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State Failure In Venezuela, Marcus Littman

Master's Theses

The role of the state is to provide political goods such as security and an environment conducive to economic growth. The Venezuelan state is failing to provide both security and conditions capable of producing economic growth. The government has exacerbated both by enacting failed policies. I measure the economic crisis in Venezuela based on the rates of inflation, falling foreign currency reserves, the food and medical supply shortage, falling government spending, and negative GDP growth. I measure the security crisis based on the escalating rate of kidnapping, human trafficking, drug sales, smuggling, theft, gun distribution, and homicide. In this thesis, …

Drug Trafficking And The Presidential Family In Venezuela: The Narco Nephews, Daniela Castro

Capstones

An explosive combination of political turmoil, a deep economic crisis and critical security situation has Venezuela on the verge of collapse. Despite the alarming situation in the country, not everyone is doing so bad, especially those close to the ruling power. Ferraris, access to private aircrafts and bodyguards are only some of the privileges that only few can get access to in this impoverished South American nation.

Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, 30, and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, 31 -- the nephews of the Venezuelan Presidential couple -- were found guilty of conspiring to import hundreds of kilograms of cocaine …

Emigration, Repatriation And The Reality Of Returned Youth In El Salvador, Isabel C. Duarte Vasquez

Master's Theses

According to US Customs and Border Protection, over 59 thousand unaccompanied minors from the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) have been detained at the US border, of those 59 thousand, 17 thousand are from El Salvador. El Salvador is home to some of the most dangerous and ruthless gangs of the twenty-first century. Their ruthlessness comes from 1980s guerrilla warfare experience. In addition, El Salvador serves as a transshipment point for illicit substances from South America into Mexico. These dynamics fuel the homicide rate of the region as local gang members must protect their territory by any means …

Mexican And Central American Emigration: Exploring Recent Motivations And Challenges Of The Migrant Child Arriving To The U.S, Frank (Frank Edward) Bradford

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines several critical factors deemed to be important in examining why children from Mexico and Central America decide to take risks by traveling alone to unfamiliar places, such as the U.S., in such large numbers. An exploration of present day and historical backgrounds provide insight for social, political, and economic conditions that assist in shaping the landscape and outlook of Central Americans and Mexicans, particularly children on a daily basis.

The Merida Initiative: Perceptions, Interests And Security Cooperation In The Mexico-U.S. Relationship (2006-2012), Alberto Lozano-Vázquez

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation asserts that bilateral cooperation can be possible when specific perceptions and identities -socially constructed- converge between two states, creating subsequently rational incentives to cooperate strategically. Both states can derive domestic and international benefits from mutual cooperation materialized through a specific bilateral policy. However, the evaluation of such cooperative program requires, as another stage of analysis, different analytical tools based on materialist and constructivist criteria opening then the possibility to find successes and failures simultaneously in the same bilateral policy. Taking the Merida Initiative as a case study of security cooperation, this research engages in the analysis of the …

Optimizing Border Security With Stochastic And Deterministic Strategies, Gabriel A. Rueda

Theses and Dissertations

International trade and border security have always been linked together, and so has the need to find ways to improve security decisions. The United States and bordering countries benefit from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but amongst the positive effects of NAFTA there is a looming drug threat that effects the bi-national supply chains. In 2015 Customs and Border Protections (CBP) processed over 72,000 trucks, rail, and sea containers a day. CBP also seized 3.4 million pounds of narcotics, the majority of them at the ports of entry. With unknown threats using commercial vehicles to transport their illicit …

Where Is The Survivor’S Voice? An Examination Of The Individual And Structural Challenges To The Reintegration Of Immigrant Human Trafficking Survivors, Michelle Cristina Angelo Dantas Rocha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States is one of the top destination countries for human trafficking, and Florida has the third highest number of reported cases of human trafficking. Despite the severity of this issue, Florida anti-trafficking legislation, reintegration programs, and awareness campaigns tend to contribute to the invisibility of the victims and undermine their recovery and reintegration into society, especially when the victims are immigrants. This project uses a multi-method approach including content analysis of anti-human trafficking campaigns to argue that portrayals of a “perfect victim” only amplify stigmatization and discrimination against immigrant victims. Through in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation highlighting the …

Localizing Immigration Enforcement: “Secure Communities,” § 287(G) And Arizona Law 1070, Jessica Rios

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

“Secure Communities” and the similar 287(g) Program of the Immigration and Nationality Act place the U.S. federal government into enforcement relationships with local and state officials. An effect of these relationships is that states acquire more authority over federal immigration policy. In this thesis I explore the history and social effects of such a shift in enforcement law and policy. I conclude with some policy proposals designed to avoid the problems of the recent past.

“Casey Saw It Through”: Guy “Machine Gun” Molony And The Creation Of A Rugged Individual, Brett Spencer

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This thesis explores the influence of masculinity in twentieth century American foreign policy through examining the career of Guy “Machine Gun” Molony. Molony was an Irish American mercenary from New Orleans, whose career saw the transformation of Honduras from a banana republic to a recipient of dollar diplomacy. Unlike the majority of mercenaries who did not use their experience to build successful careers, Molony made a name for himself in American newspapers, becoming respected and even feared by policemen and politicians. His life tells a fascinating tale of the individual male in American foreign policy, where rebellious youth used …

Challenging The U.S.-Led War On Drugs: Argentina In Comparative Perspective, Sebastian Antonino Cutrona

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the cases that have resisted the U.S. pressure to adopt the standard security model (SSM) to fight against drug-trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since more can be learned by examining phenomenon that deviate from the modal pattern, this dissertation focuses on Argentina. Existing research, by contrast, has revolved around Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, and the Caribbean; countries where the U.S. securitized drug-trafficking by presenting it as an existential threat, justifying the militarization of counter-narcotics policies. In seeking to fill this theoretical and empirical vacuum, this dissertation answers three main research questions: Why have some …

Neoliberalism: The Genesis Of The Central American Security Crisis, Camila Meléndez

International Affairs Senior Theses

Neoliberalism has been for long a popular subject in the assessment of development models and their effect in emerging and developing countries. The study of this model’s implications has remained however, focused to the realities and context of the 1990s disregarding the undeniable and interminable effect of rigid, universal, uni-dimensional and out-of context set of policies. This work therefore expands the study of neoliberalism assessing its political, economic and social implications and continuous role in the current crisis in the Central American countries. This work achieves the exploration of the neoliberalism-insecurity nexus by studying the conceptual framework of security, the …

Legal Approaches To Combating Sex Trafficking: A Compilation Of Research And A Comparative Analysis Of The Most Effective Means Of Reducing Trafficking Globally, Emily Ann Larkins

Selected Honors Theses

This research explores the relationship between three important factors necessary for reducing sex trafficking globally through a comparative analysis of four specific countries and their success in addressing these factors. The three factors that will be discussed in their relation to sex trafficking are government cooperation, border control, and illegalization of prostitution. These factors were chosen based on how consistently they showed up in research done for this thesis. The countries chosen for analysis-Sweden, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Singapore- were chosen based on region, trafficking levels, and unique facts that stood out as potentially significant. As will be discussed, Sweden …

Global Human Trafficking: New Insights On An Old Crime, Joanna Surma

Master's Theses

Thousands of men, women, and children become victims to human trafficking each year. Almost every country in the world is affected by this heinous crime. Human trafficking exists in many different forms including sexual exploitation, slavery, forced labor or servitude, the removal of organs, child soldiers, etc. Despite the age-old practice being traced back to the 13th century, it continues to exist and even grow today. Unfortunately, not much research is available on the topic. Combating human trafficking is a growing priority for many governments; however, certain obstacles to data collection and analysis continue to exist. Recently, a new study …

The Victim/Perpetrator Continuum: Understanding The Roles And Experiences Of Female Combatants In Colombia’S Armed Conflict, Savitri Restrepo Alvarez

Honors Thesis Collection

In December 2015, supported by the Schiff fellowship, I traveled to Colombia to interview recently demobilized female FARC guerillas participating in state reintegration programs. Estimates suggest that 40% of the combatants in Colombia’s decades-long conflict are women. However, the complex role that women have played has largely been overlooked. Much of the literature on conflict resolution assumes a dichotomy in which women are either ‘victims’ or ‘perpetrators.’ In reality, the distinction between these absolute categories is never entirely clear. The purpose of my trip was to examine women’s particular experiences as combatants, looking at the circumstances that led them to …

When Heads Roll: Assessing The Effectiveness Of The Mexican Military’S Decapitation Strategy Throughout The Course Of The Drug War, Delia Arias De Leon

Honors Thesis Collection

In this thesis, I analyze the effects of the decapitation strategy utilized to target the cartels during the course of the Mexican Drug War. While most scholars have been critical of this strategy, I contend that, by some accounts, it has actually yielded positive results, as evidence by increased governability following cartel fragmentation.

Alvaro Uribe Velez: Maintaining Popularity Despite Significant Government Scandals, Juliana A. Canas Baena

Scripps Senior Theses

Despite the scandals and the increase in violence towards vulnerable communities, Uribe and his government still had an extremely high approval rating. His popularity may be explained as a result of the majority of citizens benefitting from his policies because while they violate human rights, they function as mechanisms that support and enhance his success in delivering stability to Colombia’s middle and upper-classes. Moreover, Uribe did not address critics of his government or the media, instead he created a discourse that his government and its policies were responsible for successfully combatting the guerrillas and cartels and improving the economy. Thus …

A Meta-Architecture Analysis For A Coevolved System-Of-Systems, George Anthony Muller Iv

Masters Theses

"Modern engineered systems are becoming increasingly complex. This is driven in part by an increase in the use of systems-of-systems and network-centric concepts to improve system performance. The growth of systems-of-systems allows stakeholders to achieve improved performance, but also presents new challenges due to increased complexity. These challenges include managing the integration of asynchronously developed systems and assessing SoS performance in uncertain environments.

Many modern systems-of-systems must adapt to operating environment changes to maintain or improve performance. Coevolution is the result of the system and the environment adapting to changes in each other to obtain a performance advantage. The complexity …

Think Of The Children: How U.S. Domestic Policy Undermined Good Foreign Policy And Contributed To The 2014 Central American Migration Crisis, Rebekah D. Vermillion

CMC Senior Theses

Why was the United States caught completely unprepared for the Central American refugee crisis during the summer of 2014? Although thousands of unaccompanied children from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador streamed across the southwest U.S. border in unprecedented numbers, the systemic problems plaguing the region stem back decades, and recent data clearly shows a trend of increasing yearly migration flows to the United States from these countries. Even in the face of the crisis, the U.S. government’s response was targeted more towards mitigating the symptoms of the crisis while insufficiently addressing its underlying causes.

This is largely due to U.S. …

Online Sex Slaves: The Internet's Powerful Role In Sex Trafficking, Daizchane Baker

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Sex trafficking, often referred, as "modem day slavery" is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises on the Internet. Sex trafficking occurs when a victim, typically a female, is traded for the purpose of commercial sex. Fueled by global economic conditions and increased international mobility, the trading of human beings is expanding rapidly. Classified advertisements on the Internet and social media websites have help aid in the advancement of the industry because traffickers are hidden behind the shield of anonymity and protection known as the web. Victims are sold numerous times to multiple buyers on a daily basis. Sex trafficking …

Prisons And Power : Carceral Coloniality In Hybrid Post-Neoliberal Venezuela, Cory Fischer-Hoffman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines contemporary Venezuela’s dual prison system--in which half of the prison population is incarcerated in internally controlled prisons run by armed inmates, and the other half are locked up in the Bolivarian Government’s restricted “New Regime” prisons. The Venezuelan state formation is conceptualized as ‘hybrid post-neoliberal,’ demonstrating how rationalities of a liberal rentier state and neoliberalism, combined with anti-neoliberal logics all act together in competing yet co-existing ways in the post-neoliberal era, which was initiated by the 1999 Bolivarian Revolution. The central question examines the “work” of the prison in the (re)production of power relations and how policies, …

The Role Of A National Intelligence Estimate In Advancing U.S. Interests And Principles: A Case Study Of Human Trafficking In Brazil, Audrey Mooney

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the role National Intelligence Estimates [NIEs] in a current world scenario—human trafficking in Brazil, and the value NIEs add to the Intelligence Community [IC] and US policy makers. The IC uses NIEs as a tool to assess future implications that actions could have on the United States and how those actions can impact U.S. interests. NIEs became prominent when the National Security Act of 1947 was established, which highlighted the need for new and alternative analysis within the IC. This thesis will also investigate how approaches known as Structured Analytic Techniques [SATs] …

Neutering Neoliberalism: Masculinities And Gore Capitalism In Rubem Fonseca’S Crime Novels, David William Hancock

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents close readings of Rubem Fonseca’s Agosto (1990), A grande arte (1983), Bufo & Spallanzani (1985), and O seminarista (2009), to suggest they condemn Neoliberalism’s role in creating a global culture of violence, as they problematize its rhetoric of domination and uncover its heteropatriarchal, consumerist ideology, disguised as fact or ‘common-sense.’ The four chapters are divided according to the different theoretical concepts that accompany the four principal texts’ common critique of Neoliberal masculinity, as it functions to uphold the interdependent hierarchies of race, class and gender. Fonseca’s texts also imply the reader's’ complicity in a global culture of …