Departure From Neutrality: Normative Europeanization, Strategic Alignment, and the Path-Dependent Case of Post-Cold War Swedish Integration Into NATO

This dissertation explores the post-Cold War Swedish government’s transition from a long-held policy of neutrality, towards its formal declaration to seek military alignment through NATO accession in 2022. This will be explained by analyzing the evolution of its foreign and defense policies by synthesizing the following interrelated concepts: path dependence, Sweden’s normative Europeanization, strategic alignment, and asa bridging function, the gradual reassertion of NATO’s role as post-Cold War Europe’s primary vehicle for collective defense. Previous analysis on the normative Europeanization of Swedish policies is limited to the 1990s and lacks a deep focus on Sweden’s defense policy. Thus, despite serving as a potential explanatory framework for the evolution of Swedish government attitudes towards military alignment, the concept remains underutilized. At the same time, a structured analysis of Swedish cooperation with NATO through measurable framework of ordinal strategic alignment, and the theoretical concept of path dependence as captured by increasing returns, provides the ability to analyze the cause and effect of qualitative and quantitative increases in Swedish-NATO integration. Swedish membership in the European Union is also analyzed, particularly as the EU’s security policies broke down ideational barriers that paved the way for a growing acceptance of alignment. Thus, this dissertation provides a structured analysis of Sweden’s overall, evolving foreign policy views away from neutrality as a consequence of normative Europeanization, and Sweden’s increasing acceptance of the centrality of NATO to European defense through path dependent-focused analysis of its changing involvement within NATO structures

George T. Downing and the “Fraternal Unity of Man”: The Battle for an Abolition Democracy in Nineteenth-Century America

In “George T. Downing and the ‘Fraternal Unity of Man’: The Battle for an Abolition Democracy in Nineteenth-Century America,” Erik J. Chaput and Russell J. DeSimone argue that Newport entrepreneur George T. Downing’s leadership role in the national fight for racial justice was especially significant in the period after the Civil War when Black leaders pushed for an extension of rights to formerly enslaved people in the South as well as to Blacks in the North who endured racial oppression. While holding significant positions in a movement to establish racial equality, Downing led the fight for the de-segregation of Rhode Island schools in the 1850s and 1860s. Then, in the postwar period, he took a visible national leadership role in lobbying for legislation that would bolster the civil rights of all people of color. It was a time when many members of the Republican party, formerly the foremost advocates for abolition and racial justice, turned their backs on the fight to end segregation, repression of voting rights and restrictions of citizenship. In their essay, the authors draw on numerous sources, including accounts of “Colored” Conventions that took place in Northern cities in the prewar period. Erik Chaput is the author of The People’s Martyr: Thomas Wilson Dorr and His 1842 Rhode Island Rebellion (2013); Russell DeSimone has published a detailed study, Broadsides of the Dorr Rebellion (1992). They have both penned dozens of articles for the Providence Journal, the online journal Common-Place, the Newport History v v New England Journal of History, and the Small State Big History website. Together Chaput and DeSimone will publish a one-volume collection of the Selected Writings of Thomas Wilson Dorr later this year. They are currently collaborating on a monograph on the life and career of George T. Downing

Some observations on the Sources Used in Martin Del Rio’s Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri Sex ( Six Books on Magical Investigations )

This paper is an analysis of the sources used in Del Rio\u27s Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri Sex ( Six Books on Magical Investigations ). Providing a brief overview of the scholarly sources available for study as well as a general introduction to the period this paper focuses on the type of sources Del Rio quotes in order to prove his points

The Importance of Coastal Wetland Restoration in Old Lyme, CT: The White Sands Beach Salt Marsh Restoration Project

In New England, coastal wetlands are rapidly drying up from widespread droughts, eroding from sea level rise, or being overrun by invasive species. Old Lyme, Connecticut relies heavily on the environmental and economic benefits of wetlands. In the last decade however, many coastal homes in Old Lyme, like the summer cottages of White Sands Beach, have been threatened by a lack of resilient wetlands surrounding them, and the coastal biodiversity of the town has decreased. The White Sands Beach Salt Marsh Restoration Project restored over an acre of coastal wetland at White Sands Beach through integrated marsh management strategies

Sea Cucumber (Holothuroidea)

Life history characteristics of Sea Cucumber (Holothuroidea) in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, US

Unraveling the Pseudo Statehood of Lebanon: A Critique of Consociationalism in Lebanon

This study critically examines the paradigm of consociationalism and its inherent inadequacies within the framework of the Lebanese political model. Emphasizing three pivotal deficiencies—namely, elite political dynamics, the entrenchment of sectarian institutions, and external interference—this research delves into their manifestation in Lebanon across key historical junctures, encompassing Lebanon’s genesis under the National Pact, its reconfiguration following the Ta’if Agreement, and the ramifications within its security apparatus and prevailing corruption. Moreover, an analytical comparison is drawn between the failures of Lebanese consociationalism and the prevailing strengths of Hezbollah, resulting in a nuanced portrayal that extends beyond a conventional depiction of a failing state but not a failed state, positioning Lebanon within the framework of a quasi-state. This study posits the introduction of a novel categorization for assessing states, denoted as a pseudo state. Upon the application of Lebanon’s consociational shortcomings against the criteria delineating a pseudo state, this research establishes the eligibility of Lebanon for pseudo statehood: a sovereign state that cannot function as a state in defending itself, running an economy or legislating but is run by either a local non-state actor or foreign power

The Reading Wars: Ideological and Pedagogical Conflicts Ignited by The Writings of Rudolf Flesch

This dissertation seeks to answer the question: what were the social and cultural effects of Rudolf Flesch’s thoughts and writings on late 20th-century American literacy education? The purpose is to provide an understanding and articulation of the cultural and educational ramifications of Rudolph Flesch’s books Why Johnny Can’t Read and What You Can Do About It (1955) and Why Johnny Still Can’t Read: A New Look at the Scandal of Our Schools (1981). To achieve this goal an understanding and articulation of the cultural and educational ramifications of Rudolf Flesch’s books will be offered. This qualitative study will look at the history, arguments, and productive consequences of this ideological and pedagogical debate. An examination of the current state of reading education and recommendations for further study will also be discussed. This dissertation is limited to reading instruction in the United States. And while a history of reading instruction will be offered, it is limited to mostly northern states. Many factors influence who receives reading instruction and the type of reading instruction they receive, including race, gender, and socio-economic background. This dissertation is not an attempt to answer those complex questions. Rather, its goal is to examine the effect of two of the most influential books on reading instruction in the United States from the mid-twentieth century until present: Rudolf Flesch’s Why Johnny Can’t Read and What You Can Do About It (1955) and Why Johnny Still Can’t Read: A New Look at the Scandal of Our Schools (1981) and how Flesch’s writings outlined the history and flaws of a specific method of reading instruction and proposed a solution to the current literacy crisis. An overview of the history of literacy instruction and the methods used from the 1600s to the publication of Flesch’s first book in 1955 will lay the foundation for the study. An understanding of the early life and writings of Rudolf Flesch will provide insight into who he was and what made him an expert in literacy. Doing so will provide the basis for an in-depth analysis of his best-selling books, which will lead to an examination of the ramifications and consequences of his writings on American literacy education. A review of the current state of literacy instruction and recommendations for further study will be offered in the conclusion

The Politics of Frivolity: American Neopopulism and Decadence

Populism and decadence: What do these parallel sentiments in the US have to teach us? More specifically, how does a possible relationship between the two help us understand the source of the growing sense of fragility of our republican procedures and institutions? Both decadence and populism are slippery concepts. Both serve to amplify what they stand against rather than for. Therefore, identifying and unpacking what each “travels with” is helpful. In sum, by versing ourselves in the classical conceptions of decadence and populism, and then examining their postmodern counterparts, we arrive at a much-needed step towards a comprehensive theory of neopopulism. Such a theory would account for the cultural foundations of the US’s current populism that will continue at least a decade beyond that pinnacle moment with Trump’s election in 2016. This study argues the following: Contemporary right-wing populism in the US – that is, right neopopulism – is correlated with, and is the political expression of, decadence. Decadence is not the “cause” of populism. Rather, this recent populism-cum-decadence has been facilitated by two factors that share an interdependent relationship: Postmodern epistemology and postmodern communication technology

Fagus Sylvatica (European Beech) ID #13 Year of Observation: 2022

Location: O\u27Hare Academic Building Pathway Radius of Crown: 6.096 m Height: 13.716 mDiameter at Breast Height: 31 cmCondition: GoodAge Class: Semi-Maturehttps://digitalcommons.salve.edu/bio140_arboretum/1036/thumbnail.jp