Matt Bonham's WebPage: Research [gmbonham@maxwell.syr.edu]

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                                                                                                                                               Current as of 12 February 2010
Matt Bonham's Research

Syracuse University | Maxwell School | International Relations Program | Political Science Department

Recent Papers
Images

1. Attribution Theory and Arab Images of the Gulf War
2. The Limited Test Ban Agreement: Emergence of New Knowledge Structures in
International Negotiation
3. Learning Through Digital Technology: Text Chat, Video-conferencing, and Hypertext
4. The Disruptive and Transformative Potential of Hypertext in the Classroom
5. The Psychology of Corruption in Azerbaijan and Iran
6. The CCDL Project: Learning Across Borders in a Networked Culture
7. The "Axis of Evil" Metaphor and the Restructuring of Iranian Views Toward the US
8. "The 'War on Terrorism": Comparing the Linguistic Formulations of Japanese,   Russian, and Western Officials"
9. What the "Axis of Evil" Metaphor Did to Iran
10. Using a Role-Playing Simulation to Bridge Theory and Practice
11. Initiative on Cooperation, Communication, and Culture in
International Diplomacy
1. Attribution Theory and Arab Images of the Gulf War
Article: Click Here

Matt worked with Daniel Heradstveit, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and the University of Bergen, to conduct an in-depth interview study of Arab elites in the wake of the Gulf War, research that only partially supports a crucial finding of research on actor-observer differences in social attribution. The results of the interview study suggest the importance of distinguishing, in applications of attribution theory, between complex political situations and simple laboratory settings, the perspectives of actors versus observers, and cultural differences in discursive practices. This research was published in Political Psychology, Volume 17, Number 2 (June 1996), pp. 271-292.

2.The Limited Test-Ban Agreement: Emergence of New Knowledge Structures in International Negotiation
Matt collaborated in this research with Victor M. Sergeev and Pavel Parshin to analyze cognitive maps constructed from exchanges between President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev on the test-ban negotiations. A comparison of the negotiations over time reveals the emergence of new knowledge structures that were hypothesized to facilitate the 1963 agreement on nuclear testing. To complete this research, Matt and his Russian colleagues had to develop a framework for investigating the ontological pre-understandings that lie behind political texts and develop new coding rules, called "processual coding," to code the holistic views that lie behind many Soviet texts. This research was published in International Studies Quarterly, Volume 41, June 1997, pp. 215-240.

3. Learning Through Digital Technology: Text Chat, Video-Conferencing, and Hypertext

Jeffrey W. Seifert co-authored a chapter for an anthology, Active Learning in International Studies for the 21st Century, edited by Lynn M. Kuzma, Jeffrey S. Lantis, and John Boehrer, Lynne Reinner, 2000, pp. 201-217. As more courses go "on-line," there is an increasing recognition for the need to push beyond the mere Webification of course materials. In many cases, the robust capabilities of Web-based course instruction have thus far been largely underutilized. In this paper Matt and Jeff evaluate attempts to promote graduate teaching using resources that capture the interactivity and de-centering properties of the World Wide Web. Using written and oral evaluations, they reveal the successes and failures of creating a new learning "environment" from the faculty and students' point of view.

4. The Disruptive and Transformative Potential of Hypertext in the Classroom: Implications for Active Learning

Matt co-authored a paper with Jeffrey W. Seifert for the 1999 Convention of the International Studies Association. The title of the paper was "The Disruptive and Transformative Potential of Hypertext in the Classroom: Implications for Active Learning." While there has been some discussion about how the hypertext will change teaching, the disruptive and transformative potential of hypertext has not been systematically explored. This paper focuses on the unique properties of hypertext and hypermedia--connectivity, non-linearity, de-authoring, and virtual presence--to show how hypertext has an enormous potential for improving teaching and learning. This paper is available on the Web, and was published as "The Disruptive and Transformative Potential of Hypertext in the Classroom: Implications for Active Learning" (co-authored with Jeffrey W. Seifert), International Studies Perspectives, Volume 1, April 2000, pp. 57-73.

5. The Psychology of Corruption in Azerbaijan and Iran

Paper | PowerPoint | Web

This paper describes how elites in Azerbaijan and Iran attribute the causes of corruption in the oil industries of their countries and explain the relationship between the 'culture of corruption' and democratization. The research is based on in-depth interviews with 20 oppositional figures in Azerbaijan, including party leaders and political candidates, plus some media, NGO and academic persons, and a similar sample of 32 members of the oppositional elite in Iran. An analysis of the interviews shows that Azerbaijani respondents were more ready to blame the high level of corruption on situational factors. When this is the case, individuals performing the corrupt acts are acquitted, because the problem is seen as coming from the outside forces. Iranian respondents, on the other hand, overwhelmingly provide dispositional explanations for corruption. Dispositional explanations shift the locus of causation to individuals rather than institutions. Therefore, the principal remedy proposed by Iranian respondents is to expose corrupt acts in the modern media and promote transparency as the main ethical code of behavior - both foreign investors as well as the Iranians, themselves.

The paper was publish in Oil in the Gulf. Obstacles to Democracy and Development. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004.

6. The CCDL PROJECT: Learning Across Borders in a Networked Culture
Paper (MSWord)
This paper, which was co-authored with Michiko Nakano, was published in Malcolm H. Field and James Fegan (eds.), Education Across Borders, Tokyo: Waseda University Press, 2005. Globalization, enhanced by rapid technological innovations, is transforming education into a microcosm of a new interdependent world. This interdependence has made language and communication the single most important commodity of the future. It is mainly through the medium of language that effective communication across borders can take place. In this chapter, we discuss our attempts to collaborate to promote learning across borders in a networked culture, including the linguistic, cultural, and technological challenges that we have encountered. The project aims at enhancing teacher/facilitator skills through a series of cyber lectures and virtual workshops where leaders in the field share their views on language teaching or applied linguistics with all participating members of the project. The chapter also explores the effectiveness of combining interactive digital videoconferencing with a Web-based discussion forum to create a new learning environment, where students in Japan, Russia, and the United States collaborate with their colleagues abroad to address current policy issues. We call this new environment, "collaborative videoconferencing."

7. The "Axis of Evil" Metaphor and the Restructuring of Iranian Views Toward the US

Paper MSWord | PDF

This article, which was co-authored with Daniel Heradstveit, was published in Vaseteh, Journal of the European Society for Iranian Studies, Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 2005), pp. 89-105.

The article is based on a series of interviews conducted in Iran in March and April 2002 with 18 members of the Iranian political elite, who may currently be considered part of the political opposition, as well as interviews conducted in April 2000 in which a total of 14 respondents from the Iranian opposition. Metaphors are tied to cultural contexts, what can be an effective rhetorical instrument in one culture may not convey meaning in another. Due to a quite different Iranian experience of the Second World War, none of our respondents reacted to the word "Axis" at all. The term "evil," on the other hand, is not specifically Western and so functions as intended in both American and Iranian cultural contexts. We can argue that "evil" carries even stronger negative connotations in Iran than in the United States, even though the Americans are a far more religious nation than most European countries. Some respondents seemed rather to accept the validity of a list of "evil" states, but thought that Iran should not be on it, c.f., the several who stressed the difference between Iran and for example North Korea. Their surprise was not at the verbal aspects of the slogan but at the strange company Iran was made to keep.

8. "The 'War on Terrorism': Comparing the Linguistic Formulations of Japanese, Russian, and Western Officials"
Paper: Word | PDF | PPT

This paper, which was co-authored by Daniel Heradstveit, will be presented at the 49^th Annual International Studies Association Convention, 26-29 March 2008, San Francisco.

This paper focuses on how leaders in Japan, Russia, and Western countries talk about the "war on terrorism." The paper discusses the difficulties of defining "terrorism," because, unlike Marxism or capitalism, "terrorism" is not an ideology. Instead the term may be used to designate actions that are used by members of non-governmental organizations against civilian targets. In the case of the "war on terrorism," the signifier, "terrorism," is used widely. However, the signified, the perpetrators and what they do, are quite different. Because the designation of the signified depends upon the speaker, the concept of terrorism seems to be subjective and fluid. The signified switches radically both by context and over time, while the only aspect that is stable is the signifier, "terrorism." The paper goes on to analyze the "war on terrorism" as an ontological metaphor. The paper concludes by arguing that although figures of speech contribute to the cognitive dimension of meaning by helping us to recognize the equivalence to which we are committed and suggesting new equivalences, metaphors like the "war on terrorism" raise problems and do little to increase our understanding. Considering different cultural codes and world views, this type of metaphor is highly counterproductive for communication on the global level.

9. What the "Axis of Evil" Metaphor Did to Iran
Paper (MSWord) | PowerPoint

The paper, which is co-authored with Daniel Heradstveit, was published in The Middle East Journal, Volume 61, Number 3, Summer 2007. This paper focuses the "Axis of Evil" metaphor that was used by President Bush in his State of the Union Address in 2002 to represent Iran, Iraq, and North     Korea. After describing "axis" as a metonym for fascism and Nazism, and "evil" as a metonym for Satanic forces that implies an alliance of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea that is collectively responsible for evil deeds, the authors analyze its impact on Iranian ontologies. The data for this analysis are drawn from in-depth interviews conducted with 18 members of the Iranian oppositional elite. The       interview results suggest that the "Axis of Evil" metaphor had an impact on political discourse in Iran and strengthened the rhetorical position of conservatives vis-a-vis reformers by reviving militant revolutionary language.

10. Using a Role-Playing Simulation to Bridge Theory and Practice in Graduate Professional Education
Paper: MSWord | PDF | PowerPoint
In this paper Matt and Ryan Williams explore the challenge of strengthening a professional Masters program in International Relations, one that offers a core curriculum in theory and methodology, but also practical skills for helping students to launch successful careers in governmental and non-governmental organizations. Dissatisfaction on the part of both faculty and students with a traditional capstone requirement, a 35-page Masters paper, led to a search for a more skills-oriented capstone experience, a role-playing simulation. The first simulation exercise was run in May 2007, after the students had completed their core curriculum. The simulation was designed to build bridges from course work in theory and methodology to career building skills, specifically, policy research that takes into account contextual factors; decision-making; small group interaction; negotiation and bargaining; oral and written advocacy; and self-reflection.  Using text and pictures, Matt and Ryan describe the content and structure of the simulation, simulation outcomes, and reactions of the student participants. They conclude with a short discussion of the lessons learned, and improvements in the design and implementation of the exercise to provide a more satisfying integrative experience. This paper was prepared for delivery at the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, San Jose, CA 22-24 February 2008.

11. Initiative on Cooperation, Communication, and Culture in
International Diplomacy. This is a new research project with Daniel Heradstveit, who is at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo. Thirty years ago Heradstveit published The Arab-Israeli Conflict Psychological Obstacles to Peace. In the book Heradstveit applied the principles of consistency theory and attribution theory, as well as the operational code approach, to the conflict in the Middle East. Although the focus of the research was the Arab-Israeli conflict, the results are highly relevant to the thirty-year conflict between Iran and the United States. This research focuses on cultural obstacles to improving relations between Iran and the West. We are proposing an initiative on Cooperation, Communication, and Culture in International Diplomacy to explore differences in both the cognitions and rhetoric of Iranian officials and those of Western officials. We expect to find significant differences in both cognition and rhetoric: differences that reflect unique experiences that may result in miscommunication and
misunderstanding in international
diplomatic efforts.

Home >> Research Current as of 12 February 2010 Matt Bonham's Research Syracuse University \| Maxwell School \| International Relations Program \| Political Science Department
Recent Papers		Images
1. Attribution Theory and Arab Images of the Gulf War 2. The Limited Test Ban Agreement: Emergence of New Knowledge Structures in International Negotiation 3. Learning Through Digital Technology: Text Chat, Video-conferencing, and Hypertext 4. The Disruptive and Transformative Potential of Hypertext in the Classroom 5. The Psychology of Corruption in Azerbaijan and Iran 6. The CCDL Project: Learning Across Borders in a Networked Culture 7. The "Axis of Evil" Metaphor and the Restructuring of Iranian Views Toward the US 8. "The 'War on Terrorism": Comparing the Linguistic Formulations of Japanese, Russian, and Western Officials" 9. What the "Axis of Evil" Metaphor Did to Iran 10. Using a Role-Playing Simulation to Bridge Theory and Practice 11. Initiative on Cooperation, Communication, and Culture in International Diplomacy	1. Attribution Theory and Arab Images of the Gulf War Article: Click Here Matt worked with Daniel Heradstveit, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and the University of Bergen, to conduct an in-depth interview study of Arab elites in the wake of the Gulf War, research that only partially supports a crucial finding of research on actor-observer differences in social attribution. The results of the interview study suggest the importance of distinguishing, in applications of attribution theory, between complex political situations and simple laboratory settings, the perspectives of actors versus observers, and cultural differences in discursive practices. This research was published in Political Psychology, Volume 17, Number 2 (June 1996), pp. 271-292.
	2.The Limited Test-Ban Agreement: Emergence of New Knowledge Structures in International Negotiation Matt collaborated in this research with Victor M. Sergeev and Pavel Parshin to analyze cognitive maps constructed from exchanges between President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev on the test-ban negotiations. A comparison of the negotiations over time reveals the emergence of new knowledge structures that were hypothesized to facilitate the 1963 agreement on nuclear testing. To complete this research, Matt and his Russian colleagues had to develop a framework for investigating the ontological pre-understandings that lie behind political texts and develop new coding rules, called "processual coding," to code the holistic views that lie behind many Soviet texts. This research was published in International Studies Quarterly, Volume 41, June 1997, pp. 215-240.
	3. Learning Through Digital Technology: Text Chat, Video-Conferencing, and Hypertext Jeffrey W. Seifert co-authored a chapter for an anthology, Active Learning in International Studies for the 21st Century, edited by Lynn M. Kuzma, Jeffrey S. Lantis, and John Boehrer, Lynne Reinner, 2000, pp. 201-217. As more courses go "on-line," there is an increasing recognition for the need to push beyond the mere Webification of course materials. In many cases, the robust capabilities of Web-based course instruction have thus far been largely underutilized. In this paper Matt and Jeff evaluate attempts to promote graduate teaching using resources that capture the interactivity and de-centering properties of the World Wide Web. Using written and oral evaluations, they reveal the successes and failures of creating a new learning "environment" from the faculty and students' point of view.
	4. The Disruptive and Transformative Potential of Hypertext in the Classroom: Implications for Active Learning Matt co-authored a paper with Jeffrey W. Seifert for the 1999 Convention of the International Studies Association. The title of the paper was "The Disruptive and Transformative Potential of Hypertext in the Classroom: Implications for Active Learning." While there has been some discussion about how the hypertext will change teaching, the disruptive and transformative potential of hypertext has not been systematically explored. This paper focuses on the unique properties of hypertext and hypermedia--connectivity, non-linearity, de-authoring, and virtual presence--to show how hypertext has an enormous potential for improving teaching and learning. This paper is available on the Web, and was published as "The Disruptive and Transformative Potential of Hypertext in the Classroom: Implications for Active Learning" (co-authored with Jeffrey W. Seifert), International Studies Perspectives, Volume 1, April 2000, pp. 57-73.
	5. The Psychology of Corruption in Azerbaijan and Iran Paper \| PowerPoint \| Web This paper describes how elites in Azerbaijan and Iran attribute the causes of corruption in the oil industries of their countries and explain the relationship between the 'culture of corruption' and democratization. The research is based on in-depth interviews with 20 oppositional figures in Azerbaijan, including party leaders and political candidates, plus some media, NGO and academic persons, and a similar sample of 32 members of the oppositional elite in Iran. An analysis of the interviews shows that Azerbaijani respondents were more ready to blame the high level of corruption on situational factors. When this is the case, individuals performing the corrupt acts are acquitted, because the problem is seen as coming from the outside forces. Iranian respondents, on the other hand, overwhelmingly provide dispositional explanations for corruption. Dispositional explanations shift the locus of causation to individuals rather than institutions. Therefore, the principal remedy proposed by Iranian respondents is to expose corrupt acts in the modern media and promote transparency as the main ethical code of behavior - both foreign investors as well as the Iranians, themselves. The paper was publish in Oil in the Gulf. Obstacles to Democracy and Development. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004.
	6. The CCDL PROJECT: Learning Across Borders in a Networked Culture Paper (MSWord) This paper, which was co-authored with Michiko Nakano, was published in Malcolm H. Field and James Fegan (eds.), Education Across Borders, Tokyo: Waseda University Press, 2005. Globalization, enhanced by rapid technological innovations, is transforming education into a microcosm of a new interdependent world. This interdependence has made language and communication the single most important commodity of the future. It is mainly through the medium of language that effective communication across borders can take place. In this chapter, we discuss our attempts to collaborate to promote learning across borders in a networked culture, including the linguistic, cultural, and technological challenges that we have encountered. The project aims at enhancing teacher/facilitator skills through a series of cyber lectures and virtual workshops where leaders in the field share their views on language teaching or applied linguistics with all participating members of the project. The chapter also explores the effectiveness of combining interactive digital videoconferencing with a Web-based discussion forum to create a new learning environment, where students in Japan, Russia, and the United States collaborate with their colleagues abroad to address current policy issues. We call this new environment, "collaborative videoconferencing."
	7. The "Axis of Evil" Metaphor and the Restructuring of Iranian Views Toward the US Paper MSWord \| PDF This article, which was co-authored with Daniel Heradstveit, was published in Vaseteh, Journal of the European Society for Iranian Studies, Volume 1, Number 1 (Winter 2005), pp. 89-105. The article is based on a series of interviews conducted in Iran in March and April 2002 with 18 members of the Iranian political elite, who may currently be considered part of the political opposition, as well as interviews conducted in April 2000 in which a total of 14 respondents from the Iranian opposition. Metaphors are tied to cultural contexts, what can be an effective rhetorical instrument in one culture may not convey meaning in another. Due to a quite different Iranian experience of the Second World War, none of our respondents reacted to the word "Axis" at all. The term "evil," on the other hand, is not specifically Western and so functions as intended in both American and Iranian cultural contexts. We can argue that "evil" carries even stronger negative connotations in Iran than in the United States, even though the Americans are a far more religious nation than most European countries. Some respondents seemed rather to accept the validity of a list of "evil" states, but thought that Iran should not be on it, c.f., the several who stressed the difference between Iran and for example North Korea. Their surprise was not at the verbal aspects of the slogan but at the strange company Iran was made to keep.
	8. "The 'War on Terrorism': Comparing the Linguistic Formulations of Japanese, Russian, and Western Officials" Paper: Word \| PDF \| PPT This paper, which was co-authored by Daniel Heradstveit, will be presented at the 49^th Annual International Studies Association Convention, 26-29 March 2008, San Francisco. This paper focuses on how leaders in Japan, Russia, and Western countries talk about the "war on terrorism." The paper discusses the difficulties of defining "terrorism," because, unlike Marxism or capitalism, "terrorism" is not an ideology. Instead the term may be used to designate actions that are used by members of non-governmental organizations against civilian targets. In the case of the "war on terrorism," the signifier, "terrorism," is used widely. However, the signified, the perpetrators and what they do, are quite different. Because the designation of the signified depends upon the speaker, the concept of terrorism seems to be subjective and fluid. The signified switches radically both by context and over time, while the only aspect that is stable is the signifier, "terrorism." The paper goes on to analyze the "war on terrorism" as an ontological metaphor. The paper concludes by arguing that although figures of speech contribute to the cognitive dimension of meaning by helping us to recognize the equivalence to which we are committed and suggesting new equivalences, metaphors like the "war on terrorism" raise problems and do little to increase our understanding. Considering different cultural codes and world views, this type of metaphor is highly counterproductive for communication on the global level.
	9. What the "Axis of Evil" Metaphor Did to Iran Paper (MSWord) \| PowerPoint The paper, which is co-authored with Daniel Heradstveit, was published in The Middle East Journal, Volume 61, Number 3, Summer 2007. This paper focuses the "Axis of Evil" metaphor that was used by President Bush in his State of the Union Address in 2002 to represent Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. After describing "axis" as a metonym for fascism and Nazism, and "evil" as a metonym for Satanic forces that implies an alliance of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea that is collectively responsible for evil deeds, the authors analyze its impact on Iranian ontologies. The data for this analysis are drawn from in-depth interviews conducted with 18 members of the Iranian oppositional elite. The interview results suggest that the "Axis of Evil" metaphor had an impact on political discourse in Iran and strengthened the rhetorical position of conservatives vis-a-vis reformers by reviving militant revolutionary language.
	10. Using a Role-Playing Simulation to Bridge Theory and Practice in Graduate Professional Education Paper: MSWord \| PDF \| PowerPoint In this paper Matt and Ryan Williams explore the challenge of strengthening a professional Masters program in International Relations, one that offers a core curriculum in theory and methodology, but also practical skills for helping students to launch successful careers in governmental and non-governmental organizations. Dissatisfaction on the part of both faculty and students with a traditional capstone requirement, a 35-page Masters paper, led to a search for a more skills-oriented capstone experience, a role-playing simulation. The first simulation exercise was run in May 2007, after the students had completed their core curriculum. The simulation was designed to build bridges from course work in theory and methodology to career building skills, specifically, policy research that takes into account contextual factors; decision-making; small group interaction; negotiation and bargaining; oral and written advocacy; and self-reflection. Using text and pictures, Matt and Ryan describe the content and structure of the simulation, simulation outcomes, and reactions of the student participants. They conclude with a short discussion of the lessons learned, and improvements in the design and implementation of the exercise to provide a more satisfying integrative experience. This paper was prepared for delivery at the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, San Jose, CA 22-24 February 2008.
	11. Initiative on Cooperation, Communication, and Culture in International Diplomacy. This is a new research project with Daniel Heradstveit, who is at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo. Thirty years ago Heradstveit published The Arab-Israeli Conflict Psychological Obstacles to Peace. In the book Heradstveit applied the principles of consistency theory and attribution theory, as well as the operational code approach, to the conflict in the Middle East. Although the focus of the research was the Arab-Israeli conflict, the results are highly relevant to the thirty-year conflict between Iran and the United States. This research focuses on cultural obstacles to improving relations between Iran and the West. We are proposing an initiative on Cooperation, Communication, and Culture in International Diplomacy to explore differences in both the cognitions and rhetoric of Iranian officials and those of Western officials. We expect to find significant differences in both cognition and rhetoric: differences that reflect unique experiences that may result in miscommunication and misunderstanding in international diplomatic efforts.

Home >> Research Current as of 12 February 2010 Matt Bonham's Research Syracuse University | Maxwell School | International Relations Program | Political Science Department

Home >> Research
Current as of 12 February 2010
Matt Bonham's Research

Syracuse University | Maxwell School | International Relations Program | Political Science Department