Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Drug Policy In An Era Of Normative Change: Prohibition And Harm Reduction In Uruguay, Ecuador, And Peru, Nicolas A. Beckmann

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present dissertation investigates how the advocacy and contestation of international norms related to the production and use of psychoactive substances affected drug policy decisions in South America since 1971. The goal is to provide a more complete account of why most states in the region are sticking to prohibitionist policy models, despite their evident failure and an international context that has become more favorable to the exploration of alternative policies. At the same time, it seeks to detect some of the factors that enabled countries to move towards a framework of harm reduction, prohibition’s main competitor in international drug …

Revising The Status Quo Of Revisionism, Grand Strategy, And International Order, Onur Erpul

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines a type of variance in state behavior pertaining to international conflict and cooperation. Rather than confining this discussion to a binary understanding of state behavior, between revisionism and status-quo seeking, it endeavors to provide a nuanced discussion of the type of grand-strategic orientations states undertake in pursuit of their interests. It poses the question, “under what circumstances do states aspire to uphold, seek to reform, or challenge international order?” In doing so, the study helps to understanding the gamut of behaviors that purportedly satisfied or revisionist states display.

System-level material opportunities that are filtered by elite-preferences and …

Silenced Bodies: (En)Gendering Syrian Refugee Insecurity In Lebanon, Jessy Abouarab

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While there has been a shift in security studies from the security of states to that of people, realpolitik still takes place under the banner of an emerging discourse of ‘refugee crisis.’ Refugee insecurities are (en)gendered and experienced where their depth and breadth pose significant challenges to asylum seekers, neighboring host-states, and humanitarian agencies. To this end, this research captures the unique dynamics of a South-South refugee crisis in Lebanon, in which Syrians residents make up nearly one-third of its population. It applies a transnational feminist framework to trace how refugee security norms get defined, are managed, and how they …

Populism And Leader Polarization In Venezuela, Ecuador, And Turkey, Orcun Selcuk

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation studies the extent of polarization in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), Ecuador under Rafael Correa (2007-2017), and Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (2002-2015). Theoretically, it develops the concept of leader polarization to describe cases where the elite or/and public opinion polarize over their levels of affection toward charismatic and dominant chief executives. To explain the occurrence of leader polarization, the dissertation unpacks the inclusionary vs. exclusionary nature of populism toward the members of the in-group and the out-group on symbolic, political, and material levels. It also examines how leader polarization contributes to democratic backsliding. Empirically, the dissertation uses …

Japan’S Relations With Muslim Asia: Trans-Continental Normativity And Policy, B. Bryan Barber Iv

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2006, Japanese Foreign Minister Asō Tarō outlined a new pillar of Japan’s foreign policy across Asia he called the ‘Arc of Freedom and Prosperity.’ The Arc would become the most lucid case for values-based diplomacy elaborated by Tokyo in the postwar era. It is a significant change from what was both a constrained and myopic approach for a state of such global economic influence and substantial diplomatic potential. In practice, however, is Japan’s values-based diplomacy actually working? How is Tokyo grappling with reconceptualizing an Asia inclusive of Muslim societies in a time when the global metanarrative is to protect …

Genocide In The Modern Age: State-Society Relations In The Making Of Mass Political Violence, 1900-2015, Zachary Karazsia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a new conceptual framework for understanding genocide and mass political violence. I build upon existing theories of mass violence that take into account motivations for committing mass atrocities, combine these with the task of counting civilian casualties, and propose a new framework based on the perpetrators’ socio-political standing in society. This model develops a four-part typology of perpetrators by examining the level of government participation and societal participation in the process of violence. Four patterns of perpetrators emerge from this deductive assessment of large-scale violence. These mass political violence perpetrator categories are: a) state perpetrators; b) state-society …

Ordered Anarchy: The Origins And Evolution Of A Society Of States In South America, 1864-1939, Nicolas Terradas

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present dissertation studies why South American states have fought so few wars among one another since their independence in the early 1800s, and why those wars in which they did enter were limited in intensity, casualty rates, number of battles, and overall duration. It offers an extensive review of the literature on South America’s “long peace” and advances two critiques. First, that the existing studies have usually followed either a narrow quantitative definition of war, or a broad qualitative definition of peace. And second, that the literature tends to neglect the relevance of the 19th century in the historical …

Gender, Party, And Political Communication In The 114th Congress, Maria Gabryszewska

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the interaction of gender and party in the political communication of members of Congress (MCs). The study focuses on the tweets of all MCs in the House of Representatives during two weeks of the 114^th Congress (9,374 tweets from 431 MCs). I conduct an in-depth content analysis of these tweets to extract important message characteristics related to issue areas, electoral behaviors, and constituency targeting.

I find that MCs emphasize their partisan ties when they tweet about women’s or men’s issues, but Democratic congresswomen and Republican congressmen go further to address feminine and masculine issue areas respectively. …

Resource Nationalism And Energy Integration In Latin America: The Paradox Of Populism, Brian Hollingsworth

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between resource nationalism and energy integration, and uses Bolivia and Brazil as a test case. Essentially, does resource nationalism affect energy integration? The findings nest within more expansive questions on international political economy and export-driven models of development. Why do populist regimes, historically operating under an economic nationalist cum protectionist paradigm, simultaneously pursue policies of economic integration? What is the relationship between resource nationalists and open markets, especially in the hydrocarbons sector? What is the relationship between populists, who are typically resource nationalists, and their decision to choose policies of energy integration?

The most common …

China's Eurasian Foreign Policy: Region-Building Through State-Building Since 1991, Zenel Garcia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, its leaders have been preoccupied with efforts to increase state capacity in order to exercise more effective control over their western frontier by controlling their minority population and generating the conditions for economic development in the area. Although these state-building initiatives have always incorporated an international component, the collapse of the USSR, the transnational characteristics of development, and China’s concern around the challenges of terrorism, separatism, and extremism have necessitated an accompanying region-building project in Eurasia. Using a synthesis of the region-building approach and the concept of regionalization, this …

Making African Civil Society Work: Assessing Conditions For Democratic State-Society Relations In Rwanda, Fiacre Bienvenu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation offers a single case in-depth analysis of factors precluding civil society from democratizing African polities. Synthesizing existing literature on Rwanda, I first undertake an historical search to trace the origins and qualities of civil society in the colonial era. This effort shows, however, that the central authority—commencing before the inception of the Republic in 1962—consistently organized civil society to buttress its activities, not to challenge them. Next, using ethnographic research, I challenge conventional economic and institutional accounts of civil society’s role in democratization. I show that institutional change and the economic clout of organized groups are marginal and …

Buffer States In Sub-Systemic Rivalries: Analyzing Nepal's Role In Sino-Indian Security Dynamics, Bibek Chand

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the relevance and importance of small buffer states for contemporary International Relations. It argues that sub-systemic interactions reinvigorate the role of buffer states in regional security. Using the case study of the triadic relationship among India, Nepal, and China, this study explains the evolving role of buffer states. The technological innovations in weapons systems, transportation, and communication have extended the reach of potential adversaries, rendering intermediate territorial space less significant than in the past. Thus, it is hypothesized in this dissertation that increased sub-systemic rivalry reinvigorates differently the relevance and significance of buffer states. The role of …

Iran And The Constitutionalism: History And Evolution And The Impact On International Relations, Farshad Ghodoosi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The sweeping changes in the Middle East, so-called the “Arab Spring”, necessitate revisiting constitutionalism in the region. This task entails a fresh look at the idea of rule of law and constitutionalism amongst the people of the Middle East. One of the widely misconceived and yet understudied constitutional movements in the Middle East belongs to Iran. A new perspective on the trajectory of constitutionalism in Iran would better equip us to comprehend rule of law in the Middle East. From the 1905 Constitutional movement to the 1979 Revolution, Iran has undergone major changes. Each transformation created a rupture with the …

Dynamics Of Iranian-Saudi Relations In The Persian Gulf Regional Security Complex (1920-1979), Nima Baghdadi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an exploration of the dynamics of Iranian-Saudi relations from the earliest days of their encounter in the 1920s through 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. This is a period in the relations of the two states that has rarely been the subject of intellectual inquiry in the existing literature. This present research provides an analytical historiography of Iranian-Saudi relations with an aim to examine the elements constituting the dynamics of their relations. This is attained by contextualizing the milestones of Iranian-Saudi relations, triangulating historical accounts to identify the narrative among alternatives that best fits the meaningful causal processes …

The Syrian Refugee Crisis And The European Union: A Case Study Of Germany And Hungary, Simone-Ariane Schelb

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on the Common European Asylum System. It evaluates the extent to which the European Union was able to implement a common asylum system, identifies discrepancies between different European countries, primarily Germany and Hungary, and briefly examines the roots of these differences. To this end, the structure of the international refugee protection regime and the German and Hungarian asylum systems are analyzed. Furthermore, the thesis explores how the governments of the two countries perceive the rights of refugees and how their views have affected their handling of the crisis. The case …

Speaking Private Authority: The Construction Of Sustainability In Forests And Fisheries, Roberto Jose Flores

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to expand upon current understandings of the emergent global phenomenon that is private authority. Private authority is a process wherein private actors create, implement, and enforce rules aimed at managing global problems. As private authority is becoming increasingly important in the conduct of global governance, broadening our understanding of it will serve the field of International Relations. In this dissertation I argue that private actors are not simply outgrowths of structures or certain material conditions, rather they are purposive actors strategically pursuing an agenda. As such, explaining private authority requires an examination of the …

Refugees Welcome: A Multilevel Analysis Of Refugee Labor Market Integration In The Swedish Welfare State, Jeffrey D. Maslanik

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To explore the complexities of refugee labor market integration in Sweden, the research performed a multi-level analysis of refugee labor market integration: from the perspective of civil society (meso-level) and from that of the refugee (micro-level). Sweden was ideal for this task because historically, it has been Europe’s most generous welfare state and during the height of the crisis, received the highest number of refugees of any European Member State (163,000 or 1,600 per 100,000 people).

The research was guided by two primary research questions: First, how have the roles of the state and civil society adjusted over time in …

Balance Of Power In Regional Institutional Framework: Reassessment Of The China-U.S.-Japan Trilateral Relationship, Yuanyuan Fang

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Relations among China, the United States, and Japan constitute some of the most complicated and dynamic relations in the contemporary era. Since the end of the second half of the twentieth century, all three nations, which were not in favor of regional multilateralism, have changed their strategy and have actively engaged in regional Asia-Pacific institutions. This research attempts to integrate realist discourse on the balance of power and liberal analysis of institutions to look at the China–U.S.–Japan interactions within regional institutions. This study explores why China, the United States, and Japan have increased their cooperative interaction in regional institutions in …

Contested Natures, Insecurities And Territorialities: The Aerial Eradication Of Coca In Colombia, Alexander Huezo

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Until very recently, Colombia was the only country in the world that still permitted the eradication of illicit crops –primarily coca and to a lesser extent, opium poppies— through aerial fumigation. It was a controversial practice for a number of reasons, chiefly the damage caused to plants, animals, and people living in or near fumigated areas. A favored tactic in the U.S.-supported War on Drugs, aerial eradication actually contributed to the spread of illicit crops to increasingly remote areas of Colombia, such as the collectively titled lands of both indigenous and black communities. Concerns about the practice of aerial eradication, …

The Impact Of Transitional Justice On The Development Of The Rule Of Law, Craig Lang

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the effects of transitional justice on the development of the rule of law in post-conflict states. There are assumptions in the literature that the prosecution of those responsible for human rights violations or convening a truth commission will help improve the rule of law. Using a mixed-method approach, which combined statistical analysis with in-country fieldwork, this investigation found that the impact of transitional justice, particularly trials, on the development of the rule of law is minimal and not automatic. In each of the four states examined, Colombia, Peru, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, meaningful effects from …

The Contribution Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone To The Law On Criminal Responsibility Of Children In International Criminal Law, Ana Paula Podcameni

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The revision of laws and the application of culpability to those most responsible for serious humanitarian law violations has functioned as a necessary condition for achieving peace in most post-war societies. However, there is an embarrassing silence when it comes to addressing the question of whether children are to be subjected to the principle of individual criminal responsibility. As morally controversial as it is, the question remains fundamental. Unfortunately, children have been involved in armed conflicts, as victims primarily, but not exclusively. Children are among those accused of having committed brutal and terrible international crimes in times of armed conflict …

Contemporary State Policies Toward Anti-Semitism In Germany And Poland, Thomas Just

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Broadly speaking, this research is intended to shed light on how post-genocide societies attempt to address a traumatic history and reconcile the problems of ethnic and religious hatred. Germany and Poland are especially ripe cases for such research given their historical memories of the Holocaust and unique legal and diplomatic efforts to counter anti-Semitism. However, since many of the policies on this issue have only been implemented in the past ten to fifteen years, there has not yet been a comprehensive study that has evaluated their effectiveness. This dissertation will attempt to fill this gap in the literature and provide …

South-South Cooperation As An Alternative Development Strategy: Rethinking Development Cooperation Through South-South Cooperation In Latin America And The Caribbean- Brazil And Haiti, Karen Elaine Clay

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation examined the South-South cooperation as an alternative development strategy for Southern countries by targeting the collaboration between Brazil and Haiti, two countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Examining development cooperation between Brazil and Haiti could contribute to a better understanding of the central question, why Southern countries engage in South-South cooperation?

In the context of the 2008 financial crisis and the ensuing reduction of aid coming from Global North countries to developing countries, South-South cooperation has become an alternative economic and political arrangement from the more traditional North-South framework. For this reason, South-South cooperation between emerging donors …

Foreign Policy Evaluation And The Utility Of Intervention, Graham Slater

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation identifies and explains the factors contributing to the presence and severity of U.S. foreign-policy blunders, or gross errors in strategic judgment resulting in significant harm to the national interest, since the Second World War. It hypothesizes that the grand strategy of preponderance and the overestimation of military power to transform the politics of other states have precipitated U.S. foreign-policy blunders since 1945. Examining the Vietnam War and Iraq War as case studies, it focuses on underlying conditions in the American national identity and the problematic foreign policy decision-making (FPDM) that corresponds to this bifurcated hypothesis, termed the overestimation/preponderance …

Reimagining Movements: Towards A Queer Ecology And Trans/Black Feminism, Gabriel Benavente

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to bridge feminist and environmental justice movements through the literature of black women writers. These writers create an archive that contribute towards the liberation of queer, black, and transgender peoples.

In the novel Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler constructs a world that highlights the pervasive effects of climate change. As climate change expedites poverty, Americans begin to blame others, such as queer people, for the destruction of their country. Butler depicts the dangers of fundamentalism as a response to climate change, highlighting an imperative for a movement that does not romanticize the environment as heteronormative, but …

Contrasting Oil Security Objectives Within A Grand Strategic Framework: The Case Of The United States And China, Ryan C. Opsal

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Energy is a critical component of a state’s national security and economic considerations, and beginning in the 20th century, this focus has been acutely centered on oil. Having evolved globally, consisting of well-developed financial markets and maritime and pipeline routes traversing the world, the oil market provides massive amounts of crude to countries on a daily basis. However, not all states simply rely on the market for oil security, and instead take additional steps to secure their respective supplies. Oil supply security is a critical driver for large, consuming states, and merits further study. And, in terms of demand on …

Geopolitical Account Of Iran's Ties With Non-State Actors Under The Shah: 1958-1979, Arash Reisinezhad

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Late in 2004, King Abdullah of Jordan coined a controversial phrase that still dominates the heart of the geopolitics of the Middle East: The Shia Crescent. “If pro-Iran parties or politicians dominate the new Iraqi government, a new ‘crescent’ of dominant Shia movements or governments stretching from Iran into Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon could emerge to alter the traditional balance of power between the two main Islamic sects and pose new challenges to U.S. interests and allies. What the King of Jordan saw as a threat, Iran saw as the bedrock of its newfound regional power. However, what the King …

Degree And Patterns Of Formal Ngo Participation Within The United Nations Economic And Social Committee (Ecosoc): An Appraisal Of Ngo Consultative Status Relative To Political Pluralism, Barry D. Mowell

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United Nations (UN) has invested increasing levels of effort in recent decades to cultivate a more effective, diverse and democratic institutional culture via the inclusion of and interaction among international civil society organizations (CSOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to supplement the traditional role of states as the primary transnational actors. The principle vehicle for the UN-civil society dynamic is the consultative status (CS) program within the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), wherein a diverse range of nearly 5,000 transnational organizations ostensibly participate.

This research examined patterns of participation and the nature/level of CSO/NGO involvement within the UN, with particular …

Kim Was Korea And Korea Was Kim: The Formation Of Juche Ideology And Personality Cult In North Korea, Bianca Trifoi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Juche ideology, created by founder Kim Il-Sung, governs all aspects of North Korean society. This thesis attempts to answer the questions of why and how Juche ideology and the cult of personality surrounding Kim Il-Sung were successfully implemented in North Korea. It is a historical analysis of the formation of the North Korean state that considers developments from the late 19th century to the late 20th century, with particular attention paid to the 1950s-1970s and to Kim’s own writings and speeches. The thesis argues that Juche was successfully implemented and institutionalized in North Korea due to several factors, including the …

Us Foreign Policy Toward Azerbaijan, 1991-2015, Galib Bashirov

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to investigate the sources of United States (US) foreign policy toward Azerbaijan by examining the relative impact of domestic, geostrategic and structural factors in explaining US foreign policy toward the country. Azerbaijan is one of the newly independent states that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Despite its small size, the country’s strategic location, vast oil and natural gas reserves, and its conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno- Karabakh region elevated its importance and made Azerbaijan the center of interest for great powers. As the sole superpower after the end of the Cold War, the …