Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study explored the Meaning Transfer Model by examining the degree to which those who have visited the English-language Al-Jazeera website judge the Arab-language Al-Jazeera network as credible even if they have not personally viewed the network. This study found that while two thirds of those surveyed had never seen Al-Jazeera only a handful of people did not assess the satellite network’s credibility. However, it unclear the degree to which watching the television network influenced credibility judgments. Those who had watched Al-Jazeera consistently judged it more credible than nonviewers, although relationships became insignificant after controlling for demographic, political and cultural variables.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The rhetoric of evil has been a mainstay in international affairs, although President Bush’s use of the term to identify an “axis of evil” (in conjunction with his language after the events of September 11) has elevated its prominence. Despite such popularity, however, few scholars have attempted an analytically defensible definition of ‘evil’ as it relates to international events. I attempt such a definition, identifying some commonalities that unite historical deployment of the term: an evaluation of evil cuts across the traditional ethical axes of evaluation of “person” (virtue theory), “nature of action” (deontology), and “consequence” (utilitarianism). Canonically evil acts, however, tend to place most weight on the “person” and “nature of action” aspects of moral evaluation. This analysis of the meaning of evil will help identify the possible roles it might play in our international linguistic economy and what purposes it might serve. I identify and briefly discuss these roles (motivational, counterforce, divisional, and evaluational). Clarifying the meaning of the term evil and the possible roles it could play in world discourse will help us highlight the pitfalls the use of such rhetoric presents in international relations, which include forestalling the possibility of redemptive reform.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: When viewing entertainment media, viewers are exposed to a variety of media characters to which they form a number of impressions. But impressions may be more complex than merely basing them on character role categories. The present study attempted to examine the relationship between impression traits as applied to media villains and their relationship to resulting emotional responses. According to the results, while the impressions formed across various types of villains are similar, the emotional responses vary suggesting the use of motivation and situational context.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Winston Churchill once asserted that “democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” To date, his notion of democracy as a lesser evil has been tested exclusively in the post-Communist societies of Eastern and Central Europe. As a result, little is known about how useful, or valid, it is for analyzing popular reactions to new democratic rule in other regions. To fill this gap in the literature, we tested the lesser evil notion of democracy with the 2001-2003 East Asia Barometer surveys conducted in Korea, Mongolia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand. Our analysis reveals that Korea and Taiwan are the only two East Asian new democracies where a substantial minority of the mass citizenry does perceive the current democratic regime as a lesser evil and these lesser-evil perceivers fully support democracy to a significantly greater extent than those who perceive it as a greater evil. On the basis of this finding, we argue that the Churchillian notion of democracy as a lesser evil is of limited utility as an alternative paradigm for the study of democratization, especially from the perspective of ordinary citizens in the midst of such political experience.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper evaluates contending explanations for the security policies of de facto nuclear weapons states, Israel, India and Pakistan, by assessing the relative validity of international, domestic, and cultural hypotheses.