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The Economic Reintegration Of Former Child Soldiers In Northern Uganda, Capri Gutiérrez

Honors Program Theses

During the Northern Ugandan War, the Lord’s Resistance Army kidnapped and recruited 30,000 children and forced them to become soldiers. Nearly twenty years since the end of the war, former child soldiers continue to experience extreme poverty, psychological distress, and social isolation. For many, the economic hardship they face, due to stigma and missing out on school, is their greatest challenge upon returning home. This paper analyzes the strategies used by the government and non-state actors to reintegrate former child soldiers back into the Ugandan economy. These strategies are then compared to best practices in the field using secondary research …

The United States’ Stringent Sovereignty: How Foreign Policy Framing Prioritizes Security Over Human Rights, Kathryn Parker

Scripps Senior Theses

American policymakers utilize valence framing, purposeful descriptions of outcomes as positive or negative, to influence the opinions of voters while maintaining the moral superiority felt by many citizens in the liberal Western hegemon. This study intended to combine the political theories of Constructivism and Realism to form Constructive Realism, a theory that emphasizes the significance of state power and norms as joint influences on constituents. Constructive realism was then applied to four case studies – the UN Security Council, International Criminal Court, Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. This study …

The Role Of Symbolic Politics In Shaping Political Attitudes: A Study Of Trump And Biden's Campaign Speeches, Nimra Asif

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this study, five speeches by Donald Trump and six by Joe Biden were comprehensively analyzed for their symbolic politics on immigration and social issues. The data revealed a consistent trend, with Trump featuring a greater number of mentions in comparison to Biden—66 and 26, respectively. Furthermore, Trump's symbolic politics exhibited a predominantly negative tone, while Biden's approach was predominantly positive. The results of this analysis confirm my hypotheses, highlighting notable disparities in the rhetoric employed by each candidate. Trump amplified a negative outlook on social issues and immigration, whereas Biden strategically mentioned and positively framed these issues. This research …

Economic Values, Social Values And Cultural Animal Theory, Kevin Smith

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Baumeister and Bushman (this issue: Psychological Inquiry 2023, vol. 34, no. 1) offer a cultural animal theory of partisan hostility (hereafter CAT) with the specific aim of explaining the root drivers of political conflict. CAT posits that competition for power revolves around oppositional worldviews reflecting preferences attached to the two primary objectives of all successful societies: amassing and distributing resources. Based on this premise CAT seeks not only to help explain the persistence of the themes motivating political conflict, but also to shed light on the underlying causes of growing levels affective polarization widely documented in the United States and …

Investigating Perceptions Of Out-Groups In Sport And United States Politics, Cody T. Havard, Elizabeth Theiss-Morse

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

The current study investigated how fans and supporters of sport teams and political parties in the United States viewed relevant out-groups and out-group members. Specifically, perceptions of rival sport teams and political parties were compared to determine how fans and supporters differed in their views and likely behaviors toward out-groups. Findings showed that sport fans reported more positive attitudes toward their favorite teams and more negative attitudes of the rival team than in politics. However, political supporters reported more negative perceptions and likely behaviors toward the out-group than fans of sport. Additional analysis revealed that the common in-group influenced perceptions. …

Russian Orthodox Church As Apologist For The Current Russian Aggression, Valentyn Krysachenko, Alina Zadorozhnya, Yulia Lebedeva, Yuriy Figurnyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the criminal character of the Russian Orthodox Church as an apologist for Russian imperial aggression. The concept of canonical territory is the ideological basis for the intervention of the Russian Orthodox Church in the internal affairs of independent states. Historically, the creation and growth of the network of the Russian Orthodox Church structures on its territory took place by illegal means, and the concept of canonical territory as a political trend was introduced in 1989 as a means of maintaining its own dominance in the post-Soviet states. The concept of “canonical territory” in the interpretation of the …

Potential For Policy Conflict Among Alligator Hunters In Texas, Usa, Christopher Serenari, Elizabeth N. Pratt, Abigail Meeks, Elena C. Rubino, Kristy L. Daniel

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Policy termination is a tool to ensure that antiquated or underperforming policies are updated or replaced. Understanding how terminating a policy might be received by core wildlife constituencies, such as hunters, is a critical insight to provide agencies and managers with the tools to make wildlife policy changes a more seamless process. However, this critical but negative policy approach is often overlooked in favor of investigating positive policy preferences (i.e., preferences for new policy). To help fill this gap, we applied the potential for conflict index (PCI₂) to data from a survey of 318 spring American alligator ( …

นโยบายนวัตกรรมอาหารสนามแห่งความร่วมมือ การต่อสู้ทางนโยบาย และการจัดการปกครองเครือข่าย, ศรัญญา ปานเจริญ

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานศึกษานี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อวิเคราะห์ความเปลี่ยนแปลงและพัฒนาการของนโยบายนวัตกรรมอาหารของไทย อธิบายการปฏิสัมพันธ์ระหว่างบริบทเชิงโครงสร้าง เครือข่ายนโยบาย และผลลัพธ์นโยบายเมืองนวัตกรรมอาหาร รวมถึงเปรียบเทียบการจัดการปกครองเครือข่ายนวัตกรรมอาหารตามแนวทางการกำหนดพื้นที่ของเมืองนวัตกรรมอาหาร ผลการศึกษา พบว่า ในช่วงของการกำหนดนโยบาย บริบททางการเมืองและเศรษฐกิจเป็นปัจจัยที่มีอิทธิพลต่อเครือข่ายนโยบายและผลลัพธ์ของนโยบายเมืองนวัตกรรมอาหารโดยตรง ในขณะที่บริบททางความคิด เช่น แนวคิดนวัตกรรมอาหาร แนวคิดความมั่นคงทางอาหาร เป็นจุดยืนทางนโยบายที่สนับสนุนการพัฒนาทางเศรษฐกิจแบบเสรีนิยมใหม่ เพื่อให้การพัฒนาข้อเสนอทางนโยบายมีความชอบธรรม โดยการกำหนดนโยบายนี้อาศัยระบบความเชื่อในการหลอมรวมจุดยืนทางความคิดและทรัพยากรของแนวร่วมพันธมิตรแต่ละกลุ่มให้มีความสอดคล้องกัน จนนำไปสู่การผลักดันนโยบายเมืองนวัตกรรมอาหารได้เป็นผลสำเร็จ ส่วนการนำนโยบายไปสู่การปฏิบัติระดับพื้นที่ พบว่า แต่ละพื้นที่มีการจัดการปกครองเครือข่ายที่แตกต่างกันทั้งในด้านพันธกิจและวัตถุประสงค์ของเครือข่าย กลยุทธ์ที่ใช้ในการสร้างเครือข่ายและการเลือกพันธมิตร รูปแบบโครงสร้างความร่วมมือ และการกำกับดูแลเครือข่าย อย่างไรก็ตาม ทุกเครือข่ายมีจุดร่วมที่เหมือนกัน คือ ความคาดหวังให้เมืองนวัตกรรมอาหารเป็นระบบนิเวศนวัตกรรมที่หลอมรวมโครงสร้างพื้นฐานและองค์ความรู้ท้องถิ่นที่สอดคล้องกับบริบทและความต้องการของประชาชนในพื้นที่

The Complex Landscape Of Lgbtq+ Inclusion Within The Politics Of Africa And The Dynamics Of Anti-Lgbtq+ Laws And Development, Barbara Agyapong

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The politics of LGBTQ+ inclusion has undergone significant transformations worldwide, reflecting evolving societal attitudes, advancements in human rights, and the increasing global recognition of LGBTQ+ rights. However, the politics of LGBTQ+ inclusion in Africa presents a diverse and intricate landscape, characterized by variations in attitudes, legal frameworks, and societal acceptance across the continent. This study explores the complex and evolving dynamics of Anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Africa, with some countries making strides towards LGBTQ+ inclusion by repealing colonial-era legislation, while others have become more repressive. Notably, countries such as Angola, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, and Seychelles have …

Variations In Refugee Acceptance Among Democratic States, Ryan King

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

What factors account for the variation in refugee acceptance? My review of existing literature and subsequent research paper will seek to further develop the understanding of this phenomenon by identifying and investigating factors that account for the differences in rates of migration flow among democratic states. The literature review will discuss the current body of research surrounding the topic, and the research itself will attempt to further the understanding of the impact of the given variables by using currently available data of international trends in migration, as well as a number of specific case studies. First, the paper will outline …

Slava Ukraini: A Psychobiographical Case Study Of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’S Public Diplomacy Discourse, Amber Brittain-Hale

Theses and Dissertations

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's public diplomacy during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict was examined in this dissertation. Zelenskyy’s discourse emphasized his action-oriented traits, Ukrainian identity, and nationalism. The study employed LTA, and LIWC-22, for natural language processing analyses of Zelenskyy's public speeches and diplomatic discourse. Zelenskyy demonstrated agency, adaptability, collaboration, and positive language patterns, suggesting confidence and optimism, according to the data. In addition, the research emphasizes how domestic and international factors influence state behavior, as well as how political demands, cultural, historical, and political factors influence Zelenskyy's decision-making.

This dissertation sheds light on a global leader's psychobiographical characteristics, beliefs, and motivations during a …

The Price Of Peace: Military Aid As A Foreign Policy Tool, Anthony Sclafani

Wayne State University Dissertations

Foreign aid studies overwhelmingly focus on development and economic aid, despite the significant portion of overall aid that security aid comprises. This dissertation seeks to rectify that gap in the literature through a robust analysis of the United States Government’s Security Assistance program, comprised of multiple forms of military aid. It will operationalize and test the effectiveness of Security Assistance in achieving the goals defined in the program’s guiding legislation, through the construction of a framework of empirical analysis. Three hypotheses were developed to evaluate and attempt to determine a causal relationship between the presence over time of a Security …

The Challenges And Transformative Experiences Of Promoting Nonkilling With Anti-Nuclear Weapon Activists And Realists, Roland Joseph

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Decades ago, Glenn D. Paige questioned killing and violence in politics, presenting nonkilling political science as an alternative. Activists and researchers from other disciplines have joined the movement by considering this new paradigm in their disciplines. Since then, some scholars analyzed the experience of activists promoting notions related to nonkilling, including peace and nonviolence. However, no previous research focuses specifically on the experience of scholars promoting nonkilling to anti-nuclear weapon activists and realists. To fill this gap and give voice to nonkilling and nuclear weapon risks, a qualitative phenomenological study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was conducted to answer the …

Urban/Rural Differences In Food Security In America’S East North Central Region, Eva Marie Long

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The literature on food insecurity in America is extensive, but there is still a lack of understanding of urban/rural differences. Food insecure populations in urban communities undoubtedly experience different and unique challenges to food access than food insecure populations in rural areas. While urban households may face a lack of options for fresh produce, rural households may find that they live an inaccessible distance from the nearest grocer. Through analysis of the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and Food Security Supplement, this project seeks to discover common, underlying variables in food-insecure communities in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in America’s East …

Racialization And International Security, Richard W. Maass

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Racialization—the processes that infuse social and political phenomena with racial identities and implications—is an assertion of power, a claim of purportedly inherent differences that has saturated modern diplomacy, order, and violence. Despite the field's consistent interest in power, international security studies in the United States largely omitted racial dynamics from decades of debates about international conflict and cooperation, nuclear proliferation, power transitions, unipolarity, civil wars, terrorism, international order, grand strategy, and other subjects. A new framework lays conceptual bedrock, links relevant literatures to major research agendas in international security, cultivates interdisciplinary dialogues, and charts promising paths to consider how overt …

Elections And Post Traumatic Stress: Evidence From The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Timothy Fraser, Costas Panagopoulos, Kevin Smith

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

The 2020 U.S. presidential election saw rising political tensions among ordinary voters and political elites, with fears of election violence culminating in the January 6th riot. We hypothesized that the 2020 election might have been traumatic for some voters, producing measurable symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We also hypothesized that negative sentiment towards the opposing party correlates with PTSD. We measured PTSD with a modified PCL-5, a validated PTSD screener, for 573 individuals from a nationally representative YouGov sample. We modeled the association between affective polarization and PTSD, controlling for political, demographic, and psychological traits. We estimate that 12.5% …

การย้ายถิ่นของนักกีฬาฟุตบอลจากทวีปแอฟริกาสู่ประเทศไทย, พสิษฐ์ วจนะดิษยาวงศ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ปัจจุบัน การย้ายถิ่นของกลุ่มแรงงานนักฟุตบอลได้รับความสนใจจากกลุ่มนักวิชาการที่ศึกษาการย้ายถิ่นมากขึ้นอย่างต่อเนื่อง อย่างไรก็ดี การศึกษามักมุ่งเน้นการทำความเข้าใจการย้ายถิ่นฐานของนักฟุตบอลจากภูมิภาคผู้ส่งออกนักฟุตบอล โดยเฉพาะแอฟริกาสู่ภูมิภาคยุโรป ซึ่งเป็นอดีตเจ้าอาณานิคม ขณะที่ในความเป็นจริง มีนักฟุตบอลจากภูมิภาคแอฟริกาหลั่งไหลเข้ามายังภูมิภาคอื่น ๆ ทั่วโลกอย่างต่อเนื่อง สำหรับประเทศไทย มีนักฟุตบอลชาวแอฟริกาที่ย้ายถิ่นเข้ามายังประเทศไทยจำนวนมาก และหลายคนได้สร้างคุณูปการแก่วงการฟุตบอลไทย จึงนำมาสู่คำถามที่ว่า ปัจจัยใดส่งผลให้แรงงานนักฟุตบอลจากทวีปแอฟริกาย้ายถิ่นเข้ามาค้าแข้งในประเทศไทย การศึกษาพบว่า พลวัตของโลกาภิวัตน์ รวมถึงการแปลงฟุตบอลเป็นสินค้า กอปรกับการที่ฟุตบอลกลายเป็นอาชีพที่ประชาชนจำนวนหนึ่งมองว่านำมาซึ่งรายได้จำนวนมาก ก็นำมาซึ่งการย้ายถิ่นฐานของนักฟุตบอล สำหรับทวีปแอฟริกาซึ่งประสบปัญหาความยากจน อาชีพนักฟุตบอลกลายเป็นความใฝ่ฝันของเยาวชนชายจำนวนมากที่ต้องการแสวงหาชีวิตที่ดีกว่าเพื่อตนเองและครอบครัว อย่างไรก็ดี ข้อจำกัดด้านการพัฒนาฟุตบอลในทวีปแอฟริกา ทำให้นักฟุตบอลชาวแอฟริกันต้องการไปค้าแข้งนอกทวีป โดยเฉพาะทวีปยุโรปที่ให้รายได้สูงสุด อีกทั้งยังมีอิทธิพลเหนือสื่อที่เผยแพร่ฟุตบอลในทวีปแอฟริกา แม้ประเทศไทยที่จะมีลีกฟุตบอลที่ดี แต่ถือเป็นเพียงทางผ่านที่ช่วยสนับสนุนให้ผู้คนได้เห็นนักฟุตบอลกลุ่มดังกล่าวมากขึ้นเท่านั้น อย่างไรก็ดี มิใช่นักฟุตบอลทุกคนจะประสบความสำเร็จในการยกระดับตนเองไปค้าแข้งในยุโรป ขณะที่จำนวนหนึ่งตระหนักว่าประเทศไทยมีความเหมาะสมและเลือกที่จะค้าแข้งในประเทศไทยระยะยาว

Pillars For Nuclear-Weapon States To Make Material Progress On Nuclear Disarmament, Madina Zhetenova

Dissertations and Theses

The nuclear arms race in the twenty-first century hinders progress towards disarmament and greatly increases the risk of nuclear catastrophe. Nuclear disarmament is a global issue that is necessary not only to reduce the risk of war but also to strengthen world peace and security, and to prevent the waste of human and material resources. Through a comparative analysis of the experiences of nuclear-weapon states, this study identifies the behavioral factors underlying the retention of nuclear weapons as well as the challenges and opportunities faced by international treaties. I will do so while reviewing nations' declarations, social and economic factors, …

Banshees Of Late Capitalism: War, Ecology, & Alienation, Bryant W. Sculos

Political Science Faculty Publications

This review essay explores the concepts of war, ecology/human-nonhuman relations, and alienation through a critical analysis of McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin (2022).

Fascism In Sci-Fi: "Mobilizing Passions" In Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Alton C. Ayers

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis responds to criticism of Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (1959) as a “fascist” novel by further investigating the claim through a close reading of the novel that applies political theory scholarship on fascism. Chapters I and II introduce the novel along with its general reception and controversy. These chapters consider the accusations of “fascism” given to the novel while at the same time understanding that a clear, exact definition of “fascism” has long been grappled with by scholars since the rise of the regimes in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Chapters III and IV apply political theory to …

People With Disabilities, Poverty And Social Cash Transfers: The Politics Of Financing Disability-Inclusive Social Protection Systems In Kenya, Tyson Odoo Juma

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

What explains why the Persons With Severe Disabilities Cash Transfer (PWSD-CT) program receives limited financial support for expansion relative to the Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT) and Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) programs? I interrogate this question by exploring three potential explanations: the political incentive to build a voter base, inadequacy in financial resources and weaker institutional advocacy. Using Kenya as a case study, I rely on key informant interviews, document analysis and a mini-survey to collect data. My theoretical and empirical strategy is two-fold. First, I analyze relevant program documents and interview transcripts to gain insight …

Why Does Un Peacekeeping Fail To Disarm And Demobilize Warring Parties In Intrastate Conflicts? A Cross-Case Comparative Analysis Of Cambodia And Angola, Socheata Meas

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Second-generation peace operation is big in size and complex in operations and has positively impacted society and humankind and brought about peaceful endings in some conflicts. Nevertheless, studies in the area show that some peacekeeping has failed, and many limitations in each operation lead to UN peacekeeping failure. The failure of UN peacekeeping to disarm and demobilize warring parties’ armed forces has been researched explicitly by scholars. However, those scholarships have limitations in explaining why the UN fails to disarm and demobilize warring parties in intrastate conflict. This thesis paper will look at the UN's failure to disarm and demobilize …

Freedom And Heteronomy In The Anthropocene, Alexander M. Stoner, Harry F. Dahms

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Transitioning Meso-Institutions And Markets In The Landscape Of American Politics, Devin Thomas Marconi

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper bridges the gap in the literature between sociological accounts of market actors provided by Mark Granovetter and Douglas North, meso-institutional examinations of polarization provided by Paul Pierson and Eric Schickler, and the psychological exploration into cross-cutting identities provided by Liliana Mason. I argue that the nationalization and concentration of markets, identities, and politics have led to a transition within the meso-institution of the market from maintaining self-regulating punishment mechanisms to replacing them with self-reinforcing mechanisms, exacerbating affective polarization. Previous works explore the transition within the meso-institutions of the media, interest groups, and political parties. I include the market …

Study Abroad And The Global Public Good: A Developmental Evaluation Of The International Business Major, Sara Barbier Bularzik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Study abroad, for any length of time and in any location, is widely recognized in higher education as a positive educational activity. While individual benefits of study abroad have been explored for decades, recent research has pushed the field to consider benefits for the local and global community. This program evaluation contributes to this line of inquiry by asking international business majors about the influences on their study abroad program choice process and the involvement of the university’s mission to positively impact the public good. Using developmental program evaluation and UNESCO’s global citizenship education theory, this study found that students …

Strategies Global Virtual Team Leaders Use To Improve Trust And Communication, Sarah Crandell Monday

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Global virtual team (GVT) members’ inability to effectively build trust and communication has the potential to negatively impact organizational outcomes. Organizational leaders are concerned with team members’ inability to build trust and communication, as it is the leading cause of reduced productivity and efficiency levels within GVTs. Grounded in the social exchange theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies GVT leaders use to improve trust and communication among GVT members. The participants were 18 GVT business leaders from six organizations located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Data were collected using semistructured …

Criminology And Violent Extremist Radicalization, Starlett Michele Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, research on foreign terrorism became extensive in the United States while research on domestic terrorism and violent extremist radicalization was lacking. Despite the research that has been done, there was a lapse in scholarship analyzing terrorism radicalization and its relationship with criminology. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to analyze the perceptions of experts in terrorism and criminology about how factors of criminology can explain violent extremist radicalization. This study used two conceptual models of terrorism radicalization: (a) the staircase to terrorism and the (b) 4-stage model of the terrorist mindset. In addition, …

Criminology And Violent Extremist Radicalization, Starlett Michele Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, research on foreign terrorism became extensive in the United States while research on domestic terrorism and violent extremist radicalization was lacking. Despite the research that has been done, there was a lapse in scholarship analyzing terrorism radicalization and its relationship with criminology. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to analyze the perceptions of experts in terrorism and criminology about how factors of criminology can explain violent extremist radicalization. This study used two conceptual models of terrorism radicalization: (a) the staircase to terrorism and the (b) 4-stage model of the terrorist mindset. In addition, …

The American Founding Documents And Democratic Social Change: A Constructivist Grounded Theory, A I. Forde

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Existing social disparities in the United States are inconsistent with the promise of democracy; therefore, there was a need for critical conceptualization of the first principles that undergird American democracy and the genesis of democratic social change in America. This constructivist grounded theory study aimed to construct a grounded theory that provides an understanding of the process of American democratic social change as it emerged from the nation’s founding documents. A post hoc polytheoretical framework including Foucault’s, Bourdieu’s, and Marx and Engels’s theories of power was used to understand power dynamics. The research question focused on understanding the process of …

Spiritual Well-Being Scale (Swbs): Measuring Spiritual Well-Being In International Contexts, Rodger K. Bufford, Raymond F. Paloutzian

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) is a 20-item measure of self-perceived spiritual health. Developed in the 1980s, it includes 2 subscales with 10 items each. Responses are made on a 6-point continuum from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree with no neutral point; 9 of the items are negatively worded to minimize response biases. The US samples show good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Content validity was established in construction. Expected correlations with religion and spirituality indices, social and psychological mea-sures, and physical functioning and demonstration of expected group differences support criterion validity. Factor analysis commonly shows 2 factors corresponding to …