Digital Commons Network^™

Barriers And Access To Services For Female Victims Of Violence In The Dominican Republic, Catalina Hooper Armenteros

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Violence against women has presented a challenge for those tasked with addressing crime and victimization. It is a complex phenomenon that exists between the private and public spheres of society affecting nearly all aspects of a victim’s life, as well as those close to them. The Dominican Republic began to address domestic and gender violence in the past few decades, and victim services have emerged in efforts to assist Dominican women and girls escaping abuse. This study reviews the existing literature regarding violence against women and girls, and service provision in global, regional, and national contexts, and analyzes qualitative data …

How Political Violence Helps Explain Organized Crime: A Case Study Of Mexico's "War On Drugs", Alanna Fulk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines research from the disciplines of political science and criminal justice to develop a theory that explains geographic variation in violence related to organized crime. Large-scale organized crime violence exhibits characteristics of both ordinary crime violence and political violence, but these subjects are generally analyzed separately. However, as large-scale organized crime has become more prevalent and violent in recent years, most notably in Latin America, studies, including this one, have attempted to cross disciplinary boundaries in order to better explain trends in organized crime onset, termination and violence. This thesis argues that although the overall goal of organized …

Citizen Security And Democratization In Latin America: Implications Of Law Enforcement Reforms And Demilitarization, Fernanda Andrea Gutierrez Merino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Latin American region has transitioned to democracy in the last forty-thirty years and along with many policy reforms, citizen security has not been left behind. As these changes evolve, the relationship between internal security and the development of a stable democracy has acquired a great importance in terms of the factors that contribute to a free world. The purpose of this research is to look at how security policy and policing in Argentina, Chile, el Salvador, and Mexico have contributed to the democratization process in regards to how the recent reforms in law enforcement in the region have created favorable …

Trust In Government Versus Fear Of Crime As Predictors Of Support For Authoritarian Policies In Ecuador: A Cross-Sectional Study, Clímaco David Cañarte Gutiérrez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals interacting in an environment that exacerbates fear of crime and general distrust may face erosion of democratic values and perceive authoritarian policies as a solution to restore order. In Latin America historical widespread distrust in the government apparatus as well as fear of crime, have always been a topic of interest, not only for sociologists but also for political scientists and lawmakers. This study uses the LAPOP wave 2012 (Latin American Public Opinion) survey to assess Ecuadorians’ perceptions about trust in the government and fear of crime as predictors of support for authoritarian policies (mano dura). Logistic regressions …

An Evaluation Of The Potential Impact Of Community Oriented Policing In Latin America, Gabriella A. Ippolito

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the potential impact of community oriented policing in Latin America through a series of case studies from Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and El Salvador dating from the early 1990’s to the present. They are analyzed through a typology that organizes community oriented policing strategies according to costliness to the police. Costliness is defined as the amount of power that the police have to renounce to the community to implement a certain strategy. The thesis concludes that community oriented policing is an improvement over militarized policing strategies as it has the possibility to enhance both human security and …

The Security Situation For Central Asia: Afghanistan, Water, And Uzbek Stability, Carleton Wesley Becks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Central Asia has emerged on the global stage after spending decades in isolation. As developing nations, most of Central Asia possesses the resources to spur rapid development. Things would seem to be in the region's favor. There are, however, a few events that could derail the region.

Afghanistan is on the periphery of the region and presents a series of difficult dilemmas such as creating a functioning government from a country that has been at war for nearly 30 years, the problem of the insurgency in the south, and narcotics trafficking.

Water is scarce in the region, the leaders cannot …

Hezbollah Operations In The Tri-Border Area Of South America, Nicholas Kleck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines Hezbollah's depth of involvement in the illegal activities of the tri-border area of South America. This case study used multiple sources ranging from press releases, government publications, to Latin American Journals. The methodology used was supported by Joe Feagin's imaginary analytical induction, which complemented the wide-berth of sources. This study hypothesizes that Hezbollah is utilizing the tri-border area of South America to generate multiple sources of revenue. This concept is confirmed by this study where Hezbollah's activities were researched in depth. Consideration of this research by American policymakers would aid in the development of tailored strategies for …

Instability In The South: The Implications Of Mexican State Failure On U.S. National Security, Shadd Allen Pease

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the implications of Mexican state failure on United States national security. The growing instability in Mexico due to the actions of the various drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), government corruption, possible human rights abuses and Mexican insurgent groups is examined in order to understand why the Mexican state may fail.

This thesis explores the implications of Mexican state failure on U.S. national security by providing possible scenarios such as continued operations into the United States by Mexican drug trafficking organizations, DTO relationships with American street gangs, regional instability, possible exploitation of the Mexican homeland by terrorist organizations, U.S. …

Modern Slavery: A Regional Focus, Amanda Gould

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kevin Bales, through his study in Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader, provides an important quantitative analysis on the predictive factors of modern slavery. Upon examining his study though, several issues arise including too few observations for several of the variables and the lack of a regional variable. The author decided to rerun his study with replacements for the problematic variables used previously. Upon obtaining the results from this, the author examined development theory (development is believed to be closely liked to slavery), and began creating an alternative model, which eventually included the addition of a regional variable. This model differed …

Property Rights As A Precondition To Development: A Case Study Of Jamaica, Leah Kral

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emerging research suggests that property rights play a significant role in the economic and social development of nations. To test this proposition, this study examines the case of Jamaica and whether there is a relationship between property rights and development. In order to carry out this investigation, this study gathers and analyzes existing research to:

1. define the extent that Jamaicans lack property rights and how this affects their everyday quality of life and vulnerability to poverty;

2. examine the relationship between the absence of property rights and underdevelopment; and

3. explore how the current international and local Jamaican policy …

How Breakfast Is Served: Globalization, The Press In Canada And Genetically Modified Food., Irena Knezevic

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The issue of genetically modified food is critically examined in the context of corporate globalization, particularly the economic globalization of agriculture. Potential risks to human and environmental that are associated with genetic modification are reviewed, as well as the threats to farm economy, social dynamics of farming communities, and pressures on countries battling the problem of hunger. Advertising and public relations strategy used by large agricultural corporations is compared to the coverage found in Canadian corporate-run press. The coverage is analyzed from a critical perspective and found to closely resemble the advertising materials of agricultural corporations. The slanted coverage found …