Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper explores the relationships among immigration policy, national identity and recent policy developments concerning family diversity in Canada and the United States. Drawing on Jacqueline Stevens' provocative argument that nation-states are kinship structures in which the rules of membership are determined by the rules of birth (1999) and using Canadian and U.S. immigration policy and family policy, the paper links domestic debates concerning family form with the family dimensions of its immigration policy. It then considers whether neoliberalism/neoliberal globalism can help us to understand recent immigration and family policy shifts and, in particular, to what extent 'national identity' may trump the market logic and personal autonomy dimensions of neoliberal ideology.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The 1990s brought an unprecedented suffering, death and poverty to Sub Saharan Africa that resulted from the increased number of internal wars. The majority of the literatures gave ethnicity a high priority as the main cause for these internal wars. This paper will argue that Africa's recent internal wars occurred, not because of ethnicity or contested identity, but rather around the postcolonial state and the fight to control its power and resources. Specifically, the rewards (real or perceived) of capturing and maintaining state power provides a key source of conflict across the continent. Over the years many African states have been the source of inequality, where the members of the group on the throne benefited and the rest of the society suffered from the strong-hand of the state. The main reason for this disparity is that since their independence, most African states were financially maintained by international donors, which made them less accountable to their own societies. These states lasted many decades despite their poor human rights record and weakened the capacity of the states to reward their friends or punish their foes. The result was a reduced security both economically and physically where in many parts of the continent food become a luxury item. This pushed a mode of survival within the society, where selling of public properties, including weapons became the main source of cash for the government bureaucrats and soldiers. Therefore, Africa's recent internal wars are the result of the interaction of three factors: social inequality, economic decline and availability of weapons.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper examines the long-distance or "extra-systemic" political participation of immigrant communities in Europe. As opposed to primordialist, statist-institutionalist or globalization explanations for transnational political activities, the paper proposes a model of transnational political mobilization by non-state political entrepreneurs to account for this phenomenon. Transnational mobilization by non-state political entrepreneurs involves the formation of a transnational constituency, the extraction of material resources from that constituency, and the building of transnational networks and organizations. Two case studies of transnational mobilization are examined: the Algerian FLN in France and the Kurdish PKK in Germany. The paper demonstrates the utility of building a bridge between the world systems literature on global migration processes and the state-based literature on immigrant incorporation and participation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Uncritical faith in intense competition assumes the status of an unquestioned paradigm in America today. But this Competition Paradigm fails in the face of data, logic, and good sense. This presentation goes beyond the hype, to exam the evidence, carefully, systematically, comprehensively, and across disciplines. Analysis begins at the biological level and works through, step by step, to the international level of global competition. Examining competition at a broader, interdisciplinary level makes it easier to discover patterns and trends across levels. Something new is discovered about the nature of competition itself, that in its most destructive forms it generates a negative self-reinforcing spiral effect that is a worrisome liability in the long term.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Caregiving and citizenship have a long history of mutual exclusivity and estrangement. Critiquing the current organization of care practices and the lack of public support for caregiving, care theorists and others have argued for rethinking our collective responsibilities toward caregivers. Care, noted for its relational and cooperative dimensions, has long thought to be at odds with liberal conceptions of rights, noted for its atomistic and competitive view of the individual. Nevertheless, several theorists advocate a right to care. Building on a critical assessment of their work, this paper develops an argument for the right to give care based on the significance of caregiving for the development and exercise of the capacity for affiliation. In this context, the paper begins to flesh out the complicated role of choice in care relationships.