Academic literature on the topic 'Atlantic States Civil War'

By the 1840’s the era of the wooden ship of the line was coming to a close. As early as the 1820’s and 1830’s, ships of war were outfitted with increasingly heavy guns. Naval guns such as the increasingly popular 68 pounder could quickly damage the best wooden hulled ships of the line. Yet, by the 1840’s, explosive shells were in use by the British, French, and Imperial Russian navies. It was the explosive shell that could with great ease, cripple a standard wooden hulled warship, this truth was exposed at the Battle of Sinope in 1853. For this reason, warships had to be armored. By 1856, Great Britain drafted a design for an armored corvette. In 1857, France began construction on the first ocean going ironclad, La Gloire, which was launched in 1859. This development quickly caused Great Britain to begin construction on HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince. By the time HMS Warrior was commissioned in 1861, the Royal Navy had decided that its entire battle fleet needed to be armored. While the British and the French naval arms race was intensifying, the United States was entering into its greatest crisis, the United States Civil War. After the outbreak of the Civil War, the majority of the United States Navy remained loyal to the Union. The Confederacy, therefore, gained inspiration from the ironclads across the Atlantic, quickly obtaining its own ironclads. CSS Manassas was the first to enter service, but was eventually brought down by a hail of Union broadside fire. The CSS Virginia, however, made an impact. Meanwhile, the Union began stockpiling City Class ironclads and in 1862, the USS Monitor was completed. After the veritable stalemate between the CSS Virginia and USS Monitor, the Union utilized its superior production capabilities to mass produce ironclads and enter them into service in the Union Navy. As the Union began armoring its increasingly large navy, the world’s foremost naval power certainly took notice. Therefore, this paper will utilize British newspapers, government documents, Royal Naval Reviews, and various personal documents from the 1860’s in order to examine the British public and naval reaction to the Union buildup of ironclad warships.

AbstractUsing neglected evidence of organized, state-like, internecine violence among English settlers in New England during the 1620s and 1630s, this essay engages with recent archipelagic approaches to the early modern English public sphere and with studies of the English state and political culture in order to argue for the existence of an important, semipublic Atlantic political discourse during the decades preceding the civil wars in the British Isles. It focuses on the distinctive political dynamics of Atlantic fishing stages during the early seventeenth century and on the violent confrontation between the Dorchester and Plymouth companies in 1625 over the control of the Cape Ann stage on Massachusetts Bay. The rumors, news, and formal reports that flowed from such incidents show how diffuse English ideologies assumed the form of opposed groups, armed and mobilized in the manner of free states, and confirmed fears of such violent episodes as threats to orderly governance in a political society conceived in Atlantic imperial terms. By examining the communication of and responses to this perceived threat during the late 1620s and 1630s, the essay reveals how an Atlantic discourse of “liberty,” “orderly commonweal,” and “popularity” influenced English political culture and policy and the institutions of Atlantic governance before the English Civil War.

Nonstandard Were and the Nonstandard forms of the Preterite Negative of to be in Nineteenth Century New England Civil War Letters and Literary Dialect Portrayals The present paper presents the preliminary results of the study of were in nonstandard positions as well as nonstandard preterit negative forms of to be in mid- and late nineteenth century New England folk speech. More specifically, the aim of the study is to investigate whether the grammatical feature at issue, deemed to have been confined to the Mid- and South Atlantic states in several scholarly publications, is also attested in the verbal repository of New Englanders of the mid- and late nineteenth century. The analysis relies mainly on the scrutiny of two types of primary sources: informal Civil War letters penned by less literate individuals, and fictional portrayals written by New England regionalists. The data retrieved from the inspected body of material confirms the presence of were/weren't/wa'n't (and other spellings) in nonstandard contexts, preponderantly in the literary dialect portrayals, whereas Civil War correspondence seems rather devoid of the traits at issue. As indicated above, the paper presents the preliminary results of the study: it is believed that an analysis of a bigger corpus of Civil War material, which is currently being compiled, might identify more instances of forms at issue in nonstandard environments.

William C. Burke, an African American emigrant in Liberia, wrote the following to an acquaintance in the United States on 23 September 1861: This must be the severest affliction that have visited the people of the United States and must be a sorce [sic] of great inconvenience and suffering and although we are separated from the seane [sic] by the Atlantic yet we feel sadly the effects of it in this country. The Steavens not coming out as usual was a great disappointment and loss to many in this country.Burke's lamentation about the impact of the American Civil War on the distant Atlantic shores of Africa underscores a problem—and opportunity—in Liberian historiography. Burke's nineteenth-century world extended past the distinct national boundaries that separated the United States and Liberia. Geographically, this was the vast littoral of the four continents—Africa, Europe, North America, and South America—abutting the Atlantic Ocean. But the Atlantic world, as historians now dubbed this sprawling transnational zone, was much more extensive. Societies near and faraway were also drawn into the web of socioeconomic activities in the basin. The creation of the Atlantic world spanned almost four centuries, from the late fifteenth to the waning decades of the nineteenth century. In this period, an unprecedented multitude of migrants crisscrossed the Atlantic creating a vast network. For example, by the nineteenth century, regular transatlantic packages such as the Mary Caroline Stevens whose delay Burke called “a great disappointment,” transported passengers, provisions, and dispatches between the United States and Liberia.

The geopolitical context of what would later come to be called the “global village” made governments pay more attention to their external image and the public opinion of third-world countries. The previous emphasis on the development of military or economic alliances (hard power) was complemented with alternative views, other ways of connecting with different global societies (soft power). Relations between the United States and Spain did not escape this general dynamic. Here, we evaluate the extent to which this connection affected women’s access to higher education in Spain. With the Residencia de Señoritas, there was a narrowing of the educational and cultural exchange relations between the two countries. After the abrupt cessation of the civil war, the establishment of the Fulbright program in the 1959-60 academic year allowed Spain to recover and to intensify the exchanges that had taken place since the beginning of the century. We will see what the fields of study in this prestigious exchange program were, and analyze to what extent the training received on the other side of the Atlantic facilitated the professional careers of the Spanish Fulbrigthers upon their return.

AbstractDuring the First World War, civil society groups across the North Atlantic put forward an array of plans for recasting international society. The most prominent ones sought to build on the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 by developing international legal codes and, in a drastic innovation, obligating and militarily enforcing the judicial settlement of disputes. Their ideal was a world governed by law, which they opposed to politics. This idea was championed by the largest groups in the United States and France in favour of international organizations, and they had likeminded counterparts in Britain. The Anglo-American architects of the League of Nations, however, defined their vision against legalism. Their declaratory design sought to ensure that artificial machinery never stifled the growth of common consciousness. Paradoxically, the bold new experiment in international organization was forged from an anti-formalistic ethos – one that slowed the momentum of international law and portended the rise of global governance.

FOR FORTY YEARS THE COLD WAR, WITH ITS PRESUMED threat to Western Europe, has been used to justify the level of military budgets in NATO countries. The United States, Britain and France, in particular, have sustained high levels of military spending throughout this period. Each has sought to maintain capability across a full range of military options, including nuclear forces and the ability to intervene in Third World conflicts. Each has maintained a large, and quite stable, industrial and technological infrastructure in support of these military goals.With the ending of the cold war, the basis for that stability has been undermined. Defence spending is set to fall. With it will fall overall spending on defence equipment. But the rate of decline, and its distribution across the different sectors of the defence industry, remain to be determined. Upon the outcome turns the future of investment in defence technologies, with further consequences, complex in nature, for national and industrial technological capabilities. To complicate analysis further, these changes arise at a time of considerable concern on both sides of the Atlantic about industrial competitiveness. This concern had already led to upheaval in industrial structures and strategies within both the defence and the civil high technology industries.

The commencement of hostilities in Europe in late summer 1914 transformed the southern Atlantic cities of Buenos Aires and Rosario into diasporic home fronts for many belligerent nations. These cities became at once contested terrains between and among émigré colonies and a source of financial and material aid for warring nations. Buenos Aires’ policy of neutrality further permitted activist immigrants to partner with like-minded individuals and their respective diplomatic representatives to organise civic associations, arrange public demonstrations, and host charity events. The Syrian-Ottoman colonies mirrored the efforts of other immigrant groups, but diverged in distinct ways as novel nationalist sentiments circulated among them. The increased social tension from penury and competing political agendas led to multiple violent confrontations among Syrian Ottomans. Thus, nations that did not directly fight in the European conflagration were indeed party to the First World War and warring states’ home fronts extended beyond national boundaries.

Long before I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance in person, John Hope Franklin's writings were a vital presence in my academic life. His books were some of the earliest sign posts that I encountered when I first ventured into the new and unfamiliar territory of the historian. The Free Negro in North Carolina was critical to the framework of my first research paper in graduate school. The Militant South was required reading in C. Vann Woodward's reading and discussion seminar in Southern history. I turned to Reconstruction: After the Civil War hoping that it would help me put limits to the deepening puzzles of Reconstruction. But perhaps none of these works—important as they are—has influenced the historical imagination as profoundly as what is undoubtedly his most widely read work, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans, first published in 1947. It kept me company over an anxious winter when I prepared for oral exams. I adopted its fifth edition as required reading in the first course that I taught as a graduate student. Known to general and academic readers alike, From Slavery to Freedom does not recount the progressive unfolding of an emancipatory project, even though its title early named what has become a theme central to analysis of the historical experiences of African Americans in the United States. Instead, it locates the emergence of a distinctively brittle racial regime in the United States within the complex contradictions of modern freedom that were set in motion by Atlantic slavery and the slave trade. “It was forces let loose by the Renaissance and the Commercial Revolution,” he writes, “that created the modern institution of slavery and the slave trade” (Franklin 1947, p. 43; 1980, p. 31). There are thus no postwar echoes of NATO triumphalism in Franklin's conception of Atlantic modernity:

Western Balkans is one of the regions that has experienced the worst and the longest transition after the Cold War. The dissolution of Yugoslavia at the beginning of 1990s was associated by destructive interethnic conflicts, by local and regional wars, and also by political and ethnic accidents. Western Balkans is also closely related to Europe politically and economically. The historical period to be considered in this research is the post-Cold War period, after the immense changes in central Europe, and the southeast Europe, i.e. the Balkans. The international factor has actively intervened in the Balkans. The international presence is both military and civil. Various international mechanisms have played a determining factor through direct activities in the region. The process of dissolution of former Yugoslavia has fragmentized the Western Balkans in many spheres, starting from the border changes to demographic changes. This process also resulted in creation of new states that changed the geopolitics of the region. The fragmentation was caused by many factors: historical, political, economic, military, geopolitical, and strategic. Also, this development was determined by the political concepts that are leading the region in respect to EU integration. The development of the regional political process has now conditioned and oriented the Western Balkans towards integration in Euro Atlantic structures. Knowing that these countries have as a strategic aim the full membership in the EU, I can say that this makes the process more dynamic and faster, because we are dealing with a process that entails the same principles and same values that are closely related to regional interests. Regardless of the same orientation on values and geopolitical interest, the Western Balkans is currently in a fragmentized level in regards to EU integration

Texte remanié de: Doct. diss.--Baltimore--the Johns Hopkins University.
Publ. la première fois en 1960 aux États-Unis sous le titre : "Canada and the United States : the Civil war years" Notes bibliogr. Index.

Soldiers from southeastern Ohio and their families fought the Civil War (1861–1865) in a reciprocal relationship, sustaining one another throughout the course of the conflict. The soldiers needed support from their families at home. The families, likewise, relied upon the constant contact via letters for assurance that the soldiers were surviving and doing well in the ranks. This dissertation qualitatively examines the correspondence between soldiers and their families in southeastern Ohio, developing six major themes of analysis including early war patriotism, war at the front, war at home, political unrest at home, common religion, and the shared cost of the war. The source base for the project included over one thousand letters and over two hundred and fifty newspaper articles, all of which contribute to a sense of the mood of southeastern Ohioans as they struggled to fight the war together. The conclusions of the dissertation show that soldiers and their families developed a cooperative relationship throughout the war. This dissertation helps to provide a corrective to the overly romantic perspective on the Civil War that it was fought between divided families. Rather, Civil War soldiers and their families fought the war in shared suffering and in support of one another.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.

The article states that in the conditions of war, first the royal government, then the provisional government, moved to impose fixed food prices. The introduction of «firm prices» for food products has caused shortages. The shortage of goods led on the one hand to hyperinflation and depreciation of money, on the other hand to the growth of smuggling operations and saturation of the Far East market with smuggled food from abroad.

The society in our country has been struck by the emigration crisis of an unprecedented scope in Europe since World War II. Lithuania also stands out among the EU member states as a state with a particularly low level of trust, whereas the primary institutions of a democratic civil society, i.e. the Government, political parties, and the Parliament, are all at the bottom in the list of institutions ranked according to the level of trust. Although the growth of the average income and assets of the population was truly impressive over the past 20 years, this did not stop emigration neither slowed it down. This means that merely higher income is not enough for people; in fact, happiness is mostly correlated to equality of income (relative wealth) rather than to increase of income (absolute wealth). In the framework mentioned above the article provides a comprehensive analysis of the causes of emigration and suggests effective strategic decisions to stop the emigration using strategic thinking and strategic synthesis methods.

In his article, the author considers the works by the famous political opponents of Bolsheviks: N.D. Avksentiev, V.P. Zenzinov, K. Goppers, A. Budberg, K.V. Sakharov, G.K. Guins and D.F. Rakov, in which the activities of A. Kolchak and his government are evaluated. Their evaluation concerns such aspects as the interrelations between Kolchak and the representatives of the «Allies» army, the reaction to the coup and proclaiming him Supreme Governor of Russia, evaluation of his real possibilities and abilities and also of the internal political situation in Siberia and Far East. According to the author, this evaluation does not contradict the conclusions of Soviet historiography. Taking into account the attempts made to re-examine the image of A. Kolchak consolidated in historiography, the author suggests one should evaluate his activities from the perspective of the historicalgeopolitical approach rather than from the perspective of the class theory. Taking into consideration the role of foreign states in his political biography, his choice during the years of the Civil War was not between the Red and the White but between Russia and foreign intervention. The proposed approach allows us to consider the political activities of A. Kolchak in a broader context and to make judgment about him from the geopolitical perspective rather than from the perspective of the class theory. In this case, the criterion for evaluation of the activities of the politician are his actions aimed at the defense of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state.

The Eastern Mediterranean has attracted new attention on the gas potential in the world. In fact, overseas research in the eastern Mediterranean waters began in the late 1960s with a number of wells opened by Belpetco. With the overseas production of the region in recent years, it has entered the world agenda. However, these discoveries have triggered additional conflicts between the states on the establishment of sovereign rights and the limitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In 2009, a large amount of energy was produced in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The resulting supply, economic line in the westward movement, between Cyprus and Turkey, Turkey would reach out to EU countries. Arish-Ashkelon, which supplies gas to Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, has been identified as a pipeline. The other line is the Arab Gas Pipeline. The cooperation with the implementation of the line was met and accepted. But the Syrian civil war has postponed this view for now. When Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, the Sea of Levantine made the European Union a sea border for all practical purposes. In the early 2000s, Cyprus and Turkey's EU membership expectancy, could boost optimism about the possibility of a breakthrough. Turkey should not be admitted to the EU has prevented the solution of the Cyprus problem. Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and made clear that the agreement with the International Exclusive Economic Zone reached 200 Mile limits. The energy source derived from the region, the future of both Turkey and the TRNC will be able to improve the economic well-being. Thus, will contribute to peace in the region.

It is no secret to anyone that the political system in Iraq has gone through and is still going through several crises and suffers from many problems that are difficult to limit and define within a specific research scope. Despite that, there are two main trends prevailing about the general view of the political system and its future in Iraq, which are centered on two visions: First: Seeing the possibility of reforming the political system Second: seeing the impossibility of reforming the political system and the political system must be changed) This was accompanied by developments; And repercussions that affected the entire structural system of Iraqi society, but all attempts at reform failed. Hence, the problematic of our study emerges in the main question: Does the Iraqi political system need change or reform, and what are the justifications for this change or reform, and what are the consequences of that locally? Regionally and internationally? The attempt to answer these and other questions requires that we start from the hypothesis of the Iraqi political system after 2003, which suffers from several structural problems that prevent the success of any attempt at political reform for it. The study is based on the following axes: The first topic: What is political reform and political change The second topic: Building the political system in Iraq after 2003 and the justifications for changing its reform The third topic: Obstacles to changing (reform) the Iraqi political system The fourth topic: Attempts to political reform and its future The study concluded a set of conclusions, perhaps the most prominent of which are: 1 - The future of the Iraqi political system in light of local, regional and international data indicates the impossibility of reforming this system due to the depth of its imbalances Its exacerbation and the depth of the rift that this system suffers from - and the absence of the means to reform, which center on the following options: A- Reform through coup methods B- Reform through popular revolution and that these options are not available at the present time, so it is expected that the current situation will continue with attempts A patchwork that gives the regime revival doses without radical solutions until reaching the framework of the Iraqi social contract, which will have two main options: the peaceful option and revolves around: The continuation of the October protests and the joining of the rest of the Iraqi components to them and their obtaining international and regional support to reformulate a new Iraqi social contract for the unity and stability of Iraq, the peaceful division between the Iraqi components to establish three Sunni Shiite states. Kurdish non-peaceful option external change such as the 2003 military coup, the international upheaval, the civil war

In the decade after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, African Americans made historic gains in accessing employment opportunities in racially integrated workplaces in U.S. business firms and government agencies. In the previous working papers in this series, we have shown that in the 1960s and 1970s, Blacks without college degrees were gaining access to the American middle class by moving into well-paid unionized jobs in capital-intensive mass production industries. At that time, major U.S. companies paid these blue-collar workers middle-class wages, offered stable employment, and provided employees with health and retirement benefits. Of particular importance to Blacks was the opening up to them of unionized semiskilled operative and skilled craft jobs, for which in a number of industries, and particularly those in the automobile and electronic manufacturing sectors, there was strong demand. In addition, by the end of the 1970s, buoyed by affirmative action and the growth of public-service employment, Blacks were experiencing upward mobility through employment in government agencies at local, state, and federal levels as well as in civil-society organizations, largely funded by government, to operate social and community development programs aimed at urban areas where Blacks lived. By the end of the 1970s, there was an emergent blue-collar Black middle class in the United States. Most of these workers had no more than high-school educations but had sufficient earnings and benefits to provide their families with economic security, including realistic expectations that their children would have the opportunity to move up the economic ladder to join the ranks of the college-educated white-collar middle class. That is what had happened for whites in the post-World War II decades, and given the momentum provided by the dominant position of the United States in global manufacturing and the nation’s equal employment opportunity legislation, there was every reason to believe that Blacks would experience intergenerational upward mobility along a similar education-and-employment career path. That did not happen. Overall, the 1980s and 1990s were decades of economic growth in the United States. For the emerging blue-collar Black middle class, however, the experience was of job loss, economic insecurity, and downward mobility. As the twentieth century ended and the twenty-first century began, moreover, it became apparent that this downward spiral was not confined to Blacks. Whites with only high-school educations also saw their blue-collar employment opportunities disappear, accompanied by lower wages, fewer benefits, and less security for those who continued to find employment in these jobs. The distress experienced by white Americans with the decline of the blue-collar middle class follows the downward trajectory that has adversely affected the socioeconomic positions of the much more vulnerable blue-collar Black middle class from the early 1980s. In this paper, we document when, how, and why the unmaking of the blue-collar Black middle class occurred and intergenerational upward mobility of Blacks to the college-educated middle class was stifled. We focus on blue-collar layoffs and manufacturing-plant closings in an important sector for Black employment, the automobile industry from the early 1980s. We then document the adverse impact on Blacks that has occurred in government-sector employment in a financialized economy in which the dominant ideology is that concentration of income among the richest households promotes productive investment, with government spending only impeding that objective. Reduction of taxes primarily on the wealthy and the corporate sector, the ascendancy of political and economic beliefs that celebrate the efficiency and dynamism of “free market” business enterprise, and the denigration of the idea that government can solve social problems all combined to shrink government budgets, diminish regulatory enforcement, and scuttle initiatives that previously provided greater opportunity for African Americans in the government and civil-society sectors.