Digital Commons Network^™

Restricted At Home, Impeded Abroad: A Study Of Domestic Human Rights Practices And Women’S Global Economic Power, Cameron Elizabeth Cheatham

Honors College Theses

To what extent does the practice of human rights as universal or culturally relative impact women’s status in the global economy? While there is already evidence to show how women have less power in countries that practice culturally relative human rights, this study aims to explore how the domestic practice of human rights influences women’s global power through an analysis of women’s financial inclusion. Using a cross-national, quantitative analysis, I show that human rights practices in the domestic arena directly impact the economic power of women in the global economy. When human rights practices at home are more universal in …

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 …

The Age-Less Citizen: Cultivating A Civically Engaged K-12 Community Through The Use Of Service Learning, Chelsia I. Douglas Mpa

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

The Age-less Citizen will analyze evidence-based civic education studies and explore proactive student engagement strategies to build an individualized nonpartisan action plan for each school represented. From sending election reminders home by a kindergartener, to including local school board meetings on school newsletter and calendars, attendees will take away practical tips and tools to restore faith in the younger generation's ability to improve our democracy.

Presidents And Media During Initial Federal-Level Hurricane Relief: A Study Of Presidential Crisis Communication Efforts, Emily A. Ball

Honors College Theses

Public relations serves a huge role in almost every sector, including politics. Crisis communication, a subset of public relations, is very important in a setting that constantly undergoes crises. The response to these crises matters a great deal on the federal level because the outcomes can affect such a wide variety of policies and even elections. Because of this, I wanted to focus on one type of crisis that every president is almost guaranteed to face: hurricanes. To examine the effectiveness of federal-level crisis communication, I look at Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden’s responses to the worst hurricane during their …

Middle Savannah River: An A/R/Tographic Ecopedagogical Ethnography Experimenting With Rhizomatic Perspectives, Lisa Augustine-Chizmar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is an experiment in perspective. Using the four commonplaces (Schwab, 1978), I practiced letting the Savannah River teach me what there is to know about the water, the land, the people, and the other entities that depend on ki through artistic, ethnographic, and ecopedagogical lenses. The ethnographic findings describe the social actors that depend on ki and give a voice to the River. The a/r/tographic findings display the River on a canvas map through two hundred years using paint, clay, photography, video, abstract acrylics, and fabric. Together, these methods contribute to a unique ecopedagogical journey. This word cloud …

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 …

Targeted Sanctions Against Human Rights Violators: A Question Of Efficacy, Jennifer F. Dillard

Honors College Theses

Human rights violations occur all too frequently, with authoritarian regimes at the forefront of abuses. Countries that respect human rights engage in various initiatives, one such example being targeted sanctions to try and stem the tide of human suffering at the hands of unscrupulous dictators. Currently, Uyghurs are victims of genocide in China, dissidents in countries such as Russia and Belarus are falsely imprisoned, and individuals in Saudi Arabia are persecuted and imprisoned solely for advocating for freedom of speech and equality for women. Each of these countries have been the subject of sanctions. This paper seeks to answer the …

Defund The Police: Snappy Slogan Or A Viable Solution? A Case Study Of Savannah, Georgia, Michayla F. Knox

Honors College Theses

The notion of defunding the police remains a hot-button political topic since the protests of Summer 2020. The forefront of the debate concerns how defunding the police will impact crime rates. Still, the topic has scarcely been investigated empirically. This thesis provides an early examination into the relationship between "defunding the police", reallocating funding, and crime rates in Savannah, Ga. Several experiments are performed to answer three research questions that involve comparing and manipulating the budget provided for policing and the budgets for neighborhood vitality and poverty reduction. The findings show that Savannah allocates significantly more money to the policing …

The Universal Periodic Review: Determining An International Organization’S Impact On Women’S Rights In A State, Miranda R. Peterson Ms.

Honors College Theses

How does official criticism from the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) affect the level of government respect for women’s rights in a state? International governmental organizations (IGOs), such as the Universal Periodic Review, play an important role in the overall global community. Although there is some evidence that IGOs can improve respect for human rights in a state, scholars do not yet know the impact on women’s rights specifically, especially when it comes to naming and shaming. I investigate this relationship, theorizing that the UPR will positively impact women’s rights, but this effect will be contingent on the level of terrorist …

The Influence Of Misinformation From The American Perspective, Tyler W. Nelson

Honors College Theses

Over the last decade, conspiracy theorists and larger groups have become much more prominent across the United States, despite conspiracies being present for decades. Previously, they have been dismissed by most, however over the last decade due to an explosive political climate and growing numbers, these groups have begun to act on their beliefs. Events such as the January 6th Insurrection on the United States Capitol building is an unfortunate example as to how far these groups are willing to go. This study’s purpose is to use a nationwide survey to help determine who exactly are these types of individuals …

Assessing Thematic Correlations Between Extremist Political Organizations Of The Past And Present, Andrew C. Eunice

Honors College Theses

The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, saw more than five hundred protestors teamed with dozens of militia groups, all representing anti-government and white nationalist groups. Also present were over one thousand counter protestors, many representing far-left and antifascist groups, leading to a violent confrontation between the two sides. As we have developed our core themes of what defines the United States of America, we have also fostered a strong division along the way, enough to the point where some individuals feel the necessity to act with violence to “save our nation” so to speak. This conviction exists within …

Breaking The 'Cis' Binary: Examining The Role Model Effect Among Cisgender Women And Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming Individuals, Elizabeth A. Diamanduros

Honors College Theses

While recent strides have been made regarding more transgender and gender non-conforming individuals (TGNC) running for and being elected to political office in the United States, only 64 individuals who identify as part of the community are currently serving elected office (LGBTQ Victory Institute 2021). Though cisgender women have also faced political underrepresentation, higher rates of cisgender women have campaigned for and won elected office at all levels of government in recent years. Previous research illustrates the differences between the political and societal situations of these groups, including drawing attention to the elements of visibility and viability the Role Model …

Irregular Warfare, Insurgencies, And Counterinsurgencies: Culture Matters, José De Arimatéia Da Cruz

Department of Political Science and International Studies Faculty Publications

Georgia Southern faculty member José de Arimatéia da Cruz authored Irregular Warfare, Insurgencies, and Counterinsurgencies: Culture Matters in Journal of Advanced Military Studies, Special Issue on Strategic Culture.

A Qualitative Analysis Of The South China Sea Dispute, Nalanda Roy

Department of Political Science and International Studies Faculty Publications

This project summarizes my doctoral dissertation concerning the South China Sea (henceforth SCS) dispute by utilizing a qualitative research design. The purpose of this study was to explore why the SCS dispute has long been regarded as one of the most complex and challenging ocean-related maritime disputes in Southeast Asia. This case study provides the opportunity for readers to examine whether this dispute has the potential of escalating into serious international conflicts because of its geographic position in major oceanic routes as well as for both tapped and untapped natural resources. The study is designed to create an understanding as …

Nurturing Democracy? Mediating Between Women Chief Executives And Voter Turnout, Gabrielle A. Peterson

Honors College Theses

Does the presence of female candidates in executive elections increase voter turnout for that election? Does the presence of female chief executives in states increase voter turnout following their tenure? While there is little research surrounding female chief executives and candidates, past research on women in parliament has shown that the increased prevalence of female legislators increases voter turnout rates due to role modeling and socialization. Overall, a more diverse government will feel more democratic and thus more welcoming of participation by both men and women. I theorize that this phenomenon remains true with both female candidates in executive elections …

A Sign Of The Times- How Ethnonationalist Executives Affect Democracy, Adam M. Sikes

Honors College Theses

In the immediate post-Cold War era, proponents of democracy envisioned a world with few barriers to the spread of democracy and its institutions globally. However, a clear trend has been definitively established in the recent academic discourse pointing to a marked decline in the quality of democracies in several democratizing states. While the root causes for this decline continue to be a contentious subject, much of the existing literature depends on institutional theory to explain the cause of democratic backsliding. Concurrently, we have seen a dramatic stream of news about the state of democracy in two of the world’s most …

The New Open Forum: Social Media Use In Georgia Gubernatorial Elections, John Mack

Honors College Theses

In 2018, Georgia saw one of the most contested elections in recent memory with Brian Kemp narrowly defeating Stacey Abrams. As a part of that election, social media would play a critical role in how campaigns are run. This thesis takes a look at previous literature on voter turnout and social media. This thesis asks: How did the campaigns use social media to spread their message, and in what stage of the election was social media most effective? To answer that question this thesis features a content analysis of Facebook posts and Tweets from the 2018 elections compared to posts …

Transnational Perspectives And Euroscepticism: A Strategical Rhetoric Of Blame, Madeline F. Bercher

Honors College Theses

The increasing success of Eurosceptic parties in national and European elections is undeniable. In the last twenty years, the European Union (EU) has faced economic, social, and political crises without much time in between. As a result, we are now the witnesses to an institutional crisis rendered even more real by the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU in January 2020. In this paper, I analyze the changes in rhetorical strategies employed by Eurosceptic parties to gather stronger electoral support.

Many scholars have now agreed that Euroscepticism and the parties representing it have become mainstream and accepted by …

International Studies Poster Gallery: Sharing Undergraduate Research In The Time Of Covid-19, Erin M. Weber

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

While the Covid-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to information literacy instruction, it has also provided opportunities to find unique ways to use digital tools to showcase student learning. One such virtual learning opportunity was the International Studies Poster Gallery, a collaborative effort between the Paul Meek Library and College of Business and Global Affairs at the University of Tennessee at Martin. This Poster Gallery built on an in-person event from the previous year to move the student poster presentations into a virtual space. Senior students studying International Studies spent the semester researching their topics, and then presented their poster …

Influence Of Political Affiliation On Perceived Media Bias And Trustworthiness In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Tabitha Lamberth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Partisanship and news source attribution may influence perceived media bias and trust in COVID-19 information. This study aimed to explore how the similarity liking effect relates to political identity and perceived credibility. Our main hypothesis was that individuals would find news sources that shared their political affiliation as more trustworthy than other news sources. To test our hypothesis, 216 undergraduate students participated in a study that measured participants’ trustworthiness of a news article with randomized source attribution from a liberal, conservative, and neutral source. A 2X3 ANOVA tested the relationship between our participants’ political affiliation, measured by the 12-item Social …

Cannot Afford To Publicly Surrender: The Public's Influence On Ronald Reagan's Strategic Relationship With South Africa, Jessica P. Forsee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reagan’s administration used the policy of constructive engagement to bring gradual reform to the apartheid system and build peace in the southern African region. The coordination of anti-apartheid activist organizations and members advocating for harsher economic pressure on South Africa successfully raised US public awareness and shifted public opinion against constructive engagement’s gradualist policies. As a result, leading Reagan staffers like Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker recalibrated constructive engagement’s focus to quicken regional peacebuilding maintain stability and control of US foreign policy in the public eye. This thesis analyzes the early influences on constructive engagement and …

The Culture Gap: The Role Of Culture In Successful Refugee Settlement, Chelsea Lorraine Riley

Honors College Theses

Globally, the displacement of persons is reaching record numbers, including millions of refugees seeking safety outside of their native countries. The existing literature on factors of successful refugee settlement lacks specific quantitative analysis, and most of the available information on the role of culture is limited to psychological and social research. I expect that large perceived differences in the culture of the refugee and the culture of the country in which they settle will cause a combination of xenophobic public responses and restrictive government policies, and therefore will be negatively related to successful social integration of those refugees. I assess …

The Ubiquity Of Patronage, Mykaela Brown

Honors College Theses

Patron-client relations affect politics in various ways, especially the efficacy and implementation of policies. My research question is how does patronage politics affect policy change in democracies. I examine four democracies, two from the Global North (Canada and the United States) and two from the Global South (Botswana and South Africa). Using news articles and government websites surrounding a major issue in each of my four cases, I use qualitative methods (document analysis) to analyze patron-client relations in order to determine key actors in patron-client relations.

Jack S. Hill Papers, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of various political papers of Georgia State Senator Jack S. Hill from 1989 to 2020, and personal, military, and family documents from before his time in office from 1965 to 2019. The collection consists of various personal documents, legislative records, constituent correspondence, press and media activity, audio visual materials, and artifacts from Senator Hill’s life.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

Peter Zack Geer, Jr., Papers, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of personal and professional papers of Peter Zack Geer, Jr. Materials span 1923-1967 and include documents relating to Geer's law practice, his service as Executive Secretary to Governor S. Ernest Vandiver (1958-1961), and as Georgia Lt. Governor under Governor Carl Sanders (1963-1967). The subject files contain information regarding the civil rights movement, race relations in Georgia, Julian Bond, Herman Talmadge, and Jeannette Rankin. The papers also contain the law files of his father Peter Zack Geer, Sr.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

"Corporate Power, Class Conflict, And The Crisis Of The New Globalization" By Ronald W. Cox, (Lexington Books, 2019) A Review Essay, Daniel Skidmore-Hess

Department of Political Science and International Studies Faculty Publications

A review of Ronald W. Cox's "Corporate Power, Class Conflict, and the Crisis of the New Globalization" published by Lexington Books, 2019.

How The Academy Looks At Marx Is All Wrong, The Point However Is To Change It, Daniel Skidmore-Hess

Department of Political Science and International Studies Faculty Publications

In what follows, I note how two standard contemporary reference works describe Marx and then contrast those to Marx’s “auto-bibliography” which presents a different set of texts as important to the author’s self-conception. I then focus on one of the latter set of texts and suggest an approach to understanding Marx that emphasizes his identity as a revolutionary theorist and which, perhaps helps us better understand why he did not give priority to working out a theory of the state in a traditional theoretical manner. At the very least, I hope that this discussion will draw attention to the priority …

Silence As A Strategy, Jarvis L. Steele

Honors College Theses

Understanding the struggle that is peaceful protest is a task that has two unexplored components. The first is how leaders of political movements and protest groups are able to influence the masses to not waiver in their non-violent, peaceful approach. The second is how political groups learn from the failures and successes of the previous campaigns. We are given these circumstances where governmental violence and abuse would normally lead to a retaliatory response from groups, but in order to maintain the fidelity of the movement leaders of these political protests have to protect the nonviolent approach. These are instances where …

Genocide Masquerading: The Politics Of The Sharpeville Massacre And Soweto Uprising, Jessica P. Forsee

Honors College Theses

Apartheid South Africa represented a paradox as a US ally and human rights pariah. “Genocide Masquerading” uncovers the implications of US foreign policy on the rise and decline of apartheid, looking specifically at the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre and the 1976 Soweto Uprising. By comparing Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, and Carter foreign policy responses, this thesis creates a comparative analysis of how effective, or ineffective, the United States was during pivotal moments in apartheid history. This thesis will not only expand on the developing South African literature but add to the conversation of international aid, diplomacy practices, and North-South relationships.

Immigration Policy Reform: International Students And Higher Education, Anna M. Kwiatkowski

Honors College Theses

How has the rise in immigration around the world affected international students in obtaining student visas? Many states in the Global North are implementing restrictive immigration policies to combat the high influx of immigrants. Using the United Kingdom (UK) as a case study, I investigate how these policies have led to a decrease in the number of international students enrolled in higher education institutions (HEIs) throughout the UK. This has led to negative impacts on the higher education sector and economy, forcing politicians to reconsider and backtrack on immigration policies regarding international students in late 2017. Through the lens of …