Hope for Another Humanitarian Intervention? Rwanda, Kosovo, Libya and the Consequences of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) on Myanmar

After the catastrophic failure of the UN and western nations to prevent and halt genocide in Rwanda in 1990, many pledged “never again.” In less than ten years, the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo provided the international community with a chance at redemption. Without waiting for UN approval, NATO forces led a military intervention to stop Milošević’s campaign of violence against the Kosovo Albanians. The humanitarian intervention in Kosovo left many questions for the international community: Who should intervene to stop genocide or ethnic cleansing in a given state? When should the international community intervene? In the early 2000s, there was a shared sense that there was an urgent need to set an international framework for humanitarian intervention. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine aimed to provide that framework. Approaching the topic from the perspective of constructivist theory, this thesis describes how R2P emerged as a potential international norm, cascaded through the international community, and then became diffused enough to be utilized by the UN to address mass atrocities. The 2011 intervention in Libya became the test case for the R2P. However, the moment of the R2P’s success was also its downfall. Despite the diffusion of R2P as a well accept norm and its use in the Security Council in 2011, the failure of intervention in Libya has led to the regression of the norm. I argue that this regression has caused the lack of humanitarian intervention in the ethnic cleansing and violence in Myanmar against the Rohingya population

A prismatic classifying space

A qualgebra $G$ is a set having two binary operations that satisfy compatibility conditions which are modeled upon a group under conjugation and multiplication. We develop a homology theory for qualgebras and describe a classifying space for it. This space is constructed from $G$-colored prisms (products of simplices) and simultaneously generalizes (and includes) simplicial classifying spaces for groups and cubical classifying spaces for quandles. Degenerate cells of several types are added to the regular prismatic cells; by duality, these correspond to "non-rigid" Reidemeister moves and their higher dimensional analogues. Coupled with $G$-coloring techniques, our homology theory yields invariants of knotted trivalent graphs in $\mathbb{R}^3$ and knotted foams in $\mathbb{R}^4$. We re-interpret these invariants as homotopy classes of maps from $S^2$ or $S^3$ to the classifying space of $G$.Comment: 28 pages, 24 figure

Gustav Stickley\u27s Hapke-Geiger House and Noland and Baskervill\u27s Hunton House: Richmond Architecture ca. 1915

Textbooks teach architecture as conveniently divided into styles and periods, but in reality styles overlap. At the turn-of-the-twentieth century there were three major architectural and decorative movements in the United States: the Aesthetic Movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the American Renaissance Movement. This thesis shows how superficial stylistic labels can be by comparing two very different-seeming houses of the early twentieth century: The Hapke-Geiger House of ca. 1912 in Chesterfield, Virginia, based on a Gustav Stickley Arts and Crafts design, and the Hunton House of 19 14 in Richmond, Virginia, designed in the American Renaissance style by Noland and Baskervill. These homes are very different from one another, but they have three major similarities: They each use an established plan with no essential connection to the building\u27s supposed style, they mix styles, and they have similar kinds of porches. This thesis will pursue these issues to go beyond the superficial stylistic labels and examine how the three major movements of the time are interrelated

Working on Dignity: EC Initiatives on Sexual Harrassment in the Workplace

This article argues that the [European] Commission should propose legally binding legislation to guarantee all workers, both women and men, protection against sexual harassment in Community workplaces. Section I describes the nature of sexual harassment, the problems it poses in the EC, and the effects of sexual harassment on people and businesses. Section II reviews existing Member State legislation and labor union policies and identifies the inadequacy of these measures to protect EC workers from sexual harassment. Section III describes existing EC legislation on sexual harassment and the equal treatment of women and men in the workplace and identifies the limitations of these measures in prohibiting sexual harassment

Teaching Our Black Children to Know Joy

As a mother of two young Black children, we were faced with a new challenge, brought on by isolation of the pandemic, and the brutality of White supremacy. My daughter (Olivia) was now asking tough questions. Sickness she understood. Even at her age, she knew the importance of hand washing. But racism is a sickness we were not yet prepared to teach her. The purpose of this story is to share my experiences as a mother of a 4-year-old daughter, and how I taught her to have joy, through 1) memorized scripture, 2) exhibiting joy and 3) through prayer, even in the midst of fear and trials. Even though Olivia is just a child, I learned, through my four-year-old daughter’s journal, that she is internalizing what it means to have joy in her heart, in all circumstances

Microaggressions in Academia: One Black Woman’s Story

Abstract As a Black instructor in higher education, I know all about the challenges that marginalized people face on a regular basis. After all, racism is deeply rooted in the foundation of our American culture and society. So, I guess I should not have been surprised when two senior professors made assumptions about who I am as a Black American woman and my intelligence in academia. This paper gives a subtle and brief look into my experiences of microaggressions as a new Black woman instructor at a predominantly White institution

Demographic Differences in Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire

Empathy and social masking are traits related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Social masking, the act of camouflaging socially to appear closer to the social norm, is often utilized to conceal autistic traits, such that individuals with ASD mask more frequently than neurotypical individuals (Hull et al., 2017). However, neurotypical adults also use masking and camouflaging behaviors in routine social interactions, including actively attempting to mirror others’ moods, reflecting vocabulary and syntax, or matching facial expressions to respond appropriately (Pryke-Hobbes et al. 2023). Additionally, empathy is related to ASD traits; although, the findings are often mixed. Originally, it was thought that people with autism lacked the level of empathy seen in neurotypical populations (Charman et al., 1997). However, this conclusion resulted from poor definitions of empathy and unreliable testing (Fletcher-Watson & Bird, 2020). The increased interest and research on empathy and masking have led to new assessments, such as the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) and the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). The current study compares the demographic characteristics (i.e., age and gender) of a subclinical college student sample on the TEQ and the CAT-Q. Social masking plateaus in early adulthood; however, scores diverge in later adulthood for those with autism symptoms, showing that those with autism traits mask at higher rates (Remnélius & Bölte, 2023). Additionally, the TEQ has shown that older adults have significantly higher empathy scores than younger adults (Gould & Gautreau, 2014). Research on gender suggest no significant differences in CAT-Q total or subscale scores between non-autistic males and females (Hull et al., 2019a). However, in autistic populations, females score significantly higher than males in both the total and subscale scores

Examining the Associations Between Experiences of Perceived Racism and Drug and Alcohol Use in Aboriginal Australians

ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the relationships between experiences of perceived racism, mental health and drug and alcohol use among Aboriginal Australians. MethodSixty-two Aboriginal Australians, ranging in age from 19-64 years (Mage = 33.71, SD = 12.47) and residing in Victoria completed an online questionnaire containing measures of perceived racism, alcohol use, substance use and mental health. ResultsFirst, 66% of the sample reported experiencing interpersonal racism, with the highest proportion of reported experiences occurring in health settings, educational/academic settings and by staff of government agencies. Second, perceived racism was significantly associated with poorer mental health and well-being. Finally, while perceived racism was not significantly associated with substance use, there was an indirect pathway from perceived racism to substance use through mental health concerns. ConclusionsThe current research indicates that racism is still frequently experienced by Aboriginal Australians and is directly associated with poorer mental health, and indirectly with substance use through poorer mental health. The findings demonstrate a clear need for further research in this area