ARTICLES

Select recent articles by Buffett Center affiliates

2010

“Immigration and LGBT Rights in the USA: Ironies and Constraints in US Asylum Cases.” Héctor Carrillo, Sociology. Handbook on Sexuality, Health, and Rights (Routledge, 2010).
     Carrillo studies the use of asylum as a strategy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals to immigrate to the United States. While this has been a successful way to legally enter into the country, the author argues that there are practical and conceptual limitations to requesting asylum for immigration purposes.

“The Myth of Military Myopia: Democracy, Small Wars, and Vietnam.” Jonathan Caverley, Political Science. International Security 34 (3) 2010: 119-157.
     Caverley explains why democracies can enter into incredibly risky small wars. He finds that the development of a capital-intensive military doctrine has shifted the costs of these small wars onto the rich, making them a rational policy for the relatively less wealthy average voter.

“Berber Law by French Means: Islam and Language in the Moroccan Hinterlands, 1930-1954.” Katherine Hoffman, Anthropology. Comparative Studies in Society and History 52 (4) 2010: 1-30.
     Hoffman examines the French administration of Berber customary law in Morocco. Viewing law as a social process, she finds that the kind of customary law forged within the Moroccan courtroom was distinct from both the pre-Protectorate indigenous legal codes and Islamic law.

“Strong Chieftaincies out of Weak States, or Elemental Power Unbound.” Georgi Derluguian, Sociology, and Timothy Earle, Anthropology. In Troubled Regions and Failing States: The Clustering and Contagion of Armed Conflicts (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2010).
     Derluguian and Earle find that different facets of chieftaincy become successful manipulation tools in the presence of weak or non-functioning formal institutions of control. Rather than representing aberrant phenomena, the authors find that chieftaincies functioned as key internal organs of the modern state.

“Racial Violence, Universal History, and Echoes of Abolition in Twentieth-Century Zanzibar.” Jonathon Glassman, History. Abolitionism and Imperialism in Britain, Africa and the Atlantic (Ohio University Press, 2010).
     Glassman reconstructs the connections between abolitionism and twentieth-century popular political thought. Using the case of Zanzibar, he uncovers how abolitionist historicism comes to be prominent in the country by the end of the colonial era and how echoes of it are used to provoke violence amongst Zanzibari islanders.

“Modern Art Patronage and Democratic Citizenship in Japan.” Laura Hein, History. The Journal of Asian Studies 69 2010: 821-841.
     Hein examines the role of economics professor Wakimura Yoshitarō in establishing and sustaining art museums in post-war Japan. Through a consideration of Wakimura’s motivations, the author finds that his efforts help us to understand the growth of public and private art museums in the country and the nature of postwar Japanese political culture more generally.

“Iran, In Search of a Nonsecular and Nontheocratic Politics.” Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Political Science. Public Culture 22 (1) 2010: 25-32.
     Hurd considers the Iranian opposition movement led by Mir Hussein Moussavi in 2009. She finds it may represent a third path for the future of the country, which departs from the rigid dichotomy between secularism and political Islam.

“‘A Guantanamo on the Sea’: The Difficulty of Dealing with Pirates and Terrorists.” Eugene Kontorovich, Law. California Law Review 98 2010: 243-276.
     Kontorovich examines the effects of different international legal rules by studying the treatment of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Despite the existence of powerful legal tools available to bring pirates to trial, countervailing international norms protecting individuals and limiting state authority have ultimately made it difficult to combat piracy.

“The Construction of Salafiyya: Reconsidering Salafism from the Perspective of Conceptual History.” Henri Lauzière, History. International Journal of Middle East Studies 42 2010: 369-389.
     Lauzière calls for an examination of the production of knowledge on the origins and meaning of Salafism, in an effort to relieve some of the confusion surrounding the religious orientation. He finds that recent scholarship is beleaguered by two epistemological problems that make resolving the conflicting narratives on Salafism difficult.

“Income Inequality: New Trends and Research Directions.” Leslie McCall, Sociology, et al. Annual Review of Sociology 36 2010: 329-347.
     This article reviews and discusses recent research on income inequality. It considers the role that incentive pay, corporate governance, income pooling and family formation, social and economic policy, and political institutions play as potential causes of the recent surge in income inequality.

“Hindu Victimhood and India’s Muslim Minority.” John McLane, History. The Fundamentalist Mindset (Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs, 2010).
     McLane examines the gains made by the Hindutya (Hinduness) movement in India by scapegoating Muslims as a grave danger to the country. He studies the spread of Hindu militancy and violence to new groups of the population, concluding that violence between these groups is likely in the future.

“Does Compliance Matter? Assessing the Relationship between Sovereign Risk and Compliance with International Monetary Law.” Stephen Nelson, Political Science. Review of International Organizations 5 (2) 2010: 107-139.
     Nelson tests the assumption that noncompliance by countries who sign binding international monetary agreements is costly. He examines the effect of noncompliance with an International Monetary Fund (IMF) article on sovereign risk ratings and finds that noncompliance tempers any benefits that would accrue to the article’s signatories.

“Transforming West African Militia Networks for Postwar Recovery.” William Reno, Political Science. Troubled Regions and Failing States: The Clustering and Contagion of Armed Conflicts. (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2010).
     Reno argues that the survival of wartime associations of combatants is not entirely negative in terms of its effects on society and the economy. These associations can sometimes develop into business operations, which can and should be integrated into the formal economy.

“The Unmaking and Making of Self: Embodied Suffering and Mind-Body Healing in Brazilian Candomblé.” Rebecca Seligman, Anthropology. Ethos 38 (3) 2010: 297-320.
     Seligman studies Candomblé mediums in northeastern Brazil to understand how discontinuities in the experience of self are suffered and eventually repaired. She finds that healing practices, such as that of Candomble, can recohere disrupted selves through mutually reinforcing embodied and discursive processes.

2009

“Islands of Effective International Adjudication: Constructing an Intellectual Property Rule of Law in the Andean Community.” Karen J. Alter, Political Science, et al. American Journal of International Law 103 (1) 2009: 1-43.
     The authors consider how the Andean region, an area not known for its strong institutions, nonetheless created a stable rule of law in the area of intellectual property (IP). They find that the existence of IP compliance constituencies within each country helps to ensure that rulings on IP law, as put forth by the Andean Tribunal of Justice, are respected.

“Vultures, Hyenas, and African Debt: Private Equity and Zambia.” Olufunmilayo Arewa, Law. Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business 29 (3) 2009: 643-673.
     Arewa uses a court case involving the private equity fund, Donegal, and the Republic of Zambia to highlight the ongoing debate on the operation of vulture funds in developing countries. In studying this case, the author finds that the role of these kinds of commercial activities in exacerbating economic and political instability must be better understood.

“Powerful Women: Does Exposure Reduce Bias?” Lori Beaman, Economics, et al. Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (4) 2009: 1497-1540.
     The authors test the assumption that exposure to elected female officials will make individuals more likely to vote for them in the future. Using randomly assigned gender quotas for leadership positions in Indian village councils in the state of West Bengal, they find initial evidence supporting the assumption and suggesting that exposure to a female chief councilor improves perceptions of female leadership effectiveness.

“Rethinking Hard and Soft News Production: From Common Ground to Divergent Paths.” Pablo Boczkowski, Communication Studies. Journal of Communication 59 (1) 2009: 98-116.
     Boczkowski examines the effect that the increase in the frequency and volume of the dissemination of online news has on the conceptual distinction between hard and soft news. He carries out an ethnographic study of the online news production of an Argentine newspaper to show that the increase in onlines news dissemination appears to emphasize rather than blur the distinctions between the two.

“Toward Agency: Photography and Everyday Subjects in Cuzco, 1900-1940.” Jorge Coronado, Spanish and Portuguese. Latin American Perspectives 36 (3) 2009: 119-135.
     Coronado examines the work of adherents to the Cuzco School of Photography. He finds that the school documents how ordinary Andeans preserved and negotiated their sense of self during the turbulent period of modernization.

“Of Speaking Natives and Hybrid Philosophers: Lahontan, Diderot, and the French Enlightenment Critique of Colonialism.” Doris Garraway, French and Italian. The Postcolonial Enlightenment: Eighteenth-Century Colonialism and Postcolonial Theory (Oxford University Press, 2009).
     Garraway examines two philosophical dialogues written at key moments in the history of French colonial expansion. She argues that each work represents a subversion of discourses by the colonial object and thus anticipates some of the most influential critiques of colonial discourse in late twentieth-century postcolonial theory.

“Immigration and Youthful Illegalities in a Global Edge City.” John Hagan, Sociology, et al. Social Forces 88 (1) 2009: 337-372.
     The authors study two cohorts of adolescents across two generations in Toronto to develop a process model in which measures of bonds to parents and schools, commitment to education, and risk adversity mediate youth involvement in illegal activities. In so doing, the authors help to explain why some immigrant youth refrain from illegalities.

“Linstead Market before Linstead? Eighteenth-century Yabbas and the Internal Market System of Jamaica.” Mark Hauser, Anthropology. Caribbean Quarterly 55 (2) 2009: 89-111.
     Using multiple sources of evidence, Hauser finds that the establishment of the Linstead Market in Jamaica was earlier than typically assumed. The author analyzes the production and distribution of a local Jamaican ceramic and finds that the market space has ties to one of the most important slave rebellions of 18th-century Jamaica.

“Hit or Miss? The Effect of Assassinations on Institutions and War.” Benjamin Jones, Management and Strategy, et al. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 1 (2) 2009: 55-87.
     The authors utilize a dataset on assassination attempts on all world leaders from 1875 to 2004 to assess the consequences of such attempts on politics. They find that small sources of randomness, such as assassinations, can affect the intensity of small-scale conflicts and can foster moves toward regime transition.

“Temperature and Income: Reconciling New Cross-Sectional and Panel Estimates.” Benjamin Jones, Management and Strategy, et al. American Economic Review Papers & Proceedings 99 (2) 2009: 198-204.
     The authors offer new insights on the relationship between climate and income. They incorporate subnational data into the cross-country dataset, finding that the positive correlation between climate and income still holds, although to a weaker degree. They also argue that adaptation can offset almost half of the negative effects of higher temperatures.

“The Constitutionality of International Courts: The Forgotten Precedent of Slave Trade Tribunals.” Eugene Kontorovich, Law. University of Pennsylvania Law Review 158 2009: 39-115.
    Kontorovich examines debates from the 19th century over the constitutionality of the creation of international courts to punish slave trading. He argues that the lessons learned from those discussions can provide guidance for the contemporary debate in United States about its accession to the International Criminal Court.

“Small Time Crooks: Opium, Migrants, and the War on Drugs in China, 1819-1860.” Melissa Macauley, History. Late Imperial China 30 (1) 2009: 1-47.
     Macauley chronicles the culture of illegality that developed in the Chinese administrative borderland region of Chaozhou during the Qing empire. She finds that, although official state records from the time suggest a different story, Qing authorities could not compete financially or militarily with the drug-smuggling networks that proliferated in areas such as Chaozhou.

“A World Made Simple: Law and Property in the Ottoman and Qing Empires.” Melissa Macauley, History. Shared Histories of Modernity in China, India, and the Ottoman Empire (Routledge, 2009).
     Macauley examines different efforts at state-building through regulation. By comparing the Ottoman Land Law of 1858 with the Qing empire’s efforts to regulate land tenure on the southeast coast, she finds that, while the Ottomon law was part of an effort at European-style state-building, the Chinese effort was more an instance of legal simplification without state-building.

“Emerging Sacred Values: Iran’s Nuclear Program.” Douglas Medin, Psychology, et al. Judgment and Decision Making 4 (7) 2009: 930-933.
     The authors argue that Iran’s nuclear program is treated by many Iranians as sacred. Because sacred values tend to violate the cost-benefit logic of rational choice models, the strategy of presenting monetary incentives to the country to end its program may ultimately backfire.

“Courting Genocide: The Unintended Effects of Humanitarian Intervention.” Jide Nzelibe, Law, et al. California Law Review 97 (4) 2009: 1171-1218.
     Nzelibe argues that humanitarian interventions may have unintended consequences within the context of civil war. Because they tend to increase the chance that rebel leaders will achieve their political objectives, those leaders may feel incentivized to commit the kind of human atrocities that would lead to intervention in the first place.

“An Unlikely Alliance: the 1907 Ukrainian-Jewish Electoral Coalition.” Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, History, et al. Nations and Nationalism 15 (3) 2009: 483-505.
     The authors examine the political alliance between Ukrainian and Jewish national activists in the 1907 Austrian elections. They find that, rather than treating each other as staunch enemies, the two sets of activists were able to overcome profound differences in order to form an electoral alliance that would forge a new paradigm in Ukrainian-Jewish relations.

“Illicit Markets, Violence, Warlords, and Governance: West African Cases.” William Reno, Political Science. Crime, Law and Social Change 52 (3) 2009: 313-322.
     Reno finds evidence that, contrary to conventional understandings of warlords, some leaders of illicit commercial networks can harness their popularity to launch electoral campaigns and thus protect themselves from marginalization or persecution for past deeds.

“The Politics of Constitutional Amendment in Eastern Europe.” Andrew Roberts, Political Science. Constitutional Political Economy 20 2009: 99-117.
     Challenging conventional wisdom on the causes and consequences of constitutional amendments in Eastern Europe, Roberts finds that political and social context, and not institutions, cause constitutional amendments. Moreover, the amendments tend to reduce rather than increase the power of executives and strengthen rather than limit human rights guarantees.

“Being as Good Muslims as Frenchmen: On Marabouts, Colonial Modernity, and the Islamic Sphere in French West Africa.” Rüdiger Seesemann, Religious Studies, et al. Journal of Religion in Africa 39 2009: 91-120.
     The authors put forth a new perspective on marabouts under French colonial rule. They examine the work of three Tijani leaders to demonstrate that, rather than simply reacting to colonialism, marabouts engaged with it in an effort to spread Islam and advance other specific religious objectives.

“Tools of Survival: Sovereign Wealth Funds in Singapore and China.” Victor Shih, Political Science. Geopolitics 14 (2) 2009: 328-344.
     Using the cases of Singapore and China, Shih examines the extent to which sovereign wealth funds (SWF) serve the geopolitical ends of owner countries. He finds that unified autocratic regimes are more successful at orienting SWFs to maximize long-term profits. In fragmented regimes, the SWF is more likely to serve as an arena for domestic infighting.

“Russian Modernism.” Andrew Wachtel, Slavic Languages and Literature. A companion to Russian History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
     Wachtel examines the evolution of and influences on Russian modernism. In particular he examines the rise and eventual fall of the artistic creativity of modernism, highlighting, at the era’s height, the experimental nature of its literature, art, music, and film.