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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Positive Out Of The Negative: Tracking Renewable Energy Projects In Central America, Jordan Ethan Castillo (Miner) May 2023

Positive Out Of The Negative: Tracking Renewable Energy Projects In Central America, Jordan Ethan Castillo (Miner)

Master's Theses

Central America is undertaking a vast Renewable Energy (RE) transition, due to widespread investments across the region in an array of technologies. These technologies include Community Solar, Wind, and Hydroelectricity. Hydroelectricity has long been the backbone of many countries’ energy grids in the region due to the region’s long history with hydroelectricity. Ambitious climate goals coupled with diminishing hydroelectric power generation opportunities have led to an expansion of investment in Community Solar and Wind energy. The embrace of Solar and Wind has been accelerated due to declining costs for these technologies as they mature. Central America as a case study …


Abolition Ecologies And The Making Of Freedom As A Place In Bayview-Hunters Point, Spencer Daniel O'Hara May 2023

Abolition Ecologies And The Making Of Freedom As A Place In Bayview-Hunters Point, Spencer Daniel O'Hara

Master's Theses

In this paper, I critically explore the subjectivities of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (HPNS), part of the largest redevelopment project in San Francisco since 1906. Applying an abolition ecologies framework, I ask what explains the duplicity of the Shipyard as a site of radioactive contamination and capital accumulation, and in the same time-space one that creates the conditions for radical place-making. Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is a former commercial and military shipyard located on a peninsula in southeastern San Francisco. Motivated by its desire for a major shipbuilding and repair facility to project maritime power in the Pacific, the Navy …


Ambigú Trashumante Barra De Café Ambulante Ambigú Trashumante Barra De Café Ambulante, Augusto Martin Rivero May 2023

Ambigú Trashumante Barra De Café Ambulante Ambigú Trashumante Barra De Café Ambulante, Augusto Martin Rivero

Master's Projects and Capstones

Ambigú Trashumante Barra de Café Ambulante is an applied research project which took shape over the course of a calendar year from May 2022-2023. A six-person team evolved including the personified project itself, united as one communal entity in collaboration. The project entailed creation of a bicicargo, or cargo bike–useful art becoming a mobile coffee bar and literal vehicle embodying justice through coffee offered freely in México, as facilitated through decolonized ethnography and Mesoamerican Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR). The project’s theoretical framework centers on Bruguera’s (2012) arte útil conceptualization. Five core patterns emerged, including the right to thrive in …


Violent Or Non-Violent? What Difference Does It Make In 1960’S Civil Rights Activism And The State?, Jada A. Commodore Dec 2022

Violent Or Non-Violent? What Difference Does It Make In 1960’S Civil Rights Activism And The State?, Jada A. Commodore

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this essay, I research the differences between violent and non-violent actors during the civil rights movement and how their methods changed their interactions with the state. For my case study, I chose two violent and two non-violent subjects, as well as two individuals, and two organizations. Those being Martin Luther King Jr. and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for my nonviolent actors, and Malcolm X and The Black Panther Party as my violent actors. I examine how their methods as individuals and groups changed the way they interacted with Police, The FBI, and the Federal Government such as presidents …


Raj Karega Khalsa! - The Evolution Of The Sikh Identity, Vineet Mehmi Dec 2022

Raj Karega Khalsa! - The Evolution Of The Sikh Identity, Vineet Mehmi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Generally, religion has served as a method of creating a unique identity and history for many groups across history. This concept is especially true for the Sikh community, to the point that they have carved their own niche across the different places they inhabit in the world, whether that be their homeland of Panjab or their extensive population in places like Canada or the United Kingdom. However, this expansion and development of their culture did not come without a cost, formed through countless battles, martyrdom, and revolutions. Chardi Kala, a foundational idea in Sikhi that refers to eternal optimism even …


Recommendations For Sustainable Tourism In Patagonia: An Exploratory Analysis Of Sustainable Tourism In Costa Rica, The Nordic Region, And Thailand’S Communities, Julia K. Lowery Dec 2022

Recommendations For Sustainable Tourism In Patagonia: An Exploratory Analysis Of Sustainable Tourism In Costa Rica, The Nordic Region, And Thailand’S Communities, Julia K. Lowery

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis explores different levels of governance and its role towards actualizing sustainable tourism in Patagonia. With the growing threat of climate change, international destinations such as Patagonia are looking to continue building their tourism industries in a sustainable way. Through analyzing case studies of national governance in Costa Rica, multi-national governance in the Nordic region, and community-based tourism in Thailand, we can better understand how each form of governance has the potential to create a sustainable tourism industry. With this understanding of successful governance in my case studies, as well as understanding the historical and political forces that have …


Southeast Asia & The Hidden Green Revolution: A Study On Foreign Direct Investment In Eco-Investments In Asean, Ravi Chailertborisuth Dec 2022

Southeast Asia & The Hidden Green Revolution: A Study On Foreign Direct Investment In Eco-Investments In Asean, Ravi Chailertborisuth

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper aims to find: To what extent foreign direct investment is fueling the renewable energy transition in ASEAN. The year 1966 saw the founding of ASEAN, the Association for Southeast Asian Nations. The five founding member nations were: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Over time, this group of nations grew to include nations such as: Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Myanmar. The IGO (inter-governmental organization) aims to foster “economic, social, cultural, technical, educational and other fields” (ASEAN). The IGO is successful, allowing capital to flow cross-borders with more ease, and encourage economic corporation across all nations. Since …


Press Freedom Under Threat In Europe: A Case Study Analysis Of The Increasing Threat To Press Freedom In Greece, Italy, And Hungary, Maya O'Leary-Cyr Dec 2022

Press Freedom Under Threat In Europe: A Case Study Analysis Of The Increasing Threat To Press Freedom In Greece, Italy, And Hungary, Maya O'Leary-Cyr

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research critically examines the legal systems of European countries and their relationship to press freedom. This research focuses on the vexatious legal threats used by government officials and corporations to silence journalists. These legal threats are known as SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) and their use has increased exponentially in the last decade. Considering the scope of the problem, this research analyzes the issue through the lens of European countries Greece, Italy, and Hungary. Being members of the European Union, each of these countries have an obligation to uphold the democratic standards put forth by the EU as …


The Future Of Universal Basic Income: The Impact Of Organizational Strategies On Alleviating Poverty And Maximizing Outcomes, Anna Mathews Dec 2022

The Future Of Universal Basic Income: The Impact Of Organizational Strategies On Alleviating Poverty And Maximizing Outcomes, Anna Mathews

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Universal basic income is gaining traction, with pilot programs being conducted all over the world. These programs are all organized differently, from their sources of funding to their eligibility criteria. This research draws correlations between organizational strategies of UBI programs and the outcomes their recipients experience. Specifically, it analyzes three contemporary UBI programs within the United States: the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (APFD), and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians per capita payments (EBCI). The research assesses the physical health, mental health, and economic outcomes of the participants in each case study, in order to …


"Post Citizens United: Comparative Analysis Of Three State Legislatures And The Relationship Between Money In Politics And Political Polarization", Zeta M. Green Dec 2022

"Post Citizens United: Comparative Analysis Of Three State Legislatures And The Relationship Between Money In Politics And Political Polarization", Zeta M. Green

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Over the last decades, campaign finance has been the center of much political debate. The 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which prohibited any limit to corporate campaign expenditures under the First Amendment, changed the political landscape by allowing more money in politics and elections than ever before. Along with money in politics, political polarization is on the rise across the United States. When recognizing an increase in both of these variables in politics today, it is difficult to deny the possibility of a connection between the two. By examining the patterns that exist in …


The Fight For Equality: Black Lives Matter, Success, & Social Media, Metyia K. Phillips Dec 2022

The Fight For Equality: Black Lives Matter, Success, & Social Media, Metyia K. Phillips

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis strives to assess how social media has impacted the success of the Black Lives Matter movement. By conducting a survey between September 30th, 2022 - October 12th, 2022, respondents were asked questions to gauge their attitudes about the Black Lives Matter movement, social media usage, and the success of the movement. The results of the survey (n=571) in conjunction with a 2016 Pew Research Center survey (n=2,144) were used to evaluate how social media has impacted the success of the Black Lives Matter movement. The survey was taken by a nonrandom group of respondents because I distributed the …


Examining Revolution Through Breakfast Politics, Zachary Axel Clausen May 2022

Examining Revolution Through Breakfast Politics, Zachary Axel Clausen

Master's Theses

Analyzing the Black Panther Party and its activities, this study develops a framework for evaluating revolution through a process-oriented examination of discourse and practices surrounding the Free Breakfast Program’s emergence and operation from around 1968 to 1975. The program began in Oakland and quickly spread to over 36 cities in less than two years. Using a swath of interviews, radio shows, movies, newspapers, magazines, documents, pictures and other forms of media from the time period, I analyze the Breakfast Program to explicate the political terrain of food provision, the unique community-based approach to non-hierarchical resource distribution, and the production of …


Inaccessible Interpolated Imagery: How Coffee Farmers In The State Of Chiapas Might Access Political Economic Opportunity Through Representation, Paolo Fiann Bicchieri May 2022

Inaccessible Interpolated Imagery: How Coffee Farmers In The State Of Chiapas Might Access Political Economic Opportunity Through Representation, Paolo Fiann Bicchieri

Master's Theses

Here is a useful parable to boil down the idea of this project and set the tone: when one goes to the bar to tell a story about a fight at the bar, they would never venture to place themselves as the hero of the brawl, taking out three drunkards in a single punch, unless they were really in the bar, at that time, fighting a good fight. One would never do this as the bartender, locals, and regulars would all know if this were the case or not. Yet transnational corporations, governments, and even consumers do this all the …


It Could Be “Win-Win”: The Us-China Bilateral Relationship, Xiaying Huang May 2022

It Could Be “Win-Win”: The Us-China Bilateral Relationship, Xiaying Huang

Master's Theses

The bilateral relationship between the United States and China is crucial for international relations since these two great power states will influence the global economy, politics, and security. However, the US-China bilateral relationship has not always been stable and peaceful. The trade war was current issue to make the relationship between the two countries tenser and tenser. On the US side, the trade war was thought to promote domestic production, but the reality was the opposite; the trade war just broke the bilateral relationship and provided no long-term advantages to the US economy. In March 2022, the U.S. restores tariffs …


Transformative Community Resiliency: The Impact Of Organizing Against Oil In Richmond And Wilmington, California, Isabelle Sophia Marin May 2022

Transformative Community Resiliency: The Impact Of Organizing Against Oil In Richmond And Wilmington, California, Isabelle Sophia Marin

Master's Projects and Capstones

Despite the increase in power of the oil industry in various low-income communities of color throughout the state of California, many residents are still seen to be inactive in the fight to challenge this power. To combat this, local community organizations are working to empower residents of impacted communities in order to influence political spaces. To understand the impact communities organizations are having while doing this, I look to Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and their work in Richmond and Wilmington, California. I ask the following research question to serve as a point of analysis: How do local organizations …


The Belt And Road Initiative In Kenya, As Represented By The Standard Gauge Railway (Sgr), Its Effects And The Response Of Kenyans To It., Kiplangat Arap Yegon May 2022

The Belt And Road Initiative In Kenya, As Represented By The Standard Gauge Railway (Sgr), Its Effects And The Response Of Kenyans To It., Kiplangat Arap Yegon

Master's Theses

China has sought to strengthen ties with many countries in the Global South, and many African countries have signed Memorandum of Agreements(MoU) with China leading to trade treaties, foreign direct investments, loans and grants flowing into the African continent from China. This aggressive push by China into Africa has come under intense scrutiny with different actors, scholars and powers having mixed takes on the move. In my thesis, I look at the ways in which China’s Belt and Road Initiative has been undertaken in Africa. I use Kenya as a main case study in looking at the ways in which …


Common Law With Uncommon Regulations: The Influence Of Legal Tradition On Campaign Finance Regimes, Sky Berry-Weiss May 2022

Common Law With Uncommon Regulations: The Influence Of Legal Tradition On Campaign Finance Regimes, Sky Berry-Weiss

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Americans spent $11.4 billion in their last federal election cycle but collectively, the United Kingdom and Canada only spent a little over $550 million in their last general elections. These three states have similarities in democratic governance, economic legacy, and common law legal system grouping but how did they become so separated in campaign finance regulations? Prior research in the field of international comparative campaign finance law is limited and primarily focuses on using political theories to describe the movement of laws toward deregulation or regulation. This research seeks to find what influences the creation, preservation, and deregulation of campaign …


Ley Olimpia: Examining Policymaking Around Digital Violence, Andrea Alejandra Capella-Castro Dec 2021

Ley Olimpia: Examining Policymaking Around Digital Violence, Andrea Alejandra Capella-Castro

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The topic of this thesis is policymaking and regulations around digital gender violence. This work intends to examine what methods effectively regulate and eradicate Online-Gender Based Violence (OGBV), a new type of Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Effective policymaking for the digital space has a significant impact on our society and especially on women as they remain the most objectified, attacked, and harassed on social media platforms. Therefore, social media needs an effective policy to address digital gender violence. Furthermore, the topic is relevant because policymaking around digital gender violence will advance the feminist movement’s fight and protect women and social media …


Collateral Damage: How Expanding Public Charge Policy Influences Adult Esl Enrollment, Allison M. Eckert Dec 2021

Collateral Damage: How Expanding Public Charge Policy Influences Adult Esl Enrollment, Allison M. Eckert

Master's Theses

This study used statistical analysis of enrollment records for ESL programs at community colleges throughout California from 2015-2019 to determine whether adult immigrants’ participation in public ESL programs was reduced under President Donald Trump. Immigrant families’ lesser use of public education services and means-tested federal benefits has been widely documented in the wake of Trump’s expansion of the public charge rule, which counted immigrants’ use of a wider array of public benefits against their case for residency in the United States than had any previous iteration of the rule. Failing the public charge test can block an immigrant’s entry into …


Mental Health Outcomes Of Various Types Of Fear Among University Students Who Have An Undocumented Legal Status During The Donald Trump Presidency, Liliana Campos Jun 2021

Mental Health Outcomes Of Various Types Of Fear Among University Students Who Have An Undocumented Legal Status During The Donald Trump Presidency, Liliana Campos

Doctoral Dissertations

Having an undocumented legal status is a risk factor for mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety among university students. Much of the literature on the experiences of university students who hold an undocumented legal status has primarily focused on better understanding the educational, social, financial, and legal challenges among undergraduate students. The literature has addressed how some of these difficulties impact components of their social and mental health wellness. Yet, there is still a dearth of research focused on further understanding the experiences of students who hold an undocumented legal status from a psychological perspective, and specifically, with …


The Role Of Nations-State In Protecting And Supporting Internally Displaced Persons, Daisy Byers May 2021

The Role Of Nations-State In Protecting And Supporting Internally Displaced Persons, Daisy Byers

Master's Theses

The rising increase of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has become a global problem. There are over 40 million internally displaced people globally, and 15.9 million are displaced in Africa. These displacements come into place due to war/conflict, corruption, massive human rights violations, natural disasters, urban renewal projects (at the hands of powerful nations such as America, China, France, UK, etc.), and large-scale development projects. According to UNHCR, refugees are people who have international cross-border. In contrast, internally displaced persons must stay within their own country and stay under the protection of their government, even if the government is the reason …


Contextualizing Bipoc High School Students’ Racialized Experiences Under Trump, Christina Ung May 2021

Contextualizing Bipoc High School Students’ Racialized Experiences Under Trump, Christina Ung

Master's Theses

This thesis contextualizes public high school experiences of self-identified students of color during Trump’s presidency. The study features three recent high school graduates from the same campus, and their perspectives on a series of topics related to their racial identity. It was important that this research served as a space for marginalized voices to share their lived experiences, as they are frequently left out of American curriculum. More specifically in this case, the high school is located in a small, rural town where the population is majority white and politically conservative. Through the lens of critical race theory (CRT), data …


Budgetary Obstacles To Police Reform: The Case Of San Francisco, Hayden Anderson May 2021

Budgetary Obstacles To Police Reform: The Case Of San Francisco, Hayden Anderson

Master's Projects and Capstones

In response to the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement issued a statement calling on cities to Defund the Police. The event sparked a nationwide reckoning that has reshaped the narratives and strategies for remedying the racial bias and police brutality apparent in the criminal justice system. The shift in police reform efforts embraces notions guiding police budgeting decisions. Today's advocates are transforming their approach to police reform to include budgeting decisions by promoting a municipal practice known as police budget reform. This Capstone explores the feasibility of successful police budget reform under current …


Affordable Housing In San Francisco: A Historical Analysis Of Its Finances And Policies, Ricky H. Tran May 2021

Affordable Housing In San Francisco: A Historical Analysis Of Its Finances And Policies, Ricky H. Tran

Master's Projects and Capstones

The affordable housing crisis is not new to San Francisco. As it has been made clear several times, The Bay Area continues to face a crisis of a massive wealth disparity as housing prices continue to rise as incomes for the top earners have risen dramatically since 1999. In San Francisco, rents and housing prices are one of the highest in the nation, and people are facing rent burdens, in which a large portion of their income goes to rent, as for those with low and extremely low income are facing severe rent burdens, which take up more than 50% …


Deported Veterans: The Unintended Consequences Of “Good Moral Character”, Jonathan Deras Dec 2020

Deported Veterans: The Unintended Consequences Of “Good Moral Character”, Jonathan Deras

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research is to argue that U.S. immigration policy, specifically the 1996 IIRIRA (also known as IIRAIRA), needs to change regarding the legal treatment of immigrant U.S. military veteran deportees due to the following concepts. The first concept is to articulate how the criminalization of immigration, and how the military system intersects to facilitate the Deportation of U.S veterans. A key concept in this analysis is the standard of “good moral character” set by the U.S. government that enlistees need to meet to be accepted into the military; this standard is also used against immigrant veterans during …


The Evolutionary Global Vision Of Chinese Political Philosophy; China's Socio-Economic Transformation In The 21st Century, Meryem Gurel Dec 2020

The Evolutionary Global Vision Of Chinese Political Philosophy; China's Socio-Economic Transformation In The 21st Century, Meryem Gurel

Master's Projects and Capstones

Evolving relations of East Asia due to trade liberalization raised the search for financial stability for institutional development. It also increased the importance of China integrating the global economy into renewing its political philosophy in the new century. This capstone project aims to examine why China has transformed its socio-economic structure by generating outward investments and how it has affected international political relations in terms of the role of the economic institution Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Quantitative methodology aims to examine the impact of China’s export trade on income distribution and economic growth through linear regression analysis for the …


Unprecedented Immigration: The Ramifications On Japan’S Party Politics, Keiko Hirano-Lee Dec 2020

Unprecedented Immigration: The Ramifications On Japan’S Party Politics, Keiko Hirano-Lee

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although the immigration discourse is a taboo subject in Japan, the aging demographics and the need for workers has brought the topic into discussion. Part of the OECD community, Japan remains the eldest liberal country who up till recently avoided immigration to maintain its unique image. This thesis builds on Japanese and immigration scholarship to examine how new pro-immigration policies of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party may affect their electoral standing. By looking at official statements, newspaper polls, and the wording of policies, it will help examine new spaces of contestation that have yet to be studied. As a forward …


Conflict Of A Nation, And Repatriation In Collapsed States: The Case Of South Sudan, Emmanuel Bakheit May 2020

Conflict Of A Nation, And Repatriation In Collapsed States: The Case Of South Sudan, Emmanuel Bakheit

Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper is to intervene in the discourse about South Sudan’s civil war to express and provide insights into the broader reality of South Sudan’s civil war. This is to highlight challenges for democracy, possible interface in the peace process, and repatriation of refugees and resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The aim of this paper is, therefore, to transcend the current literature that lacks critical analysis in capturing the true nature of the civil war. South Sudan’s civil war has been portrayed as a conflict of two tribes, Dinka and Nuer. This is the imprecise politics …


The Slow Creep Of Settler Colonialism: Exploring Water Control In Palestine, Lina Abu Akleh May 2020

The Slow Creep Of Settler Colonialism: Exploring Water Control In Palestine, Lina Abu Akleh

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the Israeli-Palestinian water issue using a settler colonial framework. It highlights the contributions made to this field under the often used framework of hydro-hegemony to understand water issues in Israel-Palestine. Using a settler colonial framework helps to better describe the issue and highlight the slow creep of settler colonialism over the years. It also helps to see beyond the power dynamics and its relationship to domination and consent to understand the realities that Palestinians face on the ground. In addition, this thesis will help build towards exploring resistance to water control under settler colonialism. Therefore, this thesis …


Imperial Subjection And The Orientalist Gaze: Turning Asian Women’S Bodies Into Entertainment, Miriam Ahn May 2020

Imperial Subjection And The Orientalist Gaze: Turning Asian Women’S Bodies Into Entertainment, Miriam Ahn

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the structural factors that provide meaning and space to performances where violence is served as entertainment. What are the structural conditions that turn gendered and racialized violent forms of display into enjoyment? By exploring the sex tourism in Thailand, particularly ping-pong shows, I will analyze aspects of international political economy and feminist studies to address forms of display based on the abjectness of the other. I argue that sex tourism in Thailand is not part of local culture but is upheld by imperial hegemonic perceptions of the colonized and gendered bodies. The perspectives of Orientalism, patriarchal systems, …