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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Political Science

Western Washington University

WWU Graduate School Collection

2015

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Unnecessary Roughness: Examining Terrain, Indiscriminate Violence, And Conflict Duration, Christine Dulaney Jan 2015

Unnecessary Roughness: Examining Terrain, Indiscriminate Violence, And Conflict Duration, Christine Dulaney

WWU Graduate School Collection

During the past decade scholars have attempted to identify factors influence conflict by using cross-national quantitative analysis, many of which utilize terrain roughness as an independent variable asserting that it provides an advantage in guerrilla warfare. However, despite the theoretical assumptions, these studies fail to reach consensus regarding how or if rough terrain contributes to conflict. One study in particular, Buhaug and Lujala (2005), found that higher levels of rough terrain in the conflict zone were associated, albeit insignificantly, with shorter conflicts, while higher levels of terrain roughness at the country level were associated with longer conflicts. This thesis seeks …


Rethinking Majoritarian Modification: Toward An Explanatory Theory Of Electoral System Reform In Canada, The U.K., And New Zealand, Christopher M. Miller Jan 2015

Rethinking Majoritarian Modification: Toward An Explanatory Theory Of Electoral System Reform In Canada, The U.K., And New Zealand, Christopher M. Miller

WWU Graduate School Collection

Traditional theories of electoral reform have focused on the outcomes of reform as a way of explaining the rational-strategic actions of political elites. Recently, the literature has moved from an ex post to an ex ante approach, analyzing the context and process of reform independent of its expected outcomes. This new conceptualization of electoral reform has produced new analytic frameworks, from which I propose to explore the development of an explanatory theory of electoral reform.