Panel discussion explores leadership, politics of Nikki Haley

Today at Elon  

2019-09-25

The Sept. 24 panel of Elon faculty members with expertise in political science, international relations and foreign policy offered insight into Haley's actions as governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in advance of her visit to Elon on Friday...

view more

CHEAT SHEET: Everything you need to know about Brexit

Elon News Network  

2019-05-07

Brexit, the term for the “British Exit,” refers to the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) that was voted on June 23, 2016. Theresa May, prime minister of the U.K., has requested a delay for Brexit until June 30. The Brexit was scheduled to happen April 12 but could still happen earlier if a deal is ratified. Safia Swimelar, associate professor of political science and policy studies, discusses the implications of the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU...

view more

Swimelar publishes article on nationalism and LGBT rights in the Balkans

Today at Elon  

2019-03-11

Associate Professor of Political Science and coordinator of International and Global Studies Safia Swimelar's recent research looks at the way that nationalism helps explain varying LGBT rights policies in two Southeast European states, Croatia and Serbia. Her article was published in the peer-reviewed journal East European Politics and Societies...

view more

International Relations

POL 141

International Law

POL 343

Comparative Politics

POL 161

Human Rights

POL 348

International Studies Senior Seminar

INT 461

Foundations of Peace and Conflict Studies

PCS 350

Nationalism and Europeanization in LGBT Rights and Politics: A Comparative Study of Croatia and Serbia

S Swimelar

2019 LGBT rights have come to be seen as allied with the idea of “Europe” and a European identity, particularly in the process of European Union enlargement to the East. Scholars have examined the ways in which external norms interact with more local, often “traditional” norms and identities. In this process, nationalism and conceptions of national identity and gender/sexuality norms can be seen as important factors that influence the domestic adoption of LGBT rights, particularly in the post-war Balkans. Croatia and Serbia (from approximately 2000 to 2014) present two interesting and different cases to analyze how discourses and dynamics of national and state identity construction, nationalism, and LGBT rights relate to discourses of “Europeanness” and European identity and how these affect the political dynamics of LGBT rights. This article finds that in Croatia, national identity was constructed in terms of convergence with European norms and identity, homonationalism was used to distinguish themselves from a “Balkan” identity, and there was a lower threat perception of the LGBT community framed primarily as a “threat to the family.” In Serbia, state and national identity was constructed in opposition to Europe and homosexuality had stronger threat perception, framed primarily as “threat to the nation.” In short, nationalism and national identity were less disadvantageous as a domestic constraint to LGBT rights in Croatia than in Serbia. The dynamics between nationalism and LGBT rights played out, for example, in the politics of the marriage referendum, Pride Parades, and public discourse more generally. This research contributes to the scholarship on LGBT rights and nationalism by empirically analyzing the different ways that nationalism, gender/sexuality, and European identity interrelate and influence LGBT rights change in a changing post-war identity landscape and how domestic constraints affect human rights norm diffusion.

view more

Deploying images of enemy bodies: US image warfare and strategic narratives

S Swimelar

2018 This article investigates the practice of post 9/11 US image warfare through an analysis of three sets of enemy capture and killing: Uday and Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden. Specifically, the article examines these images in terms of their potential to support, complicate, and/or undermine the strategic narratives of the Bush and Obama administrations as they relate to the Iraq War and the killing of Osama bin Laden, respectively. Today’s new media ecology complicates the relationship between images and strategic narratives. The analysis finds that the capture and death images of the Hussein family primarily served to reinforce the Bush administration strategic system narratives of American dominance and hegemony, the illegitimacy and oppression of the Hussein regime, and of ‘justice’; however, the images can also be interpreted as complicating and potentially undermining these same narratives. The absence of Osama bin Laden death images supported the Obama administration’s counter strategic narratives that focused more on an American identity of restraint and rule of law. The ‘situation room’ photo that became the representative image of the Bin Laden killing also reinforced given strategic narratives by providing a more innocuous and legitimate way, albeit still violent, to communicate a story of American military power and justice.

view more

The Journey of LGBT Rights: Norm Diffusion and its Challenges in EU Seeking States: Bosnia and Serbia

S Swimelar

2017 This article investigates and compares the extent to which LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights norms have diffused and become empowered within Bosnia and Serbia as part of their European Union (EU) accession process across three particular arenas: institutional/legal, state authority, and civil society. It inquires as to whether EU candidate status and a “credible membership incentive” affect norm empowerment, given that Serbia is an official EU candidate state, while Bosnia is not. Building upon models of human rights norm diffusion and the most recent scholarship on LGBT rights and Europeanization, this article finds that LGBT rights have moved from a period of systematic denial and indifference to a “tactical concessions” phase of greater empowerment and visibility, while domestic challenges to these rights still persist. EU conditionality and pressure have played important roles in pushing forward new LGBT friendly legislation in both countries and indirectly increasing the visibility of LGBT organizations and rights. Serbia has gone farther due to a greater EU membership incentive and a stronger domestic LGBT civil society. Bosnia has responded less to EU pressure, and its domestic ethno-political dynamics have made LGBT rights diffusion more challenging. As post-war states still struggling with questions of identity and democracy, Bosnia and Serbia are critical cases to examine the ability of controversial new norms to diffuse in states that are seeking membership to the European Union.

view more

The Struggle for Visibility and Equality: Bosnian LGBT Rights

S Swimelar

2016 In 1995, the Dayton Peace Accords (DPA) brought an end to the entrenched three-year war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (hereafter ‘Bosnia’ or ‘BiH’) and set the stage for the construction of a new state that was to be based on the rule of law, democracy, and human rights. As the narrative is now familiar, while the DPA supported and created relative peace and better human rights protections, it has not been able to create a civic identity, a well-functioning state or democracy, or the strong implementation of human rights. The Dayton constitution has (along with informal state and societal practices) institutionalized ethno-national identities and representation in a way that is keenly felt today in almost all areas of Bosnian political life (Mujkić 2008). During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bosnian political elites and the international community were focused not on minority rights, but instead on immediate security concerns, rebuilding the economy and country, creating a functioning state, and capturing and prosecuting war criminals. Especially since 2006, elites have been unable and/or unwilling to compromise and reform the political and electoral system in line with European Union (EU) expectations and requirements. However, the recent coming into force of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU may signal a change.

view more

Visualizing international relations: assessing student learning through film

S Swimelar

2013 Much has been written in the last decade on using film as a pedagogical tool in the classroom and specifically in the teaching and learning of international relations (IR). Instructors assert that film has numerous beneficial effects in terms of student interest, engagement, conceptual understanding, and class performance. This article builds upon the existing literature and fills a gap by presenting and analyzing the empirical findings of recent classroom research on the usefulness of five films for student engagement, understanding, and interpretation of various IR topics (IR theory, media and war, and human rights). The data and their analysis reveal that film can potentially be a powerful and dramatic medium to aid student learning of IR, but the results are mixed. Students' written work also demonstrates that film's value can be overrated and that film can be superficial and confusing. This research sheds light on how we can better use film in the international studies classroom beyond its entertainment and illustrative value.

view more