Explaining Divergent Development Trajectories: A Comparison of Nation-Building in Post-Independence Botswana and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe

Supported by a 2015-16 independent study leave, Prof. Brucken, PhD, completed the first chapter of his next book, tentatively titled, Tangled Treads: American Human Rights Policy, 1776 to 1990. The work builds on a Dana Fellowship that identified four themes of American human rights policy: protect American sovereignty, limit human rights to civil and political guarantees, enforce at the state level primarily, and seek to spread these rights around the globe. The chapter on the American Revolution applies these four themes to the political struggle to justify separation from Great Britain and to mobilize the population for war and sacrifice. These themes derive from Enlightenment thought as filtered through revolutionaries living across the Atlantic who were determined to create a republic, a form of government new to the era. He will use this first chapter to draft a proposal for a book contract with Northern Illinois University Press.

Editor’s note: Independent study leaves constitute the University’s sabbatical program, with awards based on scholarly proposals for projects intended to enhance the professional effectiveness of faculty through study, research, writing, travel related to professional development, and/or practical experience in the faculty member’s field.