Digital Commons Network^™

Fear, Memory, And Deterrence: Reassessing Nuclear Peace In The 21st Century, Nathan H. Schroeder

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research investigates the paradox of nuclear peace theory: the idea that nuclear weapons, despite their destructive capacity, have contributed to a more stable global order. By tracing the historical development of nuclear arsenals and the strategic logic of deterrence, the project examines whether the post-1945 decline in large-scale wars between superpowers and wartime deaths can be attributed to the threat of mutual annihilation. It also explores the psychological and cultural consequences of this deterrence-based peace, including the normalization of fear and its potential link to desensitization toward violence in younger generations. From Cold War-era school drills to modern apocalyptic …

Leaders, Confidence, Policies And Popularity: The Relation Between Europe’S Confidence In The Sitting U.S. President And Its Favorability Towards The United States, Greg Mitchhart

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The president of the United States is perhaps the figure most representative of the U.S. and its interests on the global stage. While the country as a whole is not entirely defined by this single person, it’s important to understand how international opinions surrounding the president potentially correlate with international opinions of the United States itself due to the myriad of implications that stem from these latter views (e.g. soft power and its relation to goodwill, access to international markets, military latitude, etc.). For this study, we will examine the correlation between 5 European nations’ people's confidence in the current …

The Discord Revolutions: A Study Of Media Influence And Regime Changes, Justin C. Eason

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will be a paper analyzing the influence of Media on regime changes, specifically as it pertains to the two recent revolutions in Nepal and Madagascar. I will show how past regime changes and historical events have been shaped by media influence, and how the revolutions in Nepal and Madagascar are different, and could set a different pattern when compared to previous rebellions.

Immigration As A Catalyst To The Far-Right: The Case Of Vox And Spain, Evelyn R. White

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Over the last decade or two, the world has witnessed a global rise in the popularity and success of far-right wing parties. This new era of the radical right raises questions of what is causing and fueling these political movements. Political Scientists have identified several contributing factors from the global economic crisis of 2008, the migrant crisis of 2015 and the global pandemic in 2020. This research paper aims to demonstrate how immigration acts as a catalyst to the far-right by intersecting with political science ideologies and other variables. The focus of this paper is how the Vox Party found …

A Look Deeper Into Ohio’S Opioid Crisis And The Lasting Political Effects Of The Issue, Robert C. Dunn

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research studies how the opioid crisis deepened partisan divisions in Ohio from the late 1990s to the present. By investigating political responses from both policy-makers and voter behavior following the introduction of OxyContin. This study will focus on the relationship between addiction and overdose rates, which influences those ideological divides. Using qualitative research, such as political rhetoric and legislative responses, and quantitative research, such as election results, to find a correlation between the opioid crisis and partisan polarization. This project aims to highlight how politically motivated decision-making can prevent proper bipartisan responses.

Democracy In Practice, Stefanos Milkidis

Open Educational Resources

In this assignment, students are asked to write a public-facing blog post that connects a theme from American government to a current issue, event, or personal experience. The goal is to practice civic dialogue and critical thinking, while contributing to a broader public conversation about American government, politics, and democracy.

Embarrassment As A Signal: Feminist Affects And The Commodification Of Love, Bianca L. Schmitt

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

How Vermont’S Composting Laws Can Be Used To Inform Similar Policies In New Hampshire, Felix Prigge

UNH URC Open (2026 and after)

This presentation seeks to analyze how policy makers can use the success' and failures of another state's policies to inform their own measures in order to not repeat the same mistakes. It also discusses the importance of using public feedback as a baseline for improvement.

Artificial Elections: How Artificial Intelligence Can Affect Elections And Decide Our Future, Ryan D. Granger

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in democratic elections, highlighting both its transformative potential and its associated risks. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of existing literature, the study explores how AI is increasingly integrated into political campaigns, election administration, and voter engagement. Key benefits include enhanced data analysis, personalized political messaging, and improved efficiency in campaign operations. AI also supports real-time fact-checking and more accurate vote tabulation, which can strengthen transparency and trust in electoral processes. However, the thesis emphasizes that these advantages are accompanied by significant challenges. AI technologies enable the rapid creation and dissemination …

Between Borders - The Realities Of Immigration Limbo, Jennifer C. Valenzuela

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this research, I looked into different immigration pathways in the United States and determined different characteristics from those pathways that might be leading the Latino population into a limbo status. With the Latino population being the largest minority group in the United States, and the continuously growing number of Latino immigrants, I decided to do this research to spread awareness of possible barriers and struggles that Latinos might face when applying for an immigration pathway. I researched the different immigration pathways, focusing on Asylum, TPS, and Family Reunification, to understand the requirements that each requires to apply and the …

Immigration Securitization And Educational Access: The Impact Of U.S. Immigration Policy On International Students, Cossir Carter

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines the securitization of international students within the broader transformation of United States immigration policy from the post-9/11 era to the present administration. Following the September 11 attacks, immigration governance was increasingly reorganized under a national security framework, significantly altering the regulatory environment surrounding student visas. Subsequent policy shifts have intensified monitoring mechanisms and administrative controls that directly shape international students’ access to education and mobility. Given the sensitivity of immigration-related participation in the current political climate, this research employs qualitative policy analysis rather than direct student surveys. Under the Trump administration, this securitization intensified through stricter visa …

The Impact Of Social Media Movements On Policy Changes Made In The United States, Michelle Levy Korine

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study focuses on researching the relationship between social media movements and policy changes in the United States. Over the last decade, digital platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and X have become important tools to encourage political involvement. These platforms have led to an increase in public participation, movements to become more popular and to organize protests. Many current studies focus on the social and cultural aspects of online activism, but fewer examine wither these movements lead to the legislative change asked for.

This thesis relies on the question, "To what extent does social media activism contribute to policy change …

Bloody Sunday: A Comparative Analysis Of Nonviolent Marches In Selma And Derry, Samantha J. Romero

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines two different nonviolent civil rights marches: Selma’s march for voting rights in 1965 in the United States and Derry’s march to end internment without trial in 1972 in Northern Ireland. The two marches yielded drastically different outcomes despite employing the shared tactic of nonviolence. This research addresses the vital role that the political opportunity structure, rather than tactical repertoire alone, plays in determining whether state repression leads to reform or further conflict. Through a controlled comparative analysis, the research positions the march itself as a constant across the two cases. Subsequently, governmental allies, institutional openness, and regime …

The Price Of Labor: The Kafala System And Human Rights Violations, Susana El Souki El Assal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The present research analyzes the Kafala sponsorship system and how it impacts the rights and lives of migrant workers in Middle Eastern and Arab Gulf countries. The Kafala system connects a worker's legal status to their employer, providing companies with significant power over their employees' occupations, movements, and ability to leave the nation. Although some governments as well as businesses maintain that the system promotes economic growth and provides important labor, many studies reveal that it can result in exploitation, such as passport seizure, postponed wages, unsafe working conditions, and reduced freedom. The objective of this study is to understand …

“Mother Earth” Faces Sexism” (The Relationship Between Gender, Sexism, And Politics To Climate Change Recognition), Sierra E. Nichols

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Climate change is a prominent scientific and political issue today. Research has shown women to be uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and subject towards political opinions that can be rooted in sexism. This study aims to draw a correlation between these factors. It provides an overview of the topic of climate change and women’s linkages with the environment through the topic of ecofeminism. It analyzes the topic of sexism and analyzes research surrounding different types of sexism: hostile, benevolent, and modern sexism. It discusses how studies that have categorized climate change as a gendered issue, climate change …

Elite Cues Vs. Economic Vulnerabilities: What Explains Isolationist Foreign Policy Attitudes Among Americans?, Sabyasachi Karmaker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines whether contemporary isolationist foreign policy attitudes among Americans are better explained by elite political cues or by economic vulnerabilities. Using data from the 2024 American National Election Study (ANES), the study also examines which mechanism holds more explanatory power in shaping isolationist views. The findings show that both elite cues and economic vulnerabilities are associated with isolationist attitudes, but elite cues have greater explanatory power. These results suggest that contemporary American isolationism is more strongly associated with political identity and elite messaging than with economic hardship alone.

Disaster Risk Management During Climate Emergencies In The Dominican Republic And Puerto Rico, Rosleny Ubinas

Dissertations and Theses

This paper analyzes the DRM approach as an effective framework in addressing climate emergencies across the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. These two Caribbean regions, with high hurricane exposure and differing response structures, are deeply shaped by their governments and affiliated international organizations. Disaster Risk Management is the systematic process of using laws, plans, institutions, and community networks to reduce vulnerability to hazards and coordinate effective response when disasters occur. It covers the full cycle, from prevention to reconstruction and rebuilding more resiliently. The Dominican Republic’s law-based intervention led to greater local-level community participation during disasters with its embedded volunteer …

Tilting The Playing Field: Executive Attacks On Big Law Firms As A Mechanism Of American Competitive Authoritarianism, Sajah Ali

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how President Donald Trump’s executive campaign against elite law firms, collectively known as “Big Law,” serves as a concrete case study of competitive authoritarianism in action. Drawing on Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way’s framework in their work The Path to American Authoritarianism, this thesis applies their four pillars of competitive authoritarianism to the administration’s executive orders targeting major law firms and maps those pillars onto three distinct firm responses: fighting back, capitulation, and quiet retreat. Situating this case study within the broader political context of Trump’s second term, this thesis finds that while the United States has …

China-U.S Relations: Techno‑Nationalism, Strategic Entrapment, And Taiwan., Prince Y. Munya Mr.

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

This thesis examines how China–U.S. relations evolved from a manageable strategic rivalry into a more rigid and increasingly difficult form of competition after the Obama administration’s “Pivot to Asia.” It argues that traditional explanations such as power transition theory alone cannot fully explain the deterioration of the relationship. Instead, the study introduces the concept of techno-nationalism, where technological leadership becomes tied to national identity, economic security, and geopolitical power, particularly in areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and supply-chain security. Through historical analysis and policy tracing, the thesis develops the concept of strategic entrapment to explain how both Washington …

Constructing The Political “Other”: Affective Polarization And Cross-Ideological Portrayals On Instagram, Amanda M. Novellin

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Instagram has frequently been characterized by users as a platform that permits the circulation of hostile and adversarial political content due to comparatively limited moderation practices. In January 2025, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced changes to content moderation policies on Facebook and Instagram, including the removal of third-party fact-checking mechanisms. These platform-level changes further reshaped the political information environment in which online discourse occurs. However, even prior to these policy changes, Instagram had established itself as a prominent space for highly polarized political expression across the ideological spectrum.

This thesis examines how political polarization in the United States is reflected …

The Influence Of China’S Economic Soft Power: The Perceptions Of Youth In The Case Of Cambodia As A Small State, Mommarolin Srey

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The debate on the continued rise of China remains relevant and central in global politics. China has been employing soft power as a strategic approach to enhance its reputation as a global power on the international stage. While China has made tremendous efforts in soft power diplomacy to foster positive perceptions among many countries, the global survey on the perception of China remains largely negative with only a slight increase in positive perceptions. This thesis examines the younger generation or youth perceptions of China’s economic soft power. This qualitative research uses the case study of Cambodia as small state and …

Monetary Sovereignty In Peril? Cryptocurrencies, Capital Controls And Exchange-Rate Volatility: A Quantitative Global Analysis, Mckeown Boadi Owusu

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines whether the rise of cryptocurrencies affects the constraints states face in exercising monetary sovereignty, specifically in stabilizing their currencies. The analysis tests two hypotheses: first, that higher levels of cryptocurrency interests are associated with greater exchange-rate volatility; and second, that this relationship is stronger in countries with more stringent capital-flow management measures. Drawing on a panel dataset of country–month observations across 46 countries from 2017 to 2024, The results provide no consistent evidence that cryptocurrency interest is directly associated with higher exchange-rate volatility. Similarly, the interaction between cryptocurrency interest and capital controls remains insignificant across all models, …

Detection Of Financial And Political Fake News As A Measure To Prevent Instability In Financial Markets, Konstantyn Malyshenko

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This article explores the role of social networks as a catalyst for instability in financial markets. Its purpose is to present strategies for mitigating the media’s influence on adverse outcomes, primarily by analyzing the information cascades and related transactions in stock markets. The innovative aspect of this research lies in the development of methods for analyzing specific types of information, particularly media reports, to identify indicators of fake that distort public perception. The focus of this study is on fake news and the analysis of its potential linguistic features for identification purposes. A significant outcome of this research is the …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Institutional Constraints On Investigative Oversight: Accountability And Governance Of The Investigation Supervision Bureau (Biro Pengawas Penyidikan) Of The Indonesian National Police, Mastalina Sinaga, Dhiajeng Prativi

Jurnal Kriminologi Indonesia

Investigative professionalism constitutes a fundamental pillar of the criminal justice system; however, its realization is frequently constrained by institutional design and procedural limitations within oversight mechanisms. This article examines the role of the Investigation Supervision Bureau (Biro Pengawas Penyidikan (Birowassidik)) of the Criminal Investigation Agency (Badan Reserse Kriminal (Bareskrim)) of the Indonesian National Police (Polri) in handling public complaints related to investigative performance. Rather than presuming the existence of a unified ‘Code of Silence’, this study adopts a qualitative critical analysis to assess the structural and procedural constraints inherent in Birowassidik’s mandate as a complaint-based supervisory institution. The analysis demonstrates …

Marshall Shulman: Bridging The Gap Between The Academic And Policymaking Worlds And Building Transnational Communities, Cynthia A. Roberts

Publications and Research

This essay examines Marshall D. Shulman’s legacy as a scholar of Soviet foreign policy, a scholar-practitioner who moved between academic and policymaking worlds, and a builder of transnational expert communities. It highlights Shulman’s early challenge to essentialist interpretations of Soviet foreign policy, his conception of the U.S.-Soviet relationship as a “limited adversary relationship,” and his emphasis on managing nuclear competition while avoiding catastrophic war. The essay also traces Shulman’s role in arms control, Track II diplomacy, scientific and expert exchanges, and the development of Russian and Soviet studies at Columbia University. Drawing on the author’s experience as Shulman’s student and …

Introduction To The Jervis Forum Roundtable Of Review Essays On Mark Kramer, The Fate Of The Soviet Bloc’S Military Alliance: Reform, Adaptation, And Collapse Of The Warsaw Pact, 1985–1991, Cynthia A. Roberts

Publications and Research

This introduction frames a Jervis Forum roundtable of review essays on Mark Kramer’s study of the final years of the Warsaw Pact and situates the book within broader scholarship on the end of the Cold War. It examines Kramer’s archivally- grounded argument that the alliance’s collapse was not predetermined but followed from a consequential Soviet policy shift under Mikhail Gorbachev, particularly the decision to renounce military intervention to preserve communist regimes in Eastern Europe. This introduction considers changes in Soviet military doctrine, civil-military relations, arms-control priorities, and Moscow’s effort to transform rather than abolish the alliance. It also situates Kramer’s …

The Tech-Nuclear Renaissance: A New Critical Juncture For American Nuclear Energy Policy, Henry P. Otte

CMC Senior Theses

Nuclear energy has re-emerged as a central priority in American energy policy. This thesis examines the Trump administration’s efforts to support nuclear energy development and plant restarts, and asks whether today’s nuclear renaissance represents a critical juncture for nuclear energy policy. By analyzing American, French, and Swedish nuclear energy history, this thesis applies a three-variable analytical framework, state autonomy and administrative structure, political permeability, and crisis influence, to identify the institutional conditions necessary for durable policy change and evaluate the structural characteristics of this new environment. The central finding is that today’s push is distinct from prior attempts at expansion, …

Politics As Usual: Racial Pay Inequity And The Illusion Of Inclusion In The Rise And Fall Of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, And Accessibility Executive Orders, Francois C. Melville

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

This research examines pressing moral policy questions of our time: who determines when the United States of America has fulfilled its broken promise of equality for all, and what constitutes an appropriate measure of reparative justice. It interrogates why the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Executive Orders (EOs) implemented across presidential administrations, intended to advance social equity, were grounded in conflict and symbolic gestures rather than scientifically evidenced issues such as wage inequality directly linked to upward career mobility. Race conscious policy generates cultural clashes centered on the perception that gains made by Black and Brown Americans come at the …

“America Is For Americans Only”: Journalistic Professionalism, Populism, And Latino Ethnic Media In The 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, Maria Villarroel

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how journalistic professionalism shaped news coverage of Latino-related issues during the 2024 U.S. presidential election across mainstream and Latino ethnic media outlets. In a polarized political environment, immigration and the “Latino vote” were not only central campaign issues but also sites of radicalized rhetoric that frequently targeted Latino communities and journalists. In this context, journalists were tasked with reporting on highly contentious, hostile narratives while adhering to professional norms. This study argues that these norms influenced how journalists selected, framed, and contextualized political rhetoric, and how media coverage further elevated immigration and Latino communities as key electoral …