Digital Commons Network^™

Tea As A Motivator For British Imperialism In China, Grayden R. Varisco

CAFE Symposium 2023

This poster is based on a research paper that sought to find out what influence the tea trade had on developments in Sino-British relations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Through research, the paper concluded that the strong British desire for tea influenced British attempts to change its relationship with China, as a more "open" China would lead to more and cheaper tea for Britain. Ultimately, this desire led to Britain flooding China with addictive, illicit opium, and waging the imperialistic Opium Wars against China.

Pla Logistics And Sustainment: Pla Conference 2022, George R. Shatzer, Roger D. Cliff, Kenneth W. Allen, Joshua Arostegui, Justin Boggess, Travis Dolney, Matthew P. Funaiole, Brian Hart, Lonnie D. Henley, Bonny Lin, Erin Richter, Benjamin Rosen, James R. (J. R.) Sessions, Eli Tirk, Joel Wuthnow, Christopher D. Yung

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

The US Army War College People’s Liberation Army Conference (PLA) Conference was held March 31 to April 2, 2022, at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

The conference focused on PLA logistics and sustainment. As the PLA continues to build and modernize its combat forces, it is important to examine if the capabilities meant to support combat operations are also being developed.

Specific topics included: 1) China’s national-level logistics, including how China mobilizes national resources for the military and how it provides joint logistics support to the PLA Theater Commands; 2) the logistics capabilities of the different PLA services, especially the Army, Navy, …

Decentralization And Centralization In Sociocratic Organizations—Dynamics, Combinations, And Hybrid Solutions, Ted Rau, Phd

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

The article discusses the interplay between decentralized and centralized aspects of governance in the context of decentralized self-governance and shares learnings from Sociocracy For All’s (SoFA) experience, including that decentralization is an active process that requires preparation, budget, strategy, and information can act as centralizing forces, and decentralization requires different ways of thinking about responsibility and leadership. SoFA is a young membership organization founded in 2016 promoting sociocracy, a governance system with consent-based decision-making in small groups, in nonprofits and other organizations.

World Less Than Satisfied With Climate Efforts, Julie Ray, Mary C. Evans

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) summit that took place in Egypt from November 6 to 18, 2022, nearly 200 nations rushed to seek deals to keep climate goals moving forward. The summit ended with minimal progress and many criticisms that more needs to be done.

To measure how people feel about their country’s efforts to preserve the environment, the Gallup World Poll asks people worldwide if they felt satisfied or dissatisfied with those efforts. Below, we explore the global data from this question and dive into the trend on this question in the United States …

Full Issue - Climate Change

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

A New Cold War: How West Africa Has Become The New Stage For Power Politics Between The West And China, Eric S. Schneider

Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to determine how French influence in West Africa will impact a US-China power competition in the region. Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire served as case studies for the evaluation of French influence in the region since many consider these former colonies to have the most French influence. French economic, political/military, and socio-cultural influence was analyzed in each case study, as well as this influence in the context of US-China competition. Although France influences both countries, France has more influence in Côte d’Ivoire and may be able to influence decisions there, more so than Senegal. Nevertheless, China has become …

Two Responsibilities To Protect, Patrick Quinton-Brown

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The purpose of this paper is to re-theorize the evolution of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) in the UN through to 2011, the apogee of liberal interventionism in the post-Cold War period. Contrary to a common argument in existing literature, and notwithstanding the adoption of the concept as an annual agenda item of the General Assembly, international contestation is not about implementation as neatly separated from meaning, but rather definition or interpretation. To better understand the boundaries of intergovernmental understanding, we need to interrogate the language or terms of the debate, particularly the ways in which those terms have been …

Neo-Nazi Postmodern: Right-Wing Terror Tactics, The Intellectual Neue Rechte, And The Destabilization Of Memory In Germany Since 1989, Esther E. Adaire

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation argues that from 1989 onwards an increasingly terroristic neo-Nazi underground in Germany became gradually entangled with the reactionary Neue Rechte, whose crusade against the German culture of remembrance is also a crusade against European integration, increased migration, and the conceits of liberal democracy. This entanglement produced an ideologically coherent extreme-right political movement with a heavily armed and tactical paramilitary faction that has, contrary to what various governments of the Federal Republic have wanted to believe, been developing in Germany since the early 1990s. Moreover, tactics of information warfare initiated by so-called “postmodern” terrorists of the 1990s would, by …

Language And Conjuncture In Populist Strategy: Podemos And Contemporary Spanish Political Thought, Francisco J. Fortuño Bernier

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In recent times, emergent political movements have sought to construct a project of political renewal based upon the search for such a new language, renaming and rewording both the political world and their own traditions. One such is the Spanish political party Podemos, whose sudden rise and success has already made it a referent for contemporary radical politics. This group has articulated a political strategy based upon what I call a politico-linguistic conjecture: the idea that an effective political strategy is dependent on finding the right words for the moment, on an appropriate fit between conjuncture and discourse. The production …

Finding Autonomy Under The Russian Bear: Explaining Central Asia’S Response To The Invasion Of Ukraine, Ryan Hitch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was one of the most important geopolitical events of the 21^st century, which will have lasting effects on the international community. While the responses of the United States and Europe to Russia’s invasion have been extensively covered, the response of Central Asia has received relatively less attention. Russia’s extensive investments in multilateral regional organizations and Central Asia’s heavy reliance on Moscow for security and economic assistance should predict that Central Asian states would bandwagon with Russia. However, the region has thus far remained officially neutral towards the war and certain states are openly antagonizing …

Extremism In America: Explaining Variations In Ideologically Motivated Fatal Violence, Celinet Duran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation uses data from the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) to assess the nature of extremist violence between left-wing, far-right and al-Qaeda and associated movements (AQAM) inspired ideological fatal violence. It extends the empirical literature on extremist violence in three significant ways by: (1) expanding an existing database to provide a comparative component that is both timely and policy-relevant and conveys a more complete picture of the nature of domestic extremism in the U.S.; (2) systematically comparing extremist violence across the left-wing, far-right and AQAM ideologies to better assess the nuances of extremist violence; and (3) applying empirical …

The Impact Of Overseas Study Experiences On Chinese Students’ Attitudes Toward The United States, Xufeng Fang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The extent to which overseas study experiences increase Chinese students’ positive attitude toward the United States has triggered debates because of Chinese government’ overwhelming influence on Chinese students studying overseas, the instability of U.S.-China relations and the especially complex characteristics of Chinese students’ attitudes themselves. I will use value theory, belief system theory, and self-categorization theory to explain the unstable character of these attitudes, and the important roles of values and identity that determine attitudes’ change. After making three key hypotheses based on these theories, this paper conducts a survey on three groups of Chinese students both in China and …

Civil Society Organizations Serving Children In Vietnam: Opportunities And Constraints Working With Government Agencies, Trang P. Kelly

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

When Vietnamese civil society organization (CSO) administrators manage their relationships with government authorities to ensure children receive social services, they operate under Vietnam’s complex political, socioeconomic, and cultural constraints in environments where the Vietnamese government employs soft power to control CSOs and their donors. This study adds to the literature on the nature of CSO in Vietnam. It details the current imbalance of power between state-sponsored organizations (SSOs) and non-SSOs and provides an updated view of how Vietnamese non-SSOs mix social, economic, and political roles as employers and advocates.

Combining a qualitative exploratory and interpretative case study, I address a …

Notes On Insurgent Universality In Ambedkar’S Social And Political Thought: A Critique Of Postcolonial Anti-Universalism, Sitharthan Sriharan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this thesis, we seek to take steps towards problematizing postcolonial theory and its frequent anti-universalism. Towards this end, my initial focus will be some of the productive and problematic aspects of what Getachew and Mantena term the “decolonization of political theory”. Here, we highlight how some comparative political theory scholars have methodologically overemphasized ‘difference’ in their studies of non-western political thought as an overcorrection to Eurocentrism. In supporting this claim, we review literature in comparative political theory, postcolonial theory, and modern South Asian history and historiography in order to demonstrate that a more philosophically robust, but still historically informed, …

The Impact Of Utilitarian Public Policies On Minority Communities: A Comparison Of New York City And New South Wales, Australia., Nicholas Reyes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to highlight and critique the ways in which utilitarianism manifests itself in comparative public policy. While public policy studies tend to focus on national levels, cities, and states can also be major sites of theoretical and policy formulation that are adopted globally. The moral ethics that are involved in public policy are especially important because these policies have a direct impact on society. Utilitarianism encompasses the logic of utility maximization: the ends justify the means and the idea that the moral ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the …

Power And Authority In Karl Marx, Niccoló Machiavelli And Thomas Hobbes, Ekim Kilic

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The concepts of power and authority have been fundamental to political philosophy and science from the beginning. However, in much recent thinking, power’s central and defining relationship with the state has been called into question. This thesis studies the understanding of power and authority in the works of Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, and Karl Marx, in the context of the emerging trend around the world today of searching for a new social, economic, and political order. It aims to demonstrate how the works of Marx may open a path to rectify the limitations of the traditional thinking of power and …

David Versus Goliath: The Power Of Weakness In Asymmetric Warfare—Lessons From History, Nicholas K. Petaludis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Under what conditions do violent nonstate actors (VNA) succeed against states? Why does David sometimes beat Goliath? Since at least the time of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian Wars, the realist narrative in international relations measures power primarily in relative, coercive, and deterrent terms. Strong states should accordingly face fewer constraints and enjoy more options while pursuing their national interests. Unconventional warfare, and its subsets of terrorism and insurgency, should—given these circumstances, end in VNA failure. Sometimes, however, VNAs find success. By comparing the literature on historical and current case studies, I propose that a set of preconditions and two mechanisms …

Gender & Sexuality In New York Politics, Bianca M. Guerrero

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Social Media  On Public Perception Of Government Covid-19 Response Efforts, Taher Taher

Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to understand this phenomenon to provide insights into how governments can perform better in times of crisis regarding social media and its impact on public opinion. This research aims to understand how social media impacts public perception of government COVID-19 response efforts by studying Facebook comments, likes, and reactions (emoticons).

The study was based on data gathered from Facebook comments on the daily infographic COVID-19 statistics from the official site of the Ministry of Health and Population. The sampling frame is the 52 weeks of 2020, January to December, through random sampling resulting in 546 comments. The …

Arlen Specter: How A Jewish Boy From Kansas Became A Mediator For Middle East Peace, Georgia G. Skuza

Arlen Specter Center Research Fellowship

Amongst all the things Senator Arlen Specter had accomplished in his thirty years as a United States Senator, one of the most fascinating is that of the late Senators work on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The long-held debate of the borders surrounding Israel & Palestine has made politicians and people chose sides. As a Jewish individual, Senator Specter had to set aside his religious and personal beliefs to affectively pass legislation in the state of Pennsylvania and United States Congress. One of Senator Specter’s largest areas of study was Middle East Diplomacy. His Pro-Israel stance led him to have an aura …

Democracy For Some: Greek-American Institutions And The Greek Junta, 1967-1974, Olga Koulisis

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

In 1967 a military junta took over Greece, silencing the democratic process in Democracy’s birthplace with the tacit approval of Democracy’s heir apparent, the United States of America. The tolerance, if not support, of Greek-American institutions to the establishment of the Greek Junta and the U.S. government’s support for that regime offers a case study of why democratic publics accept, if not bolster, their own government’s support for anti-democratic regimes. This case offers an intriguing juxtaposition because of the historical claims that U.S., Greek, and Greek diaspora identities make on democratic practice and commitment. This study examines how junta-tolerant Greek …

Crime, Documentation Status, And Content Analysis: Evidence From American Surveys Evaluating The Public’S Perception Of Deportations, Madelyn Einhorn

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

How does the public evaluate US deportations? This paper conducts two original, experimental surveys in the United States, asking the public about their perceptions of immigrant deportations from the US. The first section of this paper utilizes an experimental design to determine how documentation status and criminality impact the public’s views of deportations. The second section of this paper asks an open-ended question about perceptions of deportations and uses automatic content analysis to determine the emotional sentiment of respondents’ answers. This paper determines that Americans view deportations as an appropriate punitive measure for undocumented immigrants and immigrants who have committed …

Kaunda And The Liberation Of Namibia: Towards An Assessment, Chris Saunders

Zambia Social Science Journal

When he died in June 2021, Kenneth Kaunda was widely hailed for his support for Southern African liberation movements. This paper considers the case of Namibia and the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and asks how Kaunda went about trying to bring about the liberation of Namibia in the 1970s and 1980s. He initially let SWAPO military operations take place from Zambia. SWAPO had its headquarters in Zambia in the 1970s, and many thousand Namibian refugees settled in Zambia. In international fora Kaunda gave SWAPO full support, and he backed the establishment of a United Nations (UN) Institute for …

Renewed Social Democracy: Thomas Piketty And His Critiques, Patrick T. Connors

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze the proposals and prescriptions of Thomas Piketty as expressed in his vast array of works and the critiques of his works. His proposals for a system of participatory socialism is grounded in the notion that inequality is expanding at an unsustainable rate, and that growing economic inequality is a problem for the future of liberal democracy and economic growth and sustainability. This thesis argues that Piketty provides many compelling arguments in favor of tackling inequality, but he falls short of a real system of justice or elaborated political theory aside from his moral intuitions of …

Ask And You Shall Receive: The Effects Of Negativity And Fundraising Appeals On Facebook Data Replication Files, Amanda Wintersieck, Alex Keena

Political Science Data

We study the fundraising effects of ad campaigns sponsored by The Lincoln Project, a well funded Super PAC. The data includes 100s of millions of ad impressions targeting Facebook users in the 50 states, plus D.C., over 308 days in 2020. Additionally, we coded ads for tone and fundraising appeals. The results suggest that ads that include both negativity and fundraising appeals are associated with the most money: each impression yields an additional $0.52 in itemized donations (campaign contributions).

Selma: A Filmic Description Of History, Hunter L. Tierman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis will determine the validity of the claim made by Joseph Califano, an aide to President Lyndon Johnson, that the film Selma is not historically accurate, especially regarding the Johnson character. This topic was picked to critique historical accuracy in the film and provide a framework to determine if the film would be suitable for use in an educational setting. This thesis used multiple academic monographs, telephone conversations, interviews, and presidential archives to come to a conclusion. After thorough research, it has been determined that Selma can be used as an educational resource with appropriate cautions stated beforehand regarding …

Perception Vs. Reality: The Influence Of Civic Experiences In High School On Adult Civic Engagement, Kaya Bottmeyer

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Research on political socialization has shown that individuals’ families and education play a significant role in their later political actions and attitudes, but more needs to be understood on how large the role of education is and, specifically, what impact secondary education has on people’s political socialization. Literature suggests that educational standards that require more civics or social science courses are more effective in creating civically engaged individuals, and curriculums that employ service learning and experiential learning techniques are even more effective at increasing civic engagement, but to what extent does a person's perception of their educational experience factor into …

The ‘Others’ In John Lanchester’S The Wall, Gregory White

Government: Faculty Books

No abstract provided.

Police And Community Relations Survey, Brianne Gilbert

StudyLA Reports

In the wake of nationwide demonstrations for racial justice prompted by the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and countless other Black individuals, Los Angeles has become a focal point for critical discussions around police and community relations.

StudyLA's Police and Community Relations Survey is a multi-year study that captures public opinion on issues of policing in the city of Los Angeles. Respondents are asked several questions that touch on the mission of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD): safeguard the lives and property of the people the LAPD serves; reduce the incidence and fear of crime; and …

From Authoritarian To Democratic: A Look Into South Korea's Political Evolution Through Sports And Culture, Alexandra Laguna

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Relationships between nation-states are interconnected through a delicate state of balance maintained by direct or indirect behaviors. Balance is instituted by great international powers who hold military, economic, and social dominance over others. Having greater authority over other nation-states facilitates a self-beneficial system of equilibrium – one in which great powers typically hold an increased benefit. The concept of power can be separated between direct (hard) and indirect (soft). Despite the use of direct power throughout history, indirect power can also become a compelling instrument towards developing social dominance in the international domain. The rise and dependance on technology to …