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Disengaged and Disempowered: How Depoliticization Prevents Two-Party Competition in Japan
Get PDFThe Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan for nearly the entirety of its postwar history. After a short period of opposition control (2009-2012), the LDP has spent the past eight years reestablishing the dominant-party system through which it has monopolized Japanese politics since the 1950s. This article contends that the LDP’s resilience is bolstered by two important aspects of Japanese civil society: the bureaucracy’s insulation from democratic accountability, and a growing public trend of disengagement with the political process. I explain both of these tendencies through the theoretical lens of depoliticization. Flinders and Wood identify “depoliticization” as a shift away from robust democratic debate over policy issues and the removal of explicitly political actors (e.g. elected officials, voters) from the governing process, manifested both in government (“governmental depoliticization”) and civil society (“societal depoliticization”). Applying this concept to Japan, we can see that the depoliticization of governance prevented the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from fulfilling key campaign pledges, therefore contributing to voter disillusionment and lowered turnout in the 2012 election. This trend has in turn greatly exacerbated the crisis of societal depoliticization in Japan, already a problem due to generations of depoliticizing influence from the media and educational system. Societal depoliticization has enabled the LDP to reap incumbency advantages associated with low voter turnout and diminished political activism. Ultimately, this entire process illustrates Flinders and Wood’s argument that governmental and societal depoliticization are “interdependent” forces that mutually reinforce each other
Comprehensive Climate Change Policy: Is it Possible in the United States?
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to explore what the United States has achieved with regards to climate policy, present the limitations it has encountered that have prevented it from creating comprehensive policy, and to explain why the future of climate change policy is highly uncertain. It is found that while there have been significant gains, four key limitations including a rise in conservative ideology, international noncooperation from the United States, poor use of adversarial legalism, and poor timing, have been sufficient in preventing the United States from creating comprehensive climate change policy. This paper concludes with a look to the future in climate policymaking, estimating whether or not a breakthrough will be feasible
Determining Dynamic Population Trends with Biomarkers in Wastewater
Get PDFWastewater-based epidemiology is a relatively new study in public health that helps with tracking transportation, pollution, viruses, and drug use. Population results for wastewater-based epidemiology have been biased in the fact that the information has mostly come from surveys, hospital records, and criminal records, which doesn’t cover a generous amount of people in an area. Some studies used metabolites, which break down in sewage after a period of time, and lack stability. In other studies, population was reported in estimates, using grams/1000 people/day. However, a study in Australia was conducted with 96 possible population biomarkers, in which 14 stable compounds were noted to be accurate population biomarkers. This data was then compared to population data from the Australian Census. Studies were also seen using GPS tracking to attempt to track the movements of people throughout a city for more accurate numbers. In the United States, specifically in Washington State, we chose to use six population biomarkers: lisinopril, sucralose, acesulfame, hydrochlorothiazide, caffeine, and gabapentin, all of which are highly prescribed in the US. The data will then be compared to US Census city population data from 2020 and cellular device data from the six cities being studied in Washington state
Marine habitat use patterns of the Endangered Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)
Get PDFSeabirds face a number of threats both on land and at sea.Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus; MAMU), listed as Endangered in WA, are impacted by breeding habitat loss and multiple at-sea threats. MAMUs are important upper-trophic level predators of forage fish and zooplankton in coastal ecosystems from CA to AK, including the Salish Sea. MAMU marine distribution and habitat use, information critical for conservation planning, are poorly understood in south Puget Sound. We found that Marbled Murrelets consistently forage around Brown\u27s Point Lighthouse, most to the NW of the lighthouse. Additionally, the birds mainly foraged until late July, and did not show any signs of differing foraging behavior throughout the season
ἤρχετο μῦθων: Performance and Beginnings in Homer’s Odyssey
Get PDFThis work examines how the formula μύθων ἦρχε and variant formulae ἤρχετο μύθων and ἦρχ’ ἀγορεύειν may signify differences in meaning between the active and middle voice of the verb ἄρχω not previously explained in Homeric scholarship. The formulas, found in Homer\u27s Odyssey, mean something like he/she began the speeches, with some key nuances. The greek word muthos (cognate: myth) in Homer refers to a particular type of authoritative speech act performed by both character and extradiagetic narrator, and thus the different modes of beginning muthoi connect to the very action of Homeric performance and oral composition itself. In investigating the differences in meaning between formulaic variants, this work explores how more nuanced definitions based on textual reading and data categorization can affect the reading of a particular scene, character, or theme within Homeric texts
Treading Water: Faculty of Color Teaching Multicultural Classes during the Pandemic
Get PDFThere has never been a time like this in recent history. In the last year, educators have been building new paradigms as they teach. In this article, we inquire into our experiences teaching race at a PWI during the historic times of protests against the killings of Black men and women at the hands of the police and others, COVID-19, an election year, natural disasters, and changes in the Supreme Court. This article will reflect on the strategies and pedagogies used to support Faculty of Color teaching multicultural education/diversity classes at PWIs, and how the authors handled cultural taxation caused by the racial incidents that occurred during the pandemics of COVID-19 and anti-Black racism. The authors use duoethnography, a collaborative and reflective research methodology that engages both researchers in a multi-dialogical process to better understand the phenomenon under investigation. This article focuses our reflections on the following questions: How do we create supportive virtual and hybrid classrooms in diversity education classes at a PWI that do not re(center) Whiteness? How does one handle racialized experiences and not be overwhelmed by racial battle fatigue
The Trail, 2021-03-26
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