Matthew Eddy - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Matthew Eddy
This dissertation pursues three broad questions. First, what are the correlates of nonviolent att... more This dissertation pursues three broad questions. First, what are the correlates of nonviolent attitudes around the world? Second, which nations exhibit characteristics of robust "Cultures of Peace"? Third, are there signs that history and collective memory shapes attitudes, i.e., do cultures "learn" from experiences of war, peace, or nonviolence? A multi-method approach sought to further our understandings of propensities for peace at both the national and individual levels. First, an analysis of nation-level Gallup World Poll data (N=136 nations) identifies correlates of nonviolent attitudes and advances a critique of the Global Peace Index (GPI), grounded in the observed disconnect between structural and attitudinal indicators of peace in many nations. The Gallup World Poll analysis suggests that many forces of modernization instill forms of "callous cruelty" while failing to cultivate pragmatic nonviolent attitudes. For example, poor nations and nations with recent successful nonviolent revolution are more likely to affirm that nonviolence "works" than wealthier nations ranking high in the GPI. Moreover, it is argued from Gallup data that the accumulation of "peace capital" is quite specific, with a frequent disconnect between forms of principled and pragmatic nonviolence. Second, survey data were collected from two "maximally different" cases, university students in the U.S. (N=403) and Costa Rica (N=312), which have starkly divergent structural and v historical relationships to peace and militarism. Utilizing a new survey instrument, factor analyses helped to identify cross-national variations in respondent adherence to ideologies of violence and nonviolence: militarism, realism, just war, or nonviolence. The results show Costa Ricans were significantly more peaceful than U.S. respondents on 48 out of 52 items. Susceptibility to "elite cues" was tested in an experimental section. Tests revealed gaps in historical knowledge of nonviolence offering support for the theory that "ideology has no history." Finally, a cross-national sample of state-approved history textbooks from 8 nations (Germany,
Critical Military Studies, 2018
Every year 180,000 young people are recruited to join the US military. The 1973 shift from the dr... more Every year 180,000 young people are recruited to join the US military. The 1973 shift from the draft to an all-volunteer recruitment model, recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq employing the use of reserve troops, wavering public support of military deployments, and stories of recruiter indiscretion have led to a renewed examination of military recruitment. Despite abundant research into motivations for military enlistment, little qualitative research has explored the interaction of prospective service members and their recruiters. Further, despite emotionally charged accusations of recruiter deception, scant research exists related to the honesty of military recruiters. As a result, two questions remain relatively unexplored related to military recruitment: (1) how do veterans describe their past experience of the enlistment process, and (2) how do veterans describe the honesty of the recruiters who helped them enlist, and in many cases convinced them to enlist? The article analyses military recruiter training manuals and 45 interviews with recent military veterans to illuminate the military recruitment process. This paper reveals that the US military has enthusiastically embraced corporate marketing and sales techniques, and, in contrast to Defense Department reports, most veterans perceive that recruiters either lied or significantly stretched the truth in an effort to secure their enlistment.
Ethics & International Affairs, 2009
Mass atrocities elicit responses that employ religious terminology. This open-ended framework pro... more Mass atrocities elicit responses that employ religious terminology. This open-ended framework provides a wide-ranging scope for this book, which deals with philosophical, ethical, sociological, and religious approaches to post-violence politics and societies. The organizing principle of ''religious terminology'' expands the purview of the essays well beyond ''religion'' per se, and indeed some of the most interesting contributions deal with religion as a political institution and with ''religious actors'' as political actors in the broadly defined transitional justice field. The motivation of a secular society to resort to religious language to commemorate and engage with its worst violent moments provides the rationale for the title, which emphasizes not religion but the religious as a broad set of discourses, beliefs, and ritual practices that people employ to describe and respond to the incomprehensible and unknowable. If this seems ''most generalized'' (p. 8), the
This dissertation pursues three broad questions. First, what are the correlates of nonviolent att... more This dissertation pursues three broad questions. First, what are the correlates of nonviolent attitudes around the world? Second, which nations exhibit characteristics of robust "Cultures of Peace"? Third, are there signs that history and collective memory shapes attitudes, i.e., do cultures "learn" from experiences of war, peace, or nonviolence? A multi-method approach sought to further our understandings of propensities for peace at both the national and individual levels. First, an analysis of nation-level Gallup World Poll data (N=136 nations) identifies correlates of nonviolent attitudes and advances a critique of the Global Peace Index (GPI), grounded in the observed disconnect between structural and attitudinal indicators of peace in many nations. The Gallup World Poll analysis suggests that many forces of modernization instill forms of "callous cruelty" while failing to cultivate pragmatic nonviolent attitudes. For example, poor nations and nations with recent successful nonviolent revolution are more likely to affirm that nonviolence "works" than wealthier nations ranking high in the GPI. Moreover, it is argued from Gallup data that the accumulation of "peace capital" is quite specific, with a frequent disconnect between forms of principled and pragmatic nonviolence. Second, survey data were collected from two "maximally different" cases, university students in the U.S. (N=403) and Costa Rica (N=312), which have starkly divergent structural and v historical relationships to peace and militarism. Utilizing a new survey instrument, factor analyses helped to identify cross-national variations in respondent adherence to ideologies of violence and nonviolence: militarism, realism, just war, or nonviolence. The results show Costa Ricans were significantly more peaceful than U.S. respondents on 48 out of 52 items. Susceptibility to "elite cues" was tested in an experimental section. Tests revealed gaps in historical knowledge of nonviolence offering support for the theory that "ideology has no history." Finally, a cross-national sample of state-approved history textbooks from 8 nations (Germany,
Critical Military Studies, 2018
Every year 180,000 young people are recruited to join the US military. The 1973 shift from the dr... more Every year 180,000 young people are recruited to join the US military. The 1973 shift from the draft to an all-volunteer recruitment model, recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq employing the use of reserve troops, wavering public support of military deployments, and stories of recruiter indiscretion have led to a renewed examination of military recruitment. Despite abundant research into motivations for military enlistment, little qualitative research has explored the interaction of prospective service members and their recruiters. Further, despite emotionally charged accusations of recruiter deception, scant research exists related to the honesty of military recruiters. As a result, two questions remain relatively unexplored related to military recruitment: (1) how do veterans describe their past experience of the enlistment process, and (2) how do veterans describe the honesty of the recruiters who helped them enlist, and in many cases convinced them to enlist? The article analyses military recruiter training manuals and 45 interviews with recent military veterans to illuminate the military recruitment process. This paper reveals that the US military has enthusiastically embraced corporate marketing and sales techniques, and, in contrast to Defense Department reports, most veterans perceive that recruiters either lied or significantly stretched the truth in an effort to secure their enlistment.
Ethics & International Affairs, 2009
Mass atrocities elicit responses that employ religious terminology. This open-ended framework pro... more Mass atrocities elicit responses that employ religious terminology. This open-ended framework provides a wide-ranging scope for this book, which deals with philosophical, ethical, sociological, and religious approaches to post-violence politics and societies. The organizing principle of ''religious terminology'' expands the purview of the essays well beyond ''religion'' per se, and indeed some of the most interesting contributions deal with religion as a political institution and with ''religious actors'' as political actors in the broadly defined transitional justice field. The motivation of a secular society to resort to religious language to commemorate and engage with its worst violent moments provides the rationale for the title, which emphasizes not religion but the religious as a broad set of discourses, beliefs, and ritual practices that people employ to describe and respond to the incomprehensible and unknowable. If this seems ''most generalized'' (p. 8), the