Digital Commons Network^™

Do Poor Countries Catch Up To Rich Countries? Structural Change In The World-Economy, 1816-1916, Jared Walker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Do poor countries catch up to rich countries? To answer that question, countries were divided into upper class (core), middle class (semi-periphery), and lower class (periphery) based on degree of industrialization as indicated by primary energy consumption data. Findings indicated twenty-three upward transitions and five downward transitions during the period examined. Asymmetrical upward mobility was understood in the context of geographic expansion of the system. This sufficiently increased the population of the lower class (periphery) to support larger populations in the middle class (semi-periphery) and upper class (core). Nevertheless, probability analysis indicated a stable system characterized by high levels of …

The Populist Wave: Unpacking The Global Drivers Of 21st Century Right-Wing Populist Support, Ellie Fallon

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the underlying causes of the global rise in right-wing populism support in the twenty-first century. I will examine both the origins of these shifts in public opinion and their consequences for political systems and global interactions. My analyses will take two forms: (1) a cross-national analysis of the rise in right-wing populism in 34 of the 38 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to explore the demographic factors that exhibit a relationship with populist attitudes and (2) case studies of right-wing populism in the contemporary United States (with particular attention to former …

Political Islam And Democracy, Mikellon S. Browne-Michael

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Middle East is a predominately Islamic region. Islam is not only a religion, it is the Muslim way of life and law. The western world follows a more modern system of government, in the form of democracy. Democracy is not modern, as in new, since it was started by the ancient Greeks, but it is modern, because it is the main system being adopted in contemporary times.

Muslims follow the ideals found in the Holy Quran, the book dictated by the prophet Muhammad. The Middle East has had a strong Islamic influence since the mid-seventh century. Islam originated in …

Modalities And Citizen Bribe Offers : The Case Of Post-Soviet Corruption, Turkhan Sadigov

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This work analyzes relatively neglected side of corruption ‒ population bribe offers (as opposed to bureaucrats' bribe demand). The regional focus of the work is on the post-Soviet space, with Azerbaijan, Estonia and Russia as case studies. Drawing on all relevant theories and variables of corruption research, the manuscript emphasizes the importance of ideational factors of corruption in addition to material variables. To analyze ideational factors, the research introduces methodological innovation ‒ the concept of archetypal Modalities. The main argument of the work is that traditionalist value orientations (Local, Symbol and Passive modalities) are statistically significant in predicting the incidence …

Ideology Versus Clientelism: Modernization And Electoral Competition In Brazil, Cássio Da Silva Muniz

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how parties utilize the political dimensions of ideology (left-right) and clientelism (programmatic-patronage) to compete electorally in developing democracies. It proposes a combined utility theory, which suggests polarized competitive elections in modernizing national electoral markets compel programmatic parties to coalesce with clientelistic parties to gain access to regional private electoral markets. Methodologically, this study draws on a mixed-method approach focusing on Brazil as a crucial test case. It applies spatial voting models to assess the validity of ideological competition as well as geospatial voting distribution based on clustering and dispersion to devise a new quantitative measurement of clientelism …

Deterring Nuclear Attacks On Japan: An Examination Of The U.S.-Japan Relationship And Nuclear Modernization, Alyssa M. Minamide

CMC Senior Theses

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal in covering security commitments with its foreign allies, particularly Japan. The U.S. has promised to defend allies all over the world with nuclear forces, and consequently has been forced into a delicate and precarious position. President Barack Obama wants to reach nuclear zero, which would make the world safe from nuclear destruction in the future; yet he also wants to provide security for allied nations in the present, using the
very weapons he has marked for destruction. And he is facing an aging Cold War-era nuclear arsenal that needs …

An Analysis Of State Building: The Relationship Between Pashtun 'Para-State' Institutions And Political Instability In Afghanistan, Rebecca Young Greven

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study arose from the desire to research the effectiveness of state building policies in Afghanistan. In order to address this topic, I review state building literature and find that state building literature focuses largely on the processes of democratization instead of institution building. In the second part of this dissertation I conduct a comparative case study of Afghanistan during the Soviet and Taliban eras to study the relationship between Pashtun `para-state' institutions (PSI's) and levels of political instability. I hypothesize that Pashtun PSI's compete with central state institutions for popular support thus increasing political instability and reducing state institutional …

Prospects For Political Reform In China, Jody Lee Tomlin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is intended to analyze levels of institutional confidence in China. The purpose is to measure the relationship between changing political and cultural values with modernization and levels of institutional criticism. To analyze institutional criticism modernization and political culture theories are used. Using these theories together offers explanatory power as to what political and cultural values may change and why changes in confidence in governance may occur. These theories include socioeconomic, traditional, and political values to measure institutional confidence in 1990 and 2007. The examination of traditional versus modernization values imply that individuals possessing these opposing values display different …