Global Mobilization of Youth for Climate Change

Pretty fascinating how kids/youth (i.e. high schoolers and younger) are organizing on issues which they believe directly impact their security and well-being,  both at present and in the future.  This happened on Friday March 15, 2019 with the Fridays for Future global protests for climate change action, started by a Swedish teen. For more context on the protests, see this WaPo article.

Source: Fridays For Future webpage

There's been similar youth movements such as March For Our Lives advocating tighter gun control. With the horrific mosque shooting in New Zealand last week (or white supremacist terrorism - whichever way you want to label or frame  the story), I wouldn't be surprised if global youth activism on this issue becomes bigger.

It's great that the next generation are mobilizing on matters of global concern.  Social science research on life experiences during one's formative years suggests that these teens will be more civic-minded and politically engaged as they grow older.  Their longer term impact is less clear. Will they influence their peers (i.e. their generation)  which can help shift cultural/political norms. Will their activism help reframe existing debates and generate new ideas to existing problems which resonate with the "adults" right now? As the current youth get older, will their positions shift (or will they become jaded) as they recognize the power of corporate interests, prevailing socio-economic structures, and other national priorities which challenge their position?

News Roundup: Latin America, Gun Control, Asia Historical Memory, ISA blog policy snafu

Have not been able to blog since the birth of our daughter last Nov. Basically, it's a trade-off between extra sleep or blogging (or doing actual work and blogging). I've been wanting to write on a variety of topics, so as a happy-medium, here's news round-up to ease my way back into the blog.

The left turn in Latin America: My Latin Americanist colleague says he's had enough of the "left turn" in Latin American politics when I mentioned this overview provided by the Washington Post. I was still curious to know how much of the turn was driven by social movements (since we hear about populist policies from the likes of the late Hugo Chavez or Evo Morales) or whether the turn to the left can be explained within the confides of institutional and electoral politics. Some answers might be found in Steve Levitsky and Ken Robert's book, Resurgence of the Latin American Left, and also in Max Cameron and Eric Hershberg's Latin America's Left Turn. There's also an emerging cleavage which actually cuts across the left-right divide: nationalist vs internationalist (or protectionism vs. free trade as outlined in the article). 

Gun control: The shooting in the Columbia, MD mall was only twenty miles from my home. In the aftermath, Dana Miibank asks if we've become numb to mass shootings. Despite numerous attempts to address gun violence after each tragedy (i.e. Tucson, AZ; Aurora, CO; Newtown, CT; Navy Yard in Washington DC), and with each mass shooting claimed as a "critical juncture" for gun control advocates, the ball has not moved forward all that much. Aside from the power of the NRA (or in large part b/c of their advocacy) my own research suggests that powerful ideational (which translate to political) barriers exist which gun control advocates have not been able to penetrate in spite of the powerful emotional claims/frames they've created.  An interesting research question is to explore whether public opinion functions independent of this ideational barrier (i.e. if public opinion now strongly favors gun control measure, why have we not seen greater shifts in policy on this issue).

Korea-Japan, historical memory: For my students taking East Asian IR with me this semester, I shared how historical issues have managed to find their way into local politics in the DMV area. Korean-Americans actually lobbied and received a commitment from new VA governor Terry McAuliffe to include "East Sea" in any VA state issued textbook which also states the body of water between Korea and Japan as the "Sea of Japan."  McAuliffe now has four lobbyists and the Japanese Ambassador on his arse. Ddoh! It's a choice between votes (many more voting Koreans than Japanese in VA) or economic largesse (Japan reportedly invested $1 billion in the state of VA). And from a couple years ago in DC, there was the sale and return of  the Phelps House to the Korean government. The Phelps House was the first Korean embassy in the U.S. located on Logan Circle, to be sold for $5 by the Japanese after Korea became its colony. Fred Hiatt takes a broader look at some of these historical issues and wonders if we really have/are pivoting to Asia (and implies we should).

ISA blog snafu: Of all the comments about ISA governing council's proposal on blog policy, Amanda Murdie provided a response which resonated closely with my own reactions.

The Movement for Gun Control

I was travelling a few weeks ago and emailed this article to myself about gun-control legislation getting shot down (sorry, bad pun) in the Senate. The defeat did come as a surprise given the growing momentum for tighter gun restriction among the American public, the bipartisan nature of a somewhat watered down and thus non-controversial idea to expand background checks (which 9 in 10 American support), and the moving appeal of parents of Newtown victims in Washington.

The blog post I drafted  in my head is now lost, but re-reading this piece, it was interesting to note how gun-control advocates are relying on a healthy mix of both formal and informal politics to challenge the pro-gun lobby and their supporters: 1) Shaming opposing Senators in their own state to force them to switch positions; 2) Helping put gun-control candidates in office to replace pro-gun politicians; 3) raise awareness and public consciousness through rallies, demonstrations, vigil, advertising, public forums etc...

Following the defeat, rormer Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wrote a scathing op-ed against the Senate. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) who voted against the expansion of the national gun ­background-check program has become one of the first targets of the movement. And potentially two Republicans may reconsider their vote following some changes to the current bill.  Some form of gun control will likely pass. Whether the measures are merely token offerings or substantively meaningful remains to be seen. 

NRA and Right-Wing Social Movements

I'm the last person to get excited about constitutional rights, law, and the 2nd Amendment. But this was just hands-down one of the most fascinating articles I've read about the making (or re-making) of gun rights in America.

The 2nd Amendment states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." As with the Supreme Court 30 years ago, I take this to mean that individuals have the right to carry guns only to the extent that the state needs citizens to have guns to maintain a militia. Hence the right to bear arms is a collective right of the state rather than an individual right

Yet as this article states, the NRA started supporting research, scholarships, and seminars beginning in the 1970s. After a few years, the number of academic articles interpreting the 2nd Amendment in favor of individual rights began to increase. Over time, the number of publications favoring individual gun rights began outnumbering those interpreting the amendment as one about state needs to maintain a militia. In a 30 year span, then, the NRA helped reshape the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, culminating in District of Columbia v. Heller in which the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of individual having the right to bear arms (the case was directed against the DC ban on guns). Here's a CRS overview of gun ownership and the Supreme Court.

Clifford Bob may have already raised this issue in his book The Global Right and the Clash of World Politics, but this is a fascinating case study of framing and norms construction. How activists (or in this case a powerful lobby) quietly work to reinterpret laws which wind up having huge implications for politics. The irony in all this is that no one even cared about the 2nd Amendment prior to the NRA's advocacy.

An excellent counterpoint to this study is what is currently happening to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Here the shift is even more astounding. The figure below tracks attitudes towards gay marriage in a span of 20 years.


From Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Clint Eastwood, Robert Porter, to President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and a slew of other recent converts, it seems like support for gay marriage is spreading fast. Obama himself saw that the fight for gay marriage would take place at the state level producing a cascade-effect which would shore up a case for federal support for gay marriage in the future. Here's a PBS News Hour transcript outlining this trend. I am not a supporter of gay marriage (my reason is simple, but the rationale is complicated) but in thinking about other rights movements (civil rights in particular) we do seem to have reached some type of tipping point.