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Inspired by John Rawls and his life's work Justice as Fairness, I sought to measure how much political empathy a person has and then compare this to decision-making styles in search of any relation between the two. Political empathy is a term to refer to one's willingness to utilize governmental policy to help those who are the neediest because of the understanding that humans deserve equal treatment since no one is more human than anyone else. Because of current research I found that I can test political empathy because of empathy’s correlation with political ideology; specifically, that those who are more liberal have more empathy. I test participant’s ideology in a normal setting and then present them with the concept of Rawls’ Original Position to see if they shift more one way when presented with this idea which is supposed to make them think more empathetically.<br/>I have two hypothesis that I cover: first, that more people will shift in a more liberal direction between the two tests, and second, that those who have more political empathy make political decisions based more on emotion rather than facts and reason. I tested decision-making through a myriad of tests within a focus group so I could get multiple angles at the issue. My first hypothesis was proven incorrect and while I didn’t have enough participants in my focus groups to make a clear determination, it didn’t look like there was any correlation between political ideology and decision-making styles.
ContributorsWilles, Hannah Elizabeth (Author) / Lennon, Tara (Thesis director) / Simhony, Avital (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Since the global financial crisis of 2007-8, interest in worker-cooperatives and alternative forms of organization has surged. Mondragon, located in the Basque region of Spain, represents the largest federation of worker-cooperatives around the world, consisting of 98 cooperatives and 143 subsidiaries, which earned a total revenue of $14.5 billion in 2019. While previous attempts to establish a similar model have historically reached limited success, Mondragon has achieved a unique balance of remaining economically viable, on the one hand, and staying true to its founding principles of democratic governance, on the other. This paper sets out to analyze the democratic structure and the cooperative culture at the heart of the Mondragon model, as well as the new type of human relationship that it fosters. In particular, this relationship is one in which individual well-being is bound up with communal well-being that avoids the antagonistic clash between the capital and labor.
ContributorsSvejda, Sam (Author) / Simhony, Avital (Thesis director) / McNamara, Peter (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
I have always been fascinated by history and studied the histories of the United States, Europe and the Middle East in both high school and college. However, I never had the opportunity to fully examine my own history and past until now. This thesis is an exploration of my family's history and the narrative of our journey from Palestine to America. I seek not only to understand my family's take on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that so drastically shaped our lives, but also to understand the more quotidian thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams. I want to share stories that have not been heard before because the Palestinian narrative continues to be a contested issue by other competing narratives and it is important that an accurate depiction be recorded and distributed for the general public. I hope that this project will accomplish this task and encourage critical thinking of this long-standing conflict.
ContributorsOdeh, Haneen (Author) / Peskin, Victor (Thesis director) / Montesano, Mark (Committee member) / Gallab, Abdullahi (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2011-05
Description
The term I'jaz al Qur'an refers to the inimitable quality of the Qur'an. The doctrine of inimitability comes directly from the Qur'anic text itself: And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful (The Qur'an Al-Baqarah 2:23). This verse is one of the verses of tahaddi (challenge) that challenges mankind to imitate just one chapter of the Qur'an. The doctrine of inimitability comes directly from this verse and four others throughout the Qur'an. It took about two centuries after the revelation of the Qur'an for the topic i'jaz to become the subject of mass scholarly activity. Reasons for the sudden increase in scholarly activity surrounding i'jaz include such historical events as the emergence of Sufism, the mu'tazalah school of theology, the shu'ubiyyah movement, and the Muslim-Christian interactions during the ninth century. Scholarly activity on has produced several theories on i'jaz from the likes of classical Islamic scholars including Abu Ishaq al-Nazaam, Al-Qadi Abd Al-Jabbar, Abu Bakr Abd al-Qahir bin Abd ar-Rahman bin Muhammad al-Jurjani, Abu Bakr Muammad ibn al-Tayyib al-Baqillani, and Muhammad ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi. These theories of i'jaz, while sharing many similarities, were chosen for this analysis due to the key differences they exhibit. These differences are often associated with the theological school and area of expertise of the given scholar, all of which will be explored thoroughly.
ContributorsShakoor, Musa Abdul (Author) / Ali, Souad (Thesis director) / Gallab, Abdullahi (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This thesis seeks to answer as to how leaders implement grand strategy. The framework for this endeavor comes from Peter Trubowitz's Politics and Strategy: Partisan Ambition and American Statecraft. In this work Trubowitz makes many claims about the nature of grand strategy, but the relevant ones to this research are that grand strategy is driven solely by structural constraints (domestic and foreign) individual characteristics of leaders do not affect exercises of political power and that President Nixon pursued an internal balancing grand strategy, which means that he pursued a containment policy. This thesis tests those claims via operational code analysis and the Verbs in Context System to map President Nixon's general grand strategy and his strategy regarding conflict in Southeast Asia, as well as dealing with the Communist Bloc. The findings are that Nixon does pursue a general grand strategy of internal balancing, but that the targeted instances of Southeast Asia and the Communist Bloc, he acts against constraints and shifts strategy. This is evidence that individual leaders do shape the exercise of political power by the state.
ContributorsNewman, Mercedes Lynn (Author) / Simhony, Avital (Thesis director) / Walker, Stephen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This research focused on the extent to which Syria's Muslim Brotherhood and Syrian Islamic Front have managed to acquire political legitimacy within a society that has historically remained under the control of either a foreign occupier or an oppressive regime. In addition, the added instability caused by the various ethnic/religious allegiances, external forces and a long-standing tradition of inhibiting a civil society have caused their legitimacy within the society to fluctuate dramatically. As a result the Islamic opposition parties in Syria have undergone a variety of ideological and organizational changes in an attempt to acquire a firm support base from Syria's varied population. Therefore, this thesis looked at each Islamic party's ability to obtain support from a wide spectrum of the Syrian populace, starting from their introduction into the political theatre, up until the onset of the Syrian Civil War.
ContributorsDeLintt, Jesus Gabriel (Author) / Lattouf, Mirna (Thesis director) / Ali, Souad (Committee member) / Gallab, Abdullahi (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
If democracy is the best way to rule why then is it limited only to the political sphere? This question is central to economic democracy which is the theory that economic activities should be governed by democratic principles. In America, ESOPs are used for a variety of reasons, and I believe that they can be used for the development of democratic firms. My thesis looks at current ESOPs to see if they are democratic, and suggests how they can be used to develop democratic firms.
ContributorsHeth, Zachary Fredrick (Author) / Simhony, Avital (Thesis director) / Lennon, Tara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This publication addresses the development of civic engagement programs in the past few decades. While successful in increasing what was perceived as a serious lack of civic engagement among youth, the movement has failed to address a key aspect of civic engagement: political engagement. Although trends have shown that the youth are much more interested in alternative forms of engagement, it is important for the success of democracy and sustaining political structures that the youth are given tools to become engaged in traditional forms of government. This paper, by analyzing data from various academic papers, will look into successful policy initiatives to increase political engagement at universities. Furthermore, the paper will look into current programs at Arizona State University (ASU) based on a criterion created from the academic resources to gauge ASU's standings. The paper will conclude with a proposal for a future ASU program. The program will be an expansion of the current ASU Experience course required of freshmen to implement a political engagement preparatory curriculum.
ContributorsJeong, Yijee (Author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Simhony, Avital (Committee member) / Jones, Ruth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
“Recite (read)! In the name of your lord who has created all that exists” (1:96 Qur‟an). “Iqra” was the first word revealed to the Prophet of Islam (PBUH). The word “iqra” is an imperative verb in Arabic, and in the context of the verse it is commanding the Prophet (PBUH) to recite. This fact carries great significance as it was the first command given to the Muslims (Ibn Kathir). Muslims believe the Qur'an is in its original form and language, Arabic. Arabic is considered to be in inexhaustible language due to its vast vocabulary and root-based origin (Humza Yusuf). Each root is typically based on three letters, which are conjugated in different ways to creating individual words. Any word in the Qur'an can be traced back to a root word, thus enhancing the meaning of each carefully chosen phrase (Ibn Kathir). The word “al-Qur'an”, means, the book that is recited, therefore, it is fitting that the first verse revealed pertains to its recital. According to history the majority of civilizations were built off scripture or books. The Greeks had Homer, the Egyptians had hieroglyphics, the Christians had the Bible, and the Hebrews had the Torah. Interestingly enough, the Pre-Islamic Arabs were an ancient civilization with no book; the Qur'an was the first book in Arabic history. This was earthshattering for the Arabs of the time, as it was something new and went against the tradition, however, the revelation of the Qur'an proved to be the most influential occurrence in the Arab history. The Qur'an is a literary masterpiece, flaunting its superior style forming moving and powerful verses. The layout of the Qur'an is quite simple, as it contains thirty parts, called ajzaa (juz singular), which altogether make up 114 chapters, called surahs (Humza Yusuf). The beginning surahs are longer, and the verses are lengthy, while the latter surahs are much shorter and the verses are succinct and direct (Qur'an al Kareem). Each verse is known as an “ayah, ayaat (pl)” directly translated to mean a “sign” or a “miracle” in the Arabic language. There are over 6,600 ayaat in the Qur'an, ranging from some just one or two words, while others are hundreds of words. Each surah, has a general theme, and each surah is given at least one title, while a few surahs have more than one title (Humza Yusuf).
ContributorsShakoor, Momin (Author) / Ali, Souad T. (Thesis director) / Gallab, Abdullahi (Committee member) / Risha, Sarah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
South Sudan claims the position of being the newest state in the world, formed by a referendum on separation from Sudan held in 2011. The referendum comes after a half a century of fighting, which led to the displacement of an estimated four million South Sudanese and the death of two million. The massive numbers of displaced people fled to Northern Sudan or surrounding countries, crossing borders and becoming refugees. A comparatively small number were repatriated into countries of second asylum, such as the United States. Arizona, a state with relatively cheap cost of living and a large amount of low-skilled jobs became a favored state for resettling refugees. In 2013, the South Sudanese population in the greater Phoenix area was estimated to be around 4,000. This paper is an exploration of the how South Sudanese refugee youth identify themselves, and find their place in a new country, and in Phoenix, without losing their roots. This paper concludes that South Sudanese refugee youth have a hyphenated identity. They identify as both proud South Sudanese and as American citizens. This identity is formed by strong ties to the South Sudanese community and education by parents on the one hand, and integration in American schools and norms on the other hand. Having a hyphenated identity also affects the work that these South Sudanese do and their relationships with South Sudan. This research also highlights the difficulties with theorizing immigration and identity, by placing discussions of integration and transnationalism in concert with the voices of actual immigrants. The findings in this paper are developed from 12 oral history interviews of South Sudanese in conjunction with existing scholarly literature on refugees, South Sudan, and identity.
ContributorsDooling, Carmel Inez (Author) / Holian, Anna (Thesis director) / Gallab, Abdullahi (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor)
Created2014-05