Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

China's Rise And The Confucius Institutes: Chinese And American Perspectives, Shryll Whittaker

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The Confucius Institutes are Chinese government-backed nonprofit organizations that promote Chinese language and culture. They are housed on collegiate campuses and designed to complement Chinese language and cultural studies by providing teachers, curriculums, textbooks and other educational materials. Their establishment has been a source of controversy, especially in the United States, due to the institutes’ close ties with and the financial, administrative, and political support they receive from the Chinese government. Critics have had two primary concerns: that the Confucius Institutes provide the Chinese government access to increase soft power by issuing propaganda and that their presence on American collegiate …

The Plight Of Kenyan Domestic Workers In Gulf Countries, Caroline Muthoni Gikuru

Master's Theses

Kenya’s economy remains the regional leader within the East African Community (EAC) and among East African countries at large. However, political instability such as the 2007 post-election violence and the region’s social and political instability trickling into Kenya, have negatively affected the country’s economic growth. To bridge the economic gap, Kenyan women are seeking employment in the domestic service sector in the Gulf Countries, with Saudi Arabia being the most popular destination. At their destination countries, some domestic workers are subjected to various forms of abuse by their employers, leaving the worker without recourse due to the lack of legal …

The Lion & The Ringmaster: Croatia's Accession To The European Union, Jelena N. Bilandzich

Master's Theses

July 1, 2013 marked Croatia's official induction into the European Union. For Croatia this was the culmination of a long negotiation process filled with concessions and challenges. This situation inspired the question of how Croatia's alliance with the EU has affected the state? In order to analyze this relationship the aspects of Croatian identity and sovereignty were explored, in addition to the EU's principles and problems regarding member and candidate states. The evidence found within this investigation came from a number of literary sources ranging from the academic to official government documents. Furthermore, nine interviews were conducted within Croatia, which …

A Tangled Hope: America, China, And Human Rights At The End Of The Cold War, 1976-2000, Jared Michael Phillips

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A Tangled Hope: America, China, and Human Rights at the End of the Cold War, 1976-2000, discusses the evolution of both the international and American understanding of human rights. Beginning with a discussion of the philosophical and cultural frameworks concerning "rights" that developed in Europe and the Americas throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, this work moves into the post-World War II climate that shaped Jimmy Carter and his unique understanding of human rights and America's role in the Cold War world. In particular, I argue that the existing narrative concerning Carter's foreign policy is lacking in a nuanced understanding …

The International Monetary Fund, Power Politics, And The Changing Political Economy Of The Twenty First Century, Eduardo Flores

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The governance of the global economy is in a constant state of change. Since the creation of the Bretton Woods system, the International Monetary Fund has had to pursue a series of reforms to meet the changing demands of the international monetary system. At times, the Fund's institutional design has been adjusted to reflect the rise and decline in economic fortunes of member states. Other times the Fund has been resistant to change. However, the original design has proved to be durable and has overcome a number of historical challenges. Currently, two realities are challenging the institutional design of the …

The Primacy Of Context: An Exploration Into The Causes Of Food Insecurity In Kitere, Kenya., William O. Aludo

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study was to explore the specific reasons why households in Kitere village, Kenya experience persistent food insecurity every year while the region enjoys the advantage of two planting/harvest seasons in a year. Kitere village lies within the lakeside region of Nyanza Province in Kenya, generally considered to be one of the more agriculturally productive parts of the country. The Participatory Rural Appraisal method was employed to gather qualitative data on the causes of food insecurity in Kitere village. The data sources were focus groups and a self-administered, one-time survey of random and non-random samples of key …

Bold Leader Or Bully? Interpreting Chinese Regional Maritime Behavior, Harrison I. Fried

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 2009, tensions have increased markedly between China and its maritime neighbors over disputed territories in the East and South China Seas. China’s neighbors accuse it of acting like a bully, alleging that China engages in behavior that is aggressive, inappropriate, and oppressive. But can such accusations be substantiated through objective analysis, or is bullying truly in the eye of the beholder? Further, is China simply acting boldly, albeit in a manner that is justifiable, as it emerges as a leader in the region? The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether labeling China’s behavior as “bullying” (as China’s …

Alliances And Preferences: Party System Institutionalization's Potentially Intervening Role On Pre-Election Cooperation In Australia, Fiji, And Papua New Guinea, Lee T. Barrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project examines the intervening role of party system institutionalization in determining the effect of electoral rules on the behavior of political parties. Highly institutionalized systems differ across multiple dimensions--supply stability, volatility of results, and rootedness of parties--from fluid systems. Party behavior can be depicted rationally as a response to both institutional incentives and the historical and sociological context of a nation's party system. Electoral incentives promoting certain types of party behavior can be negated by party system mechanics that deter those behaviors. The research uses a medium-N structured, focused comparison of elections from Australia, Fiji, and Papua New …

Reexamining Cultural Orientation Provided To Newly Arrived Refugees, Sara E. Matchulat

Capstone Collection

The provision of cultural orientation is one of many services required by the contract between resettlement agencies and the federal agencies overseeing refugee resettlement, the Cooperative Agreement. This paper explores World Relief in Moline, Illinois as a case study for how small resettlement agencies can provide meaningful and memorable cultural orientations. In order to accomplish this goal, this research utilizes the Empowerment Theory to explore how recently resettled refugees’ perceptions can be taken into consideration as orientation materials are examined. Research sought to compare Cooperative Agreement requirements to current orientation materials, interviewed service providers and recently resettled refugees, and utilized …

The Future Of American Foreign Policy In The Persian Gulf: How The Study Of Past Presidential Foreign Policies May Predict The Future, Cindy Walters

M.A. in Political Theory Theses

This thesis will argue that future U.S. foreign policy in the Persian Gulf will be neither realist nor idealist, but a combination of both. The thesis will reveal a trend through thirty three years of presidential administrations toward a more integrated approach of international relations. Future foreign policy will likely blend the idealist and realist positions, as well as the postmodernist approach.

Fluid Identities: Toward A Critical Security Of Water, Cameron Harrington

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Water wars are coming! Water is the defining security threat of the 21st century! The future belongs to the water-rich! These types of warnings are frequently proclaimed, urging attention to looming water conflict, which will occur as stores of freshwater diminish in both quality and quantity. Yet the issue of water security is far more complex than as an inevitable source of future violent conflict. Water is a central component to all aspects of life and planetary health and thus it contains within it a multiplicity of social and political meanings, pivotal to our understandings of security. This dissertation begins …

Resilient Environmental Governance: Protecting Changing Ecosystems Through Multilevel Governance, Casey Stevens

Open Access Dissertations

International governance is increasingly defined by multilevel governance; with short-term projects, transnational cooperation between different groups, and unclear institutional space. In this situation, a key issue is the resilience of governance arrangements or the ability of governance arrangements to respond to political and ecological shocks to the system. Using international biodiversity governance, this study explores the question: What social and political processes produce resilient governance?

This study argues that the key to understanding resilient governance is the network structure within and outside of the governance arrangement. Modular network structures are able to generate ideas from multiple sources, able to solve …

A Dissatisfied Partner: A Conflict - Integration Analysis Of Britain's Membership In The European Union, Osman Goktug Tanrikulu

Dissertations and Theses

Since 2009, the European Union has faced the worst economic crisis of its history. Due to the devastating impact of the Eurozone crisis on their economies, European countries realized the need to deepen the integration. Without a fiscal union, the Monetary Union would always be prone to economic crises. However, the efforts to reinforce the Union’s economy have been hampered by the UK due to its obsession with national sovereignty and lack of European ideals. In opposing further integration, the UK officials have started to speak out about the probability of leaving the EU.

The purpose of this paper is …

Invisible Women: Examining The Political, Economic, Cultural, And Social Factors That Lead To Human Trafficking And Sex Slavery Of Young Girls And Women, Robyn L. White

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis employs the most recent and best available data on human trafficking, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Trafficking in Persons Global Report 2006, as well as nine independent variables to determine what their effects are on countries’ volumes of human trafficking outflows. By completing a cross-sectional analysis via an OLS regression, I found statistically significant support for three factors that I hypothesize lead to greater outflows of human trafficking. My findings suggest that countries that are less corrupt, have more seats in parliament held by women, and score higher on Cho, Dreher, and Neumayer’s Anti-Trafficking Policy …

Political Economy Of Free Trade Agreements In China, Japan, And South Korea: Sectoral And National Security Politics Of The Fta Wave, Youngmi Choi

Theses and Dissertations

Over the course of three essays, this dissertation examines three important questions regarding free trade agreements (FTAs) in China, Japan, and South Korea (CJK), the three main economies of Northeast Asia: Under what conditions are CJK most likely to establish an FTA? Which factors most significantly influenced U.S. Congressional voting on the Korean-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA)? Is the establishment of a multilateral FTA among China, Japan, and South Korea (a CJK FTA) possible and, if so, what is the optimal path towards achieving it? In answering these questions, the cumulative findings indicate that an FTA is the result …

Three Essays On The Economic Costs Of Armed Conflict, Anton Parlow

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays on the economic cost of armed conflict.

The first essay focuses on the impact of an armed conflict on children's health. The exposure to violence in utero and early in life has adverse impacts on children's age-adjusted height. Using the experience of the Kashmir insurgency, I find that children more affected by the insurgency are 0.9 to 1.4 standard deviations shorter compared with children less affected by the insurgency. The effect is larger for children born during peaks in violence. Also, children affected by the insurgency are more likely to be sick in the …

Religion And Conflict: What Explains The Puzzling Case Of “Islamic Violence” And Islamist Party Moderation?, Suveyda Karakaya

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite considerable interest in the relationship between Islam and political violence, there is little systematic empirical research that explores the intra-state conflict proneness of Muslim majority states. Existing studies either offer inconclusive evidence of a relationship or suffer from methodological flaws. If we analyze the proportion of countries with large Muslim populations that experience domestic armed conflicts, Muslim-majority states do in fact stand out. What explains the prevalence of political violence in the Muslim world and to what extent does religion play a role in promoting violence? Under which conditions ethno-political organizations opt for violent strategies to achieve their political …

Robustness: A New Us Cyber Deterrence Strategy, Eric M. Decampos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The growing trend of computer network attacks provokes the necessity for a comprehensive cyber deterrence strategy to deter aggressors from attacking U.S. critical infrastructure. The current U.S. cyber deterrence strategy based on punishment is ineffective in deterring aggressors as evidenced by the increasing number of computer network attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure. Therefore, the U.S. should look towards an alternative strategy based on robustness to deny enemy objectives and absorb attacks. To identify the superior cyber deterrence strategy, this study uses a qualitative assessment based on open-sourced information to evaluate the effectiveness of each strategy. The findings of this study …

The Contrasting Paths Of Jordan And The United Arab Emirates In Nuclear Cooperation With The United States, Erica N. Fein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As one of about eight countries that supply nuclear materials and equipment for nuclear energy development to the rest of the world, the United States also requires some of the most stringent nonproliferation measures of its prospective clients. In 2009, the United States signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under the terms of the agreement, the UAE foreswore developing sensitive fuel cycle technologies on its own soil in exchange for the ability to receive U.S.-origin materials and equipment. The Kingdom of Jordan is also seeking to develop a nuclear energy program in the face of …

The Space To Lead, Mack A. Bradley

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

Hey! Give Me A Boost: The Impact Of Conflict Joining On The Rally 'Round The Flag In The United Kingdom, 1948-2000, Marissa Kathleen Wilson

Masters Theses

International Relations has long sought to identify the causes of conflict. Two popular theories that suggest leaders use conflict for domestic purposes – that of diversion and policy availability – rest on the assumption that conflict does in fact lead to domestic political benefits. Chief among these benefits is the boost in public approval ratings, known as the “rally-‘round-the-flag.” Large-N statistical studies testing the rally effect are few and seldom look beyond the United States. Further, there are no studies that examine the varying rally effects of joining ongoing conflicts versus conflict initiation or participation. The postulated theory suggests conflict …

Research On Optimization Purchasing Logistics Of Civil Aviation Manufacturing Company Based No Supply Chain Management, Zhongxi Zhang

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Research On Development Strategy Of Shipping Company B In The Shipping Industry Recession, Yunxuan Li

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Proper Ground Slot Capacity For Receiving-Delivery Operation In Indonesia Kendaraan Terminal, Donny Yuniarto

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Ship Registration System And Study On Selection Of Ship Registration System For China, Le Tian

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Transformation Of The Pkk (Kurdistan Workers' Party): Exploring Domestic, Regional, And Global Dynamics, Akin Guneri

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The main purpose of this study is to explore the underlying factors behind the political and ideological transformation of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) since its foundation. Through the detailed analysis of the role of Turkey's internal versus external factors on the evolution of the PKK over time, this work finds that changing political developments in the Middle East were more influential than Turkey's shifting domestic political environment. Hypothesis testing revealed that the 1991 Gulf War, 2003 Iraq War, changing political dynamics of the Middle East following Syria's Arab Spring, and policy changes worldwide implemented after the 9/11 terrorist attacks …

Soft Power Strategies In Us Foreign Policy: Assessing The Impact Of Citizen Diplomacy On Foreign States' Behavior, Stephen Macharia Magu

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation empirically demonstrates that the isolated effects of citizen diplomacy correlate positively with foreign policy behavior as a non-military, foreign policy strategic option. The dissertation also finds that soft power, of which citizen diplomacy is a key component, is a viable foreign policy strategy. The findings are important to the academy and to the foreign policy-making process for states in search of effective, non-military strategies that leverage foreign state needs and attributes to achieve their foreign policy goals. Using a mixed methods approach, the dissertation investigates the correlation between Peace Corps Volunteers (citizen diplomat) placement and congruent voting with …

Promoting Gender And Building Peace: Evolving Norms And International Practices, Renata Avelar Giannini

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The United Nations (UN) has incorporated a strong gender perspective into its peacekeeping operations (PKO) based on a renewed focus on women's rights and participation in peace processes. These efforts are part of a complex organizational learning process in which women's central role in peace processes and the increasing efforts to respond to conflict-related sexual violence have become a central component of the organization' s strategy to build a lasting peace. The underlying logic is that it is only after an equitable society is founded and when the other half of the population's voice has been included in the political …

Recognizing 'Game Changers' In Extrapolation Models: An Application To Counterinsurgency, Micah Dolcort-Silver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent empirical studies suggest insurgencies may be accurately described by aggregated extrapolation models, such that past behavior becomes the best predictor for future action. I argue that aggregated extrapolation models possess two flaws that make it a poor choice for examining insurgencies. First, aggregated extrapolation models ask the wrong question. The more interesting question is to ask when present action is no longer explainable by past behavior. Secondly, aggregate models mask changes that a phenomenon undergoes over time which are only revealed upon disaggregating the data. Starting with a model and findings provided by Neil Johnson, I use casualty data …

Regime Evolution And The Non-Proliferation Regime: The Proliferation Security Initiative As A Case Study Of Transgovernmental Networking, Pallavi Gulati

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The practice of non-proliferation has evolved significantly since its origins during the Cold War. The most recent and notable contribution to the non-proliferation regime has come in the form of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a loose consortium of 102 nation-states through which countries can coordinate, share intelligence, and build capacity to interdict weapons of mass destruction (WMD) related transfers. My objective in this paper is to move beyond the “activity not an organisation” rhetoric espoused by proponents of the PSI and to ask a set of deeper and broader questions regarding why transgovernmental networks (TGNs) like the PSI arise …