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Middle Eastern Conflict And Syrian Economic Policy, Emily Halk Apr 2011

Middle Eastern Conflict And Syrian Economic Policy, Emily Halk

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Threat, Violence, And Voters: Race And Context In The 2008 Presidential Election, Matthew Fowler Jan 2011

Threat, Violence, And Voters: Race And Context In The 2008 Presidential Election, Matthew Fowler

LSU Master's Theses

The 2008 Presidential Election brought into office the first African-American president in U.S. history. This paper analyzes variations in White support for Barack Obama based on a number of county-level contextual factors, which are hypothesized to influence aggregate White voter support for the Democratic candidate. Based on the well-known racial threat theory, this paper will explore how racial composition and income inequality effect White support for Barack Obama. Another key explanatory variable, violence, is thought to influence White voter support because of the preconceptions some of these voters hold about African-Americans. Violence helps shape the stereotypes White voters hold, and …


Rights, Needs, And The Creation Of Ethical Community, Natalie Susan Gaines Jan 2011

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. …


Asians In The American Mind: How Americans View Asian Americans Politically, Nhung Kim Nguyen Jan 2011

Asians In The American Mind: How Americans View Asian Americans Politically, Nhung Kim Nguyen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores how the general American public thinks about Asian Americans, who are a multiethnic, immigrant-dominated, fast-growing, and understudied group. Understanding Americans’ views toward Asians is important in light of the changing face of the American electorate, whose recent additions comprise largely of immigrants from Asia and Latin America, and the likelihood that Americans’ beliefs or thoughts about race and ethnicity will be altered beyond the black-white divide in U.S. politics. As an attempt to gain such understanding, the purpose of this study is to provide a systematic study of Americans’ attitudes toward Asians in terms of positive/negative evaluations …


Adams-Jefferson: An Inquiry Into Human, Nature, Politics, And The Implications For A Republic, Adetoyese Itunu Adedipe Jan 2011

Adams-Jefferson: An Inquiry Into Human, Nature, Politics, And The Implications For A Republic, Adetoyese Itunu Adedipe

LSU Master's Theses

If one were to inquire from Americans the names of five founding fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson will more often than not be mentioned amongst them. Apart from being among the founders of the republic, these two men presided over the republic as well. It is accurate to say both founding fathers were prolific writers who left behind a wealth of literature their progeny could look to when it came to the intricacies of politics and the nature of man. The aim of this thesis is to unveil the metamorphosis of a political order via the views and opinions …


Climate Change Displacement And Global Governance: A Case Study Of Three Intergovernmental Organizations And The Conflict Between The Member States And Bureaucracy, Andrea C. S. Berringer Jan 2011

Climate Change Displacement And Global Governance: A Case Study Of Three Intergovernmental Organizations And The Conflict Between The Member States And Bureaucracy, Andrea C. S. Berringer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change is a topic most often broached by environmental scientists and activists and its effects are discussed in terms of animal populations and atmospheric events. However, its direct effect on human life is yet to garner such attention. A changing climate will affect how people are able to use their environment, if at all. Sea level rise and desertification will force a shift in human habitation. How the world seeks to deal with this shift is yet to be seen. The global governance of climate change-induced displacement is currently at the stage of ad hoc development. Legal and conceptual …


Old Europe Versus New Europe: Cultural Similarity Tolerance, Religion And Anti-Americanism In A Divided European Union, Madalina Cristina Hanes Jan 2011

Old Europe Versus New Europe: Cultural Similarity Tolerance, Religion And Anti-Americanism In A Divided European Union, Madalina Cristina Hanes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research focuses on anti-Americanism in Europe. Old Europe, including countries like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, is significantly more anti-American than New Europe, which includes countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary. In this project, however, I have made a number of observations that go beyond than this simple conclusion. I examined factors that could be behind these different levels of anti-Americanism in Old Europe and New Europe, and one key answer that emerged was “cultural similarity.” There are, of course, other factors that impact attitudes towards the United States and Americans, such as the …


Foreign Aid's Impact On Economic Growth: Conditional On Accountable Institutions?, Anna Monique Castrillo Jan 2011

Foreign Aid's Impact On Economic Growth: Conditional On Accountable Institutions?, Anna Monique Castrillo

LSU Master's Theses

This paper studies the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean and determines whether this relationship is conditional on institutional quality, utilizing an index of accountability. I examine whether or not accountability structures rather than fiscal policies as used in Craig Burnside and David Dollar's 2000 article “Aid, Policies, and Growth” are a better determinant for overall economic growth. Using a database spanning 1996 to 2008, this paper examines the relationship between foreign aid and economic growth in 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries and seeks a clear definition of institutional quality. The findings …


An Empirical Contribution To Development Theory: A Covariance Structure Model For Development As Freedom, Carlos A. Rosas Lopez Jan 2011

An Empirical Contribution To Development Theory: A Covariance Structure Model For Development As Freedom, Carlos A. Rosas Lopez

LSU Master's Theses

This Thesis examines the empirical validity of Sen’s development theory. In his seminal work “Development as Freedom” Sen postulated a theoretical conceptualization of development which constitutes a paradigm shift towards a fundamental understanding of the determinants and causal relationships that explain development. A deconstruction of Sen’s development theory leads to five core tenets on which his theoretical conceptualization rests. These five pillars are translated onto testable hypothesis which are incorporated into a 2nd order recursive Covariance Structure Model (CSM) that allows scientific examination through hypothesis testing. Sen’s hypothesized core tenets are as follows: 1. Development is seen as an integrated …


Community Preferences And Trial Court Decision-Making: The Influence Of Political, Social, And Economic Conditions On Litigation Outcomes, Tao Lotus Dumas Jan 2011

Community Preferences And Trial Court Decision-Making: The Influence Of Political, Social, And Economic Conditions On Litigation Outcomes, Tao Lotus Dumas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

During the ratification debates the Federalists and Anti-federalists contested the merits of the civil jury. The Anti-federalists, preferring strong local government, argued that civil juries empowered communities to settle disputes themselves based on local standards. On the other hand, Federalists maintained that civil juries were outmoded and produced inconsistent applications of the law from one locale to another, jeopardizing the rule of law. Although the ratification debates ultimately ended with the inclusion of the Seventh Amendment guaranteeing the right to a jury trial in all disputes involving claims greater than $20, the disagreement between the Federalists and the Anti-federalists closely …


Gay-Marriage In 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, James Dunphy Jan 2011

Gay-Marriage In 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, James Dunphy

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis looks at the factors that affected individual turnout and vote choice in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Regarding the outcome of the election, a point of dispute among scholars pertains to whether evangelical Christians played a meaningful role in helping re-elect then-President Bush to a second term in 2004. The gay-marriage issue played a prominent role in the presidential campaign, due in part to a ruling the Massachusetts Supreme Court rendered in November 2003 that legalized the marrying of same-sex couples within the state’s borders. The Court’s decision had a reverberating effect, particularly among evangelicals, and subsequently, it …