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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Russia-Ukraine War: The Second Cold War?, Madeline Levine Jan 2023

The Russia-Ukraine War: The Second Cold War?, Madeline Levine

Scripps Senior Theses

Under the guise of a “special military operation,” Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The immediacy with which the United States rallied support for Ukraine within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (“NATO”), the United Nations (“UN”), and the European Union (“EU”) raised speculation: Is Russia-Ukraine the beginning of a second Cold War? Did the Cold War actually end in the 1990s? Is Ukraine the first proxy war in a series of more to come between the United States and Russia? This thesis will address the first question by identifying and analyzing the characteristics that distinguished the Cold War …


The United States’ Stringent Sovereignty: How Foreign Policy Framing Prioritizes Security Over Human Rights, Kathryn Parker Jan 2023

The United States’ Stringent Sovereignty: How Foreign Policy Framing Prioritizes Security Over Human Rights, Kathryn Parker

Scripps Senior Theses

American policymakers utilize valence framing, purposeful descriptions of outcomes as positive or negative, to influence the opinions of voters while maintaining the moral superiority felt by many citizens in the liberal Western hegemon. This study intended to combine the political theories of Constructivism and Realism to form Constructive Realism, a theory that emphasizes the significance of state power and norms as joint influences on constituents. Constructive realism was then applied to four case studies – the UN Security Council, International Criminal Court, Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. This study …


No Laughing Matter: Political Humor And Media In Egypt’S January 25th Revolution, Julia Brock Jan 2022

No Laughing Matter: Political Humor And Media In Egypt’S January 25th Revolution, Julia Brock

Scripps Senior Theses

The January 25th Revolution in Egypt began in 2011 when protestors took to the streets in Cairo and other Egyptian cities demanding that President Hosni Mubarak resign. They were armed with a savvy tool: humor. This study is a historical and theoretical approach to understanding political humor’s position as a space for politically subversive conversation in Egypt in the decade leading up to the January 25th Revolution, as well as during the revolution itself. Humor, media, and social movement theories are mobilized within this thesis to explain humor’s unique position within Egyptian society and its function within subversive, informal political …


Qu’Est Qu’Un Vrai Français : Le Front National Et Le Développement Contemporain Des Politiques De La ‘Francité’, Sara Butcher Jan 2022

Qu’Est Qu’Un Vrai Français : Le Front National Et Le Développement Contemporain Des Politiques De La ‘Francité’, Sara Butcher

Scripps Senior Theses

Le Rassemblement National, avant connu comme le Front National, est devenu un des partis politiques les plus importants dans la politique française, avec son leader, Marine Le Pen, comme une figure influente. Les tactiques politiques de l’extrême droite perpétuées par le Front National, sont notamment les peurs créées sur la laïcité, la migration et ‘l’islamisation’ de la société française, ont commencé à être des politiques communes utilisées par plusieurs côtés de l’échiquier politique. En voyant l’évolution historique et contemporaine des politiques françaises et la popularité du Front National, on peut trouver la raison pour laquelle des sujets comme la ‘francité’ …


A ‘Hermit Kingdom’ No Longer? Kim Jong-Un’S Two Years Of Diplomatic Summits And What North Korean Media Can Tell Us About Them, Jaimie Ding Jan 2021

A ‘Hermit Kingdom’ No Longer? Kim Jong-Un’S Two Years Of Diplomatic Summits And What North Korean Media Can Tell Us About Them, Jaimie Ding

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the English-language output of the Korean Central News Agency, the main news agency of North Korea. I conduct an analysis of the KCNA news coverage of a series of diplomatic summits that North Korean leader Ki Jong-un holds with Chinese president Xi Jin-ping, South Korean president Moon Jae-in, and U.S. president Donald Trump from 2018-2019. For this analysis, I coded for certain phrases and rhetoric and examined the content of each article to look at how news coverage of these summits reflects North Korea’s foreign policy goals and stances toward the respective countries. I found several recurring …


The Effect Of México’S Transition From Neoliberalism To Populism On Environmental Policy, Christina Marshall Jan 2020

The Effect Of México’S Transition From Neoliberalism To Populism On Environmental Policy, Christina Marshall

Scripps Senior Theses

This article examines the transformation in Mexican politics from a neoliberal state to a one lead by a left wing populist leader and its impacts on environmental policy in the country. Specifically, looking at the election of AMLO in 2018 and prior neoliberal environmental policies (NAFTA and Pena Nieto's energy reform). This article looks at the motivations and outcomes of these policies to better understand environmental impact.


Understanding Terror: A Religiopolitical Analysis Of The Rise Of Isis And The Establishment Of A Caliphate, Alexandra Hansen Jan 2020

Understanding Terror: A Religiopolitical Analysis Of The Rise Of Isis And The Establishment Of A Caliphate, Alexandra Hansen

Scripps Senior Theses

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has made waves in the international community, stoking global terror, influencing political discourse, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in security response and reconstruction efforts. More importantly, it has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, whether it be from direct combat or attacks, or from the massive refugee crises it sparked. One wonders, how did a small extremist group make such a massive and disastrous impact? Most research done on ISIS and terrorism studies tend to focus on the political, economic, and social factors that lead to the creation and successes of …


Voices Of Women: The Impact Of Women's Political Reservations On Female Child Mortality In India, Kohsheen Sharma Jan 2018

Voices Of Women: The Impact Of Women's Political Reservations On Female Child Mortality In India, Kohsheen Sharma

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper uses state-level variation in the implementation of the 73rd amendment in India to observe the relationship between political reservations for women in local government and female child mortality. Nationally, reservations for women are not associated with a statistically significant difference in female child mortality. However, a state by state analysis shows variations in the level of impact of reservations on the topic of female child mortality. This paper examines the constraints on female representatives and their level of effectiveness in executing pro-female policies given the political and social environment. The two case studies on Kerala and Haryana explore …


Coal-To-Liquid Technology: A Look At The Geopolitical Tension Behind China's Energy Strategy, Kaela Cote-Stemmermann Jan 2018

Coal-To-Liquid Technology: A Look At The Geopolitical Tension Behind China's Energy Strategy, Kaela Cote-Stemmermann

Scripps Senior Theses

As interest in renewable energy development continues to rise around the globe, the alignment of China’s capabilities and incentive to invest in the green energy sector position the country in a leading role. However, China’s recent investment in coal-to-liquid (CTL) technology raises questions as to the direction of China’s energy policy and reflects broader geopolitical tensions within the Chinese government. Although CTL technology has been widely criticized as being environmentally unfriendly and economically unsustainable, China continues to invest in it at an astounding pace. Research proposes several possible explanations, such as corruption or local conflicts of interest, however, a critical …


Why Did China Do This? An Analysis On China's New Gasoline "Price Floor" Policy, Youhan Ding Jan 2017

Why Did China Do This? An Analysis On China's New Gasoline "Price Floor" Policy, Youhan Ding

Scripps Senior Theses

Why did China choose certain policy over others that would achieve similar impact? Because China has a significant presence in the modern international community, it is difficult yet critical to understand the policy implications of the Chinese government under its unique political and socioeconomic context. This thesis shows the impact of a specific “price floor” policy China chose to employ in its oil and gasoline market, and identifies the factors concerning the Chinese regime that it took into consideration in the decision making process, through analysing data and official statements released by the government. After different parties affected by this …


The Rise Of The Far Right: Explaining Popularity And Potential Influence, Vanessa Rosato Jan 2017

The Rise Of The Far Right: Explaining Popularity And Potential Influence, Vanessa Rosato

Scripps Senior Theses

The 2016 election cycle has shown a dramatic radicalization of the right, featuring elements such as out-group demonization, law and order rhetoric, and populist strategies that have not been so prevalent in the US since the rise of Nixon’s Silent Majority in the 1970s. The UK has experienced a similar ideological shift, though its emergence has perhaps not been so notoriously outspoken. All the same, the fervent anti-statist and anti-elitist narrative employed by the Leave Campaign is starkly similar to language historically associated with the populist rhetoric of the Far Right. Drawing on analyses of economic, socio-cultural, and geopolitical trends …


Crackdown And Consent: China’S War On Terror And The Strategic Creation Of A Public Discourse In The U.S., Kehaulani R. Jai Jan 2016

Crackdown And Consent: China’S War On Terror And The Strategic Creation Of A Public Discourse In The U.S., Kehaulani R. Jai

Scripps Senior Theses

Scholars have extensively detailed China’s conflation of the Uyghur issue in Xinjiang with the international war on terror following September 11, 2001. Less studied is how the U.S. responded to China’s framing of the Uyghur as terrorists, and of the Chinese government’s characterization of Xinjiang as a region fraught with violence and extremism. On the whole, scholars who have addressed this latter issue conclude that China successfully coopted the U.S., and consequently cracked down on Xinjiang without substantial international outrage. On the basis of a review of official U.S. documents before and after 9/11, I argue that the U.S. response …


Reconstruction After Genocide: An Analysis Of The Justice System For The Women Victims Of Genocidal Rape In Post-Conflict Bosnia, Hannah E. Gardenswartz Jan 2015

Reconstruction After Genocide: An Analysis Of The Justice System For The Women Victims Of Genocidal Rape In Post-Conflict Bosnia, Hannah E. Gardenswartz

Scripps Senior Theses

In the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of the critical elements of the ethnic cleansing regimes was rape and impregnation of women. When the international justice system was created to criminally try the perpetrators of the atrocities, including the rape victims was a new development. Looking at the tribunals and court system from a gendered perspective reveals that the efforts to include rape victims have not taken into account their specific needs, stemming from their trauma. A critical look the ICTY and other criminal courts are presented, as well as recommendations for improving inclusivity and reconciliation.


Untold Narratives: Refugee Experiences From Laos To Richmond, California, Laiseng Saechao Jan 2015

Untold Narratives: Refugee Experiences From Laos To Richmond, California, Laiseng Saechao

Scripps Senior Theses

Untold Narratives: A Refugee Experience from Laos to Richmond, California is focused on the Mien refugee experience from Laos to Richmond, California. This thesis highlights the ways Cold War politics, the Secret War, and heavy industrialization have impacted Mien communities who have been displaced from their homelands into refugee camps, and again through sponsorship into the United States. This thesis looks at political theories that discuss inequalities that exist, particularly through environmental degradation and negative health impacts that Mien refugees are experiencing in their resettlement into Richmond, California. Due to the limited scholarly articles and documented narratives that are available …


Ngos V. State: A Case Study Of The Effectiveness Of Women’S Development Programs In Tanzania, Sara M. Eliason Jan 2015

Ngos V. State: A Case Study Of The Effectiveness Of Women’S Development Programs In Tanzania, Sara M. Eliason

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper compares the effectiveness of an NGO and a government branch at promoting development through gender equality in Tanzania, in an attempt to determine whether one actor is more suited to this sector of development. Due to the nature of the actors, their approaches impact different parts of the population of Tanzania and are complementary in their impact. Both NGO and government efforts can help to empower women and in turn promote economic development in Tanzania.


Sex, Slaves, And Saviors: Domestic And Global Agendas In U.S. Anti-Trafficking Policy, Chelsea L. Thompson Jan 2014

Sex, Slaves, And Saviors: Domestic And Global Agendas In U.S. Anti-Trafficking Policy, Chelsea L. Thompson

Scripps Senior Theses

In this thesis, I problematize the United States’ response to the global phenomenon characterized as human trafficking. The framing of trafficking as policy issue takes place in the context of politicized claims about the nature and prevalence of trafficking, its relation to the sex industry, and the kind of response that is required. U.S. anti-trafficking policy was built and shaped in the context of fears about immigration, global labor, and the sex industry. As a result, trafficking has been used to justify oppressive domestic reactions such as border crackdown, scrutiny of immigrant and sex worker communities, and victim “protection” that …


The Discrimination Of The Ethnic Chinese In Indonesia And Perceptions Of Nationality, Amanda Walujono Jan 2014

The Discrimination Of The Ethnic Chinese In Indonesia And Perceptions Of Nationality, Amanda Walujono

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the established literature is mostly political, economic, and social histories of modern Indonesia, my thesis will establish motivations behind the context of the discrimination of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia with particular attention on how it affects the perception of ethnic Chinese Indonesian’s nationality. Most of the times in the established literature, the history, motivations, and consequences behind the discrimination of the ethnic Chinese are briefly summarized or put in as an afterthought. Most of the present day established literature is focused on how the now-allowed Chinese imports are starting to influence Indonesian culture and how post-Suharto regimes have …


An Intersectional Approach To Environmental Political Theory: A Case Study On Modern Andean Bolivian Indigenous Forms Of Resistance And Communal Democracy In Relation To Water Rights, Julia E. Seward Jan 2014

An Intersectional Approach To Environmental Political Theory: A Case Study On Modern Andean Bolivian Indigenous Forms Of Resistance And Communal Democracy In Relation To Water Rights, Julia E. Seward

Scripps Senior Theses

Considers Bolivian Andean indigenous forms of democracy and resistance to neoliberal water privatization in Cochabamba. Incorporates environmental identity into the intersectional theoretical framework with principles rooted in Indigenous grass roots theory, Marxist critiques on capitalism, Latin American Neomarxist scholars, and Environmental Justice. Focuses on intersections of ethnicity, gender and class identities with environmental identity to understand the extent to which environmental injustices cannot be addressed in isolation from other sources of inequality.


Female Political Participation In Women’S Colleges Vs. Coeducational Institutions, Sara Maria Estevez Cores Apr 2013

Female Political Participation In Women’S Colleges Vs. Coeducational Institutions, Sara Maria Estevez Cores

Scripps Senior Theses

The current study examined the factors that affect female political participation in students at women’s colleges and coeducational institutions. The first part of the study consisted of building a model to explain female political participation based on previous research findings. The second part of the study consisted of examining differences between the model and the levels of participation among the two groups. Results showed that only self-esteem, femininity, feminist identification and knowledge of female political leaders significantly impacted political participation. No structural differences in the model were found between the groups. Students at women’s colleges had significantly higher means in …


The 2014 Brazilian World Cup: Consequences And Legacies, Elissa Josefina Ronquillo Apr 2012

The 2014 Brazilian World Cup: Consequences And Legacies, Elissa Josefina Ronquillo

Scripps Senior Theses

Sport is often not a topic one contemplates of when thinking of global and national narratives. For many it is not a valid or significant tool to study race or development. Sport has been minimized to an after school activity or a distraction, but sport crosses many spheres including, but not limited to, politics and identity. It has the capability of influencing people’s histories and growth as an individual. Many scholars have in recent years used the politics of sport as a legitimate way to understand race and global history. The 2014 World Cup presented itself as the perfect subject …


"La Generación Ni Ni" And The Exodus Of Spanish Youth: National Crisis Or Functioning European Union Market?, Stephanie E. Lester Apr 2012

"La Generación Ni Ni" And The Exodus Of Spanish Youth: National Crisis Or Functioning European Union Market?, Stephanie E. Lester

Scripps Senior Theses

More than 300,000 Spaniards have left Spain since 2008, the majority being the well-educated youth. The exodus of youth represents an unusual and concerning phenomenon for Spain. This thesis explains the factors contributing to the emigration of Spanish well-educated youth, and from there extrapolates on implications for the nature of an integrated market in the European Union. It concludes that push-pull economic factors and an affiliation with the European Union internal market encourage intra-European migration. Additionally, political disillusionment within Spain erodes the sense of national loyalty among youth to further promote emigration. The Spanish case demonstrates that within a community …


Aid, Marginalization And Indigenous People In Guatemala, Megan M. Fenton Apr 2012

Aid, Marginalization And Indigenous People In Guatemala, Megan M. Fenton

Scripps Senior Theses

While there are all of these programs and organizations currently operating in Guatemala, it is clear that they are not functioning as they should for Guatemala’s indigenous population. This is clear from the lack of improvement in any of the economic markers noted above, such as poverty, health and education. Furthermore, these same programs are functioning for Guatemala’s ladino population, which has seen an improvement in their living conditions. The difference in the results between these two groups naturally raises the question of why this type of program is significantly less effective for Guatemala’s indigenous population than it is for …


Willy Brandt’S Ostpolitik: The Changing Role In United States-West German Relations, An Analysis Of United States Government Internal Documents, Sara A. Popovich Apr 2012

Willy Brandt’S Ostpolitik: The Changing Role In United States-West German Relations, An Analysis Of United States Government Internal Documents, Sara A. Popovich

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes a crucial period in the relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America, through the use of US government internal documents. Willy Brandt brought forth a new vision of Ostpolitik that was starkly different from policies that the US had dealt with before, subsequently leaving the Nixon Administration largely unsure of how to react. The change in FRG economic positioning vis-à-vis the United States, and catalyst political events in the 1960’s, created the impetus for Brandt’s vision of OStpolitik, which culminated in the interim West German control of the Western Alliance’s Eastern …


La Sociolinguistique Postcoloniale En Amérique Hispanophone Et En Afrique Francophone : Un Drame Linguistique En Deux Actes, Eva Valenti Apr 2012

La Sociolinguistique Postcoloniale En Amérique Hispanophone Et En Afrique Francophone : Un Drame Linguistique En Deux Actes, Eva Valenti

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the sociolinguistic situations in postcolonial Latin America and francophone North Africa (the Maghreb) through a comparative lens. Specifically, it examines the ways in which Spain and France’s differing colonial agendas and language ideologies affected the relationships between colonizer and colonized, and, by extension, the role that Spanish and French play(ed) in these regions after decolonization. Finally, it explores how Spain and France’s contemporary discourses frame colonial participation in the two languages’ development, and the psychological effects these ideologies have had on the formerly colonized.