Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Use of Presidential Surrogacy in Foreign Policy Discourse

Abstract: Through a case study utilizing the rhetoric of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this essay reveals the value of investigating the rhetoric of presidential surrogates in conjunction with presidential discourse. Support for this argument is derived from a close analysis of the combined rhetorical tactics of Obama and Clinton, illuminated by dramatistic criticism, value analysis, and mode of argument. Although an essential foundation for an analysis of an administration’s foreign policy rhetoric, the president’s discourse is not the only data that merits attention. For foreign policy rhetoric, this essay elucidates both the importance and utility of examining the discourse of Obama and Clinton together, rather than in isolation. Based on this analysis, it is reasonable to contend that Clinton’s “human rights drama” operated within Obama’s “war and peace drama,” rather than competed with it for acceptance, and the two speakers utilized similar tactics in terms of drawing on audience values and utilizing mode of argument to support the cases they presented

Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

Human activity and land use change impact every landscape on Earth, driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others. Species ecological and life history traits may predict success in human- dominated landscapes such that only species with - winning- combinations of traits will persist in disturbed environments. However, this link between species traits and successful coexistence with humans remains obscured by the complexity of anthropogenic disturbances and variability among study systems. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America to quantify the effects of (1) the direct presence of people and (2) the human footprint (landscape modification) on mammal occurrence and activity levels. Thirty- three percent of mammal species exhibited a net negative response (i.e., reduced occurrence or activity) to increasing human presence and/or footprint across populations, whereas 58% of species were positively associated with increasing disturbance. However, apparent benefits of human presence and footprint tended to decrease or disappear at higher disturbance levels, indicative of thresholds in mammal species- capacity to tolerate disturbance or exploit human- dominated landscapes. Species ecological and life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint, with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster- reproducing species. The positive and negative effects of human presence were distributed more randomly with respect to species trait values, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds. Differential responses by some species to human presence and human footprint highlight the importance of considering these two forms of human disturbance separately when estimating anthropogenic impacts on wildlife. Our approach provides insights into the complex mechanisms through which human activities shape mammal communities globally, revealing the drivers of the loss of larger predators in human- modified landscapes.Human activity and land use change are driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others, but predicting which species will successfully coexist with humans remains a challenge. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America and showed that species life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint (landscape modification), with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster- reproducing species. Positive and negative effects of direct human presence (e.g., recreation, hunting) were distributed more randomly across species, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168486/1/gcb15650.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168486/2/gcb15650_am.pd

Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

Human activity and land use change impact every landscape on Earth, driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others. Species ecological and life history traits may predict success in human- dominated landscapes such that only species with - winning- combinations of traits will persist in disturbed environments. However, this link between species traits and successful coexistence with humans remains obscured by the complexity of anthropogenic disturbances and variability among study systems. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America to quantify the effects of (1) the direct presence of people and (2) the human footprint (landscape modification) on mammal occurrence and activity levels. Thirty- three percent of mammal species exhibited a net negative response (i.e., reduced occurrence or activity) to increasing human presence and/or footprint across populations, whereas 58% of species were positively associated with increasing disturbance. However, apparent benefits of human presence and footprint tended to decrease or disappear at higher disturbance levels, indicative of thresholds in mammal species- capacity to tolerate disturbance or exploit human- dominated landscapes. Species ecological and life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint, with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster- reproducing species. The positive and negative effects of human presence were distributed more randomly with respect to species trait values, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds. Differential responses by some species to human presence and human footprint highlight the importance of considering these two forms of human disturbance separately when estimating anthropogenic impacts on wildlife. Our approach provides insights into the complex mechanisms through which human activities shape mammal communities globally, revealing the drivers of the loss of larger predators in human- modified landscapes.Human activity and land use change are driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others, but predicting which species will successfully coexist with humans remains a challenge. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America and showed that species life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint (landscape modification), with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster- reproducing species. Positive and negative effects of direct human presence (e.g., recreation, hunting) were distributed more randomly across species, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168486/1/gcb15650.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168486/2/gcb15650_am.pd