Archived News | Return to News Center

May 27, 2011

ULM political science professor presents at International Conference

John W. Sutherlin, associate professor of political science and Co-Director of the Social Science Reseach Lab, presented a paper at the Global Studies Association Conference held this year at Loyola University in Chicago, May 20-22.

"Middle East Turmoil and Human Rights: How will the new regimes expand civil liberties?" covers the role of gender-based political organizations in the revolutions throughout the Arab Muslim world this past spring, especially in Tunisia and Egypt.

Sutherlin noted, "This paper actually evolved from a class on Middle East politics taught a couple of semesters back. Working with my students to develop a research design for analyzing the changing nature of women's rights and political freedoms, I was able to develop a sound literature review and begin to understand the complexity of these issues."

Sutherlin said that he will continue the research and submit the paper for publication sometime this fall.

"Based on the comments at this conference," Sutherlin added, "The notion that states where women have the most civil rights will experience the significant political unrest has implications throughout the Middle East and North Africa, along with other regions with weak autocratic regimes."

PLEASE NOTE: Some links and e-mail addresses in these archived news stories may no longer work, and some content may include events which are no longer relevent, or reference individuals and/or organizations no longer associated with ULM.