THE KURDISH QUEST FOR INDEPENDENCE AND THE LEGALITY OF SECESSION UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

In September 2017, the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq held a referendum asking its people if they wanted to become an independent state. Nearly 93 percent of voters answered yes.1 This result was unsurprising. The Kurds, who are spread over numerous countries, are commonly described as the world’s largest nation of people without a sovereign country to call their own.2 Their quest for independence spans generations, and the vast majority of Iraqi Kurds desire statehood.3 Masrour Barzani, the son of the region’s former president and the chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, said this of the referendum: “If you look at our history we have been mistreated throughout history . . . W e as a nation have every right to self- determination.”4 Iraq declared the referendum illegal.5 In the wake of the result, it also quickly seized large portions of Kurdish-held territory.6 Meanwhile, the international community provided little support for the Kurdish referendum, with Turkey, Iran, Syria, and even the United States condemning it outright.7 As of today, the Kurds’ quest for independence is indefinitely stalled.8 These events provide a useful paradigm for renewing considerations as to how secessionist movements should be viewed under international law

A Lost Reference Point: How Placing Our Identities in the State Has Facilitated Social Polarization Among Americans

We are living in a moment of societal breakdown, as America is increasingly plagued with fractious polarization along political and cultural lines. The potential causes of this are complex and exist within a broad spectrum of possibilities, with the potential solutions being even more contentious. However, it is my contention that identity is the central issue here. As people begin to place their identities in a religious devotion to the liberal state as opposed to a transcendent ideal, once simple, agreed-upon premises become harsh divides, and polarization ensues. To fully evaluate how this has happened, and thus how it may be solved, I am going to turn to the thinkers that helped form our modern conception of the state, identity, religion, natural law, and human nature. I will include analyses of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Marx, Darwin, and Rawls. With their insights, I will evaluate how we got to the position we are in today, and how liberalism has led to the destruction of transcendent morality and human nature. From there I will weigh various alternatives to modern liberalism, ultimately offering a solution based on incremental, local change rooted in transcendent morality and true tolerance

Technical entrepreneurship in the UK:an examination of the relationship between the previous occupational background of the technical entrepreneur and the management of the small technology-based venture

With the growing appreciation of the contribution of small technology-based ventures to a healthy economy, an analysis of the individual who initiates and manages such ventures - the technical entrepreneur - is highly desirable, predominantly because of the influence of such an individual on the management and future strategy of the venture. An examination of recent research has indicated that a study of the previous experience and expertise of the entrepreneur, gained in previous occupations, may be highly relevant in determining the possible success of a new venture. This is particularly true where the specific expertise of the entrepreneur forms the main strategic advantage of the business, as in the case of small technology-based firms. Despite this, there has been very little research which has attempted to examine the relationship between the previous occupational background of the technical entrepreneur, and the management of the small technology-based firm. This thesis will examine this relationship, as well as providing an original contribution to the study of technical entrepreneurship in the UK. Consequently, the exploratory nature of the research prompted an inductive qualitative approach being adopted for the thesis. Through a two stage, multiple-site research approach, an examination was made of technical entrepreneurs heading award-winning technology-based small firms in the UK. The main research questions focused on management within the firm, the novelty and origin of the technology adopted, and the personal characteristics of the entrepreneur under study. The results of this study led to the creation of a specific typology for technical entrepreneurs, based on the individual's role in the development of technology within his previous occupation

Rethinking emotion: New research in emotion and recent debates in cognitive science.

Cognitive science is currently the scene of a number of exciting debates. The so-called 'classical' approach, which has dominated the field since the 1950s, is increasingly being challenged on various fronts. Evolutionary psychologists and researchers in artificial life accuse classical cognitive scientists of ignoring the fact that natural cognition is not designed to solve abstract problems and prove theorems but to solve particular adaptive problems. Those working with a 'situated' view of the mind are challenging the classical commitment to internalism. Finally, proponents of dynamical approaches claim that the discrete models favoured by the classical approach are too coarse-grained and impute too much internal structure to the mind. In this thesis I argue that the 'non-classical' approaches are compatible with classical cognitive science, with the important proviso that compatibility comes in different kinds. In the final chapter I outline a vision of a comprehensive 'integrated non-classical cognitive science' that combines the three non-classical approaches into a single conceptual bundle. I illustrate these claims about cognitive science in general with reference to a particular field of research: the emotions. Emotions were ignored by most classical cognitive scientists, though some models of emotion were developed within the classical framework. These models, however, provided no way of distinguishing emotion from cognition. I argue that the non-classical approaches remedy this problem, and together provide a new way of thinking about the emotions which I dub 'the interruption theory'. Since the interruption theory borrows insights from all three of the non-classical forms of cognitive science, it serves as a good example of the integrated non-classical approach that I recommend for cognitive science in general

De Lacan a Darwin

Este ensayo ha sido publicado en 2005 con el título de "From Lacan to Darwin" en The Literary Animal. Evolution and the Nature of Narrative (pp. 38-55), editado por Jonathan Gottschall y David Sloan Wilson, en la ciudad de Evanston, por la Northwestern University Press. La traducción al español estuvo a cargo de Joel J. Lorenzatti. El autor obtuvo por parte de Northwestern University Press el permiso correspondiente, de carácter no exclusivo, mundial, para el idioma español, y para las versiones impresa y electrónica.Este ensaio foi publicado em 2005 com o título "From Lacan to Darwin" no The Literary Animal. Evolution and the Nature of Narrative (pp. 38-55), editado por Jonathan Gottschall e David Sloan Wilson, na cidade de Evanston, pela Northwestern University Press. Joel J. Lorenzatti estava encarregado da tradução para o espanhol. O autor obteve da Universidade Northwestern Pressione a permissão correspondente, de natureza mundial não exclusiva, para o idioma espanhol, e para as versões impressa e eletrônica.This essay has been published in 2005 with the title "From Lacan to Darwin" in The Literary Animal. Evolution and the Nature of Narrative (pp. 38-55), edited by Jonathan Gottschall and David Sloan Wilson, in the city of Evanston, by Northwestern University Press. Joel J. Lorenzatti was in charge of the translation into Spanish. The translator obtained the corresponding non-exclusive and worldwide permission from Northwestern University Press. Permission granted is valid in the Spanish language for the printed and electronic versions.Facultad de Psicologí

De Lacan a Darwin

Este ensayo ha sido publicado en 2005 con el título de "From Lacan to Darwin" en The Literary Animal. Evolution and the Nature of Narrative (pp. 38-55), editado por Jonathan Gottschall y David Sloan Wilson, en la ciudad de Evanston, por la Northwestern University Press. La traducción al español estuvo a cargo de Joel J. Lorenzatti. El autor obtuvo por parte de Northwestern University Press el permiso correspondiente, de carácter no exclusivo, mundial, para el idioma español, y para las versiones impresa y electrónica.Este ensaio foi publicado em 2005 com o título "From Lacan to Darwin" no The Literary Animal. Evolution and the Nature of Narrative (pp. 38-55), editado por Jonathan Gottschall e David Sloan Wilson, na cidade de Evanston, pela Northwestern University Press. Joel J. Lorenzatti estava encarregado da tradução para o espanhol. O autor obteve da Universidade Northwestern Pressione a permissão correspondente, de natureza mundial não exclusiva, para o idioma espanhol, e para as versões impressa e eletrônica.This essay has been published in 2005 with the title "From Lacan to Darwin" in The Literary Animal. Evolution and the Nature of Narrative (pp. 38-55), edited by Jonathan Gottschall and David Sloan Wilson, in the city of Evanston, by Northwestern University Press. Joel J. Lorenzatti was in charge of the translation into Spanish. The translator obtained the corresponding non-exclusive and worldwide permission from Northwestern University Press. Permission granted is valid in the Spanish language for the printed and electronic versions.Facultad de Psicologí