Digital Commons Network^™

What Doesn’T Kill You Makes You Stronger: The Shifting Strategies Of Japan’S Yakuza In Response To Economic Globalization And Securitization, Benjamin P. Murkison

Honors College Theses

The Yakuza in Japan is a deeply traditional and infamous ethnic mafia, which has historically based their profits off of the protection of gambling rings and street vendors, but have developed into one of the most sophisticated and wealthy criminal institutions in the world. Reaching their peak in the 1960’s with around 200,000 members, the Yakuza has been in a slow decline ever since. However, the past decade has seen the most dramatic drop in Yakuza numbers in recorded history, as a result of increasing securitization by the Japanese state. As their power has declined within Japan, they have only …

Civil Society Organizations Serving Children In Vietnam: Opportunities And Constraints Working With Government Agencies, Trang P. Kelly

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

When Vietnamese civil society organization (CSO) administrators manage their relationships with government authorities to ensure children receive social services, they operate under Vietnam’s complex political, socioeconomic, and cultural constraints in environments where the Vietnamese government employs soft power to control CSOs and their donors. This study adds to the literature on the nature of CSO in Vietnam. It details the current imbalance of power between state-sponsored organizations (SSOs) and non-SSOs and provides an updated view of how Vietnamese non-SSOs mix social, economic, and political roles as employers and advocates.

Combining a qualitative exploratory and interpretative case study, I address a …

Covid-19, Digitization, And The "New Normal" For Municipal Government: A Study Of Three Ontario Cities, Justin Lee Grainger

Major Papers

The COVID-19 pandemic is viewed as both an unprecedented challenge and an impetus for digital transformation. During the pandemic, a “new normal” discourse emerged predicting a surge in digitization that would radically and permanently change organizations. This paper examines how the pandemic has affected municipal governments through case studies of the City of Windsor, City of Kitchener, and City of Burlington. It compares how each city adapted to the pandemic through digitization and investigates if such changes have transformed citizen participation and governance in the cities under study. The paper focuses on two ways citizens engage with local government: voting …

Decolonizing Municipal Policing: Indigenous Discrimination And Institutional Approaches, Terran Morris

Major Papers

For decades, there have been growing calls to address systemic Indigenous racism in Canadian police institutions. However, progress in this area has remained troublingly slow as recent movements have had little impact on institutional reform. Indigenous Peoples are left disproportionately victimized and overrepresented in the criminal justice system due to discriminatory policing practices. In recent years calls for institutional reforms have been amplified with the completion of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls as well as countless other scathing reports from oversight bodies into racism within municipal police services. Given this newfound urgency, municipal police …

Revolution In Cuba And Iran: Toward A Unified Theory Of Analysis, Mason Sims

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to fill a small gap in the study of revolution through unifying approaches and theories utilized to explain the complex social phenomenon. To facilitate this, a large portion of the work focuses on revolution literature which has been chosen to represent authors from the earliest generations covering the subject to the more recent. In compiling and reviewing these works, it can be seen that there exist common lines of not just explanation, but also a continuous series of critiques resurfacing within each generation. Within this compilation lies the roots of the theory presented in this thesis, that …

The Effectiveness Of Body Cameras In Reduction Of Police Brutality/Misconduct Against African Americans, Osediegbeyen Ediale

Major Papers

Police brutality against Black people remains a critical subject matter among scholars in the international society. However, because of the broad nature of the subject of police brutality, this study focused on the United States which is rated as one of the countries with the highest police violence cases in the world. With the rising number of Black-led protests against this menace, the US government, in response, provided the solution of body cameras to mitigate the rise of police violence against ordinary citizens. However, as this study indicates, this solution is limited in its effectiveness.

This study sought to perform …

Elder Abuse In Canada: Dimensions And Policy Responses, Taylor Marekovic

Major Papers

Elder abuse and neglect continues to be a gray area when it comes to convicting perpetrators such as family, friends, strangers, and caregivers who commit any form of physical, psychological, financial, neglect, or sexual abuse towards an elder. This is due to the legal definition being vague and non-transparent. The legal and health systems rely on two different definitions of what is deemed to be elder abuse and neglect in Canada when reviewing or assessing allegations of such abuse. Elder abuse and neglect increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Ontario and the rest of Canada experienced staffing shortages in …

A Comparative Analysis Of Regional Institution Engagement And Development Trajectories In South America And Eastern Asia, Joel S. Guahnich

Senior Projects Fall 2023

This project analyzes the reasons behind South American struggles connected to regional organizations compared to Southeastern Asian economic and political development in the second half of the 20th century. When exploring the unique characteristics and historical context of South American and Eastern Asian regional blocs such as the Union of South American NationsUSAN/ Union de Naciones Suramericanas, UNASUR, Mercado Común del Sur MERCOSUR; Eastern Asian regional blocs such as The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, and The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This project seeks to understand the factors contributing to their distinct trajectories, highlighting how they have achieved …

Home Is Where The Heart Is: Rural Residents, Deprivation, And The Impact Of Prd On Governmental Representation, Mary Rachael Blandau

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

How does rural deprivation, defined here as the perception that rural residents are deprived of economic and social capital that comparatively disadvantages them more than their urban and suburban counterparts, impact their political attitudes? And how do these perceptions, termed perceived rural deprivation, impact their attitudes towards the government? While scholars have long studied rural behavior, interest in the topic was reinvigorated during the Trump presidency once it became clear that rural voters contributed to Donald Trump’s election in 2016 and became some of his strongest and most loyal supporters during his presidency.

Before we can answer the question of …

Coalition Of The Ending: Why States Withdraw From International Military Coalitions, Weiss Mehrabi

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

This dissertation examines the causes and conditions motivating states to discontinue supporting an ongoing military coalition operation and prematurely abandon their partners. In exploring coalition defection through a three-article dissertation, I advance three separate theoretical arguments focusing on three levels of analysis.

The first article contributes to the literature by investigating the effects of political regime types on coalition abandonment during interstate wars. I argue that anocracies are dependable wartime partners and will not abandon coalition warfare earlier than autocracies and democracies. I advance two arguments for the theory of anocratic reliability. First, leaders of mixed regimes expect severe post-defeat …

The Valley Of Science And Fiction: Capitalism, Labor, Race, And Environment In The Silicon Valley, Juliette R. Zicot

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College

Do We Want Them To Understand Each Other? Perceptions Of Political Perspective-Takers, Ian Beatty

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

America has been more divided along partisan lines in recent years (Pew Research Center, 2019). One major factor contributing to this polarization is a lack of understanding regarding why members of political out-groups maintain their beliefs. The simple act of perspective-taking may help to counter the negative effects of this ideological division. Although the benefits of perspective-taking are well documented (Batson, Polycarpou et al., 1997), less is known regarding perceived perspective-taking or perceptions of perspective-takers. In this study, I explore whether the benefits of perspective-taking can be achieved by witnessing a member of the political in-group take the perspective of …

The Role Of Symbolic Politics In Shaping Political Attitudes: A Study Of Trump And Biden's Campaign Speeches, Nimra Asif

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this study, five speeches by Donald Trump and six by Joe Biden were comprehensively analyzed for their symbolic politics on immigration and social issues. The data revealed a consistent trend, with Trump featuring a greater number of mentions in comparison to Biden—66 and 26, respectively. Furthermore, Trump's symbolic politics exhibited a predominantly negative tone, while Biden's approach was predominantly positive. The results of this analysis confirm my hypotheses, highlighting notable disparities in the rhetoric employed by each candidate. Trump amplified a negative outlook on social issues and immigration, whereas Biden strategically mentioned and positively framed these issues. This research …

Perception Vs. Reality: The Influence Of Civic Experiences In High School On Adult Civic Engagement, Kaya Bottmeyer

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Research on political socialization has shown that individuals’ families and education play a significant role in their later political actions and attitudes, but more needs to be understood on how large the role of education is and, specifically, what impact secondary education has on people’s political socialization. Literature suggests that educational standards that require more civics or social science courses are more effective in creating civically engaged individuals, and curriculums that employ service learning and experiential learning techniques are even more effective at increasing civic engagement, but to what extent does a person's perception of their educational experience factor into …

The Fall Of The Pakatan Harapan (Ph): Contesting Nationalism In Malaysia, Cheng Kidd Sun

Honors Theses

The collapse of the 22 months-old Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition-government in 2020 was the ultimate manifestation of contestations over nationalism that have continued in Malaysia since the nation’s inception more than six decades ago. The “middle ground” platform — a political moderation strategy to win across ethnic lines to obtain multiethnic support — that helped the PH coalition to win the 14th Malaysian General Election was shattered due to identity tensions. The current political discourse has persistently insisted that the betrayal of politicians and political parties, along with economic insecurity and media fragmentation, had contributed to the downfall of this …

United We Stand? Investigating The Impact Of Unified Dues Agreements Between State And National Career & Technical Education (Cte) Professional Organizations On Cte Funding In The Southern States, Justin Ryan Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers have long been active in lobbying the federal and state governments in support of CTE through their professional organizations, but these are not traditionally considered interest groups. This study sought to determine if the formal relationships—dues agreements—between the two largest national professional organizations, and their state affiliates had an impact on state funding for CTE. The impacts of professional organization unity, membership rates, and lobbying expenses on state-level CTE funding were analyzed through the lens of interest group theory, a subfield of political science. Within this population (N = 13), 1) a link …

Foreign Policy In Media: An Examination Of The Captain America Films., Kat Hernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Popular culture and media are consumed daily by billions around the world, media which can contain meaningful and politically relevant material. The three Captain America films from the 2010s represent this phenomenon in the presentation of Captain America as a nationalist superhero with geopolitically relevant storylines. The direction and production of these films illustrate significant parallels to foreign policy choices of the United States. Through an interpretive analysis of the Captain America films: Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War, this project seeks to analyze Captain America’s image and …

Intersectionality Pertaining To The Disproportionate Rates Of Black Women In Prisons And Jails, Mackenzie Heller

University Honors Theses

The incarceration rates of Black women in America surpass even all other demographics. Yet, Black women are often not on the news when discussing prison rates in the United States. Rather we see Black men, Hispanic men, and so forth. While these people do make up large portions of the prison system they are seeing a decline in their incarceration rates. Black women are often pushed to the sidelines when discussing matters that can be seen as central to their livelihoods.

This thesis addresses the intersectionality that only Black women experience and how that affects their imprisonment rates and experiences …

Maladies Of Public Administration: Factors That Exacerbate Corruption In Kenya, Moses Waithaka

Dissertations

This study examines factors that exacerbate corruption in Kenya, focusing on institutional weakness as a key factor that fosters corruption in government institutions. Thus, the study examines difficulty in accessing public services, lack of availability of the broadest and most straightforward access to information, and electoral manipulation -voter intimidation, and inability to remove elected leader through the ballot. The study uses Afrobarometer round 8 dataset collected between November and December 2019. This data set was collected under the guidance of the University of Nairobi Institute for Development Studies IDS. Additionally, the study considers a comprehensive literature review to assess and …

Juries And The Effects Of Priming, Keondra Williams

Honors College Theses

How do jurors' responses to Non-White defendants in the Criminal Courts change when they are primed to think about police discrimination? There are general disparities within the Criminal Justice System of the United States that negatively impact racial minorities. This paper discusses these general disparities within the Criminal Justice System of the United States. Black and Latinx individuals are charged and sentenced for crimes involving drugs at higher rates than Whites. They are also more likely to face the death penalty or longer sentences. I look at whether or not priming jury members to think about police discrimination will decrease …

An Incomplete Necrography Of The Gilbert Farmstead: A Case Study Of The Reinforcement Of A Southern New England Settler-Colonial Narrative And The Silencing Of Indigeneity At An Early American Living History Museum, Aiden Chisholm

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Colombian Women’S Experiences Of The Canadian Refugee And Asylum Adjudication Process, Camila N. Parra Carrillo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present thesis “Colombian women’s experiences of the Canadian refugee and asylum adjudication process” is an ethnographic description and analysis of the experiences of Colombian refugee women as they move through the refugee and asylum adjudication system in Ontario, Canada. Using concepts such as liminality, politics of waiting, hermeneutics of suspicion and arbitrariness, the refugee and asylum adjudication system is shown to be a site of power and domination that creates negative emotions in the people who face it, especially in the oral hearing as a central event in the process. Centering Colombian refugee women’s voices, their experiences and emotions …

The Eastern Atomic Rise: Defining Nuclear Hegemony In A Multi-Lateral World, Eric Rodriguez

Capstone Collection

Most existing literature in the field of international relations on the hegemonic dimension of nuclear technology is written from a realist, western perspective within the context of the Cold War. It focuses on its military, defense, and security dimensions, non-proliferation and safety, and some analyses of hegemony from a cultural media perspective. This theory-building paper offers contrasting understanding of nuclear hegemony, which recognizes three recent developments: 1) diminished Western Hegemony in nuclear technology; 2) growing Chinese nuclear capacity in energy geopolitics; and 3) growing concerns about global energy security. This paper begins with an overview of these developments and a …

The American Grammar Of Policing As An Afterlife Of Slavery: Arguments For An Abolition Democracy, Emily E. Buss

University Honors Theses

Prison abolition has entered mainstream conversation in recent years as the uniquely American carceral system comes increasingly under fire for its racial disparities, police brutality and prison labor. While these issues are sometimes framed as newly emerging, this paper utilizes a Foucauldian genealogical approach in conversation with works by W. E. B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, and other thinkers from the black radical tradition to interrogate the evolving tendencies and underlying historical forces of racial capitalism and white supremacy that shape the contemporary American prison industrial complex. Emerging out of the experience of racial slavery, these forces constitute what Hortense …

The Cult Fascist: Establishing Cultic Behavior In Proud Boys And Incels, Aj Ashland

University Honors Theses

Is the Alt-Right a cult? Certainly, we can see religious fervor intertwine with politics as we see in the far-right, with artwork of Trump being crucified like Jesus, pierced in his side by Nancy Pelosi analogous to Longinus (Cole, 2020), or in the golden statue of Trump at CPAC (Beauchamp, 2021). But, do we see similar, potentially cultic, behavior within Alt-Right groups? It turns out we do see this behavior. Within this study, I determine via the Advanced Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Frame what level of cultic behavior exists within Incels and Proud Boys. In doing so, I intend to …

In The Eye Of The Storm: A Discourse Analysis Of Disproval And The Internet's Effects On Qanon, Cameron Bortolon

Major Papers

The role of conspiracy theories as a political force has recently attracted the attention of scholars and commentators, but little work exists on the ways in which the internet affects these unique sociopolitical phenomena. Especially noteworthy is the fact that these theories’ proponents are not even remotely bound to rational responses to real-world events, making them political forces that are uniquely difficult to predict and understand. The uncanny case of QAnon, a now-infamous pro-Trump conspiracy theory that developed for years on internet messageboards before manifesting in the January 6th 2021 assault on the US Capitol, has the potential to illuminate …

To The Shores Of Tripoli: A Barbary Retrospective, Kathleen J. Brett

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The First and Second Barbary Wars were incredibly influential in shaping the diplomatic and military tactics of the early United States. These wars were fought against the Barbary states of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers, located on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. The First Barbary War lasted between the years of 1801 to 1805. The First Barbary War began due to the United States’ desire to no longer pay tribute sums to the Barbary states, along with an increase in the number American merchantmen captured and enslaved by the Barbary states. Tripoli served as the primary aggressor in the …

Where The Rainbow Ends: The Hidden Humanitarian Crisis For Members Of The Lgbtqia+ Community In International Business, John R. Krendel

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Before pursuing an international career, members of the LGBTQIA+ community must be aware of the hardship that may be exacerbated by living and working abroad. This study addresses the trends in laws, including employment and anti-discrimination laws, that provide and restrict certain rights of members of the LGBTQIA+ community in eight countries. These nations, both progressive and discriminatory, include the United States, England, Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Kazakhstan. Eight LGBTQIA+ business professionals spoke on their experiences living and working in each of these countries and provided advice to members of the community wishing to pursue an international …

How Religion And Age Are Correlated With Partisan Geographical Sorting In The United States, Claire Monsour

Honors Theses

This study explores the intersection of two main demographic variables, religion and age, and the ongoing phenomenon of partisan geographical sorting in the United States. Americans have been migrating to areas composed of politically like-minded individuals for the past few decades, resulting in the existence of Republican and Democratic clusters throughout the country. Republicans are sorting into rural areas, while Democrats are sorting into urban areas. Republicans and rural residents as a whole are more religious than are Democrats and urban residents. In addition, on average, Republicans and rural residents are older than Democrats and urban residents. Moreover, religion and …

Food Insecurity During Covid-19 In Nyc: Inefficiencies Of Governmental Responses, Jannet Musleh

Student Theses

Due to its status as a liberal welfare state, the United States has largely relied on charities to provide food assistance to its citizens. This reliance on charity became a particular issue in the context of COVID-19 as the charities were unable to efficiently feed food insecure households. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue of food insecurity within New York City and shown the cracks within the food emergency distribution network. There is limited research on food insecurity nested in welfare state theory that scrutinizes the failures of government. The overall aim of this paper is to explore the …