The Curious Case Of Will Brooke, Adam Muro

Capstones

William Wade Brooke, an Alabama businessman with ties to state and national Republican Party politics and scandal, was for over one year a registered foreign agent working for the office of Saad Hariri, Prime Minister of Lebanon. He was the only registered lobbyist for Hariri while he was active, and stranger yet he stated on his Foreign Agent Registration Act forms that he was working for free. An investigation into his background and ties to Lebanon revealed that he lobbied for free in recognition of favors that Hariri did, and continues to do, for a christian missionary group Brooke is …

Islam & Interfaith Dialogue: Innovative Diplomacy Between The United States And Islamic Republic Of Iran, Kristyn Rohrer

Honors Student Research

This meta-communicative study provides an analysis of global interfaith dialogue as it pertains to peace and conflict, with a primary focus on Islam. The Islamic Republic of Iran and United States have a complicated history. Their diplomatic relationship is rife with manipulation, radicalism, and a disregard for human dignity. Currently, the US is imposing hundreds of sanctions and restrictions on Iran, from nuclear energy to medicine, as a result of President Trump’s decision to back out of the Iran Deal. However, other forms of dialogue are affecting positive relations between the two countries. Interfaith dialogue between North American Mennonites and …

Tall Tales Of Danger And Security: How A Critical Human Security Approach Can Address Major Contradictions Revealed Through A Critical Narrative Analysis Of Dominant U.S. Security Strategies, Stephen Schneider

Master's Theses

Over many generations, humans have developed many perspectives and practices regarding the best ways to recognize and address what they perceive to be dangerous. Stories are used to help shape and narrate perceptions about the world, and they serve to pass on vital information that impacts how a society responds to threats and vulnerabilities. These narratives of danger and security are subjective to the experiences and political intentions of society, and therefore in many ways are partial and biased in their assessments and policies. This results in flawed security practices that may actually exacerbate threats or create new insecurities. What …

It Could Never Last: Why British Sovereignty And Its Influence Since 1945 Resulted In Brexit, Jeffrey Brandt

Master's Theses

The EU Referendum of June 2016 marked a watershed moment for the United Kingdom, as it sought to once again reassert its sovereignty and retake its place in the world as an independent state, free from European Union infringement. The British are usually seen as the cussid ones in Europe, stubbornly holding on to their principles and traditions of sovereignty. But why is that? Carefully tracing UK history, particularly from the end of the Second World War to the present day, it becomes understandable why the result of the 2016 referendum should not be quite a surprise. Studying events in …

The Spirit Is Willing, But The Flesh Is Weak: Contemporary Pan-Africanism And The Challenges To A United States Of Africa, Adesola Adeyemo

Master's Theses

Establishing a ‘United States of Africa’ to the average individual is deemed as a mythical idea in contemporary Africa, irrespective of the popularity of this idea several years ago. Today, the idea is idealized as overambitious – considering the balkanized state of the continent post-colonialization. Because of this, attempts made since then have favored enforcing regional integration over continental integration. Undeniably, this idea would not have come into being if it wasn’t for the concept of Pan-Africanism - which has for long guided the political and socio-economic policies created on the continent. The goal of this research is …

Remembering An Invasion: The Panama Intervention In America’S Political Memory, Dave Nagaji

Senior Theses

In December of 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, a military invasion of the country of Panama, capturing Manuel Noriega and overthrowing his government. This research project examines how Colin Powell, Richard Cheney, James Baker, and George H.W. Bush presented Operation Just Cause in their memoirs. It attempts to determine how these senior leaders’ depictions of this invasion incorporated it into the Bush administration’s overall foreign-policy strategy. The research finds that their general approach was to present the Panama intervention as an isolated incident which had no intentional link to other major events at the time, was not …

Divided Agencies: Internal Strife In The Fight Against Castro, Stephanie R. Schmidt

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. State Department differed in their approaches to dealing with the Castro regime from 1959 through the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Using declassified documents from the CIA and State Department, I argue that the approaches of the CIA in dealing with the Castro regime were more aggressive than the approaches of the U.S. State Department. Many of the primary sources used in this work were accessed in the CIA electronic reading room and on the office of the historian website. The office of the historian is an …

Apathy And Foreign Policy: What We Can Learn From The Vietnam War, Pascal Spronk

Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate

Americans as Indifferent to Foreign Affairs

“To speak with precision of public opinion is a task not unlike coming to grips with the Holy Ghost,” said V. O. Key, Junior. Nebulous and variable, public opinion invites description by cliché. Social scientists can’t help but dwell on it, discussing its characteristics and effects. To politicians, especially, public opinion is of particular interest, given the high profile of its relationship to government. Although the nature and sense of this relationship have been questioned, it has always remained a subject of discussion, particularly with the spread of democracy.

Intercultural Communication Between International Military Organizations; How Do You Turn A ‘No’ Into A ‘Yes’?, Douglas A. Straka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on both the discovery and analysis of individual elements that define the interaction between dissimilar militaries during communication. This will provide a greater understanding as to how (and how much) intercultural communications factors help or hinder collaboration between differing governments and their military officials. This greater understanding may provide insight that would provide collaborators the opportunity to improve their negotiating performance based on both increased effectiveness and efficiency.

Previous literature informing this research included expatriate adaptation to foreign cultures, power distance, sensemaking theory, intercultural communication. These provided foundations to use phenomenological methods to explore intercultural communication effectiveness. …

Strategic Puzzle In The South China Sea: Perception, Power, And Money. Chinese Plans For Hegemony?, Robert Kelly Stewart

International Political Economy Theses

The South China Sea is home to one of the world’s most contentious territorial disputes. Sovereignty of overlapping parts of the Sea is contested by seven littoral states, and the United States maintains an influential naval presence. Rich in fish and hydrocarbons and militarily valuable for power projection, the South China Sea is strategically important. One-third of global trade passes through the South China Sea annually. This paper looks to uncover what the South China Sea conflict indicates about Chinese strategic outlook and approaches the topic through three theoretical lenses: constructivism, realism, and disaggregation. This paper concludes with an assertion …

Chinese Government’S Inability To Use Film – One Of The Most Powerful Cultural Tools Of Soft Power Expansion – To Achieve Its Soft Power Expansion Goals: Lessons For China To Tackle Its Soft Power-Deficit Problem, Kyungin Kim

International Political Economy Theses

Many scholars of Chinese soft power commonly believe that despite the fact that China has been working hard to achieve successful soft power expansion, one of the biggest factors that leads to Chinese soft power deficit or failure of the Chinese government to effectively trump “China threat” is its inability to use its cultural industries as a tool to fulfill its soft power expansion goals. This is a major obstacle to China in achieving its goal of successful Chinese soft power expansion, as it is said that culture is the most traditional and powerful source of soft power expansion. This …

Applying Stakeholder Analysis To Lay The Groundwork For Conflict-Sensitive Education In The Somali Education Sector, Nina Aristea Papadopoulos

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Foreign Aid And Political Stability In Post-Colonial Africa: A Case Study Analysis, Justine Biettron

LSU Master's Theses

Is foreign aid helpful or harmful in African countries? Even though scholars have tried to answer this question for decades, it is still unclear if foreign aid has efficiently helped the African continent to overcome the challenges that arose with the end of Colonization. A priority for the African countries was to reorganize the institutions in order to reestablish autonomous and stable system of governance. An important amount of help for this reconstruction has come from external actors, that have been referred to in the literature as foreign aid. In this paper, I seek to test the relationship between the …

Oil Pollution On The High Seas: The Establishment Of An International Regime To Deal With Public International Law And Private Law Issues And The Role Of Non-State Actors In Their Resolution Prior To And At The 1969 International Legal Conference On Marine Pollution Damage (“Brussels Conference”), Milton Ottensoser

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

On March 18, 1967, the Torrey Canyon, an oil tanker flying the flag of Liberia and carrying thirty million gallons of crude oil, smashed onto rocks off the coast of the United Kingdom. The oil spill metastasized into an environmental catastrophe, and this event became the first major environmental disaster of the electronic media age. As a direct result of the Torrey Canyon catastrophe, two treaties were signed in November 1969, at a conference in Brussels sponsored by the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), a United Nations Specialized Agency. The first treaty (the public law treaty) dealt with the right …

We Refugees, Again, Aaron Linas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dramatic shifts in climate have generated a new form of global displacement. These ‘climate migrants’ challenge the notion of state sovereignty by introducing a new paradigm for global responsibility. I seek to address this emerging demand of sovereignty by outlining the normative mechanisms of state institutions when encountering displaced persons. The extreme cases of disappearing island nations creates stateless population incompatible with standard liberal values of humanitarianism and border security. My claim is that current normative institutions and principles of assistance to migrating people are insufficient to manage the international crisis of climate change. To be able to aid migrants …

The United States Of Sol: Privatization As A Tool Of American Hegemony In The Solar System, Edward C. Henry

Graduate Masters Theses

American outer space exploration has been progressively privatized since the end of the Cold War. The choice of privatization was a strategic geopolitical decision in the interest of maintaining American hegemonic leadership on Earth and in the solar system. American Congressional legislation and presidential speeches in the nearly three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the “victory” of the American neoliberal form of capitalism, show support for the expansion of free-market principles into lower-Earth orbit and beyond. However, this is not a new trend. From the beginning of the American entry into the space race, the goal …

Bankrolled Elites, Controlled State Television, And Payroll Trolls On Wikipedia: Examining Russia's Strategies In Manipulation Of Opinions In The Context Of Ukrainian Revolution In 2014, Elena Labzina

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regionally influential powers are likely to pursue not just straightforward, rational policy goals but also sophisticated long-term, possibly ideological, ``milieu'' goals. These objectives may be far from obvious for an external observer and often require manipulation of public and elites' opinions on both domestic and international level. In our extremely digitalized era of Big Data, opinions have to compete with the facts that is why understanding better how they can be manipulated is crucial for both pundits and practitioners. While many approaches exist to address the topic, this work examines three sound cases from modern Russia in the exceptionally politically …

A Nordic Anomaly: Examining The Establishment Of An Anti-Immigrant Party In Sweden, Louise Paulsen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the establishment of an anti-immigrant party (AIP) in Sweden. Until recently, Sweden was known as the Nordic anomaly with no AIP in spite of high levels of immigration and high rates of right-wing violence. This has now changed, and the AIP, Sweden Democrats, are rising to popularity in high speed. I examine the causes given for the anomaly up until 2006 and show that a change in these has since created a favorable environment for an AIP to become successful. First, socio-economic cleavages have become less salient through decreasing party loyalty and increasing numbers of party switchers. …

“There Goes That Relationship”: Journalistic Aggression And Political Equivocation In Joint Press Conferences, Nichole Anne Russell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the relationship between the press and political leaders during joint press conferences. Aggressive journalistic questioning in press conferences has increased over time (Clayman & Heritage, 2002; Clayman, Elliott, Heritage, & McDonald, 2004; Clayman, Elliott, Heritage, & McDonald, 2007), but recent scholarships shows that journalists present less aggressive questions when a foreign head of state is present (Banning & Billingsley, 2007). Joint press conferences hosted in the United States by President Donald Trump between Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and Chancellor Angela Merkel …

Future Melting Away: Water Stress As A Threat To Human Security In Bangladesh And The Role Of International Community, Farzana Afroz Chowdhury

Theses and Dissertations

Bangladesh is considered as one of the frontline states in the global climate change; its policy agendas attempt to respond to the perceived security threats emanating from such changes. Water stress is one of the key problems the country is facing. Yet, links between glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Bangladesh’s climate, growing water stress, and its implications for human security have seldom been studied. Drawing on the concepts of climate change, human security and water stress, the thesis examines the causes of Bangladesh’s freshwater crisis and its contribution to the human insecurity. Here in this study, the influence of …

The Political Nature Of Defense Policy In Congress, Timothy Welter

Dissertations

Is defense policy more collegial than other policy issues addressed by Congress? More specifically, what are the institutional and political motives which drive a majority of the members of Congress to consistently transcend partisanship in order to pass defense focused legislation into law?

The purpose of this study was to test whether or not the consideration of defense policy in the House of Representatives is unique in its ability to transcend partisanship. And if so, why?

Hypothesis: The formulation of defense policy in the U.S. House of Representatives is approached with more collegiality than other policy issue areas, mainly due …

Strangers In A Strange Land: Foreign-Born Mangaka And The Future Of The ‘Japanese’ Comic Industry, Michele Fujii

Masters Theses

This thesis addresses the phenomenon of the recent success of foreign-born mangaka in the Japanese comic industry. One in a long line of foreigners who have written about Japan, Swedish mangaka Åsa Ekström is a representative example whose success has been facilitated by a set of circumstances brought on by the influence of the international manga market, socio-economic policies stemming from the unique challenges presented by Japan’s declining birthrate and rapidly aging population, and changes in the landscape of the Japanese publishing industry. Drawing upon themes and excerpts from Ekström’s popular comic essay series, Nordic Girl Åsa discovers the Mysteries …

Challenges Faced By Non-Profit Associations In Laos: A Case Study Of Huam Jai Asasamak, Raminder Kaur

Major Papers

This paper looks at the case study of Huam Jai Asasamak, a Non-Profit Association operating in Laos in order to understand various challenges faced by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the socialist regime of the Laos. It uses participant observation as a research method based on time spent living in Laos as well as other qualitative research methods including document analysis, observation, and interviews. The paper gives a contextual overview of Laos and shows that civil society is a new phenomenon in Laos linked to social and political consequences of opening up of the Laos economy in 1980s. Furthermore, the …

Beyond Carrots And Sticks: An Analysis Of U.S. Approaches To Counterterrorism From 2000-2016, Margaret M. Seymour

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Soft power, a concept developed and presented by Joseph Nye in 1990, has quickly become a critical concept in U.S. foreign policy. Scholars and practitioners discuss the utility or futility of soft power. Theorists rank countries by their use of effective soft power against one another. Critically lacking in the discussion, however, is an analysis of how one country’s use of soft power changes, or remains the same, over time.

Counterterrorism policy has been a focus of U.S. foreign policy since 9/11, and while there is a robust discussion on effectiveness of various policies and strategies, scholars have routinely failed …

The Effect Of Illicit Drugs Securitization In Indonesia, Yanu Widiyono

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Barry Buzan and the Copenhagen School scholars introduce the concept of Securitization in International Relations. This concept argues that threat is formed and based on the interpretation of the actors . Threat does not naturally arise from the situation of state. Rather, it arises because of how prominent actors politicize the issues.

This study mainly focuses on analyzing the effects of Illicit Drugs Securitization in Indonesia. Previous literature has analyzed the issue of Illicit Drugs Abuse and trafficking problems in Southeast Asia in general, but few focus on Indonesia in particular. As the biggest state in South East Asia and …

Building Climate Empire: Power, Authority, And Knowledge Within Pacific Islands Climate Change Diplomacy And Governance Networks, Ashlie Denée Denton

Dissertations and Theses

Transnational networks are growing in prevalence and importance as states, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental organizations seek to meet climate change goals; yet, the organizations in these networks struggle between the global, technical and local, contextual sources of power, authority, and knowledge used to influence decision-making and governance. This dissertation analyzes these contestations in Pacific Islands climate change diplomacy and governance efforts by asking: i) What do power relations look like among the Pacific Islands' networked organizations? ii) To what authority do organizations appeal to access sources of power? iii) What sources of knowledge are produced and reproduced by these organizations? and …

Old Belief And The Balance Of Red And Blue: How Old Believers Managed Cultural Infringement, Joseph K. Van Den Berg

History

This paper covers the spread of the Old Believers into Western society, studying how they changed and evolved during the Cold War. The paper focuses on two communities, using them to compare the different attitudes Old Believers had towards differing host cultures. Using a litany of newspapers and the work of a few dedicated anthropologists, "Old Belief and the Balance of Red and Blue: How Old Believers Managed Cultural Infringement" shows the vast array of responses to a small group of Russian sectarians establishing themselves within Western Cultures of differing size and values.

Assessment Of South Korea's Role As A "Middle Power Country": Case Studies Of South Korean Diplomacy In Central Asia, Jiwon Nam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of “middle power country” existed since several hundred years agointroduced by European philosophers and political scientists. The definition was proposed by many scholars and used by countries in many different status, one specific definition of “middle power” was not set until current days. The characteristics of a “middle power country” range from economic status, and political system, to patterns of diplomacy. By current broad definition, almost 80 percent of the countries in the world can fit into one or more categories of a “middle power country.”

The purpose of this paper is to depict the importance of middle …

The Rhetoric Is On The Wall: A Multimodal Study Of The U.S. – Mexico Border Through Image Narratives, Kristoffer Mason

Global Honors Theses

This paper applied social semiotics and systemic functional theory to study visual narratives related to President Trump’s border wall project and U.S. immigration policy. The images were selected by new articles posted by The New York Times using search parameters “border wall” and “undocumented immigration” between the dates of March 13 – April 13, 2018. Images were selected and categorized based on visual themes related to the border wall and policy enforcement. Of these categories, two images were selected for vertical perspective, vector patterns, and gestures to discover the narratives. Analysis of the images showed that social power and hierarchical …

The Emergence Of Private Governance In A Nonwestern Context: The Case Of South Korea, Jinyoung Kang

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how a non-western country engages with global private governance architecture. Although the term private governance appears to suggest a transnational and international context, some authors emphasize that private governance is concentrated in specific regions, such as the industrialized world or their hosting developing countries. Little is yet known of the circumstances conditioning the participation in private governance from non-western countries. In this context, this dissertation addresses how national political structures constrain or enable the participation of actors from South Korea in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Answering these questions requires following the two global private standards …