Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mobilization Of Women In Africa: The 2019 Sudanese Uprising, Mahder Habtemariam Serekberhan

African American Studies - All Scholarship

In 2019 we witnessed the possibilities of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-racial, multi-cultural, and multi-gendered democracy and a bottom-up democratization process led by women. Sudanese youth and women led and participated in mobilization and demonstration that not only reflected the mass character of the social formation, but also managed to subvert the Islamist military dependent capitalist state (and its apparatus). Over the span of 30 years, the regime, under Omar al-Bashir, managed to entrench and escalate structures and systems of exploitation and oppression necessary for capital accumulation. The intensified neoliberalization and militarization, at the expense of women’s super-exploitation, was made possible …

Chilean Media And Public Opinion (1973-2013), Tara Schoenborn

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In this thesis, I examine the extent to which the media censorship of the Pinochet dictatorship, which ended over 20 years ago, continues to influence Chilean public opinion and policy today. The dictatorship’s control, penetration and censorship of the press in the 1970s and 1980s appears to have created a lack of pluralism in the media that helped the dictatorship retain political power for 17 years. However, it seems that the dictatorship’s influence did not end with its reign and that this lack of media pluralism still exists today and could be correlated with a widespread conservatism in Chilean public …

Unrecognized States: A Theory Of Self-Determination And Foreign Influence, Kristina Buzard, Benjamin A.T. Graham, Ben Horne

Economics - All Scholarship

Unrecognized states are characterized by stagnant or crumbling economies and political instability, often serve as havens for illicit trade, and challenge the territorial sovereignty of recognized states. Their persistence is both intellectually puzzling and normatively problematic, but unrecognized statehood can be a remarkably stable outcome, persisting for decades. Our four-player model reveals that unrecognized statehood emerges as an equilibrium outcome when a patron state is willing and able to persistently invest resources to sustain it. We assess options available to actors in the international community who seek to impose their preferred outcomes in these disputes and find that, although sanctions …

The Singapore Opposition: “Credibility” – The Primary Impediment To Coalition Building, Brian Steinberg

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This thesis studies opposition party behavior in competitive authoritarian regimes using the Singapore 2011 general election as a case study. The study asks, what is the primary reason Worker’s Party, the strongest opposition party in Singapore, did not pursue the formation of a pre-electoral coalition? I analyzed the pre- existing theories and conducted fieldwork, interviewing opposition party leaders, academics and activists, to ascertain a direct impediment and not just a background condition to coalition building. Many of the pre-existing theories contained insights relevant in Singapore, but the operationalization of the variable limited their significance. I demonstrate that Worker’s Party did …

A Constructivist Approach To Post-Reunification German Military Interventions: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, And Afghanistan, Nicholas Iaquinto

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Scholars and journalists have periodically referred to Germany and its military, the Bundeswehr, as normalizing. The trend, which is defined here as the increasing frequency and intensity of out-of-area military operations, is contested among international relations scholars, and this debate reaches the core of the three main theories outlining drivers of state behavior. This paper analyzes the underlying causation of normalization from these schools of thought by considering the decision-making process leading to Germany’s participation in multilateral military operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.

Including neorealism, neoliberalism, and constructivism, these theories are first divided into rationalist and constructivist classifications. …

State 194: Assessing The Institutional Capacity Of The Palestinian Authority As The Foundation For An Independent State, Amanda Lynna Claypool

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Mahmoud Abbas’s 2011 attempt to obtain Palestinian statehood through the United Nations challenged the status quo “Middle East peace process” by offering an alternative solution to the system of bilateral negotiations that has otherwise been stagnant for much of the last decade. Since Salam Fayyad became prime minister in 2007, the Palestinian Authority has been actively working towards building institutions that would serve as the foundation for the future State of Palestine. International accolades for Fayyad’s initiative garnered far-reaching support to facilitate the state-building program.

In the six years since then, the Palestinian Authority has developed the institutions that are …

Resilience And Change In Federal Institutions: The Case Of The German Federal Council, Kathleen A. Thelen, Sebastian Karcher

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

One of the oldest federalist systems, Germany offers itself as a case study for long-term developments in federalism. Drawing on a burgeoning literature on institutional continuity and change we investigate the development of a key institution of German federalism, the Federal Council (Bundesrat) from the foundation of the German Reich until today. Counter to claims that institutional change occurs mainly during “critical junctures,” the Federal Council has shown remarkable resilience: It persisted through World War I and the 1919 revolution and the writing of the centralist Weimar constitution. Dismantled in 1934, it returned in 1949 after years of dictatorship, war, …

The "Troubles:" Northern Irish Political Contention From Sunningdale To The Good Friday Agreement, Daniel J. Foley

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This paper looks to answer the question: Can the contentious politics thesis of Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly explain why the Good Friday Agreement (1998) (GFA) successfully produced a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, when the Sunningdale (1973) and the Anglo-Irish (1985) agreements failed to do so? I set out to study the buildup and aftermath of each agreement and subsequently examine each through the lens of the contentious politics thesis, searching for causal mechanisms and processes that explain the success of the GFA. The purpose of the contentious politics thesis is not to examine various forms of …

The Egyptian Revolution Goes Viral: Reading Categories Of Tweets In The Twitter-Created Networked Public Sphere, Alexander Craig Benson Fay

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The expansion of online social media (OSM) and networked information technology (NIT) use has coincided with reinvigorated democratic movements around the world, including the toppling of authoritarian governments in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011. This paper examines the variety of uses for Twitter during the Egyptian revolution, as Hosni Mubarak’s regime collapsed in less than three weeks after 30 years in power.

To achieve this analysis, this paper first divided the revolution into Fisk’s four stages of political crisis. Next, the authors extracted 37,634 tweets containing key words from an archive of 16 million tweets collected from January 23-February 8, …

Collaborating To Build Futures The Role Of Non-Governmental Organizations In Creating Education Opportunities For Migrant Workers’ Children In China, Emerson A. Gale

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This project examines how informal and legal relationships between the Chinese government, migrant communities, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are useful for educating migrant workers’ children. Market reforms have increased internal migration of Chinese families and have sparked a growth in non-profit NGOs which assist under-privileged migrant youth. Contemporary Chinese urban education literature notes legal and financial obstacles which prevent millions of migrant students from being entitled to the same education opportunities as their non-migrant peers. I note that creating equitable schooling for migrant youth is highly important for the political, economic, and social health of the Chinese state. By drawing …

Foundations Of Euroskepticism In The United Kingdom: Declining Support For The European Union, Kayla Walsh

Honors Capstone Projects - All

I discuss two questions pertaining to the relationship of the United Kingdom and Europe: why has support always been lower in the United Kingdom for Europe than other member states and why is support for Europe in decline?

To show the low support as well as the decline in support, I look at two referendums in the UK on membership, one in 1975 and another in 2011 that show two end points for how low support has fallen. I then discuss the history of the United Kingdom and her relationship with the European institutions to lay the foundation of the …

Social Media And Its Potential Effects On Civic Engagement, Kathleen Elizabeth Walpole

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Social media has been predicted as a tool to change the democratic process and turn around the substantial decline in political participation that has occurred among American citizens in the most recent years. Yet, since it is still relatively young and unharnessed, many argue that any effect that social media can have on civic engagement cannot be determined yet. This thesis explores and discusses how the emergence of social media as a campaign tool could effect traditional forms of civic engagement as well as produce new forms.

In the 2008 election, social media was capitalized by the presidential campaign of …

Utilization Of The New York State Division Of Human Rights, Sarah Turney

Honors Capstone Projects - All

There is a general disconnect between the services the New York State government offers and their utilization. This paper focuses on the New York State Division of Human Rights. The New York State Division of Human Rights purpose is to enforce the Human Rights Law through investigations into complaints of discrimination based on the protected classes. For the purposes of this paper, only employment discrimination will be discussed.

This paper argues the lack of utilization of these services arises from the lack of resident awareness of these services. Moreover, this paper argues that implementing practical government lesson plans into the …

Micropolitical Opportunity Structure In Burma, Nicole Loring

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This paper looks to answer the question: Why do citizens in Burma continue challenging the military regime through peaceful social movements despite of the threat of violent oppression? I set out to examine Burma as an anomaly in political opportunity structure theory. Political opportunity structure influences the type of political action most likely to take place within a regime by affecting which political claims are possible. At first, Burma appears to be a low-democracy, low-capacity regime, which should host civil wars. However, in Burma’s cities, peaceful social movements continue to take place. My capstone seeks to explain this problem.

In …

A Review Of "Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty", Fethi Keles

Anthropology - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Backyard Effect How The Experience Of Impacts Of Climate Change Affects Opinion And Discourse, Kevin Eggleston

Honors Capstone Projects - All

“The Backyard Effect” hypothesizes that for an issue as potentially abstract, complex, and vast-in-scope as climate change, it will take experiential evidence of impacts in order for people to change and view the problem as urgent – and take action. In order to test this hypothesis, this project set out to interview citizens in climate change-impacted regions around the world in order to explore any connections between personal experience and personal opinion and action. The methodology involved personal interviews with residents, analysis of poll numbers, and use of media reports in locations currently experiencing the impacts of climate change.

Based …

Changing Constituencies And International Trade: The Role Of Organized Labor On The Trade Platform Of The Democratic Party, Chad Ivan Brooker

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Abstract

Problem:

There has been much talk over the past 50 years of the role of American labor in a changing American industrial market. As the world has become increasingly connected, American workers who tout high levels of labor rights, high wages, and safe working conditions have been hard pressed to compete with emerging economies that often share little of these same principles or legal decrees.

The debate over American competitiveness in the world has been fought on the picket lines, on the streets, in back rooms and most importantly in the stolid, white, columned halls of Congress. While liberalized …

Dual Citizenship In Asia, Mindy Eiko Tadai

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Among all regions, Asia lags behind in terms of the number of countries that recognize dual citizenship, but why have some Asian countries permitted dual citizenship while others have not? As of 2009, only seven countries in Asia recognize dual citizenship: Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam. This study analyzes data for twenty-two Asian countries and conducts four case studies. The first two cases, India and the Philippines, recognize dual citizenship, while the second two cases, Nepal and Mongolia, do not. I examine three hypothesized factors that contribute to state recognition of dual citizenship in Asia: …

Reflections Of A Young Journalist Working Within The Parliament Of The United Kingdom, Joe Frandino

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The purpose of my Capstone project is to present a personalized insight into the British political and journalistic systems, and how they contrast with their respective American counterparts. As an intern in the British Houses of Parliament, and with the news department of the Liberal Democratic Party of the United Kingdom, I will present my significant experiences and understandings, as well as the changes I underwent during my study-abroad semester in London, England during the spring of 2009.

Native American Elementary Education In The Syracuse City School District: A Microcosm Of The Native American Struggle For Self-Determination And Tribal Sovereignty, Margaret Eleni Mcweeney

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This intent of this paper is to research Native American education in theSyracuseCitySchool District. This paper examines the relationship of the Onondaga Nation and the New York State Department of Education. The Onondaga Nation is a Native American Nation that neighbors the City ofSyracuse. The Nation is one of a Confederacy of Six Native American Nations inNew YorkStatecalled the Haudenosaunee.

Native American students across theUnited Stateshave extremely low graduation rates in city public schools. The Onondaga Nation attributes this to policies of marginalization and insensitive curriculum materials in public school. Many theories have been proposed that minority students often suffer …

The Federal Minimum Wage, Political Thought And Citizenship, Thomas P. Hackman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Several questions about the minimum wage have not been answered adequately by scholars. The wage’s origins, its reasons for federal passage, the roots of its decline, and its future prospects are all up for debate in the current literature. This paper weighs in on these questions, hoping to improve the debate surrounding them. In the process, the importance of linking the wage to citizenship becomes clear. As the political thought of the issue has moved away from conceiving of minimum wages as tools for reaffirming the status of low wage workers, support for the wage, and its monetary value, has …

The Gap Between The Ideal And The Reality How High Stakes Testing Causes The United States And China To Fall Short Of Creating Well-Rounded Students, Adam L. Jones

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in the United States in 2001, there has been ever increasing attention paid to the role of high-stakes testing in an education system. The system in the United States and its counterpart in the People’s Republic of China have come under scrutiny because of their heavy reliance on high-stakes testing.

It is understandable in the United States that these tests may be necessary to ensure the existence of accountability in the educational system. Similarly, it is understandable that the People’s Republic of China needs an education system to help place …

A Student’S Guide To The Unique Iranian Theocracy, Evan Linhardt

Honors Capstone Projects - All

When listening to the news one day I heard the president of a nation describe wiping another country off the map. Later I heard from the same president that his country would defy United Nation recommendations and continue their nuclear program. The media took a great interest in this mans’ speeches and their potential implications. They portrayedIranas a country on the brink, challenging the world to stop them. The media unfortunately was focusing on the wrong man’s rhetoric because although he is labeled as president ofIran, he will not have a say in declaring war on another nation nor will …

Assessing Past Strategies For Countering Terrorism, In Lebanon And By Libya, Louis Kriesberg

Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

American strategies to deal with terrorist attacks against Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s and by Libya since the beginning of the 1980s are examined. The consequences of the various strategies employed by U.S. government officials over time and the strategies employed by American non-governmental actors and by international organizations are compared. In addition, alternative strategies that might plausibly have been employed are also discussed. Official actions that relied largely on military methods and were conducted unilaterally tended to be less effective, even counterproductive, compared to actions that were multilateral and relied significantly on diplomatic approaches, often aided by intermediaries.

What Is Constitutional Democracy? A Comparative Analysis Between The United States And The European Union, Rebecca Tweed

Honors Capstone Projects - All

It is difficult to imagine the concept of constitutionalism without the notion of deliberative democracy. Historically, written constitutions are the capstone of the ages-long struggle to limit arbitrary governmental action. James Madison said, “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.”

We live in an era of constitution making. There are close to 200 national …