Digital Commons Network^™

Governing The Urban Water Commons : Essays On Collaborative Policy Networks In A Polycentric Ecology Of Urban Water Policy Games., Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Governing social-ecological systems, such as the urban water commons, is a multi-scale and multi-sector (polycentric) human-environment process. This dissertation interrogates this process by situating itself within the Ecology of Games Framework by Norton Long (and updated by Mark Lubell) and the literature on polycentric governance by the Bloomington School of Political Economy. The dissertation’s three essays 1) offer both theoretical and methodological means to enact polycentric public economies within the ecology of games framework, and 2) explicate the conditions under which interoganizational collaboration is fostered within a polycentric ecology of policy games in governing the Middle Rio Grande urban watershed. …

Ticket To The Past: A Political History Of The Mexico City Metro, 1958-1969, Maxwell E.P. Ulin

Grand Valley Journal of History

This essay outlines the historic political battle between Mexico's longest serving mayor, Ernesto Uruchurtu, and the nation's president, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, over the construction of what would become the second largest subway system in the Western Hemisphere, The Mexico City Metro. The conflict, which eventually resulted in Uruchurtu's resignation, was characterized by latent political tensions between the PRI and Mexican middle class that would erupt in 1968 and lead to the ultimate decline of PRI hegemony. I thus argue that the new Metro project did not reflect Mexico's democratic modernization--as its supporters meant it to do--but rather the vestiges of …

Sensors Everywhere: Using Satellites And Mobile Phones To Reduce Information Uncertainty In Human Rights Crisis Research, Christoph Koettl

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article critically reviews the use of ICTs for human rights crisis research. While focusing on two specific technologies—satellite imagery and mobile phone technology—it proposes a general framework for analyzing the added value of ICTs. The author suggests that their added value in mass atrocities research arises from their ability to reduce information uncertainty, a challenge that is exacerbated in the digital age. This is different from delivering “truth”, an inaccurate description that only leads to unfulfilled expectations and hopes. The article is written from a practitioner’s perspective, drawing from the work of a global human rights watchdog, thus avoiding …

International Policy Diffusion And Religious Freedom, 1990-2008, Allison R. Hale

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Why do governments restrict religious freedom? As more and more governments have adopted restrictive policies over the past thirty years, scholars have traditionally examined internal domestic factors—such as the role of democratic governance, economic growth, or internal competition—that may influence government choices. I build on this literature by extending the discussion to external factors, arguing that some policies may also spread from one government to another. This process, identified by scholars as the idea of policy diffusion, may occur in several ways.

While previous research has focused on the spread of policies that are generally considered positive (i.e. the spread …

Problematizing Europe’S Borders In The Context Of The Recent Refugee Crisis, Liam A. Simmonds

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

The fundamental problem of Europe’s borders is how a bounded social reality is to be organized, primarily meaning who is to be included and who is to be excluded. The present refugee crisis has only served to expose and intensify this raison d'être of borders as exclusionary mechanisms which carry great political, economic, and symbolic weight, frequently much to the detriment of those excluded by them. Primarily drawing from the international political sociological work of Didier Bigo and affiliated scholars, I present a theoretical paper coupled with relevant empirical examples to present a critique of the exclusionary modes of operation …

Leveraging Diasporic Power For Nation Building, Uttam Gaulee

Comparative Civilizations Review

This article examines the issue of brain drain vs brain gain. Specifically, the case of whether the loss of higher education professional departures from a lesser developed country(Nepal in this case) to a higher developed country is balanced by a return of these individuals with skills enhanced by education and training. So far, evidence does not appear to support this hypothesis.

Peter Zeihan, The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation Of American Preeminence And The Coming Global Disorder. Twelve, Hachette Book Group, 2014., Laina Farhat–Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Escalation Of Trump Stormfront And The 2016 Election, Dianne Dentice

Symposium on Arts and Research

Since David Duke ran for public office and was elected to the Louisiana state legislature in 1989, leaders of the far political right have been trying to gain a foothold in mainstream electoral politics. In a campaign tinged with populist rhetoric, Donald Trump emerged victorious in the 2016 election. What does this mean for the American white nationalist movement?

Shari’A Arbitration Courts And Constitutional Democracy: A 21st Century Dilemma, Andrew Mccarthy

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This project examines the impact of the growing Islamic public in Western democracies, namely in the context of third-party arbitration courts based on Shari'a law. The project examines the controversies surrounding the introduction of Shari'a law into Western legal systems through the non-territorial federalism of arbitration courts.

Measuring Quality Of Life For Shanghai’S Floating Population Employed In Urban Renewal Sites, Jacob A. Watkins, Gregory Veeck

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Chinese internal migrants continue to struggle to obtain social and economic equity in some of China’s largest cities. Shanghai, China’s largest city, houses one of the largest floating populations in the country. As city officials and the CPC continue to spend on urban renewal sites in the city proper, new opportunities may be emerging for migrant workers. These sites contain hundreds on new commercial and service based businesses that could potentially provide stable employment for rural-to-urban migrants in Shanghai and influence migrant quality of life as well as provide the means for migrants to remain in the city long-term. This …

Negating The Gender Citation Advantage In Political Science, Amy Atchison

Political Science and International Relations Faculty Publications

Open-access (OA) advocates have long promoted OA as an egalitarian alternative to traditional subscription-based academic publishing. The argument is simple: OA gives everyone access to high-quality research at no cost. In turn, this should benefit individual researchers by increasing the number of people reading and citing academic articles. As the OA movement gains traction in the academy, scholars are investing considerable research energy to determine whether there is an OA citation advantage—that is, does OA increase an article’s citation counts? Research indicates that it does. Scholars also explored patterns of gender bias in academic publishing and found that women are …

Defining Biometrics: Toward A Transnational Ethic Of Personal Information, Nicola Morrow

International Studies Honors Projects

Innovations in biotechnology, computer science, and engineering throughout the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries dramatically expanded possible modes of data-based surveillance and personal identification. More specifically, new technologies facilitated enormous growth in the biometrics sector. The response to the explosion of biometric technologies was two-fold. While intelligence agencies, militaries, and multinational corporations embraced new opportunities to fortify and expand security measures, many individuals objected to what they perceived as serious threats to privacy and bodily autonomy. These reactions spurred both further technological innovation, and a simultaneous proliferation of hastily drafted policies, laws, and regulations governing the collection, …

Advocate, Spring 2017, Vol. 28, No. 1, Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Editorial:

- My Resignation from the Advocate. Dadland Maye (p. 3)

CUNY News:

- Trump’s Immigration Policy Strikes CUNY. Gordon Barnes (p.6)

- Undergraduate Capstones and CUNY. Leah Light (p. 12)

Features:

- The Problem of Black History Month. Gordon Barnes (p. 20)

Debate:

- The Purge of Academics in Turkey. Eylül Fidan Akıncı (p. 28)

Photo Essay:

- Responses to the Trump Regime. Ashley Marinaccio (p. 34)

Policies, Work, And Community: Why Idaho Farmworkers Choose To Stay, Kimberly Luna

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Idaho’s agricultural industries depend on Mexican and Mexican-American farmworkers for labor to maintain farms, crops, and livestock. Despite their important role in Idaho’s economy, many farmworkers are undocumented and live with the fear of deportation. This study explores Idaho’s Latino migration patterns since the railroad companies recruited Mexican immigrants in the early 1900s through today’s Mexican population residing in Idaho. Overall, this paper strives to explain why undocumented immigrants are planning to remain in the U.S. permanently. In an effort to collect data and understand, a survey was administered in Spanish to 102 seasonal farmworkers who had a residency of …

Going Beyond The Existing Consensus: The Use Of Games In International Relations Education, Michael Lee, Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

Despite the popularity of using games to teach international relations, few works directly assess their effectiveness. Furthermore, it is unclear if games help all students equally, or if certain students are more likely to benefit than others. Finally, how closely the game must mirror the concept being taught to be an effective pedagogical tool has received scant attention. We address these points by discussing the use of an updated version of the classic American election game, Consensus, to help illustrate the role of domestic political coalitions in an international political economy course. Assessing the performance of 39 students via …

Fractured Europe, Patrick Isacks

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Paese Di Accoglienza: Il Successo Di Un Modello Innovativo Di Accoglienza Dei Richiedenti Asilo In Italia, Isabela Arena Secanechia

Senior Capstone Theses

This work discusses Italy's migrant reception system including its flaws and their effects. Furthermore, this work explores an alternative, sustainable model of migrant reception created in Riace, Calabria, that has been successful in varying towns across Italy. Ultimately, this work argues that this system, which is beneficial to both Italians and incoming migrants — specifically asylum seekers — can and should be implemented nationally to counter the current flawed system.

Twisting The Tap: Water Scarcity And Conflict In The Euphrates-Tigris River Basin, Samantha Glass

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Is water a target or an instrument of violence? Is it an amplifier of conflict or a means for cooperation, a source of growth or a force of destruction? The purpose of this report is to determine how threats of water shortage and the lack of a trans-boundary management plan has prompted states in the Euphrates-Tigris River Basin to leverage the shared resource as a political weapon to preserve national interests and ascertain regional authority. The scope of this report examines the domestic policies, economic objectives, and foreign-policy interests that compose Turkey, Syria, and Iraq’s national stakes in the trans-boundary …

Street-Level Bureaucrats And Irrigation Policy Reform In Southeast Asia, Jacob I. Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Policy reforms are difficult for developing states, especially when they are meant to improve cooperation and collaboration between private citizens and state officials, such as in the case of education, health care provision, business-state relations, and policing. A large part of this challenge is that the policy reforms required for coproduction of services necessitate development of state capacity in new directions. Using the substantive issue of irrigation reforms, especially those aimed at improving service provision and farmer participation, I identify three lessons for reformers regarding the implementation of policy for the coproduction of services. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Thailand …

Dreaming As A Critical Discourse Of National Belonging: China Dream, American Dream And World Dream, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article explores the normative politics of national belonging through an analysis of the ‘China Dream’ and the ‘American Dream’. It traces how politicians and public intellectuals employ such slogans to highlight how national dreams emerge in times of crisis and involve a combination of aspirations and anxieties. It compares parallel rhetorical strategies – ‘patriotic worrying’ in China and the American Jeremiad in the US – to examine how belonging to these two nations involves a nostalgic longing for the past as a model for the future. Debates about the meaning of these national dreams highlight the tension between freedom …

Diffusion Of Renewable Energy Policies, Khatera Alizada

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the global diffusion of renewable energy policies: feed-in tariffs (FIT) and renewable portfolio standards (RPS). Existing studies of policy diffusion have failed to differentiate between four possible mechanisms of policy diffusion: emulation, suasion, learning and competition. To test these competing explanations, the study uses a mixed-method research design that combines statistical analysis of time-series cross-sectional data with an agent-based model of diffusion processes. The findings of the statistical analysis show strong support for the suasion (European Union Membership, Clean Development Mechanisms) and emulation mechanisms (cultural similarity or common language) in the diffusion of FIT. In the diffusion …

The Little Lady That Could: Small Latvia Rejoins The Euro-Atlantic Community, Sandis Sraders

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

When the Cold War abruptly ended, Latvia found it necessary to find a new place in the international community. Its smallness, weaknesses and sensitivities as well as historic experiences made the task urgent because it needed a protector and a broader community to belong to. Like a needle in a haystack, finding these would prove challenging, primarily because not many options existed. First, only one community, the Euro-Atlantic community, could satisfy Latvia’s willingness to escape Russia’s unwanted dominance. Second, as a small state, Latvia had little influence over international affairs.

This research focuses on several distinct aspects of Latvia’s objective …

The Treatment Of Ethnic Minorities In Democratizing Muslim Countries: The Securitization Of Kurds In Turkey Versus The Autonomization Of Acehnese In Indonesia, Maurizio Geri

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Samuel Huntington , almost half century ago, explained how the state capacity is fundamental to guarantee order in societies in transition. Francis Fukuyama , recently, recuperated this concept arguing that a strong effective state is fundamental for stability of democratizing countries. But strong institutions are not enough to make democracy and political order compatible: institutions need to be also inclusive, to foster participation and respect the freedom of all parts of society, including ethnic minorities.

The main question this study wants to answer is: what factors explain the differences in how democratizing Muslim countries treat their ethnic minorities? Studies of …

Endpoints After Empire: Explaining Varying Levels Of Democracy In Post-Communist Europe, William John Eger Jr.

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to determine the impetus behind varying levels of post-communist democratization in central and eastern Europe. It explores the different theories of democratization. The work takes a regional approach to examining the states. This approach isolates less traditional factors that contribute to democratic quality: history, culture and geography. Qualitative studies of each help explain why the countries of the region have such a varying level of rights and freedoms.

Joining By Number: Military Intervention In Civil Wars, Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

Understanding why and when states militarily intervene in civil wars is crucial. Intervention can increase civil wars’ severity and the strategies employed in civil wars are shaped by the possibility of military intervention. This article argues that potential military interveners react to information revealed about warring parties’ intentions and relative power. Without revealed information, potential military interveners are unlikely to reconsider their initial decision to remain out of the war. Revealed information causes non-belligerent states to update their expectations about the trajectory of the civil war causing them, at times, to change their calculus about the benefits of belligerency and …

Editor's Note, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

Such is the unpredictability of Trump’s streaming executive orders that much of what I write may be irrelevant by the time this issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy goes to press. But the articles in this issue will not lose their pertinence, no matter what the administration does. Indeed, given its predilection for “alternative facts,” they assume a greater relevance and consequential significance.

This issue of the journal has three parts. The first part had its origins in a conference on extremism held at the Center for Study of Intractable Conflicts (CRIC), Harris Manchester College Oxford in …

Geographies Of Absence: Radicalization And The Shaping Of The New Syrian Territoriality, Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj

New England Journal of Public Policy

In November 2015, the United States and the Russian Federation convened the main international stakeholders engaged in the Syrian conflict to broker the Vienna Accords. The unfolding political process culminated in the issuing of UN Security Council Resolution 2254. Since then the situation has evolved rapidly, ushering in a new outlook for the resolution of the six-year-old civil war. The conflicting parties in Syria have not yet fathomed the momentum of this deal. Some progress has been made as part of successive attempts to establish a “cessation of hostilities,” but there have not yet been any major breakthroughs because the …

Inclusiveness, Foresight, And Decisiveness: The Practical Wisdom Of Barrier-Crossing Leaders, Michael A. Cowan

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article previews a study under way to compare and contrast the attitudes, thinking, and action of leaders around the world who manage to bridge social divisions in their respective locales with those who work within their own groups. After briefly describing the planned assessment of their forms of social cohesion and empathy, the article examines the practical wisdom of effective actors in the social world and how it contrasts with academic knowledge for insight into how wise practitioners think about what they are doing. It also looks at the history of the conception of practical wisdom. Finally, examples of …

The East China Sea In Dod China Military Power Reports, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2000 saw Congress require the Department of Defense (DOD) to prepare an annual report on Chinese military power. This report contains classified and unclassified editions. Documenting Chinese military developments, strategy, and trends are critical parts of these reports. Beijing’s military activities in the East China Sea (ECS) are important report components. This work explains the importance of these and other DOD reports for those studying ECS developments, examines how DOD has documented Beijing’s military activities within these publicly accessible reports, and describes how members of Congress have reacted to ECS developments during the Obama …

The Economic Impact Of Changing Water Levels: A Regional Economic Analysis Of Lake Thurmond, Rob Carey, Lori A. Dickes, Elizabeth L. Crouch

Journal of Public Management & Social Policy

This article examines the economic impact of declining lake levels on the local economy in six counties near the publically managed Thurmond Reservoir, located along the border of Georgia and South Carolina. A regression analysis of the relationship between lake level elevations and lake front real estate transactions is used in conjunction with an input-output model to estimate the median monthly economic impact of a one-foot increase in lake level in terms of employment, output, disposable income, and net local government revenue on the six counties bordering the lake. Thurmond Lake elevations have a statistically significant impact on regional economic …