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Editor's Introduction, Jr. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Civil War And Globalization: The Effect Of Colonialism On Political Globalization, Luke O. Feltz

Celebration

The purpose of this paper to determine why civil war onset reduces political globalization in former British colonies. Through linear regression and logistic regression analyses, I test the affect of civil war onset and the presence of civil war on political globalization, controlling for former British colonies, French colonies, and other factors. More important, however, is the history behind British colonialism. Through setting up a unique institutional system and maintaining ties to its former colonies, the British have created an atmosphere conducive to international political engagement after the onset of civil war. This study shows that while civil war onset …

The United States Military Realignment On Okinawa, Kevin M. Evringham

Master's Theses

The United States maintains military bases in foreign countries in efforts to protect American overseas interests, whether they are economic, diplomatic or for geostrategic purposes. In Japan, where the United States has maintained military installations since the end of World War II, debate over the realignment of forces on Okinawa has caused minor, yet growing, rifts in the stable United States-Japanese alliance. Current plans to shift American military forces from Okinawa to locations throughout the Pacific do not take into account the historical or geostrategic factors for their stationing in Japan. This thesis identifies the geostrategic challenges to the current …

Political Globalization And Civil War In Former British Colonies, Luke O. Feltz

Student Publications

The purpose of this paper to determine why civil war onset reduces political globalization in former British colonies. I set out by testing the relationship between being a former British colony and civil war presence, demonstrating a positive, though not statistically significant, relationship. I also examine the history of British colonialism. Through setting up specific system of indirect rule, British colonizers created conditions that contributed to intra-state conflict. Furthermore, through constructing a unique institutional system and maintaining ties to its former colonies, the British have created an atmosphere conducive to international political engagement after the onset of civil war. Yet, …

A Multiple Streams Approach To Bioterrorism Policy, Craig Reeder

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Bioterrorism is not a new phenomenon and the issues that surround bioterrorism are complex. This paper focuses on the history of bioterrorism, its current threat in public view, and then applying a theory in which explains how those problems became issues in government. The paper starts by examining a historical account of bioterrorism. The history serves a purpose to discuss the ongoing developments and struggles of drafting legislation for an ongoing problem.

After a discussion of bioterrorism from a historical perspective, the paper examines the current threat or state of bioterrorism. This will lead into a discussion about John Kingdon’s …

United States Sophistry On The Palestinian Resolution For Statehood, Marc James Mason

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This project examines the rhetorical devices and practices used by the Obama Administration to express and construct opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s statehood bid. This study focuses on uncovering the ideology embedded within President Obama’s Speech to the United Nations General Assembly during the opening of the 66th Session. By conducting an ideology rhetorical analysis of this text, this examination will uncover the reasoning that Obama deploys to make sense of and define the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and more specifically, the Palestinian bid for statehood. This ideology has contributed to the perpetuation of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories; thereby, …

Woodrow Wilson: Examining The Scholarly Statesman Through A Rhetorical Lens, Candice Elaine Mae Radloff

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

My Capstone Project is a rhetorical and descriptive analysis of President Woodrow Wilson’s most notable speeches from 1896 to 1917. As a scholar-president, I particularly focus on Wilson’s ability to translate his personal scholarship into effective rhetoric at different points in his career. I provide the historical background and context necessary to understand the relevance and impact of the selected speeches. The six speeches that I analyze reflect his scholarship and rhetorical genius in the political arena, covering the three pivotal phases of his profession life: university scholar and president, governor, and President of the United States. I also consider …

Don’T Fear The Reaper An Analysis Of The United States’ Drones, Logan Christopher O'Brien

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Wars and the strategies used to fight them have constantly evolved throughout the history of mankind, simultaneously revealing our innovative brilliance and our inherent inability to avoid conflict with one another. The current state of the United States’ “War on Terror,” composed of the Afghanistan conflict and outlying operations in countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere around the world, has spurred exemplary advances used to combat a new type of enemy. Thus enters the drone, a remotely piloted aircraft that can be used for reconnaissance purposes or offensive targeting operations.

The drone is unique in that the pilot …

Justifying Peacemaking In Afghanistan, Ethan Taylor

Honors College Theses

The situation in Afghanistan seems to be about as dire as it was in the 1980s. One major difference, though, is that Soviet forces no longer occupy the country, and at least the United States/NATO occupation is under the pretext of a humanitarian effort. Even so, the tragic process of U.S.-led state-building that has unfolded these last ten years has yielded little in terms of an effective government or infrastructure of any kind. If anything, the terrorist threat that the U.S. hoped to quell has become more elusive and determined than ever. Ethnic rivalry and warlordism are as prevalent as …

American Propaganda, Popular Media, And The Fall Of Jacobo Arbenz, Zachary Carl Fisher

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In June 1954, President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman of Guatemala resigned in the face of a coup led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. While the United States publicly denied involvement, the coup was in fact the culmination of a plan called PBSUCCESS (CIA codeword), led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Although PBSUCCESS lived up to its namesake, it was aided (both intentionally and unintentionally) by various U.S. media outlets. For the duration of Arbenz Guzman's regime, he and his country had been the subject of U.S. suspicions of undue Communist and Soviet influence. A general anti-Communist attitude permeated virtually all …

Theology Of Global Citizenship: Belonging Beyond Boundaries, God Within Boundaries, Jisoo Hong

Political Science Honors Projects

Though creating identity and belongingness under the sovereign requires an enclosure by boundaries, the very act of drawing boundaries imposes inevitable challenges. The limitations of the Westphalian system based on territorial boundaries are becoming more tangible with transnational flows threatening individual’s sense of belonging and the state’s exercise of sovereignty. Global citizenship is suggested as a possible “solution” transcending these arbitrarily drawn boundaries. Nonetheless, my political theological examination concludes that global citizenship is yet another translation of the human beings’ old wish for belonging to, protection from, and unity under a “god,” albeit with new boundaries that differentiate us from …

Iraq, Reconsidered, Joshua J. Brewer

Pitzer Senior Theses

This paper sets itself upon analyzing the Iraq War of 2003 through the lens of modern Just War Theory. We will begin with a curt summary of Iraq’s history, focusing particularly on its determinedly odious leader, Saddam Hussein. Thereon, we will be analyzing a pro-war security argument, the aim of which is to assess the threat of Hussein’s weaponry ambitions and what that threat meant to the world. Next, we will be going over the tenets of Just War Theory itself, tracing its history from Rome to the modern doorstep, and applying the security argument to its dictum. Afterwards, we …

Is Hamas A Religious Terrorist Group?, Megan Flemming

Undergraduate Research Conference

In 2004 the Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas, took part in municipal elections and since then they have continued to gain more political influence. Because of the recent political activity of Hamas it is relevant to revaluate Bruce Hoffman's assertion that Hamas is a religious terrorist group. By using the same three criteria that Hoffman used originally, (use of violence, the intended audience, and self perception) and comparing them to the current actions of Hamas it is evident that Hoffman is no longer correct and that Hamas should now be classified as a secular terrorist group. Categorizing the group correctly is …

Unsigning The Rome Statute: Examining The Relationship Between The United States And The International Criminal Court, Allison Naylor

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

Presently, 120 states are parties to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC). A state that one will not find on the list, however, would be the United States. This project examines the relationship between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United States. The United States took part in the negotiating process, signing the Rome Statute under President Bill Clinton, but was not fully satisfied with the agreement reached. Under President Bush, however, the Rome Statute was unsigned. Presently, the United States remains unsigned on the Rome Statute. The relationship between the Court and the United States …

A State Within A State: The Case Of Chechnya, Hanna Zimnitskaya

International Studies Honors Projects

After the USSR's dissolution, Russia struggled to reassert its Great Power status by enhancing its internal might and territorial cohesion. Futile military campaigns against the rebellious Chechen people pushed the Kremlin to strike a bargain with an unorthodox warlord: Ramzan Kadyrov, who was to become a faithful ally, while in return Chechnya received an unprecedented level of autonomy. This thesis examines the dynamics of Kadyrov's ascent to power, specifically the Islamization of public space and the monopolization of Chechen security forces, and concludes that, in the long run, the unwavering consolidation of his rule menaces Russia's re-emerging 'greatness'.

Latent Crusaders: Narrative Strategies Of Survival In Early Modern Danubian Principalities, 1550-1750, Caius Dobrescu, Sorin Adam Matei

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The essay concentrates on a master narrative strategy presiding over the early emergence of modernity in the area in which contemporary Romania is situated. This narrative strategy richly illustrates the neoByzantine survival strategies of the Greek elites who ruled the Danubian Principalities (Moldova and Valahia) during the earlier stages of Romanian modernization (18th century). Early modem Romanian political and intellectual elites borrowed from the post-Byzantine political theology a set of Gnostic-inflected narrative strategies to explain their subordination to alien powers (Turkish, Ottoman, Russian, Austrian, or Hungarian). These strategies operated a reversal of "real" and "unreal" or of "essential" and "fleeting" …

Media, Military, Militarism: Media Consumption, Awareness Of U.S. Military Foreign Policy, And Support For War, Daniel James Patten

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between the media, attitudes towards supporting war, and military awareness. Online survey data were collected from a four-year university located in a heavily militarized area. This study found that having knowledge of Afghanistan and Iraq War facts negatively affected one's decision to support war and was the strongest predictor of this decision. The media was not found to be a significant predictor impacting this knowledge when controlling for other variables. Political ideology and other related variables were found to be more influential of this knowledge. These findings imply that the public may be imprudently supporting …

A Legal Interpretation Of North Korea’S Nuclear Program, Justin Farber

Global Tides

This paper analyzes the North Korean nuclear situation in a legal framework while assessing potential policy options for the international community. The recent change in North Korean leadership leaves spectators in question as to the new dictator’s agenda and goals. Reviewing the history of the state’s nuclear program in regard to international treaty law is fruitful in gauging how, if at all, law limits the state’s behavior. The introduction briefly explores the history of the situation before advancing into the paper’s four sub-sections. The first sub-section assesses the requirements set out by the IAEA Statute and the NPT and North …

A Proxy War Or A Struggle For National Liberation: The Ideological Motivations And Human Rights Considerations Of The United States-Contra Alliance, Sarah Cassel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite the vast amount of literature on events of the Sandinista Revolution and Sandinista political aspirations, minimal research has been done on the perspectives of fighters in the counterrevolutionary forces. This study therefore examines the motivations of the Contra army, their respect for human rights considerations, and their perceptions of the United States’ involvement in the Contra War through qualitative interviews with former Contra soldiers and commanders. An analysis of the responses reveals a diversity of motivations among the Contra, ranging from a desire for indigenous autonomy to a struggle for political representation to a reaction to personal attacks. Furthermore, …

Understanding The Instruments Of National Power Through A System Of Differential Equations In A Counterinsurgency, Cade M. Saie

Theses and Dissertations

Models that account for the progression of nation-building and the impacts of the instruments of national power -- Diplomacy, Informational, Military, and Economic effects -- are rare. This research proposes the development of such a model. Through the derivation of state indices for the operational variables of Political, Military, Economic, Social, Infrastructure, and Information, a functional form of a system of differential equations is developed to account for the interactions between the state indices and instruments of national power. This methodology is a mean-field inverse problem which solves for the coefficients of the differential equations in a data-driven manner. Publicly …

Delegitimizing Al-Qaeda: A Jihad-Realist Approach, Paul Kamolnick

ETSU Authors Bookshelf

Disrupting, dismantling, and ultimately defeating al-Qaeda based and inspired terrorism is a declared policy of the U.S. Government. Three key strategic objectives have been identified for accomplishing this: attacking al-Qaeda’s terror network, undermining radicalization and recruitment, and hardening homeland defense. The present monograph proposes a distinct "jihad-realist" approach for undermining radicalization and recruitment to al-Qaeda. First, a brief discussion of six means for ending terrorist organizations is provided. Second, the premises of a jihad-realist approach are described. Third, a jihad-realist shari’a case against al-Qaeda’s terrorism is presented. In conclusion, key assertions are summarized, and several specific policy recommendations offered for …

Is Power Zero-Sum Or Variable-Sum? Old Arguments And New Beginnings, James H. Read

Political Science Faculty Publications

The political and social world in which we live and act is partly constituted by the words we use and the way we use them. What power is and how power works is shaped by what we collectively think it is and how we think it works.

This essay revisits the question of whether power should be understood as inherently zero-sum (gains for some entailing equivalent losses for others) or variable-sum (both mutual gains and mutual losses of power are possible). The zero-sum assumption is very old (predating by thousands of years the game-theoretic shorthand) and draws its force from …

Theorizing The Odds: The European Union, Online Gambling Regulation And Integration Theory, Alexis Spencer-Notabartolo

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

Signifying The Place Of Unforgettable Memory: Atrocity And Trauma In A Post-Conflict Landscape, Ralph J. Hartley

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

After active inter-group lethal violence subsides places at which atrocities occurred are often assigned significance, reflecting an altered social topography influenced by ideology that may foster the hardening of socio-ethnic boundary distinctions. While using a comparativist approach, this paper explores the relationships between socio-cultural trauma, places of atrocity, and socio-political polarization. Two sites in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, where highly publicized massacres occurred, illustrate the power of place significance in social environments vulnerable to flare-ups of violent conflict.

Adversary Weaponry To 2025, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This chapter will provide an overview of adversary weaponry that will be utilized by criminals and opposing forces (OPFORs) which U.S. law enforcement personnel may encounter domestically. The projected time frame will cover the futures period from 2009 through 2025. Criminal weaponry use will be analyzed using a criminal threat continuum that starts with minimal threats and increases in severity. OPFOR weaponry use will be analyzed using a similar continuum. It should be noted that OPFOR threats, like criminal threats, are illicit in nature and derived from individuals and groups that can be designated as engaging in criminal behavior or …

The Strategic Feasibility Of Global Zero: A Generational Approach, Balazs Martonffy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the requirements for a world without nuclear weapons and the steps required for further reductions. It situates nuclear weapons within other weapons of mass destructions and outlines their dangers. Through the examples of the People's Republic of China, France, and the United States, the thesis explores the rationale behind state acquisition of nuclear weapons. The thesis combines the idealistic commitment of nuclear abolition movements with the national security realities of nuclear weapons states. It outlines the steps necessary for achieving a world without nuclear weapons through multiple stages, each with specific goals that have to be met …

The Secession Of South Sudan: A Case Study In African Sovereignty And International Recognition, Christian Knox

Political Science Student Work

This thesis focuses on the recent secession of South Sudan. The primary research questions include an examination of whether or not South Sudan’s 2011 secession signaled a break from the O.A.U.’s traditional doctrines of African stability and noninterference. Additionally, this thesis asks: why did the United States and the international community at large confer recognition to South Sudan immediately upon its independence? Theoretical models are used to examine the independent variables of African stability, ethnic secessionism, and geopolitics on the dependent variables of international recognition and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The history of Sudan's peace process is explored, as well …

Russian Foreign Policy In The Middle East: Priorities And Effectiveness, Brett A. Schneider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes contemporary Russian Foreign Policy toward the Middle East. Six factors are identified as most critical to Russian foreign policy in the region: Islamic terrorism, arms transfers, natural resources, influence over former Soviet Spaces, general trade, and great power status. With rare exceptions, these principles are shown to guide Russian foreign policy in the Middle East since 2000.

The paper continues by considering the effectiveness of Russia in achieving its desired policy outcomes in the Middle East. This includes assessing situations in which two or more priorities run counter to each other. Generally, Russia is shown to be …

Preventing The Clash: Reexamining U.S. Public Diplomacy In The Middle East, Clifton Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes U.S. public diplomacy in the Middle East. In explaining the concept of public diplomacy itself and its evolution in the United States, four factors are identified as most crucial to the capabilities and limitations of U.S. public diplomacy in the region: U.S. foreign policy options, institutions, strategies, and tools. These factors are shown to affect the outcome of U.S. public diplomacy programming in the Middle East and are the foundation for a new U.S. public diplomacy model.

The paper continues by examining the development of contemporary U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, providing a traceable landscape …

Sub-Saharan Africa: Searching For A Social Contract, David D. Mayen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the phenomenon of civil war and state failure in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from a social contract perspective. Its main hypothesis is that authoritarianism will lead to state failure in the context of SSA. In this regard, SSA states are political communities that have not done enough to promote and develop a social contract that is compatible with the region's sociopolitical and structural peculiarities. Since civil war and state failure have hampered different dimensions of human progress in SSA, analyzing the main patterns of conflict will inevitably lead to an underlying incompatibility between existing governing political structures and …