2020 IPSA Conference Proposal

Accepted Proposal for the 2020 International Political Science Association Meeting
Lisbon, Portugal
July 25-29, 2020

Competition and Cooperation Within and Between Macro and Micro Political Organizations: Local, State, Regional, National, Multinational, and Global Leadership

Organized by:

Ronald F. White, PhD.
Professor of Philosophy
 Mount St. Joseph University

Today, some of the most visible and perplexing political conflicts arise within and between localism, regionalism, nationalism, and globalism; and the complex legal and moral relationships within and between those organizational structures. There are longstanding arguments that support the primacy of one level over another, and/or the authority of the various levels of political leadership. This research session will explore some of the more recent worldwide political problems that arise within various contexts, in the United States,  Africa, and India. Issues will include debates over women’s rights, access to health care, and the regulation of therapeutic and/or recreational drugs.

 Chair and Commentator: 
Ronald F. White, Ph.D. 

Research Panel Presentations:

David Vanderburgh, MD
Dayton, Ohio

The Regulation of the Cultivation, Importation, and Exportation of Medical Marijuana:The Ohio Experience

Abstract:

In the United States there has been an ongoing debate over legal structures that ought to regulate the cultivation, importation, exportation, and sales of therapeutic marijuana. The most puzzling issues is whether it ought to be regulated by local, state, federal governments. The State of Ohio recently legalized medical marijuana, but controversy arose over who could legally grow it, who could legally sell it, and who could legally buy it. The federal government has been reluctant to legalize marijuana for either medical or recreational purposes, which has set up multi-level political conflict between federal regulators, state regulators, and local regulators. This presentation will focus on the multi-level political conflicts that have arisen as a result of regulation of medical marijuana in the United States, Ohio, Kentucky, and Cincinnati.        

Bonnie B. Chojnacki Independent Scholar Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Rights, Culture, and Women’s Issues in India

Abstract:

India consists of a variety cultural and religious traditions spanning ancient cultural, legal, and moral codes through its recent configuration as a political democracy. By population India is the world’s largest democracy with more than 1.3 billion people. Forty-eight percent of that population is female. Currently India’s legal system, modeled on the United States, combines common law within a written constitution. The written constitution is women friendly and includes a section on fundamental human rights. Paradoxically India figured prominently in recent a survey that ranked the most dangerous countries for women. From the survey India ranked first in three categories: attacks on women based on cultural traditions, sexual violence, and human trafficking. This presentation, drawing upon political philosophy, philosophy of law, and feminist theory, will explore tensions between India’s constitutionally granted fundamental rights for women, non-governmental agencies engaged in women’s development, and cultural influences which contribute to shaping women’s lives and opportunities.

John Amankwah, Phd
Mount St. Joseph  University
Cincinnati, Ohio

Abstract:

This paper will examine the rise of ethno-nationalism in Europe and North America at the height of Liberal democracy in the 21st Century. In the last twenty years, the world has been experiencing the rise of ethno-nationalism that purports to emphasize particular ethnic identity to the exclusion of the universal import of liberal democracy. While some scholars agree by arguing that liberal democracy thrives along the boundaries of ethno-nationalism, others have argued against this standpoint by pointing out that ethno-nationalism breeds isolationism and creates a particularistic view of liberal democracy that undermines the bedrock of democracy. I intend to approach this topic first by reviewing some scholarly literature that review and articulate the topic from different perspectives. Second, I intend to look at some of the domestic laws in particular Britain and United States and explore the landscape of the international law that focuses and privileges ethno-nationalism within liberal democracy. Third, I intend to apply a critical lens to the outcomes of the practice of ethno-nationalism and its effects on co-immigrants in Europe and United States and then draw my conclusion (to be continued).

Jennifer Morris, PhD
Mount St. Joseph University
Cincinnati, Ohio

The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in the Era of 
New Nationalism


Abstract

 In March of 2019, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women held its sixty-third session.  The priority themes included social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls.  This Commission, established first in 1946 at the beginning of the modern era of globalization, has collected data on the lives of women that has been used to illustrate the gender disparities that continue to plague women to the present day.  While the discussions at the March session led to resolutions that align with the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals and focus on empowering women and girls throughout the world, these resolutions are facing increasing challenges on the national and local level as more and more nationalist movements result in the election of authoritarian leaders who have demonstrated no interest in gender equity. This paper will examine the ways in which women in the United States, Poland, and Venezuela have fared during this rise of new nationalism.  Access to education, health care, and employment are all in jeopardy as women and girls are increasingly shut out of the electoral process, and are subsequently subjected to living in countries where laws are passed that relegate them to less than full citizenship.  And, while there are new aspects to this 21^st century situation, there are many ways in which the experience of women and girls can be compared to those under 19^th and 20^th century nationalist authoritarian regimes.   

Ken Blanchard, Ph.D

Abstract:

Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar’s Social Brain Hypothesis proposes strong correlations between brain size and social group size across a range of primate species, including humans. This hypothesis predicts a social group size of 150 for Homo Sapiens (Dunbar’s Number); however, human beings coalesce and dissolve into larger and smaller groups. The size of these groups is not random but rather quantum, scaling up from five by a factor of approximately three with each layer. I propose that Dunbar’s hypothesis can be mapped onto accounts of human communities in both classical and modern political philosophy. In particular, I will focus accounts in Aristotle’s Politics and Locke’s Second Treatise. My hypothesis is that the Social Brain Hypothesis not only universal features of human political communities but also the remarkable flexibility of larger social groups that made the rise of civilizations possible.