Digital Commons Network^™

Participate For Peace: The Impacts Of Participatory Deliberative Democracy On Post-Conflict Peacebuilding In Central America, Marcia D. Mundt

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Liberal peacebuilding is at the center of a critical debate amongst scholars and practitioners due to the horrific consequence of conflict relapse or escalation in the wake of failed international interventions. Despite international efforts to promote durable peace, empirical research suggests that up to one half of all civil wars relapse into conflict within five years of negotiated settlement (Collier & Hoeffler, 2002; Suhrke & Samset, 2007). As an alternative to top-down liberal peace, locally-led post-conflict peacebuilding has been proposed as an innovative solution (Mac Ginty & Richmond, 2013). Participatory deliberative democracy, when applied in post-conflict contexts, aligns with this …

Assessing Effectiveness Of The Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Safety Procedures Education, Ernesto Verduzco

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Safe Ag Safe Schools (SASS) is a local pesticide reform organization with members at the state and local levels aiming towards sustainable agricultural practices. SASS focuses on serving agriculturally working families and community members who reside near agricultural areas. The problem addressed by the capstone is that too many marginalized, low-income communities are facing environmental injustices produced by large corporation’s methods of generating revenue. These injustices include high risk of pesticide exposure due to inadequate training and access to equipment. The project focused on assessing farm workers’ knowledge regarding pesticide safety and decontamination procedures. The Office of the Monterey Agricultural …

Writing As A Nonprofit Leadership Tool, Samantha Weinberg

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

When writers use their skills towards a nonprofit’s mission, they can help enhance communities and change lives. There are roles in the nonprofit sector that are very writing centric, such as grant writers and communication specialists, that writers commonly hold. However, writing is also a necessary skill for those in management or leadership positions in nonprofit organizations. This capstone project explores the kinds of writing skills and deliverables that are critical to the responsibilities of nonprofit managers and how writing impacts the effectiveness of nonprofit managers and organizations.

And Lettuce Is Nonanimal: Toward A Positive Theory Of Voluntary Action, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Much recent conceptual and theoretical effort to identify and define the kinds of voluntary action that take place outside households, economic markets and governments has a consistent emphasis on negation: It seems to define these matters by what they are not: not for profit, or nonprofit, nongovernmental, unproductive, inefficient, examples of contract failure, market failure, government failure and more. This paper is a beginning effort to shift the emphasis to the positive and the describe and explain what voluntary action is and what it consists of. It proposes the beginnings of an economics of common goods production, and differentiates such …

The People’S Planning Initiative Of Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation, Cassondra Y. White

Community Engagement Student Work

This program evaluation looks at the Community Planning and You workshop of the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation in Boston, MA. The literature review explores the effects and responses to racialized housing policies, including the development of the community development field and its use of neighborhood organizing. The evaluation is grounded in the frameworks and theories of Arnstein’s (1969) Ladder of Citizen Participation, Putnam’s (1994) social capital, and Freire’s (2018) use of popular education to develop Critical Consciousness. There are three key evaluation questions: 1) if participants increase their knowledge of the Article 80 process; 2) if participation in community …

Linguistic Differences In Swiss Cantons And Its Role On The National Identity, Karen Lin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Switzerland is home to four national languages followed with a positive image on the international stage as a linguistically diverse country. In Swiss history, there has never been a record of a civil war or tensions between linguistic groups raising the question of what accounts for the national identity. The Swiss do not follow the typical definition in nationalism leading to an investigation on establishing the factors that comprise of the Swiss national identity and its effect on the political system. The results indicated linguistic diversity and the political institutions are the factors that compose the national identity creating a …

Changing Water Resources’ Effect On Livelihoods And Socio-Ecological Relationships In Himalayan Communities Of Nepal, Luke Bazemore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The looming threat of climate change will lead to significant alterations in livelihoods and daily practices for individuals across the world. This paper seeks to identify the effects of climate change on hydrological regimes in Himalayan communities in Nepal with particular focus towards livelihood and socio-ecological transformations. Using the socio-ecological systems framework to analyze specific communities and their resource use, along with vulnerability and adaptative capacity analysis, this paper includes a meta-analysis of existing literature. Numerous findings indicated that rural, mountainous communities of Nepal face a variety of environmental impacts which may reduce viability of two significant modes of production: …

Catalonia: Independence In History, Rhetoric, And Symbolism, Natalie J. Cestone

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper discusses why Catalonia should be an independent state through its history with independence and its historical and modern-day use of rhetoric and symbolism. By delving into the history of the region and digging into the unique qualities of the region, we examine how Catalonia has drawn a line between itself and Spain. Historical attempts at independence, the Catalan language, use of mythology and legends – otherwise described as Catalan rhetoric – as well as the use of symbology are all outlined in this paper and reviewed in the context of how contemporary Catalonia is making another grab at …

Finding A “True Morocco:” How Tourists Change Moroccan Economies, Infrastructure And Cultures, Emily Federico

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The overall purpose of this study was to research the effects of adventure tourism on rural towns and villages, notably their financial cultural and physical aspects. Issues such as the commodification of lived experiences in a post-colonial context will be examined. The study was conducted via interviews from hotel workers and guides in major tourist cities (Fes, Rabat and Merzouga). I found that most international tourists hailed from Western countries; thus, English or French were the primary languages used in the tourism business. Also, significant modes of craftsmanship that faced a cultural extinction, such as folk music, rugs, and pottery, …

Making Meaning Of A Whole School Transformation Model: A Policy Ethnography Of A Schools Of Hope Legislation Implementation, Adam Charles Rea

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cheryl High School (CHS) is a geographically large county in Florida that received funding through the state of Florida's "Schools of Hope” grant. The grant’s parameters called on Carter County Schools (CCS) to partner with an external consultant and a research university to help improve teacher and school administrative capacity. The district chose Scientific Pedagogy Services (SPS) and to continue their existing relationship with Tampa Bay State University (TBS). The consultant’s mission was to improve school performance through a unique form of professional development. TBS was charged with developing an on-site program that funded staff efforts to obtain advanced degrees …

About The Content And Significance Of The Resolution "Education And Religious Tolerance", Saidafzal Saidxanbalovich Saidjalolov

The Light of Islam

The purpose of the article is to clarify the nature, meaning and significance of the resolution "Enlightenment and religious tolerance." The following methods were used to write the article: comparative analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction.

The article analyzes the nature, levels and types of tolerance. In particular, the definition of tolerance is mentioned based on the “Declaration of the principles of tolerance”. All levels and types of tolerance are described in detail. The author comments on gender, racial, ethnic, linguistic, economic, social and religious types of tolerance.

The essence of the introduction, paragraphs and all articles of the resolution "Enlightenment …

George W. Bush, Policy Selling And Agenda-Setting After 9/11, Gabriel Rubin

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

George W. Bush successfully set the agenda for an expansive, global war against terrorists after the 9/11 attacks. This agenda was not inevitable, it arose from an interpretation of events and of America’s adversaries that leaned on global conflict, cultural differences, and the presumption of evil intent. Bush’s speech-making successfully led to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, civil liberty-reducing legislation, and a large institutional edifice dedicated to counterterrorism. The themes Bush’s speeches evoked and the agendas and policies that these speeches set are covered in this chapter.

State Policy Outcomes On Refugee Integration And Success, Emily Johnson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Though U.S. refugee resettlement is primarily managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the process of ensuring refugee success upon arrival often relies on state-level policy. In this research, I analyze the relationship between state resettlement policies, including welfare distribution, ESL education, and publicly-funded resettlement programs, and refugee social and economic outcomes, including employment, home ownership, and English proficiency. My findings indicate that there is a slight positive relationship between state resettlement service accessibility and refugee employment, home ownership, and English proficiency. However, analysis results regarding state welfare policy and ESL education produced null results. Ultimately, I …

Hegel’S Philosophy Of History-A Challenge To The African Thinker: The Thought Of Leopold Sedar Senghor, Basile Sede Noujio

The Journal of Social Encounters

Philosophy of History, as an academic discipline, challenges the choices that we make, motivated by our respective historical circumstances. Hegel considers Africa as an unhistorical continent, whose inhabitants can only be equated to animals or worthless article, bound to remain in slavery and in subhuman conditions. On the other hand, Léopold Sedar Senghor, in his Négritude ideology, portrays the values embedded in the African cultural and traditional practices. The intellectual aptness of the Africans, in this work is manifested in the very ideas of Senghor which we are using to contest those of Hegel. Some call Hegel a racist, others …

Competing Narratives: The Struggle For The Soul Of Egypt, Ahmed El Mansouri

Dissertations and Theses

In January 2011, Egypt witnessed an uprising against ex-military president Hosni Mubarak, which resulted in his removal after ruling Egypt for thirty years. Yet, while the revolution targeted Mubarak, it also targeted to end the era of military rule, which started in 1952 with President Gamal Abdel Nasser, then was passed down to Anwar Sadat in 1970 and later to Hosni Mubarak in 1981. Thereafter, dissatisfied with existing national policies, political leaders and revolutionaries battled to redefine Egyptian national identity by contesting the writing of a new Egyptian constitution. The debates over the constitution exhibited an ample of destructive communication …

Challenging Public Rhetoric Justifying Immigrants As ‘Indecent', Aaron Martin, Lisette Lemerise, Riya Chhabra, Sudharshana P. Kanduri, Julia Beleshi

Honors Scholarly Publications

Elites employ various rhetorical strategies in public discourse, including on the topic of immigration. As such, those with influence rely on storytelling to shape views about the narratives related to immigrants as a minority out-group. This has significant consequences, particularly in areas of policy development. Policy shapers have isolated immigrant groups by creating certain ideologically derived criteria well beyond citizenship for them to eventually receive “full American” status. Further, such status first has required immigrants to unduly prove their “worthiness” as exceptional—like being extra hardworking and very law abiding. Our essay seeks to show how foundational rhetoric is often intentionally …

Examining How Rural Ecological Contexts Influence Children's Early Learning Opportunities, Iheoma U. Iruka, Mark Dekraai, Janell Walther, Susan M. Sheridan, Tarik Abdel-Monem

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

According to Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory (Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000), children’s early development and learning are influenced by multiple systems, including the microsystem (e.g., family poverty level), mesosystem (e.g., home-school partnership), exosystem (e.g., community type, early education policies), and macrosystem (e.g., rural culture). Given the lack of early education studies focused on rural communities, we sought to explore how these ecological systems are linked to children’s early learning experiences, with a particular focus on educators’ perceptions of how these ecosystems influence children’s learning environments and opportunities. Based on interviews and focus groups with school leaders, educators, and parents in 10 rural …

The Global Child: A Roadmap For Becoming Culturally Responsive Educators, Ana I. Berdecia Med, Caitlin Kosec Mpp, Kamili O. Leath Ms, The John S. Watson Institute For Public Policy For Thomas Edison State College

Center for the Positive Development of Urban Children

The program strategies and the assessment tools encourage early childhood teachers to adopt 26 strategies across three competency areas: 1) classroom design; 2) teachers’ rhythm and temperament; and 3) instructional strategies during the 10-month program year. Mentors are assigned to each teaching team and through supportive site visits and assessment visits help the teams change their thinking and practices to be more culturally and linguistically responsive.

Early Head Start Service Use By Families With Court-Substantiated Maltreatment, Alayna Schreier, Kelsey Mccoy, Mary F. Flood, Brian Wilcox, David J. Hansen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Early Head Start (EHS) is an evidence-based intervention program for at-risk children birth through three that seeks to improve child and family well-being. There is little research to date examining the prevalence of child maltreatment among families enrolled in EHS and the extent to which maltreatment is associated with receipt of programs and services available to EHS families. This study sought to (a) identify the prevalence of court substantiated maltreatment in EHS families; and (b) determine the association between substantiated maltreatment and use of EHS program and community-linked services. To answer these questions, archival program and clinical service records and …

Communication And Culture: The Role Of Language Policy On Regional Minority Languages In The Reduction Of Political Conflict, Colin Brant

Honors Program Theses

The following thesis looks at the role of linguistic rights and proper language policy for regional minority languages in the reduction of political conflict in developed states. As renewed interest in the maintenance of regional minority languages grew in the second half of the 20th-century states' reactions to this call for linguistic rights, have informed the level of conflict seen with various linguistic minorities. The paper hopes to make a case for a system of rights and protections similar to those presented in the Oslo Recommendations (1998) as an optimal path for the reduction of conflict in developed states by …

Middle Eastern And Western Leaders Speeches On Counterterrorism, Ranya Eid

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research analyzes political leaders' response to the ideological challenge presented by ISIS and Al Qaeda. It focuses on the counterterrorism speeches given by political leaders in a number of Middle Eastern countries and the United States. The analysis of the speeches is along two dimensions: the nature of their domestic and international audiences, and the motivations behind the speeches. A sample of several dozens of speeches is analyzed. The empirical study had proved that leaders mostly exhibit differences depending on their audiences to reach a certain political goal. While leaders tend to call for unification among countries in their …

Older Adults' Access To Medicaid's Home-And Community-Based Services, Joe Henry Horton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As the U.S. population ages, the need for public policies regarding long-term care increases, as the need is unequal to demand. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the role of senior service providers (SSPs) who have dealt with health policies from being responsible for the decision-making processes of implementing federal and state guidelines in Michigan on access and wait-listing of older adults for home and community-based services (HCBS). The theoretical foundation for this study was the social construction and policy design theory. The central research question sought perceptions of SSPs as to their ability to …

The Verbal And Non-Verbal Indicators Of Deceit In Financial And Political Fraud: A Case Study Of Bernard L. Madoff, Chen Shui-Bien And Bo Xilai, Vivian Wu

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

From the earliest financial scams of the seventeenth century, through the headlinegrabbing Wall Street scandals of our time, financial fraud and embezzlement have damaged both domestic and global economic systems. Preventative measures are the best way to reduce fraud. Fraudsters are adaptive and will find ways to circumvent such measures. Detecting fraud is essential once the prevention mechanisms have failed. This dissertation investigated the inherent problems of financial fraud detection for high stake fraudsters in the corporate and political fields in the United States, China and Taiwan. Both verbal and non-verbal signs of deception were examined in the case studies …

Googly Eyes And Yard Signs: Deconstructing One Professor’S Successful Rebuffing Of A Right-Wing Attack On An Academic Institution, Theresa Catalano, Ari Kohen

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Right-wing populism is on the rise worldwide, and political attacks against universities have increased in the United States since the election of Donald Trump. In 2017, an incident occurred at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln which resulted in accusations of hostility toward conservative students. Just over a year later, political forces again attempted to denigrate the university’s reputation, but this time they did not succeed. This (multimodal) positive discourse analysis/ generative critique combines collaborative auto-ethnography to describe the way these events were represented in the media, deconstructing a professor’s methods of countering a right-wing attack on an academic institution. Findings demonstrate …

The Dynamics Of Financial Condition In The U.S. State, Local, And Territory Governments : Financial Reporting, Public Service Delivery, And Tax Policy, Youngsung Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A large body of literature in public administration has demonstrated the importance of financial condition in managing government organizations. Scholars have found that financial condition affects many aspects of public management while governments actively respond to their financial conditions. Using data from varied levels of U.S. governments – states, localities, and territories – this dissertation examines the dynamic roles of financial condition in three important areas of public management: financial reporting, public service delivery, and tax policy. The first essay examines how financial condition affects the ways in which state governments communicate with stakeholders through official financial documents. It applies …

Nebraska School Violence Prevention Toolkit For K-12 School Threat Assessment Teams, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Denise Bulling

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Introduction

This toolkit provides guidance for school threat assessment teams to encourage the reporting of concerning behavior that may threaten safety and security of schools. Part I (“Reporting School Violence Before it Happens”) provides an overview of the importance of reporting school violence, and outlines specific barriers to reporting among youth, school staff, and parents/guardians. Part II (“Developing and Implementing a Reporting Process”) provides guidance on important features of a reporting process for potential or actual violence and other safety concerns. Part III (“Special Considerations”) discusses three particular problems affecting school youth: suicide, bullying/cyberbullying, and dating- related violence and abusive …

Humanization Is Liberation: ‘Emorational Morality’ In The Mitigation Of Inequitable, Dehumanizing, Domestic Educational Policies, Nirel Jonesmitchell

CMC Senior Theses

Top researchers in the field of critical pedagogy signify that humanization--the process of understanding and connecting with the humanity of another individual—literally liberates the brain from fear. This allows for student creativity and higher-order thinking; without cultural awareness and empathy, researchers claim, educational apartheid will persist. American notions of both teacher and student intelligences as well as ideas of ‘proper’ teacher-student relationships are contextualized by the political philosopher John Locke who delineated a capitalistic political framework based on his interpretation of human motivations: reason and the pursuit of happiness. The corresponding narrow conceptions of intellect, educational success, morality, and emotionality …

Disparities Within School Discipline: An Examination Of Race, English Language Learner Status, & Suspension, Serena Boyce

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

There is much discussion in the United States about how in-school and out of school suspension negatively impacts students who are subjected to this form of exclusionary discipline. There is concern about whether there are disparities in school suspension rates between students from different subgroups and their peers. Research in this area has shown that racial/ethnic minority students, as well as students with the factors of having a low socio-economic status and being male, make some schools more likely to use school discipline than others. A question to be answered in the area of school discipline is related to if …

Rights, Water, And Guardians: How Rights Of Nature Movements Are Reshaping Our Current Environmental Ethics And What These Policies Need To Be Successful, Megan Schmiesing

Pitzer Senior Theses

Giving legal rights to nature is no longer a fringe idea in international environmental law. Rights of Nature movements have gained traction in countries around the world, including Ecuador, Australia, India, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the United States. The act of organizing to recognize legal rights and legal personhood for nature represents a philosophical, moral, and political shift from previous anthropocentric values. Through two case studies in Aotearoa New Zealand and the United States, this thesis examines the policy language and the context and history that led to their creation. The Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act and …

Previously Incarcerated Individuals’ Perceptions Of Decision-Making Leading To Their Solitary Confinement, Rita Pavone

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study explored the issue of communication in prison systems in conjunction with an overextended utilization of isolation confinement methods. Using Sexton’s conceptualization of the penal subjective consciousness model as a guide, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to better understand the experiences of confined offenders related to their experiences regarding the perspectives of prison officials based on a variety of factors including criminal background, social status, and programming needs. Data from semi-structured interviews with 25 participants addressed the process of communication between prison personnel and inmates from the time of incarceration through placement in isolation confinement, and then …