Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Discourse And Controversy In The Israel-Palestine Conflict - A Review Of The Literature, Irteza Atique

Major Papers

The Israel-Palestine conflict has been ongoing for more than 75 years and has many historical, geographical, religious, and ethnic components. Despite several attempts at resolution, the war persists, resulting in continued violence, human misery, and regional instability. This study dives into the highly contentious dispute over labelling Israel as an apartheid state, a subject that has prompted heated debate in academic literature, college campuses, the media, and diplomacy. Using a wide range of scholarly literature and trustworthy news sources, we investigate the origins of the war, important historical events, and the numerous factors that have shaped the current conflict. Beginning …

Salt: A Tribute To Ghana's Fishers, Vanessa F. Jaiteh

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

This poem is a tribute to my fieldwork on fisher safety, labour abuses and human rights violations in Ghana’s fisheries.

Social Media As Fragile State, Caroline A. Haythornthwaite, Philip Mai, Anatoliy Gruzd

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Social media platforms are grappling with how to respond to hate speech, misinformation, and political manipulation in ways that address human rights, free speech, and equality. As independent ‘states’, they are enacting their own rules of conduct, deriving their own ‘laws’, convening their own extrajudicial self regulatory institutions, and making their own interpretations and enactments of human rights. With the rise of social states such as Facebook, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, how fragile are they in their ability to achieve outcomes of fair, equitable and consistent application of their own laws? Could an assessment of the fragility of …

Tigray Conflict And Political Development In Ethiopia: Assessing Governance, Political Participation And Human Rights., Olileanya Amuche Ezugwu, Moses M. Duruji

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

The escalation of intra-state conflicts in Africa has assumed an endemic nature, posing a challenge to regional stability. Conflicts have the capacity to not only cause physical destruction to individuals and property, but also impede the establishment and maintenance of the rule of law, undermine the legitimacy of states, and pose a threat to institutional structures. This paper examines the effect of the Tigray conflict on the political development of Ethiopia: election, political participation and human rights. The objectives of the study include examining the extent the Tigray conflict affected the political development of Ethiopia and efforts made to resolve …

The Impact Of Armed Drones On Human Security Goals, Sarath Kakani

CMC Senior Theses

The rapid proliferation of armed drones around the globe has sparked a debate on their benefits and their tradeoffs. Through a traditional security perspective, drones are the ideal weapon of the future: incredible technological capabilities lend tactical advantages to any military that owns drones. They allow actors to strike at enemy combatants without no risk to their own troops and minimal risk to any civilian bystanders. Yet through a nontraditional human security lens, armed drones have been nothing short of a disaster in protecting civilians and reducing collateral damage. The tactical advantages they lend users are some of their most …

Looted Cultural Objects, Elena Baylis

Articles

In the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, museums are in possession of cultural objects that were unethically taken from their countries and communities of origin under the auspices of colonialism. For many years, the art world considered such holdings unexceptional. Now, a longstanding movement to decolonize museums is gaining momentum, and some museums are reconsidering their collections. Presently, whether to return such looted foreign cultural objects is typically a voluntary choice for individual museums to make, not a legal obligation. Modern treaties and statutes protecting cultural property apply only prospectively, to items stolen or illegally exported after their effective dates. …

Human Rights Regime In West Africa: The Case Of Ecowas And The Journey To Nigeria's Fourth Republic, Fatima Mercy Aigbomian

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As regional economic communities within Africa expanded into courts to resolve economic disputes and these courts further metamorphosed into human rights courts, scholars of international human rights law have theorized about the reason for the “proliferation” of human rights mechanisms in Africa. This article examines why regional economic communities have courts whose jurisdiction have been expanded to hear human rights claims. I focus on the role of domestic politics and the strategic leadership of dominant member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Contrary to approaches that emphasize human rights courts are a well-orchestrated showmanship utilized as …

Restricted At Home, Impeded Abroad: A Study Of Domestic Human Rights Practices And Women’S Global Economic Power, Cameron Elizabeth Cheatham

Honors College Theses

To what extent does the practice of human rights as universal or culturally relative impact women’s status in the global economy? While there is already evidence to show how women have less power in countries that practice culturally relative human rights, this study aims to explore how the domestic practice of human rights influences women’s global power through an analysis of women’s financial inclusion. Using a cross-national, quantitative analysis, I show that human rights practices in the domestic arena directly impact the economic power of women in the global economy. When human rights practices at home are more universal in …

Internet Freedom During Crises: Limits And Restrictions, Ibrahim Al Khasawneh, Abdulkareem Aldebaisi

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

The study aimed to reveal the limitations imposed by some political systems in the world to restrict Internet freedom during political crises, conflict, and the dangers of those limitations, restrictions on freedom of expression and human rights. The study adopted the descriptive approach to explain the theoretical framework of the concept of freedom of human use of the Internet, freedom of the Internet as a human right, the role of the Internet in encouraging freedom of expression of public opinion, the types of restrictions imposed on it in normal circumstances and in times of crisis, and the motives of those …

Evaluating The Effectiveness And Efficiency Of U.S. Foreign Aid, Rebecca Baley

Selected Honors Theses

The U.S. is the top spender in the world when it comes to foreign aid, sending billions of dollars around the world each year. There are many different goals and objectives that the U.S. government hopes to accomplish with their spending. This paper is structured as an extended literature review analyzing previous literature on the topic of U.S. foreign aid spending and the results of these funds around the world to test the effectiveness and efficiency. The process of how the foreign aid budget is set will also be discussed as well as the history of why the U.S. started …

Knocking On Europe's Door: A Comprehensive Analysis Of The European Response To The 2015 Refugee Crisis And The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis, Jacob J. Mckim

Global Studies Senior Capstone

Europe is, and has long been at the center of refugee reception for many areas of the world due to its geographical position and general security. However, the European response to refugees has varied drastically in different situations. This paper examines the European response to both the 2015 Refugee Crisis and the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis. The focus being on what factors, whether political, racial, or religious, has led for some individuals to be received more favorably in Europe than others. Through examining this, the conditions for successful and long-lasting refugee reception hopefully be more clearly seen.

Using Multiple Lenses To See An Invisible Group, Kathleen J. Farkas, Jaroslaw Richard Romaniuk

Faculty Scholarship

Social work in Poland and in the United States shares the values of human dignity and self-determination, but there are often value conflicts in terms of how various groups experience social roles and social expectations. This paper explores the use of multiple lenses to understand the past and current conditions for LGBT+ people in Poland. An international, university-level collaboration uses a framework of “invisible groups” to highlight the needs of those who are on the margins of society and whose human and individual rights are suppressed. The article reviews the results of a recently published on-line survey of LGBT+ populations …

Human Rights Of Psychiatric Patients In The State Of Kuwait, Samira Ahmed Alkanderi

BAU Journal - Society, Culture and Human Behavior

There is no doubt that the right to have a good health is considered a basic human right which is closely linked to the other civil, political and economic human rights. It is a right for all people without any discrimination.

From the point of the belief of the international human rights community with the rights of patients who are suffering from mental or psychological sickness, the General Assembly of the United Nations issued in 1991 some principles, which admit the right of all persons to enjoy the right of getting the best available mental and psychological health care which …

International Human Rights Through Queer Theory: A Discursive Analysis Of The Russian, Lithuanian, And Kyrgyz Lgbtq+ Lived Experience Within The Global Paradigm, Mariem Youssef

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis attempts to shed light on the subordination of international human rights law to that of the paradigm of international relations through asserting the existence of US Empire i.e., that emulates historical empires, British and French, which aims to emancipate subjugated minorities, formerly women and presently LGBTQ+ individuals from their national oppressive regimes. This is achieved through a discussion of pervious literature that discusses queer theory with a special focus on Russia, Lithuania, and Kyrgyzstan as the main case studies. While the overt intentionality of the “empire” is to protect LGBTQ+ individuals through perpetuating the prototype of the “International …

American Sign Language Legal Interpretation Complications: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Linguistic Barriers Within The Criminal Justice System, Katherine R. Doan

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

The founding documents of the United States of America tend to be rather universal and impartial in their vernacular. Because all citizens of a nation are deserving of the same rights and privileges regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or disability status, accommodations must be provided to the Deaf to give them equal access to information throughout interrogations, trials, and police interactions. While it may seem obvious that interpreters should be provided during legal situations involving a Deaf individual, visual communication can make legal interactions quite complicated when police or attorneys can only reveal limited details. When Deaf culture involving expansion …

"Don't Put Restrictions On Us": The Dangers Of Conservative And Populist Appeals For Abortion Access In Post-Roe America, Kayla Schmitz

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis critically analyzes Kansans for Constitutional Freedom’s campaign ads for their campaign against the Value Them Both Amendment in Kansas in 2022. Value Them Both would have stripped the Kansas constitution of its protection of personal autonomy and therefore abortion rights. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom used populist and otherwise conservative appeals in their ads to reach audiences across the political “spectrum” to gain their votes against Value Them Both. While the campaign was widely successful, there are many things it did not do for the broader concern of reproductive healthcare access in the United States, particularly for those living …

Does Electoral Proximity Influence Commitment To International Human Rights Law?, Nolan Ragland

Baker Scholar Projects

The core international human rights treaties from the United Nations have been signed and ratified by varying groups of states, and much of previous research has been dominated by a desire to explain ratification of international human rights law (IHRL) through the democratic lock-in effect and states’ economic and political ties to one another. In this paper, I seek to understand when states are ratifying IHRL, testing whether the presence of elections influences commitment to three of the nine core international human rights treaties: the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of …

Seeking Justice For Jews From Mena Countries Through International Law: Comparing The Cases Of Morocco And Iraq, Jessica E. Yeroshalmi

Student Theses and Dissertations

Little is known of the Jews of Middle Eastern North African (MENA) origin whose long standing history in the region did not protect them from discrimination, persecution, and ethnic cleansing. Although much of the research on contemporary Jewish history and persecution revolves around the Holocaust and European events and its implications for Jews and international law, far less is researched about the uprooting of nearly one million Jews from the MENA region. In this investigation, I aim to reconstruct that narrative, applying international law to Jewish refugees from Arab countries. My thesis will be a comparative analysis of Morocco and …

Does Electoral Proximity Influence Commitment To International Human Rights Law?, Nolan A. Ragland

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of The Convention On The Elimination Of Discrimination Against Women On Ecuador's Domestic Policy, Brittani Stiltner

Student Symposium

In 1979, Ecuador became one of the first Latin American countries to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In this paper, I use Ecuador as a case study for analyzing the effectiveness of international human rights treaties on the countries that ratify them, looking specifically into the impact the CEDAW had on Ecuador’s domestic policies and action it has taken to expand women’s rights since 1979. I begin by giving a historical basis for the culture and political organization of the country due to colonization. I then articulate Ecuador as a leader …

Enabling A Just Transition: Protecting Human Rights In Renewable Energy Projects: A Briefing For Policymakers, Hansika Agrawal, Laura El-Katiri, Kimathi Muiruri, Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

This briefing provides guidance to policy- and decision-makers (hereafter, “policymakers”) on the benefits of and strategies for taking a human rights-based approach to renewable energy policy. It highlights the various impacts of utility-scale renewable energy projects on peoples and communities, associated risks for policymakers, and explains how national, regional, and global policies can help mitigate those impacts and risks. The briefing addresses different agents of policy- and decision-making: Host states, where renewable energy projects are proposed or located; Home states where corporations pursuing renewable energy investments, especially investments abroad, are based; Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) financing renewable energy investments, especially …

The Intersection Of Gender, Media, And Policy: A Qualitative Analysis On Thai Newspaper Coverage Of Women In Agriculture, Morgan A. Richardson Gilley, Richie Roberts, J. Joey Blackburn, Kristin Stair

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

Women empowerment and gender equality have been found to be statistically significant and positive predictors of global agricultural development. Therefore, reducing gender disparities can encourage economic progress and growth in developing nations. As such, determining effective ways to stimulate social progress and women’s empowerment has emerged as a critical need. One strategy used to raise the public’s consciousness about gendered issues in Thailand has been through mass media. In response, this study aimed to (1) determine to what extent Thailand’s newspaper coverage focused on topics related to women and the agricultural industry; and (2) describe how women in agriculture …

A Non-Racial Approach To Assessing Group Membership Of Victims In A Mass Grave Using Cranial Data, John Albanese, Alyssa Di Iorio

Integrative Biology Publications

In some jurisdictions, race, ancestry, or population affinity have been used for historical and po-litical, rather than biological, reasons in forensic anthropology when identifying individuals. The approach persists even though the genetic and skeletal data clearly demonstrate that human variation does not cluster into these groups. For over 60 years, these methods have consistently performed poorly when independently tested using large samples. By racializing the deceased, these methods have further marginalized the living. However, there is a need in the investigation of genocide and human rights violations to demonstrate that a specific group was targeted. Without relying on the outdated …

Understanding How Regulatory And Ethical Principles Mitigate The Spread And Propagation Of Harmful Health Information: A Successful Fulbright Scholar Award Narrative, Bethany S. Mcgowan

Libraries Faculty and Staff Creative Materials

I used a Fulbright Scholar Award to work with librarians, information studies scholars, and policymakers in Finland to investigate what policies or policy tools were available to help balance the need between propagating accurate information, curbing dis/misinformation, and ensuring human rights of access to information. This policy assessment helped me understand how regulatory and ethical principles can mitigate the spread and propagation of harmful health information.

The Nexus Of Climate Change And Human Rights: An Examination Of How Social, Political, And Environmental Impacts Of Climate Change Jeopardize The Protection Of Human Rights In The African Sahel, Camden R. Malone

Dissertations and Theses

Climate change is a threat multiplier by its driving forces of environmental stress and scarcity. In the developing world, countries are hit hardest and most frequently by the effects of climate change, such as severe floods, droughts, and desertification. In this thesis, I argue that existing models for the umbrella-term of climate-security underemphasize dimensions of human security through exclusion of HR violations linked to climate such as subjection to food/water stress, compromised health, displacement, and violent conflict. Therefore, the climate-security paradigm should be recast to pay closer attention to its consequences related to human rights protection, which I refer to …

The United States’ Stringent Sovereignty: How Foreign Policy Framing Prioritizes Security Over Human Rights, Kathryn Parker

Scripps Senior Theses

American policymakers utilize valence framing, purposeful descriptions of outcomes as positive or negative, to influence the opinions of voters while maintaining the moral superiority felt by many citizens in the liberal Western hegemon. This study intended to combine the political theories of Constructivism and Realism to form Constructive Realism, a theory that emphasizes the significance of state power and norms as joint influences on constituents. Constructive realism was then applied to four case studies – the UN Security Council, International Criminal Court, Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. This study …

On The Phenomenon Of Populism And Extremism In The Balkans, Mustafa Cerić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper is based on my personal experience of war and peace in Bosnia. The basic notion is that it is easier to start a war than to stop it. Thus, postwar recovery or peacebuilding is not easy. But thanks to open-minded people who have been all along against a mythical populism that caused the bloody war against Bosnia and its autochthon people, the peace, although unjust, was reached after all. The focus here is on the idea of pluralism in Bosnia as an opposite to "populism" and "extremism." For a positive narrative like pluralism is a good way to …

Post-Conflict Reconciliation In Ukraine, Elena Baylis

Articles

Reconciliation mechanisms should be a core component of transitional justice in Ukraine. The nature of this conflict as a war justified by claims about history, identity, and legitimacy suggests that there will be a need for post-war reconciliation initiatives. Such reconciliation measures would be intended to enable Ukraine’s Russian, Ukrainian, and other communities to live together constructively within the same state. The goals of social reconciliation also converge with Ukraine’s long-term, political aims vis-à-vis both Russia and the European Union. This paper addresses three types of reconciliation measures that are important for post-conflict Ukraine. Instrumental mechanisms to engage post-conflict social …

A Mixed-Method Analysis Of The News Media Framing Of Gender Non-Conforming Victims Of Homicide In The U.S. From 2012 To 2022, Susana Avalos, Hayley Jackey, Iyan Wickel

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Recent analyses of transgender homicide victims find that the news media often uses improper terminology, delegitimizes, and victim blames them. These analyses, while insightful, are limited as they have largely analyzed cases involving trans women and trans feminine individuals. The present study employs a mixed-method approach to analyze news media articles (N = 88) published in U.S. online news media outlets about 17 gender non-conforming victims killed between 2012 and 2022. We found that most articles did not delegitimize or victim blame. However, we find (1) victim blaming occurred when reporting on cases of officer-involved shootings, (2) certain victims …

Language Barriers Among Immigrant Communities, Rosia Aning

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This research explores the challenges presented by language barriers among immigrant communities. The study focuses on the impact of limited English proficiency on different aspects of immigrant life, including education, employment, healthcare, cultural integration, and social interactions. Immigrants are individuals who have relocated to a foreign country that is not their country of origin, and they face significant challenges due to language barriers. The inability to communicate effectively with native speakers can lead to social exclusion, economic disadvantage, and restricted access to important resources and information. This project aims to shed light on these challenges and provide potential solutions to …