Innovations: A Journal of Politics
Permanent URI for this community
Innovations: A Journal of Politics was an interdisciplinary journal committed to publishing the best student work in the study of politics, especially articles that make an original contribution to the field. We encourage submissions from students regardless of their institutional affiliation or perspective.
The journal serves three primary groups. For political scientists, it is a showcase for the ideas of the emerging scholars to whom the future of the discipline belongs. For graduate and undergraduate students of politics, it offers a unique opportunity to publish the best of their work. Finally, for students at the University of Calgary in particular, the journal also offers an opportunity to develop experience in the publishing process.
Browse
Browsing Innovations: A Journal of Politics by Author "Fitzsimmons, Scott"
Now showing 1 - 20 of 27
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Open Access Boy Scouts No Longer: A Sociological Institutionalist Analysis of the Canadian Forces(2008) Fitzsimmons, Daniel; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexThis paper seeks to explain the process of institutional transformation within the armed forces of a democracy. It offers an ideational explanation for this process, which is grounded in sociological institutionalism. Specifically, it argues that one of the most important and powerful factors that can drive institutional transformation within national armed forces are radical shifts in how senior political decision-makers perceive the appropriate 'institutional role' of their military forces. To illustrate this process, this paper examines the recent and radical transformation of the Canadian Forces, from an institution structured to specialize in peacekeeping operations to an institution structured to specialize in counter-insurgency war fighting.Item Open Access Composite Diplomacy: Canadian Innovation Amidst Global Uncertainty(2004) Barrett, Robert S.; Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaThis condensed paper is the culmination of a one-year research effort – an investigation addressing two issue areas: the first being the West’s apparent and disturbing inability to address and ameliorate emerging forms of global intrastate war, and second, Canada’s dire need to resurrect its foreign policy in order to actively participate on the world stage. In answering both of these problems, the paper proposes that Canada adopt, as a policy focus, a newly formed diplomatic strategy termed Composite Diplomacy.Item Open Access Culture Clash: The Influence of Behavioural Norms on Military Performance in Asymmetric Conflicts(2008) Fitzsimmons, Scott; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexThis paper establishes the ways in which the military cultures of mercenary groups and their opponents influence their military performance in asymmetric conflicts. It develops and tests a constructivist military culture theory of military performance against the empirical record of two modern mercenary groups, one of which achieved victory over its opponent and one of which was defeated. The core logic of the theory is that a grossly outnumbered force must be highly flexible and adaptable if it is to perform the range of military tasks required to defeat materially superior opponents. Norms encouraging the pursuit of a wider range of tactical behaviour should increase military effectiveness, which, in turn, should increase a group’s prospects for military success. If the theory is correct, a military force’s performance should be conditioned by the degree to which the members of the force have been indoctrinated into norms that encourage them to be militarily effective. Specifically, the theory reasons that military forces that strongly emphasize norms encouraging creative thinking, decentralized authority, personal initiative, technical proficiency, and group loyalty, should exhibit greater militarily effectiveness than forces that deemphasize these norms. Moreover, it reasons that military forces exhibiting greater military effectiveness should experience greater battlefield military performance than less effective groups, all else equal. Taking this into account, the theory predicts that the materially weaker party in an asymmetric conflict, which the mercenaries were in both cases, should only be able to defeat its materially stronger opponent if the weaker party emphasizes behavioural norms that encourage it to perform a wide range of tactical behaviour – that is, be very militarily effective – and the stronger party does not emphasize these norms because this should allow the weaker party to exploit the weaknesses and counter the strengths of the stronger party and, through this, defeat it. On the other hand, the theory predicts that, in asymmetric conflicts where neither party emphasizes behavioural norms encouraging them to perform a wide range of tactical behaviour, neither party should be capable of exploiting the weaknesses and countering the strengths of the other and, as a result, the balance of material capabilities should allow the materially stronger party to prevail.Item Open Access Domestic Experience and its Effects on Democracy Promotion(2008) Jardine, Eric; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexThis article argues that a country’s democracy promotion efforts will be underwritten by its domestic experience with democratic governance. It compares the statements of public officials from the United States, Great Britain and Canada, as well as the implicit assumptions which the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), and Canada’s Rights and Democracy (R&D) maintain are necessary for the longevity and health of democratic governments. It demonstrates that the NED emphasizes the presence of a virulent pro-democratic civil society, the WFD emphasizes the growth of party links and a strong party system, and R&D emphasizes the governance of diversity. The paper argues further that all of these points of emphasis coincide with each respective country’s domestic experience with democratic governance.Item Open Access Editor’s Note: Publish and Flourish: The Benefits of Student Publishing in Political Science(2006) Fitzsimmons, Scott; Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaStudent publishing is a sorely overlooked aspect of university life. Few students realize the publishing avenues available to them and fewer still pursue these opportunities. This is unfortunate because student publishing, through scholarly political science journals like Innovations, offers significant value to young scholars, the broader academic community, and the discourse shaping contemporary society.Item Open Access Evaluating the Masters of Strategy: A Comparative Analysis of Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, Mahan, and Corbett(2007) Fitzsimmons, Scott; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexThis paper provides a brief overview of major inter-theoretical relationships between the works of Carl von Calusewitz, Sun Tzu, Alfred Mahan, and Julian Corbett. Specifically, it undertakes a comparative analysis of these authors’ writings on the nature of war; the use of theory in the study of warfare; the primacy of politics; limited and absolute war; the principle of decisive battle; the principle of concentration; the role of the people in war; friction, uncertainty, and the means to overcome these problems; and the offence and defence in war.Item Open Access Feminist IR and the Case of the ‘Black Widows’: Reproducing Gendered Divisions(2004) West, Jessica; Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaFeminism has been a marginal approach to International Relations (IR) since its inception following the Cold War, however in an effort to reinvigorate its analytical power, Charlotte Hooper demonstrated how the practice of IR actively reproduces as well as reflects gender identities in the form of hegemonic masculinity. The purpose of the following study is to challenge and extend Hooper’s argument by investigating whether or not the practice of international relations also produces a hegemonic femininity. By examining the popular portrayal of Chechen women terrorists commonly referred to as the ‘Black Widows,’ I argue that our interpretations of international events do indeed produce a hegemonic femininity that places women in the familial world of emotion and victimhood. In effect, a feminine niche is created for women who partake in traditionally masculine activities. This analysis speaks to two additional controversies in feminist literature: the effect of adding women to andocentric categories and whether or not women’s violence should be represented in feminist theories. The difficulties that feminist encounter with each of these issues is demonstrative of the need to eschew rather than clamour for a position within the strictures of mainstream IR. Instead, feminists should embrace their position on the margins of IR and the opportunity that it provides to destabilizing the hierarchies, exclusions and violence upon which it is based.Item Open Access From Cuba to Bolivia: Guevara’s Foco Theory in Practice(2006) Johnson, Joshua; Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaIn order to account for Ernesto Guevara’s dramatic swing of fate from Cuba to Bolivia, it is necessary to explore his revolutionary theory developed in response to his experiences in the 1959 Cuban revolution. His foco theory, which places a high degree of primacy on the guerrilla band in creating the conditions for revolution, is starkly contrasted by an historical analysis of the Cuban revolution, where economic, social, and nationalistic forces combined to the benefit of Guevara and Castro. Exploring the political climate of Bolivia at the time of Guevara’s attempted insurrection, it becomes apparent that none of these forces were present for the exploitation of the guerrillas, which ultimately doomed the revolution and Guevara himself. Both the Cuban and Bolivian cases show the significance of socio-political factors in determining the success of an insurrection, and put the validity of Guevara’s foco theory into question.Item Open Access Gender Mainstreaming in Canadian Human Security Policy: The Limitations of Bureaucratic and Security Discourses(2008) Ali, Shelina; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexThe purpose of this study is to assess how feminist literature on bureaucratic discourse and human security can contribute to a greater understanding of the challenges of gender mainstreaming within policy on human security and conflict management. My particular focus on gender is linked to the reality that gender power relations are consistently present within all societies internationally, most often resulting in the subordination of femininity and by consequence, women. Feminist critiques of the bureaucracy make a strong argument for why there is such difficulty in establishing a gendered security policy, by addressing the gender biased nature of bureaucratic structure, knowledge, and discourse. Through the analysis I hope to shed light on the barriers and access points available within the Canadian bureaucracy in terms of gender mainstreaming in human security policy. Past studies have focused on what gendered aspect of conflict and security policy have ignored, but not why they have ignored these aspects. This paper will attempt to further uncover the why, and what feminist theory can contribute towards understanding the difficulty of gender mainstreaming in Canadian human security policy.Item Open Access Globalization and Global Governance: Prospects for International Cooperation Post 9/11(2007) Mawhinney, Emily B.; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexWhen the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell September 11, 2001, a domino effect was triggered that has transformed the nature of the security dilemma, redefined intervention, and has begun to unravel the thread of the United Nations. In the post 9/11 world, it would appear that multilateralism and sovereignty have lost their appeal, according to some, and general effectiveness, according to many. How did this happen? While US unilateral action in Iraq could be considered to be the final turning point in the transformation of how security threats are perceived and responded too, is this really the end of multilateral intervention? In order to understand the nature and implications of the transformation of the international security dilemma, intervention, and multilateralism post 9/11, it is necessary to examine the behaviour that led to the US intervention in Iraq. What explains the US decision to take unilateral action against Iraq? Were decision-makers constrained by psychological factors, misperception, organizational routines? Can the American actions be classified as 'intervention' according to the pre-9/11 definition? How is intervention defined post-9/11? What are the implications of the differences in those definitions? Is this really the 'end of history' for multilateralism, humanitarianism? What are the implications for the security dilemma, future interventions, multilateral institutions? The United States' pre-emptive action against Iraq was constrained and falsely justified by organizational routines and misperception in the Bush administration, and ultimately seriously undermined the legitimacy of intervention, as well as the capabilities of multilateral institutions.Item Open Access Innovations: A Journal of Politics Call for Papers(2007) Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexItem Open Access Innovations: A Journal of Politics Call for Papers(2008) Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexItem Open Access Innovations: A Journal of Politics Call for Papers(2004) Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaItem Open Access Innovations: A Journal of Politics Front Matter(2006) Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaItem Open Access Innovations: A Journal of Politics Front Matter(2008) Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexItem Open Access Innovations: A Journal of Politics Index, Forward, Notes on Contributors(2004) Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaItem Open Access Media Power and American Military Strategy: Examining the Impact of Negative Media Coverage on US Strategy in Somalia and the Iraq War(2006) Fitzsimmons, Daniel; Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaSince the Vietnam War, the opinions expressed by the American news media have been considered by many politicians and members of academia to be a powerful agenda-setting device. The term 'CNN effect' has come to signify the power of the news media to 'move and shake' American foreign policy, determining when to enter into and when to pull out of military conflicts. Despite the level of scholarship on this concept, very few works have examined the influence of news organizations on military strategy. This study attempts to redress this failing by examining the influence of negative coverage of American military strategy in Somalia, from 1992 to 1993, and the early stages of the Iraq War, from 2003 to 2005. This paper argues that, despite the high level of negative media coverage of these conflicts from both television and newspaper sources, this coverage had no discernable impact on American military strategy in either conflictItem Open Access Mexican Labour Politics at a Critical Juncture(2004) Hilgers, Tina; Fitzsimmons, Scott; Singh, AnitaThis article reviews the current political situation of Mexican organized labour and the academic debate regarding unions’ relevance to Mexican democracy, drawing attention to the importance of Federal Labour Law reform. With the 1997 parliamentary elections, Mexico entered a critical juncture of regime change. Civil society’s – particularly labour’s – participation in policy-making is crucial to the establishment of inclusive political structures beyond the electoral arena, to stabilize this fledgling democracy. Given labour’s political weakness leading up to, and potential representational importance at, this critical juncture, I suggest that the participation of both official and independent labour in the mesa working to craft Federal Labour Code reform provides an important reference point for studies of the quality of Mexican democracy.Item Open Access Notwithstanding the Override: Path Dependence, Section 33, and the Charter(2008) Snow, David; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexSection 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – the 'notwithstanding clause' – remains controversial. Although the clause exists as a legitimate constitutional instrument, it has been used infrequently, and never by the federal government. This paper examines arguments put forward to explain the infrequent use of the clause. Of all the explanations offered, the historical-institutionalist concept of 'path dependence' is most compelling. Ever since the Quebec government used the notwithstanding clause in response to Ford v. Quebec (1988), subsequent Prime Ministers have demonized the clause in order to gain political capital. The depiction of section 33 as inherently antithetical to the logic of a Charter of Rights has been so successful that few political leaders will risk using the clause, even when public opinion is in favour. With the Charter being seen as a 'symbolic rights-giver,' this demonization has led to the gradual erosion of section 33’s legitimacy as an acceptable legislative instrument.Item Open Access Party Finance in Canada Since 2001(2007) Coletto, David; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, AlexMuch like electoral systems, election finance regimes are not benign institutions but central features of a political system that can have significant effects on the nature of democracy within a country. Money impacts the ability of political parties to contest elections and deliver their message to voters. It is an important resource to increase political knowledge and mobilize voters during an election. Therefore, assessing the state of political finance of Canadian political parties is essential to understanding the Canadian political environment.