Digital Commons Network^™

The Functioning Of The Refugee Regime In The Global South, Rihem Sejil

Theses and Dissertations

Why do states continue to sign compacts and reaffirm responsibility-sharing, even as protection burdens fall increasingly on the Global South? This thesis argues that this concentration is a direct result of, rather than an exception to, international cooperation. It introduces the concept of "selective cooperation" to explain how states maintain formal commitments to protection while repurposing cooperation: shifting it from a remedial tool designed to assist burdened hosts to one focused on containment and preventing arrivals. Three mechanisms facilitate this shift: donor retrenchment, resettlement contraction, and externalization, with each mechanism closing gaps left by the others. Analyzing cases spanning resettlement, …

Wage Inequalities In Informal Work: Race, Sex, And Citizenship Among Latino Workers In New York State, Amalia Torrecillas Fernandez

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

This report examines wage variation within informal work in New York State from 2016 to 2022, with particular attention to Latino workers. Using American Community Survey data from three five-year periods (2016, 2019, and 2022). The analysis explores how median hourly wages differ by ethnicity, sex, citizenship status, race, age, and nativity.

Informal workers represented 4.6%-4.7% of New York's workforce, approximately 569,000 to 589,000 workers between the years of study. A substantial wage gap persisted throughout the study period. Formal workers earned $18/hour in 2016 versus $12 for informal workers; by 2022, this widened to $24 versus $14, underscoring the …

Using Scenario-Based Generative Ai In A Social Studies Methods Course, Timothy Lintner, Ellis Reeves

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly transforming the landscape of educator preparation. This shift is especially evident in social studies. As emerging technologies like AI reshape how social studies is taught and learned, it is essential to incorporate them into course design and student outcomes. Simply put, we must ensure that the next generation of social studies educators can effectively use AI to create real-world, scenario-based learning experiences that foster inquiry and encourage student action-taking. This article examines how AI-supported, scenario-based learning was strategically integrated into a secondary social studies methods course at the University of South Carolina Aiken. From concept …

Illegal Migration In Nigeria: An In-Depth Study Of Encounters Within Nigeria, Mubarak Alabi, Adebayo Olalekan, Adam Isiaka, Abosede Onifade

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

Migration is a crucial component of global population dynamics and encompasses various forms of labor, such as low-skilled labor, irregular migration, and asylum-seeking. This study examines illegal migration into Nigeria, illuminating the complex challenges faced by both migrants and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). The surge in cross-border crimes linked to illegal immigration poses formidable obstacles to NIS, including issues related to border security, arms proliferation, and terrorism. The study employed a survey design, involving a diverse sample of 50 respondents, representing a cross-section of socio-demographic backgrounds. The outcome unravels the underlying motivations driving individuals towards illegal migration, identifies barriers …

Indigenous Religion And Community Order: Crime Prevention Strategies Among Worshippers Of Igbe Orhe In Nigeria, Onoseme Fortune Afatakpa Dr

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

This ethnographic study examines crime prevention strategies within Igbe Orhe, an indigenous African religious tradition practiced in Delta State, Nigeria. While existing security studies primarily emphasize formal and direct approaches to crime prevention, this research foregrounds the less explored structural mechanisms embedded in cultural spirituality. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with purposively selected participants, including the Uku Supreme (global leader), High Priests (Uku), High Priestess (Omote Uku), Chief Priests (Inori), Chief Priestesses (Ini Igbe), and Votary Singers (Akpine). Two focus group discussions were also conducted with female and youth members of selected …

Alternative Dispute Resolution And Legal Pluralism In Practice: Grassroots Mediation In The Akamba Counties Of Kenya, Victoria M. Time, Daniel K. Pryce

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

Abstract

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), the process of employing a third party, outside of the state apparatus, to help resolve disputes between opposing parties, has been used on the African continent for hundreds of years. In Kenya, the focus of the current study, ADRs have included mediation, negotiation, and arbitration. To have a better understanding of why Kenyans are embracing mediation instead of the formal courts to resolve disputes, the study relies on the legal pluralism theoretical framework and the results of a study that employed two ethnographic techniques – interviews and participant observation – from three Kenyan counties: Makueni, …

Language As A Strategic Security Resource: Criminological Perspectives On Collective Efficacy, Cultural Security, And Community Resilience, Declan Onwudiwe

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

Language is typically examined as a medium of communication, identity formation, cultural transmission, and education. This article advances a broader argument: language should also be understood as a strategic security resource and a significant criminological variable. Drawing on collective efficacy theory, societal security scholarship, linguistic relativity, decolonial language theory, and ethnolinguistic vitality theory, the article argues that language can facilitate social cohesion, informal social control, intelligence gathering, conflict resolution, procedural legitimacy, and community resilience. Indigenous African languages serve as repositories of historical memory, customary law, social norms, and security-relevant knowledge that may contribute to public safety and social order. The …

Hehir, Aidan. Kosovo And The “Internationals”: Hope, Hubris, And The End Of History. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, Sead Zimeri

Journal of Peace, Conflict, and Security Studies

Hope is enjoying a scholarly renaissance. Building on the “standard account” of hope as a desire for an outcome believed to be possible, recent work by Luc Bovens, Victoria McGeer, Adrienne Martin, Darrel Moellendorf, Michael Milona, and Katie Stockdale has refined the concept, distinguishing it from optimism and expectation, and asking when hoping is rational and what it requires. Yet this literature has remained largely within moral psychology; sustained tests against concrete political history are rare. Conversely, the enormous literature on humanitarian intervention and state-building has had much to say about power, legitimacy, and paternalism, and almost nothing about hope. …

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Editorial History

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Eating Disorders & Meat Consumption: A Meta-Analytic Review, Urska Dobersek, Laurel Standiford-Reyes, Tyler Robinson, Alex Antony Edwin, Sarah Siebers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

In this meta-analytic review, we examined the current evidence on eating disorders in relation to meat consumption and meat abstention. We systematically searched six online databases in December 2025 for primary research on eating disorder-related variables in meat consumers and meat abstainers. Fifty-one studies with 55,984 participants (n_{meat consumers} = 44,282, n_{meat abstainers} = 9,751) met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The outcomes were eating disorders and orthorexia nervosa. Meat consumption was associated with lower eating disorder (g = 0.20, 95% CI [0.08, 0.32], p = .001) and orthorexia nervosa symptomology (g = 0.47, 95% CI [0.33, …

Statement From The Indiana Academy Of The Social Sciences And Board Of Directors

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Editor-In-Chief's Note, Surekha K. Rao

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Volume 29, Issue 1 Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Learning By Doing To Teach Research Skills In Econometrics, Christie Byun

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This paper examines a revision in an introductory econometrics course at an undergraduate liberal arts college. The instructors have incorporated extensive use of data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series from the Current Population Survey (IPUMS-CPS), with applied examples that demonstrate econometric theory. The key element is a short empirical paper assignment in which all students work on a common research question, but with different data sets. The paper assignment includes a series of scaffolding assignments using IPUMS-CPS data. This approach has several benefits, including ease of implementation into any course that has an empirical paper component, significantly streamlined …

Time And Money: Patterns Of Nonstandard Work Across The First Year Of Covid-19, Ellen M. Whitehead, Alison Winiarski, Emily Wornell, Justin Schupp

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic had a well-documented impact on the formal economy, with the extent of these consequences varying across industries and sociodemographic groups. Less attention has been paid to whether the nonstandard economy, including informal and gig work, mirrored this broader economic fallout. We draw on 2019 and 2020 data from the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking to assess participation in, time spent on, and money earned from nonstandard work across the first year of the pandemic. We find evidence of an overall decline in participation in nonstandard work during this time. However, our results indicate heterogeneous experiences across …

Reviewers And Referees

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Call For Papers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Why Publish With Mssj?

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

George C. Roberts Award Recipients

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

The Survival Of Sugar In Post-Emancipation British Guiana: East Indian Indentured Immigration And The Cheapening Of Labor, Wazir Mohamed

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This Paper revisits the post-emancipation changes in the labor market of British Guiana. British Guiana, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji, and several other locations were spaces where East Indian Indentured Immigrants from Idia became pivotal in the economy.[1] In the decade after emancipation (1838-1848), the rise of global free trade in sugar spurred by the equalization of duties in sugar factored in the search for a cheaper and the importation of a more pliable labor force to keep the wheels of sugar turning in British Guiana. With this background in mind this paper focuses on indentured immigration of East …

Submission Guidelines

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

In The Shadow Of The Ballot: Children As Victims Of Zimbabwe's 2008 Election Violence, Baldwin Hove, Chitja Twala, Bekithemba Dube

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The year 2008 witnessed one of the most violent electoral processes in Zimbabwean history. While extensive research has examined the 2008 election violence, limited scholarly attention has been paid to its effects on children. Using the structural violence framework, this study examines how the 2008 electoral violence affected children in Zimbabwe. The study analysed media reports and secondary texts, complemented by retrospective observations, to explore children's experiences during the electoral crisis. It seeks to expose the less examined consequences of political violence on children. The findings reveal that children witnessed assaults, murder, rape, forced displacement, the destruction of homes and …

Support For Human Rights, Megan G. Shipp

Undergraduate Research Symposium

This project is important because it seeks to understand why the United States fails to implement human rights frameworks into its laws. Despite being at the center of the international system, the US thinks itself above international law while evading following international standards. It fits into the discussion of at what point human rights ideals are encouraged by the public. This research delves further into at what point human ideals are encouraged by the public, and what ideals are most encouraged, if any. The United States does not educate its citizens on the concept of international human rights, leaving it …

Editor’S Introduction, Michael D. Pante

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Arms Proliferation And Its Control Mechanism In Nigeria: An Assessment, Mubarak Sulaiman Jamiu, Seyid Ishola Hassan, Adedoyin John Towoju

Journal of Peace, Conflict, and Security Studies

The proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALWs) in Nigeria has emerged as a critical threat to national security and political stability. Despite the enactment of various legislative frameworks, including the Firearms Act of 1959, the circulation of illicit firearms continues unabated, exacerbating terrorism, militancy, and organized crime across the country. This study critically examines the causes, implications, and potential solutions to SALW proliferation in Nigeria, focusing on governance failures, legal inefficiencies, and institutional weaknesses. Utilizing State Fragility Theory and Failed State Theory, the research identifies how poor governance, corruption, and the lack of effective enforcement have contributed to …

One Land, “Different Owners”: Theoretical Explanations Of Communal Conflicts In Nigeria, Chukwudi G. Njoku

Journal of Peace, Conflict, and Security Studies

Communal conflicts are prevalent in Nigeria, with thousands of fatalities recorded. Literature suggests that an overwhelming percentage of these conflicts are land ownership related. Through a systematic review of literature and an analysis of conflict data, this study provides further understanding of the role of land ownership and competition in the occurrence and lethality of communal conflicts. It argues that land competition, more than other socio-economic factors is the key driver of communal conflicts in Nigeria. The findings from the analyses are explained with three theories – the tragedy of the commons which proved that the conflicts are triggered by …

Assessment Of Nigeria's Military's Efforts In Combating Boko Haram Terrorism (2015-2023), Adedoyin Jolaade Omede, Oluwafemi Babatunde Oladimeji

Journal of Peace, Conflict, and Security Studies

This study assessed the Nigerian military’s efforts in combat against Boko Haram's terrorism between 2015 and 2023. This study adopted a qualitative methodology. Secondary data was utilised, and the data was analysed using content analysis to achieve the objectives of this study. The key findings are: initially, the Western states particularly the US hesitated to give Nigeria support against Boko Haram due to Herskovits Factor and human rights (Leahy Law) concerns but later in 2015, they provided military aid and financial support alongside other international actors; there was a decline in Boko Haram’s attacks and fatalities between 2015 and 2023 …

Mapping Coastal Community-Based Tourism Empowerment: Public Policy And Sustainable Development On Bangka Island, Putra Pratama Saputra, Hadiyanto Abdul Rachim, Arie Surya Gutama, Moch. Zaenal Hakim

Jurnal Wacana Politik

This study analyzes the conceptualization and practice of community-based tourism empowerment on Bangka Island, serving as a strategic approach to promote sustainable and inclusive coastal tourism. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, data were gathered through interviews with nine key informants, observations, and policy document analysis. Findings reveal that these empowerment initiatives significantly strengthen individual and institutional capacities, enhance community participation in tourism planning, and drive economic diversification from extractive industries to sustainable tourism. Furthermore, this approach facilitates economic transformation through the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and coastal ecotourism, concurrently reinforcing environmental conservation and cultural preservation. However, …