Research Library

1990

Since the early years in their histories as independent nations, the United States and its southern near–neighbors have been linked through their foreign policies and the movements of their peoples. In the nineteenth century, the acquisition of the Floridas and the conquest of northern Mexico by the United States led to substantial movements of people. Later in the same century, the U.S. conquest of the remnants of Spain's American empire contributed to the hispanization of the population of the United States.

In the twentieth century, U.S. immigration policy turned generally restrictionist. Foreign policy concerns, however, led the government to permit and even, for a time, to stimulate Mexican immigration to the United States. Consistent with its policies toward the Soviet bloc, the U.S. government also stimulated migration from Cuba for a certain period. These U.S. policies have been supplemented by those determined and ingenious people who, drawn by the promise of the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, have entered the United States illegally. As a result, the United States is already the fifth largest Spanish–speaking country in the world.

download PDF

1987

Six political–psychological assumptions are presented as the basis for this paper's argument that direct Israeli–Palestinian negotiations are necessary and possible and for its delineation of the requirements of such negotiations. The last of these assumptions – that neither party will enter negotiations that leave its right to national existence in doubt – is linked to the psychological core of the conflict: its perception by the parties as a zero–sum conflict around national identity and existence. This view has led to a mutual denial of each other's identity and right to exist and systematic efforts to delegitimize the other. Such efforts have undermined the steps toward negotiation that leaders on both sides have in fact taken because each defines the negotiating framework in ways that are profoundly threatening to the other. Negotiations are possible only in a framework of mutual recognition, which makes it clear that recognition of the other's rights represents assertion, rather than abandonment, of one's own rights. Such negotiations can be facilitated through a prenegotiation process conducive to differentiation of the enemy image, including a breakdown of the monolithic view of the enemy camp, a distinction between the enemy's ideological dreams and operational programs, and a differentiation between negative and positive components of the other's ideology and symbols of legitimacy.

Download PDF
Simmons, Beth A. 1987. “Theories of International Regimes”. Abstract

Over the last ten years, international regimes emerged as a major focus of empirical research and theoretical debate within international relations. The interest in regimes sprang from a dissatisfaction with dominant conceptions of international order, authority, and organization. The sharp contrast between the competitive, zero–sum "anarch" of interstate relations and the "authority" of domestic politics seemed overdrawn in explaining cooperative behavior among the advanced industrial states. The policy dilemmas created by the growth of interdependence since World War II generated new forms of coordination and organization that fit uneasily in a realist framework...
We begin by briefly surveying the contending definitions of international regimes, which range from patterned behavior, to convergent norms and expectations, to explicit injunctions. We then suggest a number of dimensions along which regimes vary over time or across cases; these dimensions have been or might be used to operationalize "regime change." They include strength, organizational form, scope, and allocational mode. The third section examines four theoretical approaches to regimes – structural, game–theoretic, functional, and cognitive – and attempts to clarify what each theory can and cannot tell us about regimes.
In the conclusion, we ask how and whether regimes "matter..."

Download PDF

1984
Martin, Lenore G. 1984. The Unstable Gulf: Threats from Within. Lexington Books. Publisher's Version Abstract
While the debates over U.S. foreign policy in the Gulf rage inconclusively, Lenore Martin addresses the fundamental questions. How unstable is the Gulf? What are the long-term challenges to the protection of U.S. interests in the area? What are the strategic choices the United States must make? Drawing together topics usually dealt with separately, The Unstable Gulf analyzes territorial conflicts, sociopolitical cleavages, superpower competition, U.S. energy policy, and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) strategy in this vital region. Dr. Martin discusses the basic contradictions of a U.S. policy that relies on stable relations with the Gulf states, whose international relations are themselves unstable. She explores the dynamism of the international politics of the regions as fueled by territorial disputes, religious differences, ethnic dissensions, and ideological contests among these states.
Alford, William P. 1984. “Of Arsenic And Old Laws: Looking Anew At Criminal Justice in Late Imperial China.” California Law Review 72 (1180): 1-52. Abstract

The Chinese have a long–standing tradition of using history to comment upon contemporary events. This article attempts to advance our understanding of the formal criminal justice process in late imperial China by reconstructing from archival materials and analyzing one of the most celebrated criminal cases in Chinese history — that of Yang Nai–wu and Hsiao–pai–ts'ai. It is a sign of the state of our explorations of the Chinese legal tradition that no Western scholar has ever written about the case, that no Chinese scholar has produced a definitive account of it and its overall significance, and that no scholar, Chinese or foreign, has yet charted in meaningful and explicated detail the full course of any imperial Chinese case that traversed the entire formal criminal justice system from the level of the district magistrate to the highest reaches of the imperial government...In addition, fluid had started to seep into the corpse's eyes and ears, further complicating the autopsy laid out in Hsi-yuan lu, the classic Chinese coroner's manual... In his memorial, Pien Pao-ch'uan did not restrict his criticism to Yang Ch'ang-chun and Hu Jui-Ian...

678_ofarsenicandoldlaws.pdf

1983

Genuine peace between Israelis and Palestinians requires mutual acknowledgment of each people’s right to political expression of its national identity within the land they both claim. Negotiations must focus, therefore, on developing a formula for sharing the land. Furthermore, since most Palestinians perceive the PLO as their legitimate representative, only it – or some agency directly deriving legitimacy from it – has the capacity to negotiate an agreement that will elicit widespread acceptance and commitment among Palestinians.

In light of these two assumptions, the PLO leadership’s potential readiness for peace becomes critical to the success of negotiations. This article argues that the PLO under Arafat’s leadership has signaled such readiness, and it discusses political and psychological reasons for the continuing ambiguity and inconsistency of these signals. Analysis of Arafat’s cognitive style and image of the enemy, as revealed in two lengthy conversations with the author, reinforces the hypothesis that he has the capacity and will negotiate an agreement with Israel, based on mutual recognition and peaceful coexistence, if offered necessary incentives and reassurances. This article discusses methodological questions raised by the analysis and concludes with recommendations for testing the hypothesis derived from the analysis through the policy process.

Download PDF

1981

Depending on our tastes and definitions, we can take quite divergent views on what constitutes the beginnings of peace research. The range of possible dates becomes narrower when we think of the beginnings of peace research movement. I refer here to deliberate, organized efforts to mobilize the resources of different disciplines – especially, but not exclusively, the mathematical models and quantitative methods developed in the social sciences – for studying the conditions of peace and war. Even the beginnings of the peace research movement, however, cannot be dated precisely, since it is in the very nature of a movement that similar ideas and activities spring up almost simultaneously in different places and under different guises.

Download PDF
1980
Kelman, Herbert C. 1980. “The Role of Action in Attitude Change.” University of Nebraska Press. University of Nebraska Press. Publisher's Version Abstract

The relationship of action to attitude change has been a central and recurrent theme in my work ever since my doctoral dissertation (Kelman, 1953). I have written several theoretical papers on this issue over the years (Kelman, 1962a, 1974a, 1974b, 1978), and during the 1960s several colleagues and I were engaged in an experimental program on the relationship of discrepant action and attitude change. Some of the results of this program are described in Kelman and Baron (1974), but most of the experiments are still unpublished. The relationship between action and attitude change has also entered importantly into my work in various applied contexts, including psychotherapy (Kelman, 1963), international exchange (Kelman, 1962b, 1975), and conflict resolution (Kelman, 1972; Kelman & Cohen, 1979). I therefore welcome the opportunity, provided by the Nebraska Symposium, to draw together some of my ideas in this area and to distill some of the generalizations that have emerged from my work. I am particularly intrigued with noting some of the continuities and changes in my thinking over the years, as I have moved back and forth between experimental and applied work. It is exciting to observe the way these two lines of activity inform and stimulate each other and thus contribute to theoretical refinement.

Download PDF
1978
Kelman, Herbert C. 1978. “Israelis and Palestinians: Psychological Prerequisites for Mutual Acceptance.” International Security. International Security. Publisher's Version Abstract

Many observers of the Middle East conflict now regard the establishment of an independent Palestinian problem. Such a state would live side by side with an independent Israel, based more or less within its pre–1967 boundaries. This solution envisages a Palestinian state that would be free to decide for itself what kinds of links, if any, it wants to establish with Jordan or with any other country. It further assumes that the state would offer opportunities for citizenship and leadership to Palestinians in the diaspora, including elements of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), provided they accept the principle of peaceful coexistence with Israel.

Download PDF
1977
Kelman, Herbert C. 1977. “The Conditions, Criteria, and Dialectics of Human Dignity: A Transnational Perspective.” International Studies Quarterly. International Studies Quarterly. Publisher's Version Abstract

Human dignity refers to the status of individuals as ends in themselves rather than means to extraneous ends. To be consistent with dignity, institutions must provide for their constituencies’ identity and community – the two components of dignity. These correspond roughly to individual freedom and social justice, which are seen as interdependent conditions of dignity. Achievement, extension, and preservation of human dignity are to a large extent a transnational enterprise.

The paper addresses three issues in the realization of dignity in which the transnational dimension plays a significant role. It proposes (1) that the conditions for realizing human dignity (which include international peace in addition to social justice and individual freedom) must be created through worldwide efforts, given our increasing global interdependence; (2) that the criteria for assessing whether policies and institutional arrangements are consistent with human dignity must be universalistic, while remaining respectful of cultural and political difference; and (3) that the social processes whereby human dignity is extended and protected are inherently dialectical, since they require both the fulfillment and the inhibition of nationalistic demands.

Download PDF

1974
Kelman, Herbert C. 1974. “Attitudes Are Alive and Well and Gainfully Employed in the Sphere of Action.” American Psychologist. American Psychologist. Publisher's Version Abstract

In my own view of social behavior, attitude is a central concept, and I regard the study of attitudes as a legitimate pursuit in its own right and as useful component of a multimethod research strategy. For example, studies of the structure and distribution of public attitudes on various social issues or of the determinants of attitude change can greatly contribute to our understanding of societal processes. In particular, attitude assessment combined with other research procedures – such as structural indexes in studies of organizational functioning or behavioral observations in studies of child–rearing practices – can add depth and perspective to the analysis of social phenomena. Too often, however, research has focused on attitudes, not so much because of primary interest in attitudes per se or in their contribution to complex social processes, but because the assessment of attitudes was the easiest and most convenient way of obtaining data. It is obviously more convenient to distribute questionnaires in our classes, asking students how they would be likely to react in a variety of situations, than to observe their behavior in such situations, or to ask a sample of some population about the functioning of their organization, community, or society, than to make the detailed observations and develop the elaborate indexes needed to study a social system more directly. In many of our laboratory experiments too, after investing a great deal of energy and ingenuity in manipulation the independent variables, we have used attitudes as the cheapest and most painless dependent variable for assessing the effects of our manipulations.

Download PDF

In the early 1950s I developed a theoretical framework for the analysis of social influence, based on a qualitative distinction between three processes of influence: compliance, identification, and internalization. For each of these, a distinct set of antecedents and consequents is postulated. The model is particularly concerned with specifying the conditions under which changes induced by social influence attempts are temporary and superficial and, by contrast, those under which such changes are lasting and integrated into the person’s belief and value systems. A summary of the model and of the research based on it was published over ten years ago (Kelman 1961). Several experimental tests of the model have been reported (Kelman 1958; Kelman 1960; Kelman and Cohler 1965; Kelman and Eagly 1965). Furthermore, the model has been extended to the study of attitude–discrepant behavior (Kelman 1962; Kelman, Baron, Sheposh, and Lubalin, forthcoming) and applied to the analysis of influence processes in psychotherapy (Kelman 1963) in international educational exchange (Bailyn and Kelman 1962), and in the integration of individuals into the national system (Kelman 1969).

Download PDF

1973
Kelman, Herbert C. 1973. “Violence Without Moral Restraint: Reflections on the Dehumanization of Victims and Victimizers.” Journal of Social Issues. Journal of Social Issues. Publisher's Version Abstract

The paper identifies a class of violent acts that can best be described as sanctioned massacres. The special features of sanctioned massacres are that they occur in the context of a genocidal policy, and that they are directed at groups that have not themselves threatened or engaged in hostile actions against the perpetrators of the violence. The psychological environment in which such massacres occur lacks the conditions normally perceived as providing some degree of moral justification for violence. In searching for a psychological explanation of mass violence under these conditions, it is instructive to focus on factors reducing the strength of restraining forces against violence. Three interrelated processes are discussed in detail: (a) processes of authorization, which define the situation as one in which standard moral principles do not apply and the individual is absolved of responsibility to make personal moral choices; (b) processes of routinization, which so organize the action that there is no opportunity for raising moral questions and making moral decisions; and (c) processes of dehumanization which deprive both the victim and victimizer of identity and community. The paper concludes with suggestions for corrective efforts that might help to prevent sanctioned massacres by counteracting the systemic and attitudinal supports for the processes described.

Download PDF
1972
Kelman, Herbert C. 1972. “The Problem-Solving Workshop in Conflict Resolution.” University of Illinois Press. Publisher's Version Abstract

The idea that face–to–face communication among parties in conflict, in a context other than diplomatic negotiations, may contribute to conflict management and resolution is certainly not new. The American Friends Service Committee, in particular, has pioneered in such endeavors. In the last few years we have seen some exciting new experiments in this type of international communication, based on concepts and techniques from the behavioral sciences. Notable among these are the exercises in "controlled communication" of John Burton and his associates at the Centre for the Analysis of Conflict at University College, London, and the Fermeda Workshop organized by Leonard Doob and his associates at Yale University. Both approaches are designed to bring together representative of nations or national (ethnic) communities involved in active conflict, for face–to–face communication in a relatively isolated setting, free from governmental and diplomatic protocol. Discussions, following a relatively unstructured agenda, take place under the guidance of social scientists who are knowledgeable both about group process and about conflict theory. The talks are designed to produce changes in the participants' perceptions and attitudes and thus to facilitate creative problem–solving.

This chapter summarizes the Burton and Doob approaches and then, compares, evaluates, and attempts to integrate them.

Download PDF
1971
Kelman, Herbert C. 1971. “Language as an Aid and Barrier to Involvement in the National System.” University Press of Hawaii. University Press of Hawaii. Publisher's Version Abstract

The basic thesis that I would like to develop in this discussion is that language is a uniquely powerful instrument in unifying a diverse population and in involving individuals and subgroups in the national system. However, some of the very features of language that give it this power under some circumstances may, under other circumstances, become major sources of disintegration and internal conflict within a national system. These considerations should have some definite implications for language policy not only in developing nations but also in long–established nations marked by diglossia – whether officially recognized (as in Canada or in Belgium) or unrecognized (as in the United States). Specifically, I will try to argue that, while the development of a national language may be highly conducive to the creation and strengthening of national identity, the deliberate use of language for purposes of national identity may – at least in a multiethnic state – have more disruptive than unifying consequences.

Download PDF

1969

Nationalism is widely regarded as a powerful force in the world today. In Europe, where it has been discredited as a result of the Second World War, it seems to be reemerging. In the Communist world, it has let to separate and often conflicting policies in different countries, thus helping to break down the myth of a monolithic world Communism. In the United States, it is at least partly responsible for the international posture of the current administration. In the Middle East, clashing nationalisms are seen as the cause of continuing tension. Nationalism has spread throughout the newly emerging states of Asia and Africa and, according to Whitaker and Jordan (1969), "it has become the greatest single force at work in Latin America" (p.1).

1965

We are now ready to return to a question that was raised in the introductory chapter to this volume and repeated, in a variety of contexts, in some of the chapters that followed: What relevance, if any, do social–psychological approaches have to basic problems in international relations? Specifically, what is their potential relevance to the analysis of issues underlying policy formulation? And what is their potential relevance to the development of theory in international relations?

Kelman, Herbert C. 1965. “Social-Psychological Approaches to the Study of International Relations: Definition of Scope.” Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Publisher's Version Abstract

During that past decade or so, ever–increasing attention has been paid to the systematic analysis of the psychological aspects of international relations. There has been a steady growth of theory and empirical research on problems of international behavior in general, which has included the concerted use of psychological – and particularly social–psychological – concepts and methods. Part of this development has involved the attempt to define certain aspects of war and peace as researchable problems, to which the tools of behavioral science can be applied. At the same time, psychologists and social scientists in related fields have increasingly addressed themselves to matters of policy in the field of international relations: They have questioned some of the psychological assumptions underlying various approaches to foreign policy and have developed policy recommendations based, at least in part, on psychological considerations.

Download PDF
1963
Kelman, Herbert C. 1963. “The Role of the Group in the Induction of Therapeutic Change.” International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. Publisher's Version Abstract

Psychotherapy can be regarded as a social influence situation in which the patient's relationship to the therapist is the primary vehicle for the production of therapeutic change. In individual psychotherapy, the situation is so arranged as to maximize the probability that the patient's interactions with the therapist will facilitate desirable changes in his attitudes, values, and action–tendencies. In group psychotherapy, the patient's relationships to his fellow–patients and to the group as a whole become additional vehicles for the production of therapeutic change. In choosing between group and individual therapy, one has to keep in mind, of course, that while group and individual therapy, one has to keep in mind, of course, that while the patient group–relationship may serve to strengthen forces toward change, it may also bring certain counterforces into play, thus reducing the potentiality for change contained in the dyadic relationship. Whether or not group therapy seems to be indicated, given these competing forces, will depend on the characteristics of the patient, the nature of his problems, and the current status of his general treatment program. Group therapy will be resorted to when there is a reason to believe that the combination of therapist and group wil lmake for more effective influence situation and facilitate the occurrence of the particular changes that are desired.

Download PDF
1961
Kelman, Herbert C. 1961. “Processes of Opinion Change.” Public Opinion Quarterly. Public Opinion Quarterly. Publisher's Version Abstract

Attitude and opinion data provide a basis for inferring the meaning of opinions held by individuals and groups and also for predictions about their future behavior. Such inferences and predictions, if they are to be made effectively, require a theoretical foundation which explains the processes by which people adopt and express particular opinions. Here is a theory of three processes by which persons respond to social influence.

Download PDF

Pages