxiety over Vietnam remained and left a void in the Western Hemisphere when Nicaragua needed guidance and assistance from the US during its political transition. On July 19, 1979, the forty-year old traditionally US backed dictatorship led by Anastasio Somoza Debayle was overthrown in Nicaragua by a coalition of Nicaraguans encompassing the business, academic, religious and working classes. Somoza’s opponents went on to create a new government for Nicaragua. Although they were initially euphoric in the aftermath of Somoza’s ...

The War on Terror as a Business: Lessons from Kenya and the Somalia Interventions

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Horace G. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
Failed States ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Us Imperialism ◽  
The Us ◽  
Break Up

Abstract The documented evidence of the Kenyan military collaborating with the so-called forces of terror in Somalia to maintain their accumulation of approximately $400 million every year hardly made the international headlines as the leaders of Kenya have been rehabilitated into the ranks of those allied to US imperialism in waging a war on terror. There is an examination of the links between the US intelligence forces and the Kenyan cartels in keeping alive the terror threat in Somalia. Very few scholars have followed up on the revelations of the role of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in funding those who matured into what is now called terror groups in Somalia through the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism. The challenge for scholars for peace will be to penetrate the US Africa Command shibboleths on ‘failed states’ in order to work for a program of peace and reconstruction in Africa. In the conclusion, the paper will argue that the withdrawal of the Kenyan troops from Somalia and demilitarization of security will be a concrete step to break up the cartels that are in the business of terror.

Vying for credibility in the US Congress

Focaal ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (46) ◽  
pp. 67-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Ponte
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
The United States ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Images Of Science

Throughout the debate in the United States Congress over whether vaccines cause autism, legitimizing symbols that index cultural values have played a prominent role in the establishment of credibility. While both sides sanctify the role of science in producing credibility, they draw on different images of what science is and where its legitimacy stems from. Those who favor the vaccine hypothesis frame science as a populist endeavor, the results of which are open to critique by all. Those against the vaccine hypothesis frame science as an elitist endeavor, the results of which may only be critiqued by fellow scientists. While both of these images derive their significance from the cultural history of the United States, they have a markedly different impact on the interpretation of evidence. From within the populist frame, personal experience and direct observation are highly valued. From within the elitist frame, epidemiological evidence trumps personal experience. Due to the incorporation of dueling images of science, the US debate over autism may be viewed as a debate between rival cultural values.

Iran: The state and terrorism in Iran

2019 ◽  
pp. 363-384
Author(s):  
Ali M. Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
State Policy ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
The Us ◽  
Global War ◽  
The Impact

This paper discusses the role of 'terror' and 'terrorism' as an aspect of state policy in Iran during the twentieth century, looking at its historical context both within Qajar Iran and as an aspect of state policy during there French Revolution. The paper critically assesses Iranian state's relationship with the term, as both a perceived victim and perpetrator, and focusses on the application of political violence against both dissidents and political opponents where the term 'terror' is used in Persian as a synonym for assassination. The paper looks at the various justifications for the use of terror and political violence, the legacy of the Rushdie affair and the impact of the US led Global War on Terror on perceptions within Iran. 

A Brief History of Congress: From First Branch to Second Fiddle

Congress ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 37-77
Author(s):  
Benjamin Ginsberg ◽  
Kathryn Wagner Hill
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
Jacksonian Era ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
History Of ◽  
The New Deal

This chapter examines the history of the US Congress. It pays particular attention to issues of constituency, congressional organization, and the ways in which Congress and the executive have dealt with their constitutional invitation to struggle. Focusing on political changes outside Congress and institutional changes within Congress, the history of the legislative branch can be divided into six political eras. These are the Federalist and Jeffersonian eras, the Jacksonian era, the Civil War Congress, the Republican era, the “New Deal” and postwar period, and the contemporary period of congressional gridlock and presidential unilateralism. During each of these periods, the chapter highlights examples of congressional successes and achievements, but the overall picture is one of institutional retrocession.

scholarly journals A decline in prosocial language helps explain public disapproval of the US Congress

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (21) ◽  
pp. 6591-6594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy A. Frimer ◽  
Karl Aquino ◽  
Jochen E. Gebauer ◽  
Luke (Lei) Zhu ◽  
Harrison Oakes
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Social Approval ◽  
Congressional Debates ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
September 11 Attacks ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Public Approval

Talking about helping others makes a person seem warm and leads to social approval. This work examines the real world consequences of this basic, social-cognitive phenomenon by examining whether record-low levels of public approval of the US Congress may, in part, be a product of declining use of prosocial language during Congressional debates. A text analysis of all 124 million words spoken in the House of Representatives between 1996 and 2014 found that declining levels of prosocial language strongly predicted public disapproval of Congress 6 mo later. Warm, prosocial language still predicted public approval when removing the effects of societal and global factors (e.g., the September 11 attacks) and Congressional efficacy (e.g., passing bills), suggesting that prosocial language has an independent, direct effect on social approval.

Forcing the President's Hand: How the US Congress Shapes Foreign Policy through Sanctions Legislation

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-416
Author(s):  
Jordan Tama
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The Us ◽  
International Diplomacy ◽  
Foreign Governments

Abstract Given the US president's leading role in many areas of American foreign policy, one might expect the president to prevail in executive-legislative clashes over economic sanctions. In this paper, I show that, with surprising frequency, US legislators overcome presidential opposition to their sanctions proposals and induce the president to take foreign policy actions that he or she would not otherwise take. My argument explains why the president often signs and implements sanctions legislation despite considering it inadvisable, as well as how sanctions legislation can influence foreign policy actions, the behavior of foreign governments, or international diplomacy in other ways. I support the argument with descriptive statistics based on an original data set of over a hundred legislative sanctions proposals and a case study of the effects of legislative initiatives targeting Iran over a period of two decades. The paper's findings show that legislative activity is more important than some previous research on sanctions and US foreign policy suggests.

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