Government & Politics Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2775
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item How Rebels Get What They Want(2021) McWeeney, Margaret; Cunningham, Kathleen G; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the often-unseen nonviolent world of nonviolence in armed rebellion. Although states often act and react to violent rebellion, recent research has highlighted nonviolent, governance and service activities rebels take on for survival of their organization. However, little is known about the effects of these behaviors. Theorizing a new category of rebel activity called legitimacy-seeking nonviolence, I show the ways that rebels peacefully “get what they want.” Legitimacy-seeking nonviolence works by reducing concerns over information and commitment that keep rebels and states from reaching a mutually-beneficial bargain. In the following papers, I highlight three behaviors, diplomacy, local interdependence networks, and peace enforcement via gender inclusion, that rebels used that facilitate successful negotiations and durable peace with the state in Southeast Asia. In concluding, this dissertation asks scholars, academics, and policymakers to rethink traditional conceptions of rebels, violence, and conflict and outline scenarios where giving in to some demands would be preferable to continued violence.Item The Social Terrain of Rebel Held Territory(2020) Breslawski, Marjorie; Cunningham, David; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The extent of local order varies widely in rebel held areas, from total chaos to well-run governing institutions. When these institutions exist, why do some include and even empower civilians to run community affairs, while others exclude civilians from governance? I argue that rebels choose different governing strategies that maximize their utility of territorial control, based on certain characteristics of civilian inhabitants populating the territory. Rebels’ constituency determines whether rebels seek to govern civilians or control them solely with coercive violence, and community cohesion (or lack thereof) then determines the type of institutions that rebels develop. I focus on three different outcomes for communities under rebel control—no institutions, exclusive institutions, and inclusive institutions. I test my argument using historical, statistical, and case evidence, leveraging original cross-national data on local order in rebel held territory as well as interviews with village heads, ex-combatants, and community members in Aceh, Indonesia. The results provide support for my theory and yield implications for our understanding of human security during conflict and the determinants of civilians’ political and social reality during war.Item The Political Foundations of Ibn Bajjah's "Governance of the Solitary"(2008-05-12) Pavalko, Rima; Butterworth, Charles E.; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A first impression might lead one to characterize the "Governance of the Solitary," the most famous treatise by the medieval Arabic-Islamic philosopher Ibn Bājjah, as favoring radical individualism, and thus as breaking with the political orientation of ancient philosophy. In fact, the treatise returns to the wisdom of Plato and Aristotle, reaffirming the ancient principle that the human being is by nature political and that the highest life for the city and the individual is the same, the life of virtue pursued for the sake of happiness. For Ibn Bājjah, the highest goal intended for human beings by nature is political, namely, the perfect virtuous city. In the absence of the city oriented toward perfect virtue, the philosopher may find it necessary to lead a life of isolation. According to Ibn Bājjah, this solitary life seeks to preserve on behalf of the city the possibility of its deliverance from imperfection by pursuing the highest goal of the individual human being, namely, the attainment of conjunction with the divine intellect. By means of this intermediary goal, the solitary aims to deliver knowledge of perfect virtue to the city that is needed to bring about political happiness. Ibn Bājjah's account of the solitary shows that the philosopher does not abandon the city by pursuing philosophy in isolation, but in fact the isolated philosopher embodies the hope of bringing about the city's perfection. Practically speaking, this dissertation seeks to establish the second and third parts of the "Governance" as elaborations on the political teaching begun in the first part. To remain true to the author's intent, I argue that one cannot bypass Ibn Bājjah's concern for the perfect virtuous city in Part I, in order to present his teaching on governance as culminating in the life of the solitary described in Part III. The following study aims to take into account the treatise as a whole and to discuss it as faithful as possible to the original Arabic text.