Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Self-replicating nanotechnology combined with ever increasing computing power are frequently imagined by their advocates among scientists and engineers to be the basis for a profound and necessary transformation of the human condition, leading, for example, to an end of scarcity or even of mortality. Neal Stephenson’s science fiction novel The Diamond Age or A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, on the other hand, imagines these developments within a framework that, while greatly different from the present, remains essentially continuous with the past. Examining a central theme of the novel–how societies perpetuate themselves–reveals four key topics which Stephenson identifies as the basis for the persistence of perennial human issues despite revolutionary technology. This “thick” account of human motives and behavior focuses on the sources of conflict and competition, the consequences of the love of one’s own, and the foundations for social inertia and for a deep indeterminacy of the outcomes of our actions.

Supporting Publications:
Supporting Document

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: During the process of stereotyping which is based on simplification, exaggeration, and interpretation of cultural attributes as being natural, people’s individually specific and less vivid characteristics are being removed and each individual’s personality remains distorted. One of the most common stereotypes across the world is gender stereotype in which women are characterized as being passive and subject-less. As objects to be observed and chosen, women are compelled to prioritize their appearances over other merits and to follow beauty stereotypes. Korea’s stereotyped beauty has been formed and strengthened under the mixed influence of traditional Neo-Confucianist conformity and the modern age’s commodification of women’s bodies. More problematic than the oversimplification of stereotyping itself in Korean stereotyped beauty is its strictly uniform and westernized beauty standard which is difficult for Korean women to reach without the aid of plastic surgery. This paper explores how Korean mass media represent Korean beauty stereotype and how they intensify this uniform stereotype both directly and indirectly. A way to overcome this beauty stereotype is also discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This Paper will examine the likely prognosis for future arms control instruments in the light of an ongoing War on Terror project. Specifically, it will study and comment on the possible implications for NGO-level monitoring and reporting of arms control initiatives in a putative neo-realist age. Using the International Campaign to Ban Landmines as a moral yardstick, the paper will go on to discuss the ethical dilemmas that may confront world leaders as the new order unfolds. Finally, it will offer recommendations to ensure the continued viability of a healthy civil society as the 21st Century progresses.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Dominant party regimes – where a single party controls government over an extended period of time, whether alone or as the major player in a coalition – are usually treated as an infrequent, empirically puzzling and normatively troubling anomaly in the literature. Yet valid descriptive and explanatory inferences on the prevalence, causes and impact of single-party dominance have so far been hampered by the notoriously vague, convoluted and arbitrary definitions of the phenomenon. In this conceptual paper, we review and criticize extant definitions. We argue, first, that simple and plausible qualitative criteria of a party's dominance vis-à-vis its parliamentary competitors may be derived from the dominant player concept developed in the literature on weighted majority games. Secondly, we contend that no obvious qualitative thresholds are readily available in the temporal dimension of dominance. Here cut-off points have to be developed in an empirical fashion, drawing on the analysis of a sufficiently large and clearly delimited population instead of an ad hoc sample of cases. In the empirical section of the paper we use an original dataset of over four hundred national election and government formation outcomes in sixteen OECD countries that have been continuously democratic since 1945 (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom) to demonstrate our two-pronged approach. We show that our reconceptualization of single-party dominance yields more intuitive results than standard operationalizations while also enabling us to distinguish types and gradations of dominance. This firmer conceptual grounding – together with a larger number of cases – is a prerequisite for more ambitious, hypothesis-testing work in the field.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A grounded theory analysis of manuscripts taken from domestic discipline (DD) communities online. Analysis and subsequent model includes an examination of how domestic discipline couples establish, operationalize, and navigate their lifestyle within the context of their relationship and their community.