Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Migratory Stories: Building Ethical Immigration Policy, Lucca D. Abele

Honors Papers

Yorki J. Encalada Egúsquiza, an academic who studies border issues, discusses the reality that Child Migrants (CM) face, “They are minors traveling alone, then they have to appear in immigration courts, regardless of age. We're talking about children, in some cases, toddlers, without lawyers, who have to face a court that wants to deport them.” United States immigration policy fails to aid CMs who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border; in a practice of exclusionary policy, it further traumatizes children who have journeyed to the U.S. alone. Using interviews I have conducted, memoirs, political theory, and scholarly literature, my research scrutinizes …

How Aesthetics Shape Our Ethics: Exploring Nazi Germany, The Soviet Union, And Digital World, Nika Kokhodze

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Every day, we encounter numerous amount of images, films, news and propaganda. The different forms and manifestations of aesthetics haunts our lives daily. What if I told you that Aesthetics has immense amount of power? This project aims specifically at that as it explores authoritarian states and the liberal democracies alike. How could the moral compass that we all cherish and hold dearly be predicated and shaped by something so remote as aesthetics? Exploring through examples from the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and the digital world we all live in, one might find some answers and the right questions to …

Presidential Rhetoric And Media's Contribution To The Subjective Nature Of Truth In American Democracy, Bianca Miccolis

English Honors Theses

This thesis examines the role of media on the subjectivity of truth in presidential rhetoric and its ethical implications. In my three case studies, I find that there is some form of deception by each president in their chosen form of media. I analyze Roosevelt’s use of the radio, which he uses to hide his disability and gain more executive power to combat the Great Depression. I examine Reagan’s use of television and how he fabricates an intimate relationship with the American people to enact tax reform. Finally, I investigate Trump’s use of Twitter to deflect negative publicity as he …

“One Of The Most Elaborate Doping Ploys In Sports History”: The Impact Of The 2016 Russian Doping Scandal On Anti-Doping, Wada And Athletes’ Rights, Mikael J. Gonsalves

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation analyzes the impacts of the 2016 Russian doping scandal from a philosophical and historical perspective. This dissertation’s second chapter, the article entitled (1) “The Brave New World of Athletes’ Rights: A Canadian Perspective on Significant Shifts for the World Anti- Doping Agency” in time for the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) 20 th anniversary, puts into words the new investigative reality of contemporary anti-doping. It explains a new attitude of anti-doping authorities in response to the ‘game-changing’ Russian manipulation of samples, what has been described as “one of the most elaborate doping ploys in sports history” 1 (Icarus, 2016) …

The Effect Of Moral Development On Voters’ Trust In Politicians, Aquilus Ricks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The impact of voters’ moral development on trust in politicians is a rarely explored phenomenon among scholars studying why voters trust politicians. It is unknown whether voters’ moral development plays an influential role in their decisions to trust those they elect to public office, or if they simply respond to the best political show. The purpose of this study was to examine this phenomenon and determine whether voters’ moral development impacted their trust in politicians regardless of age, gender, education, income, and religion. The study surveyed 110 eligible voters in a midwestern city in the United States using two survey …

The Ethics Of Aerial Bombardment In International Conflicts: From Douhet To Drones, Rauan Zhaksybergen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In this thesis, I demonstrate how the question of ethics in aerial bombardment has been evolving and transforming since its inception at the beginning of the twentieth century to contemporary targeted killings/assassinations by drones. I interact with early airpower theories from Douhet, Trenchard, Mitchell, and contemporary air tactics in order to establish a crucial sequence between these early theories and practices of aerial violence and modern ones conducted by armed drones. I show how the evolution of aerial bombardment challenged, influenced, and transformed essentials of conventional warfare, as well as dispersed boundaries between combatants and non-combatants. Contemporary legally uncontrolled targeted …

Politics For Angels, William Kanwischer

Honors Projects

How many idealizing assumptions may we make when doing political philosophy? May we assume our citizens more rational than they are, or our governments more efficient than in reality? These questions lie at the center of the debate between ideal and non-ideal theorists. Ideal theorists believe it permissible to engage in counterfactual assumptions about citizens and states when doing political philosophy, and non-ideal theorists think the opposite. In this paper, I will argue against a particular defense of ideal theory given by David Estlund, who argues that the low probability that a standard of justice will be met does not …

Preventative Force And The Rules Of Proportionality, Jacob Price

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The thesis examines how a tiered system of proportional rules will provide a better understanding for how to use force outside of a declared conflict. The tiered system provides explicit standards and subprinciples to determine how and when a foreign state can use preventative force on specific targets. The thesis asserts that certain preventative action against immediate and existential threats can be justified, but any demonstration of force cannot continue beyond a threat incident. The thesis evaluates the current demonstrations of force in Mexico, West Africa and situations involving weapons of mass destruction. Through the tiered system, states can proportionally …

The Use Of State-Sponsored Torture For National Security: A Debate On The Permissibility Of Torture In The Name Of Public Safety, Matthew Fisher

Honors Program Theses

Can the United States government’s use of state-sponsored torture ever be justified for national security purposes? This question is a taboo subject that frequently elicits passionate responses from individuals who argue both for and against its use in upholding national security. This vigorous debate challenges moral, ethical, legal, and even pragmatic ideals in seeking to determine if state use of torture can ever be a part of America’s national security strategy. These considerations, and others, have inspired this research project and the specific research question which seeks to determine whether the United States government’s use of state-sponsored torture for national …

The Effectiveness Of State Ethics Commissions On Curbing Corruption And The Effect Of Corruption On State Economic Performance, Anthony J. Prato

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of anti-corruption policies implemented across the United States that significantly reduce public sector corruption. In addition to the normative desire to combat corruption, it documents, the economic impact that corruption has on each state's per capita gross domestic product. To investigate public sector corruption articles between the years 2010 – 2015were reviewed for news stories that report on public sector corruption at the state level and below. The practical implications of this dissertation, if incorporated into a state level anti-corruption policy, could be used to reduce public sector corruption and increase that states' economic health. …

“The Time Is Always Now:” James Baldwin In Trump’S America, Chase Stowell

Senior Theses

Gone is the optimism regarding race relations that dominated the early years of Obama’s presidency. Trump’s meteoric rise has given Americans pause, and in this time of potential reflection, it is important to re-examine James Baldwin. This essay analyzes Baldwin’s understanding of race from the inception of racism in America until its theoretical end, combining Baldwin’s novels and essays to propose practices that will help America move beyond the racial problem that has haunted its history. James Baldwin’s demand of individual reflection upon one’s system of reality necessitates the end of political demonology, as well as a reframing of rhetoric …

Ethics And Effectiveness Of Medical Brigades As A Primary Care Method In Rural And Remote Areas, Emilie Christie

Senior Honors Projects

Medical brigades, also known as mobile health clinics, are temporary primary care stations set up by volunteer students and health professionals to bring basic healthcare to remote areas free of charge. The present review aims to explore the effectiveness and ethics of brigades, concluding in recommendations to improve these aspects of brigades. Literature regarding brigade effectiveness was examined and synthesized, while brigade ethics were analyzed through four main ethical principles of medicine: respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. Proposed improvements to brigades include rapid testing and connection to care for chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, access to mental health …

Competition, Compromises, And Complicity: An Analysis Of The Humanitarian Aid Sector, Fiona Bare

CMC Senior Theses

This paper analyzes humanitarian assistance to complex humanitarian emergencies to understand why suboptimal outcomes result even when humanitarians have ethical principles and good intentions. It focuses on the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, and Médecins Sans Frontières to understand their core principles before looking at how these principles operationalize during emergencies. Challenges arise due to complex relationships with donors, local actors, and recipients, along with issues of marketization and competition. This paper’s case studies of the post-genocide Rwandan refugee crisis and post-9/11 Afghanistan explore how humanitarian principles clash with such dilemmas. In the end, humanitarian organizations …

Relationship Building And Unethical Behavior In The Hospitality Industry, Sharron Lee Koch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Relationship building is a fundamental component to develop successful businesses, although corrupt purchasing executives pay bribes in excess of $1.5 trillion dollars annually. The participants for this case study consisted of 10 national sales managers who have successfully implemented strategies to train suppliers in relationship building in a hotel in Greensville, South Carolina. The resource dependence theory grounded the study. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies a hotel owner in Greenville, South Carolina used to train managers on relationship building. Collection of data included 8 semi-structured telephone interviews and 2 video interviews that were audio …

The New American Revolution: Economic Inequality And Economic Democracy, Alec Stubbs

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This work explores the disastrous effects of the modern capitalist system and how it creates, as well as perpetuates, the negative impacts of a vastly unequal system. Beginning with how inequality manifests itself and why we should care, this work analyzes the damages, dangers, and destruction of economic inequality. These insights help to reveal two key aspects of the failing capitalist system: the lie of real political democracy and the lack of economic democracy. At the root cause of these issues is an unstable capitalism that cannot simply be quelled by taxation, regulation, and reconfiguration. Instead, I contend that what …

Proto-Postmodernism: Constructing Postmodern Ethics Through Cold War Literature And Theory, Rock Lamanna

Departmental Honors Projects

While postmodern theory and literature is typically viewed as either “anti-humanist” or a rejection of Humanism, this essay reconsiders these assumptions by exploring ethical questions in early postmodern novels and theory, referred to as “proto-postmodernism.” For proto-postmodernists such as Hannah Arendt, Albert Camus, Ralph Ellison, Joseph Heller, and Kurt Vonnegut, Humanism—the ethical framework that asserts a centered “self” and a collective “metanarrative” of human progress—causes and legitimates violence, yet in their theories and literature, they promote the humanist value of dignity in their critiques of modern ethics and politics. To examine this hybrid stance toward Humanism, the first section situates …

Adaptation On A Budget: How Vietnamese Innovators Are Trying To Design Their Way Out Of Climate Change, Shanti R. Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the rapidly developing Mekong Delta of Vietnam, young innovators are facing a challenge far greater than simply trying to catch up with the wealthier world. In a growing trend, the next generation of Vietnamese is acting under a common understanding: climate change is real, it’s here and the time to respond is growing short.

For over a decade, Southern Vietnam has consistently been ranked by international organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as one of the most vulnerable places in the world to the impacts of climate change. That vulnerability is heightened by the fact that the …

The Promise Of Mourning, Samantha Rose Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation project offers a critique of the ethical turn within contemporary political theory through the Frankfurt School tradition of critical thought. While many contemporary political theorists rely upon Freud’s distinction between mourning and melancholia in order to argue for forms of democratic political action, I examine the relationship between loss, mourning, melancholy, and temporality in the works of Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Sheldon Wolin, and Theodor Adorno in order to think about the relationship between critical thinking and political action. Focusing on their different approaches to time, history, and loss in relationship to politics demonstrates how concepts like mourning …

The Political Theology Of Dietrich Bonhoeffer And The Ethical Problem Of Tyrannicide, Brian Kendall Watson

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, I explore the relationship between political theology and the ethical problem of tyrannicide in the life and works of German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Beginning with an examination of his theological views, I argue that Bonhoeffer’s Christo-centric worldview forms the basis of his subsequent ethical and political beliefs, as well as his motivation for participating in an assassination plot against Adolph Hitler. Bonhoeffer’s desire to connect his understanding of Jesus Christ to the entirety of human life leads him to develop an unsystematic theological approach to ethics and the relationship between church and government. Concluding with …

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …

Spying: A Normative Account Of The Second Oldest Profession, Ronald E. Watson

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

My dissertation attends to the urgent ethical problems raised by government spying. It asks and answers three principal questions: What is spying? What principles should regulate government spying? And how can government agents be constrained to follow these principles?

The first chapter takes up the conceptual question. I defend the following definition of spying: agent A spies on agent B, if and only if she collects information that relates to B and intends to conceal her information collection from B. The main challenge any conception of spying faces is to cover a relatively wide range of agents often thought to …

Ethics In Action : A Study Of Ethical Decision Making In Counterinsurgencies, Marcus Schulzke

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The goal of this dissertation is to analyze the kinds of ethical challenges soldiers encounter during counterinsurgency operations, what decision making processes or values they use to resolve these challenges, and how military institutions and culture influence soldiers' ethical reasoning. The first part of the dissertation is an assessment of various theories of applied ethics and how these can be used by soldiers during counterinsurgency operations. The second part discusses the institutions and cultures of the American Army, British Army, and Israeli Ground Forces. In the third part, I take up the problem of how soldiers from each of these …

Rights, Needs, And The Creation Of Ethical Community, Natalie Susan Gaines

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite a half-century of dominance by the rights discourse, the supremacy of rights in theories of human obligation has recently come under attack from political theorists. Though scholars have questioned the ability of rights to explain satisfactorily the responsibility we have for the well-being of others, there are few viable alternatives offered. In this dissertation, I argue that a theory of needs provides a better explanation of the intellectual and moral foundations of obligation. Human need is deeply rooted in subjective potentiality, but studies in human psychology have also provided an increasingly universal picture of the needs human beings experience. …

Eminent Domain: The Unintended Consequences Of Kelo, Tracy Lynn Bower

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In recent years, local governments in the United States have increasingly used eminent domain to promote economic development, raising concerns among property-right advocates over what those advocates view as unlawful, or what should be unlawful, takings of private property in order to benefit another private property owner. This philosophical and legal dispute reached a crisis point in the 2005 United States Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London. In that decision, the court narrowly upheld a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling granting the City of New London permission to redevelop land that had been seized from existing homeowners …

Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics, Jeremy John Mhire

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis is an examination of the argument and character of Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics. Its goal is to provide a critical analysis that will elucidate the treatise's themes in general and its arguments in particular. The first section is devoted to examining the relationship between happiness and the good life. The second section seeks to make clear the relationship between virtue and justice. The third section attempts to illustrate the nature of intellectual virute. The fourth and final section analyzes the notions of friendship and philosophy.