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Predicting North Korean Reform; Changing The North With A New Strategy, Won Ju Kim

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Social Media And Democratic Revolution; The Impact Of New Forms Of Communication Democracy, Christina Ruby

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Why Do States Use Cyber Weapons? An Empirical Analysis Of State-Sponsored Cyber Interactions And Rival Dynamics, 2011-2011, Allison Pytlak

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Refocusing America's Long Term Foreign Policy On The Brics; The Case For Cooperation With Brazil And China, Izabella Safiyeva

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Effective Utilization Of Foreign Aid In Counterinsurgency Operations, Gabriel Schickel

Dissertations and Theses

The repercussions of September 11, 2011 have been felt worldwide and have drastically changed the paradigm in which countries operate today. They have justified two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and incursion into sovereign territories in pursuit of terrorists and insurgents. As insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued to thrive, Coalition countries have been forced to adjust their approach to defeating non-conventional forces that they are largely not trained to fight. This has resulted in tactics that utilize what scholars have called “Smart Power,” a mixture of both hard and soft power. Foreign aid and its distribution in COIN …

Indigenous Engagement And Resistance In The 21st Century: Empowering Indigenous Identity With Indigenous Film, Heather A. Hafer Cole

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Indigenous people of the United States have historically been and continue to be objectified and misrepresented in art, history, science, literature, and mass media. This continued colonization contributes to loss of respect for culture, identity crisis among indigenous youth, health disparities of epidemic proportions, poor performance in education, substance abuse, violence and poverty. This qualitative study expands upon existing scholarship in media anthropology (Dilworth, 1996; Ginsberg, 1991 & 2008; and Prins, 2002) and indigenous studies (Rader, 2011; Singer, 2001; and Tuhiwai Smith, 2012) by analyzing the indigenous voice expressed through media practice, storytelling as a tool for empowering indigenous identity …

Revenge: Baltimore's Justice, Rachel M. Bellwoar

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This essay explores the concept of revenge and whether or not seeking it out is ever legitimately justified. Using an example from HBO’s critically acclaimed television drama, The Wire, specific focus is placed on fan favorite character, Omar Little’s, violent search for vengeance following the season one murder of his boyfriend, Brandon. Some points considered are what consequences Brandon’s killers would have faced for their crimes if Omar hadn’t sought punishment on his own initiative, what the collateral damage is of such focused anger, and the impact of environment on what kind of retribution is desired.

The Effects Of State Leader Psychology On Civil War Lethality, Brandon Kelley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Does a state leader's psychology influence lethality in civil wars? This thesis analyzes the aforementioned question during post-1945 civil wars. This particular subject, paying close attention to individual psychology at the state level, is gaining traction amongst scholars, though limited scholarly attention has addressed whether leader psychology is an indicator of conflict severity in terms of lethality. The psychology of the state leader in this thesis is assessed from leadership traits and operational code indices, specifically direction of strategy (I1) and interpretation of the nature of the political universe (P1). The data and cases used are pulled from datasets by …

Deadly Premonition: Does Terrorist-Leader Psychology Influence Violence Lethality?, Clayton Besaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to address a theoretical and empirical gap within terrorism studies, and more specially the study of terrorist-group lethality. This research updates a model of terrorist-group lethality by including terrorist-leader psychology as an individual-level variable in predicting terrorist-group lethality. Terrorist-leader statements were analyzed by using two novel coding schemes called Operational Code and Leadership Trait Analysis to create quantified measurements of leader cognitive beliefs and personality traits. The empirical portion of this study utilizes pooled cross-sectional time-series data within the framework of fixed effects and multi-level estimation models. The results find that terrorist-leader psychology, and more specifically Instrumental …

Why Female Suicide Bombers? A Closer Look At The Liberation Tigers Of Tamil Eelam And Chechen Separatists, Latisha T. Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

The central hypothesis of this study is that terrorist organizations choose to use females as suicide bombers not only as tactical innovation but also to “signal” or send a message to various audiences. In order to meet the research objectives of this study, two terrorist organizations—the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Chechen Separatists or those individuals associated with the Chechen Resistance—are examined in detail from their inception through 2013 using a structured focused comparison methodology.

Evidence is found to support both of the studies’ main hypotheses. First, female suicide bombers are used by terrorist organizations because they are …

Public Wars, Private Warriors: An Analysis Of Private Military Contractors In American Foreign And Domestic Policy, Phillip Andrew Roughton

Masters Theses

At the end of the Cold War, the global political arena was forever altered. One of the major changes was the introduction of private military contractors as legitimate actors of foreign policy. Despite this assertion made by scholars, private military contractors are an under studied political actor. This paper traces the historical, economic, and legal legacy of private military contractors in American history.

Much Ado About Cyber-Space: Cyber-Terrorism And The Reformation Of The Cyber-Security, Christian Pedersen

Pepperdine Policy Review

The threats residing in cyber-space are becoming well understood by policymakers and security experts alike. However, cyber-security defenses and strategies cannot solely be directed towards nation states, as non-governmental actors – such as transnational crime groups and terrorist organizations are becoming increasingly reliant upon internet technologies. Attacks on the digital components of the critical infrastructure, have the potential to unleash devastation on the United States. In a time when reliability and ethnicity of the National Security Administration, the Nation’s leading digital intelligence organization, are becoming increasingly questioned; defensive measures need to be improved to prevent future attacks and improve the …

The Spillover Effects Of Conflict On Economic Growth Along The U.S.-Mexico Border, Karen Elizabeth Trevino

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The violence and insecurity that Mexico has suffered since former President Calderon's war on drugs has come at a grave economic cost to the cities most affected. Businesses and citizens in counties that shared a border with the United States, however, have the ability to move their capital and businesses in search of regaining profits that had been lost due to the insecurity in their cities. These specific counties are considered to be interdependent borderlands, which signify that these borders are in a border region where one nation is symbiotically linked with the border region of an adjoining country. This …

Stable And Unstable Dictators: Examining The Effects Of Authoritarian Regime Classifications On Domestic Terrorism, 1972-2008, Yahve Gallegos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis examined four authoritarian regime types and their relationship with domestic terrorism. It is argued that military authoritarian regimes are more likely to experience civil strife than other forms of authoritarian regimes. In addition, this Thesis challenges the notion that multi-party authoritarian regimes and civil strife are positively correlated. This study also demonstrates the relationship between regime type and domestic terrorism when controlling for when the country is experiencing civil war. To conduct this research, I used data from the Global Terrorism Database, Correlates of War, and Hadenius and Teorell's "Authoritarian Regime Types Revisited". The results demonstrate that military …

The Changkufeng And Nomonhan Incidents - The Undeclared Border War And Its Impact On World War Ii, Tobias Block

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Nomonhan and Changkufeng

Immediately following the Mukden Incident in 1931 and the founding of Manchukuo, the Japanese supported puppet state in northeastern China, the Imperial Japanese Army found itself again face to face with their old enemy Russia, now the Soviet Union. The border disputes between these two countries would soon become armed conflicts. The Japanese Korea Army as well as the Kwantung Army, stationed in Manchuria, would soon follow a policy of limited war against the Soviet Red Army, here in particular during the battles of Changkufeng, in 1938, and Nomonhan in 1939.

These two battles proved to be …

Rhetorical Ripples: The Church Of The Subgenius, Kenneth Burke & Comic, Symbolic Tinkering, Lee A. Carleton

Theses and Dissertations

Humor has long been an effective way to engage difficult sociopolitical topics in a way that avoids polemical confrontation and provides opportunity for pleasure, catharsis and self-knowledge. In the context of today’s polarized politics and protest, creative satirical performance that deploys “symbolic tinkering” can provide a “comic frame of reference” that, according to Kenneth Burke, more effectively conveys its message while providing reflexive insight. The satirical Church of the SubGenius naturally practices this rhetorical frame in their multimedia creations. Using the lens of Burke’s Attitudes Toward History, this essay is an analysis of SubGenius rhetoric with a focus on …

Failed States And Fragile Societies: A New World Disorder?, Ingo Trauschweizer, Steven M. Miner

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Since the end of the Cold War, a new dynamic has arisen within the international system, one that does not conform to established notions of the state’s monopoly on war. In this changing environment, the global community must decide how to respond to the challenges posed to the state by military threats, political and economic decline, and social fragmentation. This insightful work considers the phenomenon of state failure and asks how the international community might better detect signs of state decay at an early stage and devise legally and politically legitimate responses.

This collection of essays brings military and social …

British Cultural Narrative In Winston Churchill's Political Communication, Andres L. Faza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study uses Winston Churchill's "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech, delivered to the House of Commons following the evacuation of Dunkirk, France in June 1940, as a source text by which to examine Churchill's use of British cultural narratives in political communication. Narrative and heuristic theories are proposed as means by which listeners process such messages. A number of rhetorical devices are defined, in order to inform a discussion of the narratives identified, particularly the means by which those narratives were rhetorically embedded in the text. After a careful examination of the source text, the narratives of knighthood …

The Dimensions Of Hardiness And Resiliency For Combat Ptsd, Warren Joseph Avery

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Research suggests that the personality factor hardiness may aid in resilience to combat PTSD. The need to understand resiliency factors like hardiness becomes more urgent as the depth of the epidemic of combat PTSD among veterans becomes more evident. Hardiness consists of three dimensions: (a) commitment, (b) control, and (c) challenge. This study was designed to explore the relationship between the dimensions of hardiness and combat PTSD in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans. Participants were contacted through college veterans offices across the nation, and measures were anonymously completed online. Veterans who participated in the study …

Baptizing Nazism: An Analysis Of The Religious Roots Of American Neo-Nazism, Alon Milwicki

Journal of Hate Studies

The years following the Second World War saw American religious leaders making fervent attempts to bridge the denominational gap and encourage peaceful cooperation among America’s three leading faiths: Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism. While the religious revival movement was largely successful, it was not as complete as historians have previously suggested. Scholars of the postwar religious awakening have neglected the darker, conflictual, and even violent strains of religious revival which developed alongside the optimistic, cooperative, and harmonious efforts that have taken center stage. Simply put, the development and propagation of Christian Identity, as propelled by Dr. Wesley Albert Swift, provided a …

Cultural And Contextual Differentiation Of Mesoamerican Iconography In The U.S Southwest/Northwest Mexico, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

Ample research has documented the long-term interaction between Mesoamerica and the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico (SW/NW). Nelson (2006:345) has used the phrase ''Mesoamerican interaction markers" as a way to describe evidence of the is contact in the SW /NW. He further defines these as "a variety of archaeological patterns that are reminiscent of Mesoamerican counterparts" including "objects, practices, and styles." Some of the interaction markers that have been studied at length are trade goods such as copper bells, macaws, shell, and iron pyrite mirrors (Bayman 2002; Bradley 1993; Ericson and Baugh 1993; Kelley 1966, 1995; Mathien 1993; McGuire 1993p; Nelson 2000; …

Violent Video Games And Symptoms Of Distress And Trauma, Brendan J. Mccollum

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Much of the research involving detrimental effects of violent video games has focused primarily on aggression and desensitization of pain. To date there is no known research that examines whether video games can cause traumatic symptoms. However, there is research that suggests horror movies cause traumatic symptoms (Carleton et al., 2011). Given that video games can immerse people far more than a movie in terms of active participation, one could infer that traumatic symptoms would be even greater when playing a violent video game. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether violent video games could elicit symptoms …

“Bomb Talk” And Erving Goffman’S Frame Analysis, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Erving Goffman’s Frame Analysis is introduced (together with several of Goffman’s basic concepts, including “strips”, “frames”, “keys”, “fabrications”, etc.) and applied to “bomb talk” (i.e., the different ways in which westerners discuss and/or refer to the reality of nuclear weapons). This analysis confirms (as Goffman predicts) that the manner in which everyday life is conceptualized and subsequently transformed is extraordinarily flexible. Goffman offers a coherent knowledge-producing system, one that is best carefully studied before applying his precisely-defined concepts to other aspects of our social world. Frame Analysis provides the means for analyzing the organization of everyday life and answering many …

Effects Of Parental Alcoholism And Trauma Exposure On Depressive Symptoms: A Path Model With Resilience, Social Support, And Family Satisfaction, Erin Doty Kurtz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this study was to explore the different effects of parental alcoholism and history of trauma exposure on depressive symptoms in an emerging adult, college population. In particular, mediating effects of resilience, social support, and family satisfaction were evaluated for both parental alcoholism and previous interpersonal trauma exposure using structural equation modeling (SEM). Participants were 708 students (217 male, 491 female) attending a large mid-Atlantic state university. It was . anticipated that social support and family satisfaction would be key mediators between parental alcoholism and depressive symptoms, while resilience and social support would be significant mediators between interpersonal …

The Darfur Name Game: Use Of Realpolitik By The United Nations In Decision-Making And Intervention, Angela Overton

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Violence has plagued the westernmost region of Sudan, known as Darfur, since 2003. The conflict contains elements of political and ethnic divisiveness, desertification, and resource scarcity. The violence there continues to date. Many have declared genocide in Darfur while others maintain that the conflict is instead a crime against humanity. The labeling of the conflict is critical because this process determines the interventions available. This paper focuses on the decision-making process of the United Nations and its Security Council to determine if the labeling of the conflict impacted the discourse and intervention decisions by those bodies. Discourse analysis results indicate …

Jamaica: A Famous, Strong But Damaged Brand, Hume N. Johnson

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Image, brand and reputation are the new capital for nations in the twenty-first century. In this era of the global marketplace, nations, regions and cities are forced to compete with each other for tourists, investment, aid, students, for buyers of their products and services, and for talent. Scholars now agree that nations themselves have become brands, and are now obliged to manage their images in order to influence people’s decision in terms of purchasing, investing and traveling. Nations with unknown or poor reputations, including those enduring prolonged crises are thus likely to suffer marginalization and will not easily witness economic …

A Heart-Based Sufi Mindfulness Spiritual Practice Employing Self-Journeying, Faruk Arslan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Spiritual Psychology is the study and practice of the art and science of the human evolution of consciousness. The heart occupies an important place in Sufism and is considered to contain the divine spark that leads to spiritual realization. Fethullah Gülen’s action-oriented Sufi methods described in his book series “The Emerald Hills of the Heart” provides the basis for a heart-based therapeutic intervention through self-journeying, which is the objective of this thesis. These self-purification and mindfulness-related transpersonal methods generate a form of treatment that is culturally sensitive. Through my reflections in this research, I transformed my personal experiences into …

To Transform A Culture: The Rise And Fall Of The U.S. Army Organizational Effectiveness Program, 1970–1985, James Michael Young

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In the early 1970s, following a decade of social upheaval in the US and a traumatizing military defeat in Vietnam, a group of progressive army officers, armed with recent graduate degrees in the social and behavioral sciences, created a grass roots movement that soon led to the implementation of the largest organizational development program ever conducted. Wartime atrocities and chronic careerism in the Army officer corps, along with President Richard Nixon’s promise to create an All-Volunteer Force (AVF), opened up a window of opportunity for these progressives to promote transformational leadership theories grounded in humanistic psychology. In institutionalizing OD across …

Addressing Global Threat: Exploring The Relationship Between Common Purpose And Leadership, Charles R.H. Powell

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

While the mention of common purpose is prevalent in leadership studies, there are few attempts to explore the relationship between common purpose and leadership. This study delves into the questions of if and how common purpose and leadership inform one another. How leaders adapt purpose and leadership approaches in response to evolving and turbulent conditions may foster the depth and sustainment of immediate and subsequent accomplishments. Through phenomenological research in the venue of nuclear weapons reduction, a common purpose that is both globally pervasive and imbued with a sense of urgency, the lived essence of those engaged in common purpose …

The Internet: Friend, Foe Or Target?, Jonathan D. James

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In this concluding chapter, I give an overview of how the Internet, a byproduct of our times, is shaping our culture and society in profound ways. I note some of the major concerns and perils of the Internet age and I conclude by pointing out how and why certain countries are targeting the Internet in terms of increased regulation and surveillance.