Browsing by Subject "Civil liberties"
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Item The conflict between foreign policy and civil liberties presented by the use of unmanned Predator drones(2010-12) Abrams, Jeremy Isadore; Trubowitz, PeterIn this paper I will offer an overview the evolution of civil liberties in the United States. These liberties, I argue, were meant to protect individuals from unwarranted exercises of power from the government, but ultimately were not intended to hamper the government’s ability to carry out basic government functions, such as self defense. Next, I examine the parallel evolution of the ability of the executive to exercise broad ranging powers in pursuit of foreign policy, especially in regard to self defense. After that I argue that the current policy not necessarily represent the administration choosing self defense over an individual’s civil liberties. Rather, it represents the notion that at a fundamental level, a state will always choose to pursue foreign policies designed to protect itself, and that even the domestic legal institutions that have evolved in the United States recognize that fact.Item Politics during crises : a review of existing literature(2012-08) Goodrich, Derrick Ian; Trubowitz, Peter; Sparrow, BartholomewThis MA Report explores existing literature pertaining to three aspects of politics during or directly following crises in the United States: state-building, suppression or expansion of civil liberties, and enduring alterations to the American social hierarchy. While acknowledging the many insights of all three areas of literature, the Report argues that literature on state-building is too concentrated on formal, top-down explanations. As a result, it neglects the crucial dependence state-building has on aspects, such as the active participation of civil society groups. The Report further argues that political science’s absence from research literature on civil liberties during crises needs to end. The abundance of legal and historical accounts on this subject offers a wealth of descriptive insights. However, they fail to offer causal explanations for why crises have such an inconsistent and dynamic impact on civil liberties. Finally, research over the impact of crises on American social hierarchies needs to move away from assuming social groups’ interests a priori. Instead, scholars should attempt to unearth what these interests actually were among these groups within the historical context given, looking specifically to the discursive contests among social groups as they attempt to frame crises in advantageous ways.