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Risky Business: Organizational Challenges In International Support For Civilian Self-Protection, J. M. Welsh, Emily Paddon Rhoads, J. Masullo Jun 2025

Risky Business: Organizational Challenges In International Support For Civilian Self-Protection, J. M. Welsh, Emily Paddon Rhoads, J. Masullo

Political Science Faculty Works

Over the last decade, a range of international actors has moved away from direct forms of intervention to protect civilian populations in favor of “bottom-up” approaches that emphasize external support for civilian self-protection (CSP). While this indirect action is often perceived to be less costly, more legitimate, and potentially more effective, we argue that external support for CSP is a “risky business” that presents a significant dilemma for international governmental and nongovernmental organizations. Drawing on literature from sociology, economics, and civil war studies, we conceptualize and categorize the risks of unintended consequences that could accompany external support for CSP and …


Political Sociology, Talha C. Issevenler Jun 2025

Political Sociology, Talha C. Issevenler

Open Educational Resources

This open-access textbook on political sociology introduces and problematizes the classical categories and parameters of the field. It explores the main approaches to the state and governance, while conceptualizing a turn toward network power. Specific chapters address political spacetime, violence, secrecy, social movements, politicization, interdisciplinarity, media, biopolitics, and event-analysis. Multimedia pedagogical exercises accompany the conceptual exposition.


The Unholy Matrimony: Russia And Violent Non-State Actors, Justin Castro Jun 2025

The Unholy Matrimony: Russia And Violent Non-State Actors, Justin Castro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Russia’s contemporary relationship with violent non-state actors has been at the forefront of news due to the conflict in Ukraine. Despite the international shock at this phenomenon, this is an age-old practice for Russia. Since the 17th century, the Russian state has developed a strategy of utilizing violent non-state actors in order to achieve its geopolitical objectives that consist of expanding its territory, extending its influence abroad, and weakening the capabilities of adversaries. While this strategy seems clear-cut, it contains a rich history of Russia trying to manage its relationship with non-state actors from a position of weakness and …


The Invisible Hand Of Networked Repression, Thuy Anh Tran Jun 2025

The Invisible Hand Of Networked Repression, Thuy Anh Tran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

U.S. history is awash with contentious episodes involving a legion of governmental and non-governmental actors operating through an array of means and arenas to destroy the political opposition. Yet, there has been little systematic examination in the repression literature of how and why repressive efforts proliferate so far beyond the police, military, and intelligence agencies tasked and equipped to preserve the existing order. This dissertation presents a novel framework for studying the relational basis of repression—particularly as it is organized, mobilized, and extended through a networked social structure. Social network analysis and interpretive case studies are conducted on two historical …


The Giants Of Coercion: Major Powers And The Mobilization Of Global Sanctions Coalitions, Louis Charbonneau Jun 2025

The Giants Of Coercion: Major Powers And The Mobilization Of Global Sanctions Coalitions, Louis Charbonneau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the conditions under which sanctions-sending states can successfully mobilize broad international support for coercive measures on a target state for violating international security norms. Using the case of international sanctions on Iran from 2006 to 2016, I develop a theory of how sanctions senders mobilize support for, and cooperation with, coercive measures on target states. The theory has two parts. First, states seeking international sanctions against a target with broad participation and support need unity and cooperation on the part of major powers in the international system. Second, securing the unity and cooperation of major powers makes …


Problems And Paradigms In The Central Sahel Of Africa, Georgia Graham Jun 2025

Problems And Paradigms In The Central Sahel Of Africa, Georgia Graham

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In Africa’s Central Sahel region—comprising of the countries of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso—environmental hardship, historical trauma, and contemporary conflict intersect with profound challenges of nation-building, state construction, and economic development. Situated in the semi-arid transitional zone between the Sahara Desert and sub-Saharan Africa, these landlocked states suffer from extreme geographical vulnerability. From the colonial period through to the present, these nations have experienced recurring droughts, persistent food insecurity, and entrenched poverty. Population growth has dramatically outpaced economic development; youth unemployment, limited educational opportunities, and scarce resources fuel social tension and potential conflict. Islamist insurgencies and increasingly violent ethnic conflicts …


A Jus Ad Bellum Analysis Of The American Revolution, Lindsey Allen May 2025

A Jus Ad Bellum Analysis Of The American Revolution, Lindsey Allen

Senior Honors Theses

America is a rose among the thorns of history, owing her existence to her remarkable victory in the Revolutionary War. However, America's end cannot necessarily justify the means of her creation. This qualitative thesis will determine whether the American Revolution was just by examining the jus ad bellum perspective of Just War Theory. This philosophical purview will focus on the justness of the colonists’ initiation of the American Revolution, with its criteria being last resort, legitimate authority, just cause, probability of success, right intention, and proportionality. This thesis will synthesize the contributing elements and arguments for the defense of the …


Cybersecurity And Global Threats: A Comparative Analysis Of Estonia And Russia’S Policies, María Paula Morales Palacios May 2025

Cybersecurity And Global Threats: A Comparative Analysis Of Estonia And Russia’S Policies, María Paula Morales Palacios

The Confluence

As digital technology continues to reshape the foundations of modern life, the question of how states respond to cyber threats has become increasingly urgent. This paper examines how political systems shape national cybersecurity policies by comparing Estonia and Russia, two countries facing similar external threats but governed by vastly different structures. Estonia’s democratic framework emphasizes transparency, citizen participation, and international cooperation, while Russia’s semi-authoritarian model centers on state sovereignty, centralized control, and strategic offensive capabilities. Drawing on key historical events, including the 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia and the 2016 attacks on Russian banks, the paper explores how each state’s political …


Frontlines Of Influence: State Vs. Nonstate Disinformation Campaigns, Lily Wershbale May 2025

Frontlines Of Influence: State Vs. Nonstate Disinformation Campaigns, Lily Wershbale

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

This paper examines the evolution of disinformation campaigns conducted by state and nonstate actors, focusing specifically on Russia and the Islamic State as representative case studies. Through historical examples and qualitative comparative analysis, this research identifies the similarities and differences in disinformation’s role in actors’ core missions, resource allocation, and targeting decisions. This paper further explores the implications of artificial intelligence on disinformation campaigns, investigating how emerging technology will impact the influence operations of state governments and nonstate organizations alike. The findings reveal that while the ultimate intent of both state and non-state actors is to destabilize societies, their approaches …


Case Studies In Modern Accountancy: Exploring Financial Ethics, Corporate Influence, And Regional Development Through An Interdisciplinary Lens, Caroline Klocke May 2025

Case Studies In Modern Accountancy: Exploring Financial Ethics, Corporate Influence, And Regional Development Through An Interdisciplinary Lens, Caroline Klocke

Honors Theses

This thesis compiles five case studies researched and completed during the 2023-2024 academic year, each exploring a different topic pertaining to the accounting profession today. With the guidance of Dr. Victoria Dickinson, professor at the University of Mississippi, these case studies were completed throughout the Accountancy 420 class to fulfill the research requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and the Patterson School of Accountancy. The first case emphasizes reliable international financial reporting, while exploring the exposure of fraudulent Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges that costed American investors billions of dollars. The second explores U.S. military spending …


The Impact Of Technological Advancements On The Likelihood Of Conflict, Miriam King May 2025

The Impact Of Technological Advancements On The Likelihood Of Conflict, Miriam King

Honors Theses

There are a multitude of variables that result in the occurrence of militarized conflicts. This paper seeks to analyze the impact of one specific variable: the adaptation of a technological advancement. To isolate this relationship my study controlled for a country’s form of government, gross domestic product, and number of military personnel by year. A regression of ordinary least squares was used to investigate the correlation between conflict initiation and military technologies. A country-year data set was constructed using data from the Correlates of War Militarized Interstate Dispute Data and data from Hariri and Wingender. Three case studies were analyzed …


Beyond Victory And Settlement: Rethinking War Termination Through Post-Conflict Conditions, Emery C. Thigpen May 2025

Beyond Victory And Settlement: Rethinking War Termination Through Post-Conflict Conditions, Emery C. Thigpen

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how different war termination types—decisive military victory, negotiated settlement, and ceasefire—shape long-term political stability through the mechanisms of enforcement, political inclusion, and economic recovery. While much of the existing literature focuses on civil wars, this study applies those insights to interstate conflicts, arguing that stability depends not on how wars end, but on whether post-war structures support compliance, legitimacy, and economic resilience. The central claim is that post-war peace is more likely to endure when enforcement mechanisms deter spoilers, inclusive political frameworks prevent renewed grievances, and economic recovery restores state capacity and legitimacy. Using a most similar …


Pastoralism, Social Protection And Vision 2030 In Kenya: Possibilities And Prospects, Maurice N. Amutabi May 2025

Pastoralism, Social Protection And Vision 2030 In Kenya: Possibilities And Prospects, Maurice N. Amutabi

Journal of African Policy Studies

This paper is based on research which investigated the availability of social protection structures and institutions among pastoralists in northern Kenya. Social protection, which consists of policies and programs designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labor markets, diminishing people's exposure to risks, and enhancing their capacity to protect themselves against hazards and interruption/loss of income is something that northern Kenya needs. The paper faults Vision 2030 and suggests mechanisms and ways in which pastoralists can be incorporated in Kenya's development more meaningfully. The argument is that Vision 2030 has not addressed the plight of pastoralists in political, …


China In Africa: A Critical Examination Of Its Peacekeeping And Peacebuilding Activities, Earl Conteh-Morgan, Patti Weeks May 2025

China In Africa: A Critical Examination Of Its Peacekeeping And Peacebuilding Activities, Earl Conteh-Morgan, Patti Weeks

Journal of African Policy Studies

The objective of this analysis is to examine and critically assess the peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts of China in Africa generally. In other words, what level of support does China provide to African peacekeeping efforts? What is China's rationale for engaging in peacekeeping and peacebuilding in SSA? What is the nature of its activities in those areas? What does it emphasize in its peacebuilding and peacekeeping activities?


Diamond In The Rough: Unearthing Botswana's Sources Of Political Legitimacy, Angela Gapa May 2025

Diamond In The Rough: Unearthing Botswana's Sources Of Political Legitimacy, Angela Gapa

Journal of African Policy Studies

Botswana has garnered analytic attention in the past few decades as Africa's developmental miracle. Being among the poorest countries in the world upon its independence in 1966, it catapulted itself to one of the fastest growing economies in the world for a period of four decades. What made the Botswana experience all the more outstanding, was that within the context of its company among other non-renewable natural resource dependent countries, it stood as an anomaly. This is because these resource endowed countries generally suffered or were susceptible to the "resource curse." This paper identifies legitimacy as having important value in …


Methodological Analysis Of The Guinea Bissau Nationalist Movement 1963-1974: Amilcar Cabral-Marxist Or Pragmatist Revolutionary?, Aliou Ly May 2025

Methodological Analysis Of The Guinea Bissau Nationalist Movement 1963-1974: Amilcar Cabral-Marxist Or Pragmatist Revolutionary?, Aliou Ly

Journal of African Policy Studies

On 24 September 1973, the former Portuguese colony of West Africa, Guinea Bissau, under the leadership of Amilcar Cabral and the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands), declared its independence after fighting a national liberation war against their Portuguese colonialists. This was the first and the only war for independence in West Africa, with the complete defeat of a European colonial army. During and after the Guinea Bissau Liberation war; 1963-1974, many social scientists, particularly those using the Marxist framework analyzed this African nationalist struggle as a successful Marxist revolution in West Africa. …


Uganda Intervention, Saba Jallow May 2025

Uganda Intervention, Saba Jallow

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.


The Politics Of Nigeria And The Development Of The Niger Delta Region, Andrew O. Efemini May 2025

The Politics Of Nigeria And The Development Of The Niger Delta Region, Andrew O. Efemini

Journal of African Policy Studies

The paper argues that Nigeria's underdevelopment cannot be adequately explained and appreciated unless we come to terms with the bad politics and faulty democratization processes it has pursued as a country. The Niger Delta Region is singled out as one region where Nigeria's bad politics manifest so negatively. The region suffers from dependency of the central government and other regions on the oil resources from the region. The Nigerian State has not been able to reposition itself as a truly democratic State with fair and just basic institutions. Institutions that are truly federal in character and promote citizenship rights are …


"Anchor States" In U.S. Africa Policy And The "Big States" Controversy, Stephen F. Burgess May 2025

"Anchor States" In U.S. Africa Policy And The "Big States" Controversy, Stephen F. Burgess

Journal of African Policy Studies

A question in African international relations is whether or not "big states" are capable of exercising hegemony in African sub-regions. U.S. policy towards Africa has included a focus on "anchor states" that appear to possess both the size and the capability of playing a lead role in stabilizing and leading their respective sub-regions. One of the criticisms of the policy focus is based upon the argument that "big states" are weaker and less stable than small states and that big states are bound to be destabilized by the burden of sub-regional hegemony and leadership in peace and stability operations. The …


Cover And Table Of Contents, Institute On African Affairs May 2025

Cover And Table Of Contents, Institute On African Affairs

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.


Regional Dimensions And Consequences Of Africa's Internal Wars: The Case Of Liberia And Sierra Leone, F. Ugboaja Ohaegbulam May 2025

Regional Dimensions And Consequences Of Africa's Internal Wars: The Case Of Liberia And Sierra Leone, F. Ugboaja Ohaegbulam

Journal of African Policy Studies

Demonstrably, internal conflicts within individual African states have tended to set off chain reactions and spillover effects in their specific regions. Indeed, this was the experience of the African continent throughout the last two decades of the twentieth century. As a result every region of Africa became a victim of several of the consequences and effects of those internal conflicts that began in specific states within it. Beyond Africa, the series of internal conflicts played into the hands of Afro-pessimists and Africa's detractors who lost faith in the continent's present and its future. This study succinctly examines the regional dynamics …


Globalization And Hegemony: Which Way Africa?, Mueni Wa Muiu May 2025

Globalization And Hegemony: Which Way Africa?, Mueni Wa Muiu

Journal of African Policy Studies

In this paper, I argue that World Bank policies, democratization, and globalization are not geared to uplift the dire conditions facing the majority in Africa. In post-Cold War Africa, the contested arena is over control of African cheap labor, markets and resources. In such a scenario, the greatest enemies of "globalization," "democratization" and "freedom" will be African leaders or groups that try to meet their populations' basic needs by focusing on food production rather than export. The core players in this "new Scramble" for Africa are: the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, African elites (including scholars and leaders) and …


Warlords, Resources And War In Africa: Who Arms, Who Pays And Who Trains?, Rasheed Draman May 2025

Warlords, Resources And War In Africa: Who Arms, Who Pays And Who Trains?, Rasheed Draman

Journal of African Policy Studies

Since the end of the Cold War, the nature of conflict has changed. A disturbing trend that has emerged with that change is warlords/rebel movements, resources, and greed. Today most conflicts are not driven by "loud discourse of grievance" but by the "silent voice of greed." While it is evident that most warlords rely on the resources they capture, they also rely on external governments to finance their war effort. This policy-oriented paper adds to the ongoing policy and academic debate by focusing mainly on the sources of arms, financial resources, and logistics for rebel movements, particularly in Africa. The …


Introduction To This Special Issue Of Joaps: Dynamics Of Conflict, Peace, And Security In Africa, Earl Conteh-Morgan May 2025

Introduction To This Special Issue Of Joaps: Dynamics Of Conflict, Peace, And Security In Africa, Earl Conteh-Morgan

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.


Geopolitics In Africa’S Great Lakes Region, Gilbert M. Khadiagala May 2025

Geopolitics In Africa’S Great Lakes Region, Gilbert M. Khadiagala

Journal of African Policy Studies

This paper examines the civil war in the Congo since the late 1990s through regional and national lenses. It contends that Congo's problems are not unique; instead, they reflect a larger phenomenon of the lack of synergy between geography and politics in the Great Lakes region. The stabilization of power in geographical spaces is the puzzle of building institutions not just in the Congo, but also among its equally weak neighbors.


Repugnancy Test (Policy) And The Impact Of Colonially Imposed Laws On The Growth Of Nigeria’S Native Justice Systems, Nonso Okeresfoezeke May 2025

Repugnancy Test (Policy) And The Impact Of Colonially Imposed Laws On The Growth Of Nigeria’S Native Justice Systems, Nonso Okeresfoezeke

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.


Democratic Debate: A Comparative Study Of Presidential And Parliamentary Systems In Southeast Asia, Alexander Lacourse May 2025

Democratic Debate: A Comparative Study Of Presidential And Parliamentary Systems In Southeast Asia, Alexander Lacourse

Honors Program Theses and Projects

With the rapid rise in democracies around the world, the debate over the structure of government has become increasingly relevant and more complex. The dominance of the presidential and parliamentary democratic systems has given rise to a dispute regarding public representation over governmental efficiency and vice versa. As the very essence of democracy is “rule by the people”, the effectiveness of a democratic state can theoretically be measured through factors that are conducive to the people’s ability to effectively give their opinion on political matters. These factors include the political rights that allow a person to vote and to what …


Land Inheritance And Subdivision In Kenya: A Policy Dilemma, Nyaga Mwaniki May 2025

Land Inheritance And Subdivision In Kenya: A Policy Dilemma, Nyaga Mwaniki

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.


Post-Colonial Conflicts In Africa: The Case Of Angola, F. Ugboaja Ohaegbulam May 2025

Post-Colonial Conflicts In Africa: The Case Of Angola, F. Ugboaja Ohaegbulam

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.


Displacement And Refugeeism In Liberia And Guinea: Reality And Policy Choices, Veronica Nmoma May 2025

Displacement And Refugeeism In Liberia And Guinea: Reality And Policy Choices, Veronica Nmoma

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.