Political Science 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 …

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

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Freedom Of Religion Versus Freedom From Religion: A Case Study On Human Rights Protections And Limitations Of Religious Expression In American And French Constitutional And International Law, Caroline Morris

Senior Theses

The freedom of religion and the freedom from religion are notably different freedoms that result in different modes of implementation, protection, and limitation. On one hand, the United States focuses on the freedom of religion, or the freedom of an individual to practice their religion in the public sphere. This can easily be seen through the emphasis the United States places on students’ right to religious expression in public schools, protected through both judicial decisions and legislation such as the Equal Access Act. On the other hand, France focuses on the freedom of religion, or the freedom of an individual …

Equality Across The Pond: An Analysis Of Marriage Equality Between The United States And The United Kingdom, Angel Santiago

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Throughout history, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have faced criticism and backlash for limitations on marriage equality. Within the last two decades, there have been many initiatives put into place to combat the marriage equality dilemma. I will be conducting two case studies on prominent social movements within the US and UK. Within the UK, I will be examining the Stonewall organization and the LGBT Foundation; and within the US, I will be examining the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. This root of the dilemma spurs mainly from human …

Autocracies As Mediators In Conflicts, Jonathan A. S. Honig

Doctoral Dissertations

It is puzzling why autocracies, which typically are not renowned for their human rights record or their observance of international norms related to human rights and are frequently inured in their own violent conflicts, would choose to take on the seemingly humanitarian role of peacemaker as often as democracies in the conflicts of other states in the absence of such things as a former colonial relationship or shared geographic proximity with them. I argue that autocracies will offer more often to mediate when they are subjected to international scrutiny, sanctioning, and/or condemnation, as well as materially and immaterially benefitting from …

Treatment And Evolution Of Digital Rights: A Comparative Analysis Of China, Russia, The United States, And Germany, Karina Barbesino

Honors Program Theses

The internet and digital technologies allow for the recognition, advocation, and protection of human rights. People around the world have access to faster and exponentially more information than ever before. The possibilities for education, politics, healthcare, work, and equality have greatly expanded. The internet provides new opportunities for the progression of humanity, but not without a cost. The transformative power of the internet to both empower and infringe on human rights has not been lost on states. As a relatively new domain, the policies in cyberspace remain in their trial periods. Each state is implementing, redacting, and implementing again policies …

Repression And Women’S Dissent: Gender And Protests, Dakota Thomas

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

Why do women protest? Why do women protest “as women”? Why do some women participate in protests but not others? In the wake of the Women’s March of 2017, perhaps the largest single day protest event in history, these questions are particularly timely and deserve scholarly attention. One important but understudied and undertheorized motivation for women’s protests is state sanctioned violence, particularly repression. This dissertation explicitly theorizes about how state perpetration of violence, particularly state use of repression, both motivates and shapes women’s protests on a global scale.

In this dissertation, I argue that one key motivation for women’s protest …

The Implications Of Domestic Party Ideologies On Refugee Policy: A Case Study Of Bangladesh And The Rohingya, Samuel S. Schiffer

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Why do some political parties in Bangladesh discriminate against the Rohingya, while some do not? Much has been written about the conflict in Myanmar, but the plight of Rohingya in Bangladesh remains understudied. This lack of understanding is underscored by the five million Syrian refugees fleeing their own civil war that dominates the news and the attention of scholars. The Rohingya, however, are stateless: they are denied citizenship in their native Myanmar and are forced to find refuge in whichever country will take them.

Much has been published that links immigration policy to security considerations and the national identity and …

Noble Robbers: The Theatricality Of Terrorism In The Northern Caucasus, Lia Christina Russell

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Curing Violence: Prescriptions For Justice And Peace In Colombia, Marissa Crawford

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos sits across the negotiating table from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), justice as a conduit for peace has dominated discourse on remediating the legacy of more than 50 years of internal conflict. Justice, however, like the conflict itself, is contested in both meaning and substance. This thesis will approach the topic of justice from both a human rights and transitional justice perspective, arguing the need for systematically disentangling the concept in its international, domestic, and grassroots iterations. It will contend that transitional justice policy will more effectively be designed if …

Justice Across The Hemispheres: The Effect Of The Pinochet Arrest On Domestic Courts In Chile And Spain, Audrey A. Hansen

Honors Theses and Capstones

This study examines whether the 1998 arrest, by order of a Spanish judge, of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet in London for crimes of genocide and terrorism impacted the attitude of Chilean and Spanish courts toward prosecuting their own country’s human rights violations. It argues that after 1998 Chile’s judiciary increased prosecutions against former regime officials, while the Spanish judiciary upheld Spain’s 1977 Amnesty Law and declined to participate in the national discourse on the country’s past human rights violations. This research includes a comparative case study of Chile and Spain, their recent histories, their judiciaries’ attitudes towards prosecution of …

The People’S Republic Of China’S Stance On Human Rights In Selected Crises, Brian T. Kopczynski

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines China’s policy towards human rights internationally with the intent of discerning real support for human rights. It compares China’s responses to two cases of mass human rights violations (the Darfur and Israel-Palestine conflicts) in which it has a serious interest (energy in particular). It finds that China treats human rights self-interestedly, but also has some support for them when its interests are not at stake.