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Articles 1 - 30 of 81
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Explaining The Nras Radical Transformation : The Role Of Identity And Strategy In Discursive Boundary Work And The Emergence Of Sub-Group Dominance, William A. Sisk
Explaining The Nras Radical Transformation : The Role Of Identity And Strategy In Discursive Boundary Work And The Emergence Of Sub-Group Dominance, William A. Sisk
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This dissertation asks how a radical faction within the National Rifle Association (NRA) took over the organization and transformed it into such a dominant force in American politics. To address this question, the researcher conducted a historical discourse analysis of articles and letters in two prominent gun magazines – Guns & Ammo and Field & Stream – during a critical period of development from 1958 to 1978. The project integrates existing theoretical models based on identity (Castells 2004) and discourse coalitions (Dodge & Metze 2016; Hajer 1995) to understand the process by which coalitional boundaries get shaped and reshaped in …
The Long Island Opt-Out Movement And Local Politics In Four School Districts, Raymond James Webb
The Long Island Opt-Out Movement And Local Politics In Four School Districts, Raymond James Webb
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This study focused on the political influence of the Long Island Opt-Out Organization, an interest group that promoted the right of parents and guardians to have their children opt out of standardized testing. The study examined the activism and influence of this group on school board elections and policy agendas in four school districts in Long Island, New York during 2014-2019.
Economic Policy And Equality : Neoliberalism And Gender Equity In Latin America Since The 1970s, Donnett Annmarie Lee
Economic Policy And Equality : Neoliberalism And Gender Equity In Latin America Since The 1970s, Donnett Annmarie Lee
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Neoliberalism has been a persistent concern for policymakers, scholars, and the general public in Latin America due to its negative effects on women. This paper examines the relationship between neoliberal economic policies and gender equality from the 1970s to 2003 in the region. I use a mixed-methods approach to test the two major competing theories from the literature that discuss women’s status under neoliberal reform. I find that neoliberal economic policies did not improve the status of women but reduced gender disparity. Neoliberalism led to the worsening of men’s status, which caused the status of women to seem better. Overall, …
Tightening Your Grip : The Unintended Consequences Of Export Control Policies, Keon C. Weigold
Tightening Your Grip : The Unintended Consequences Of Export Control Policies, Keon C. Weigold
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This dissertation examines the effects that policies instituted to restrict the diffusion of technology between countries have on the development of technology and international relations. Diffusion restrictions such as export controls or strategic trade controls are often instituted for the purpose of increasing the national security of the implementing country. However, this project theorizes that these types of restrictions can have unforeseen effects on the level of technological development in the implementing country and other countries around the world. The implementing country will see a decrease in their relative level of technological development while other countries around the world will …
Economic Sanctions And Opportunism, Keith A. Preble
Economic Sanctions And Opportunism, Keith A. Preble
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Sanctions busting refers to instances where third-party states increase their material support for states targeted by economic sanctions by increasing trade as well as foreign aid and investment, which, in turn, minimize the economic costs that sanctions imposed on target states. This concept privileges the sender and contributes to the “sender bias” inherent in the literature on economic sanctions. My dissertation instead argues that the terms sanctions opportunism may better reflect the nature of the processes at work when third-party states engage in sanctions busting either for commercial profit or as a “black knight” (or a combination of them both). …
From Concert To Confrontation : The Ideational Motives Of Russia's Wars With Georgia (2008) And Ukraine (2014), Inguna Miller
From Concert To Confrontation : The Ideational Motives Of Russia's Wars With Georgia (2008) And Ukraine (2014), Inguna Miller
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This dissertation examines the ideational background of Russian foreign policy, with a particular focus on ideas relevant to Russia’s conflicts with Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. Two broad approaches to Russian foreign policy – nationalism and pragmatism – present distinct views on Russia’s international role. Nationalism incorporates strong anti-Western and neo-imperialistic ideas with emphasis on Russia’s unique international mission and advocates a confrontational stance. Pragmatism conceptualizes Russia as a great world power but proposes a concert-based foreign policy that avoids a direct military confrontation. Both schools of thought are prevalent in Russia’s foreign policy discourse, and their ideas …
Aesthetic Education In The Anthropocene, Nathaniel Williams
Aesthetic Education In The Anthropocene, Nathaniel Williams
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This big picture study wrestles with the environmental crisis and the digital revolution, two grand themes of our century. Their grand scale is evident in their global significance, which we can anticipate will only grow in coming decades. Will these collective developments be met in such a way that democracy and individuality can be expanded and preserved? This study contributes to this query, offering a new articulation of aesthetic education that draws on a discourse reaching back to Friedrich Schiller, while incorporating many contemporary theorists. The study suggests that the environmental crisis and the digital revolution are creating a perfect …
Information, Politics And Government Communication : Discourse Analyses Of The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency On Twitter, Nicolau Depaula
Information, Politics And Government Communication : Discourse Analyses Of The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency On Twitter, Nicolau Depaula
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Government communication is an important activity for society, during times of calm and times of crises. Moreover, social media have become widespread information and communication technologies for government agencies around the world. In the U.S. federal government alone, there are thousands of accounts on various platforms broadcasting multiple messages a day. However, there seems to be few analyses of government discourse on social media. Although content analyses of the posts of various types of government agencies around the world abound, the categories are narrow to specific events or are agnostic about details of semantics and language structure. In this study …
Patrons Of Violence : Drivers And Dimensions Of State Support For Rebel Groups, Nakissa Jahanbani
Patrons Of Violence : Drivers And Dimensions Of State Support For Rebel Groups, Nakissa Jahanbani
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Why do some states support rebel groups? This area of study has garnered more attention in the aftermath of the Cold War, as states continue to leverage proxy groups against one another. To understand the causes and consequences of state support, this dissertation builds on existing work in the state sponsorship, terrorism, and interstate rivalry literature. The research questions in this dissertation ask: (1) why states provides specific types of sponsorship; (2) what, if any, is the effect of interstate rivalry on the global network of state support; and (3) why are some Islamist rebel groups more violent than others. …
The Hot And The Cold : A Historical Explanation For Russia's And America's Contrasting Foreign Policy Approaches To The Arctic, Joshua Newman Caldon
The Hot And The Cold : A Historical Explanation For Russia's And America's Contrasting Foreign Policy Approaches To The Arctic, Joshua Newman Caldon
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This dissertation explains how and why Russia has expanded its sphere of influence in the Arctic and why the United States has not assertively balanced this expansion. In doing so, I show that regional spheres of influence are historically and socially constructed. While material and security concerns motivate state behavior, I show that states also develop institutions, identities and interests that influence their relationships with each other and cause them to approach regions in different ways that are not readily explained by realist or liberal assumptions of how international relations should work.
Foundation For Success : Radical Right Populist Parties' Strategic Use Of The European Parliament, Injeong Hwang
Foundation For Success : Radical Right Populist Parties' Strategic Use Of The European Parliament, Injeong Hwang
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This dissertation examines the role of the European Parliament (EP) on electoral persistence of radical right parties that are marginalized in national politics by focusing on the French Front National (FN) and UK Independence Party (UKIP). The EP has been an alternative political arena for nationally marginalized radical right parties to obtain various political resources because European elections are based on proportional representation system and have a low profile. The EP provided its members with political resources including remunerations, assistants, legitimate status, chances to speak in the EP, and increased visibility.
Adorno's Concept Of The Good : Peaceful Tensions And The Precipice Of Paradise, Sean Mckeever
Adorno's Concept Of The Good : Peaceful Tensions And The Precipice Of Paradise, Sean Mckeever
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Interpretations of Adorno have been dominated by the puzzle of his own theory. The dominant questions center on the internal consistency of his project. Detractors claim that thinking in general and Adorno’s project in particular relies on the same foundations—concepts like instrumental reasoning—that his theory itself seeks to criticize. This means that Adorno himself becomes implicated in his own critique and his entire project is neutered. Many interpreters have sought to come to Adorno’s aid to show that his project is consistent and potent, in part, because it shows us another way of thinking. Proponents of both sides, though, often …
Bernard Fall And Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare In Indochina, Nathaniel Lawson Moir
Bernard Fall And Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare In Indochina, Nathaniel Lawson Moir
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
What accounts for Bernard Fall’s understanding and description of Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare in Indochina? How did formative experiences during and after the Second World War actuate Fall’s thought on the political nature of warfare in Indochina? What distinguished Fall’s thought on revolutionary warfare from others? Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare in Indochina addresses these questions through an intellectual history and contextual biography of Bernard Fall’s scholarship on the First and Second Indochina Wars. Bernard Fall, an authority on Vietnamese history, society, and the First Indochina War, began to explain in 1957 that subsequent war in Vietnam could not be …
Legislation To Reduce Microplastic Pollution : Understanding The Factors That Facilitated Passage Of The Federal Microbead-Free Waters Act Of 2015, Alyson Kelly Northrup
Legislation To Reduce Microplastic Pollution : Understanding The Factors That Facilitated Passage Of The Federal Microbead-Free Waters Act Of 2015, Alyson Kelly Northrup
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The full environmental impacts of microplastic pollution in aquatic environments remain uncertain, but several detrimental effects have been documented, including adverse health effects in multiple species and the susceptibility of microplastics to adsorb toxins and leach plastic additives. Plastic microbeads from rinse-off personal care products are a source of microplastic pollution that is introduced directly into the environment through runoff, including wastewater treatment plant effluent. In December 2015, the federal Microbead-free Waters Act of 2015 banned the manufacture and sale of all rinse-off personal care products containing plastic microbeads in the United States.
Sanctions-Busting And The Signing Of New Preferential Trade Agreements And Bilateral Investment Treaties, Yi-Hao Su
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Why does the imposition of sanctions sometimes encourage the signing of new preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs) between target states and their trade partners? I develop the theory that “trade plants the flag” and the argument of “chomping at the BIT” to explain how the trade-based and foreign direct investment (FDI)-based sanctions-busting behavior of firms drives their home governments to sign new PTAs and BITs with target states. The notion that “trade plants the flag” reveals that sanctions-busting firms exercise political influence on governments to reinforce their competitiveness in sanctioned states by concluding the PTA negotiation. …
From Bottle Rockets To Tomahawks : The Production Of Anti-Ship Missiles, Land Attack Cruise Missiles, And Short-Range Ballistic Missiles, Nolan Fahrenkopf
From Bottle Rockets To Tomahawks : The Production Of Anti-Ship Missiles, Land Attack Cruise Missiles, And Short-Range Ballistic Missiles, Nolan Fahrenkopf
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
What explains the variation in the sophistication of states military production capabilities? This dissertation analyzes this broader question by looking at the development of production capabilities of an arms sector that has required constant innovation—anti-ship missiles (ASMs), land attack cruise missiles (LACMs), and short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs). I theorize that military innovation is driven by a combination of supply-side factors involving scientific and technical (S&T) human capital and demand-side factors including security, economic, and normative motives. This dissertation explores the factors associated with the proliferation of ASMs, LACMs, and SRBMs as part of a three-essay dissertation. The chapters on ASMs …
Crafting Citizens And Immigrants : Israeli Immigration Politics In Comparative Perspective, Yeufen Hsieh
Crafting Citizens And Immigrants : Israeli Immigration Politics In Comparative Perspective, Yeufen Hsieh
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This dissertation examines the role of shifting national identity narratives in immigration politics in deeply divided societies by focusing on the case of Israel. It raises a general question: why does a state established upon an ethnocentric national identity subsequently augment its self-definition to include certain non-co-ethnic migrants without applying the extension to all non-co-ethnic groups? I argue that although a country may initially be founded upon a seemingly-unequivocal ethnocentric national identity, this identity is not immutable. Rather, over time, a national dialogue may take place, causing the reexamination of the identity. During the transition, agents redefine “who we are” …
From State Monopoly To Welfare Mix With Chinese Characteristics : The Political Economy Of Social Policy Reform In China, Xiaoye She
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
China’s social policy discourses have increasingly shifted towards a rights-based approach emphasizing equity and social justice. Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, the party-state promises to play a leading role in protecting the “basic rights” of housing, healthcare, and elderly care for all Chinese citizens. What does it mean for the urban poor and rural migrants, given the country’s deteriorating income inequality and widening rural-urban divide? How can we explain regional and local variations despite China’s authoritarian political structure?
Beyond Litigation : The Behavior Of Cause Lawyering Organizations In The Lgbtq Movement, David Lawrence Trowbridge
Beyond Litigation : The Behavior Of Cause Lawyering Organizations In The Lgbtq Movement, David Lawrence Trowbridge
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Scholarship tells us that cause lawyers, including those in the LGBTQ movement, are likely to avoid non-litigation tactics in favor of court-centered strategies (Klarman 2005; Rosenberg 2008; Scheingold 1974). Other research suggests that lawyers are likely to steer the LGBTQ movement’s agenda away from both grassroots interests and its more radical agenda (Leachman 2014; Levitsky 2006). However, more recent scholarship shows an increased reliance on non-litigation tactics in the LGBTQ movement and publicly available evidence indicates cause lawyers are working on diverse sets of issues within the movement (Cummings and NeJaime 2010; Marshall 2006).
Expanding Our Vision : An Empirical Examination Of Security Sector Reform, Andrew Vitek
Expanding Our Vision : An Empirical Examination Of Security Sector Reform, Andrew Vitek
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This dissertation contributes empirical analysis on the dynamics of security sector reform and aims to establish an understanding of the interplay between civilian governments, security forces and international actors in attempts to reform the security sectors of transitioning or reconstructing states. The need for reform programs aimed at boosting civilian control over state security forces has gained increased attention following the end of the Cold War, especially for states during regime transitions or post-conflict reconstruction. The record of success for these programs however remains inconsistent, and empirical scholarship aimed at the process at the time of writing is problematically sparse.
The Responsibility To Prevent : Neocolonialism, Poverty And Mass Atrocity Crimes In Africa, Eileen Brino
The Responsibility To Prevent : Neocolonialism, Poverty And Mass Atrocity Crimes In Africa, Eileen Brino
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The Responsibility to Protect principle was founded on the premise that sovereignty requires responsibility. The principle establishes the responsibility of states to protect their citizens from mass atrocity crimes and shifts the responsibility to the international community if states fail. This thesis explains how former colonies have had particular difficulty in meeting this responsibility and often fail to protect their populations from things like severe poverty and human rights abuses including mass atrocity crimes. In former colonies the matter of responsibility is complicated by the residual effects of colonial policies that often leave former colonies impoverished, dependent, socially fragmented and …
Aiding Repression? : The Effects Of U.S. Military Aid On Conflict Intensity And Civilian Targeting, Amira Jadoon
Aiding Repression? : The Effects Of U.S. Military Aid On Conflict Intensity And Civilian Targeting, Amira Jadoon
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This three-essay dissertation contributes to a nuanced theoretical and empirical understanding of the links between international security, foreign aid and political violence. It examines how U.S military aid interacts with domestic conflict processes to affect the nature and magnitude of violence within recipient countries. As such, it assesses the usefulness of foreign aid to promote international security, by investigating its implications on conflict intensity and civilian targeting by state and non-state actors.
The New Right In Europe : Supply, Demand, And Electoral Performance : A Qualitative Comparative Analysis Of New Right Parties, 2000-2016, Rachel Rappaport
The New Right In Europe : Supply, Demand, And Electoral Performance : A Qualitative Comparative Analysis Of New Right Parties, 2000-2016, Rachel Rappaport
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The New Right is the fastest growing party family in Europe. Factors contributing to its success have been grouped broadly into two types: demand-side factors and supply-side factors. Demand-side factors comprise socio-economic developments such as unemployment, public mistrust in the political establishment, and levels of immigration. Supply-side factors relate to the mechanics of the party system, the type of the electoral system, and endogenous features of parties such as ideology, leadership and organization. Demand-side factors dominate in the literature on New Right party success. This study concentrates on party ideology in order to explain the electoral credibility of the New …
While The Enemy Is Preoccupied : A Distractionary Theory Of Interstate Crisis Initiation, Steve S. Sin
While The Enemy Is Preoccupied : A Distractionary Theory Of Interstate Crisis Initiation, Steve S. Sin
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This study examines the implications of distraction theoretically and empirically, with a focus on the effects of external distraction on the likelihood of interstate crisis initiation. To this end, I develop the Distractionary Theory of Interstate Crisis Initiation and conduct empirical tests on the theoretical models to determine the impact of distraction on interstate crisis initiation.
Lobbying To Lawsuits : Optimistic Biases And Tactical Transitions In The Movement For Lgbt Equality, Katherine Zuber
Lobbying To Lawsuits : Optimistic Biases And Tactical Transitions In The Movement For Lgbt Equality, Katherine Zuber
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This research examines the question of strategic choice in the context of the gay and lesbian rights movement. Although social movements often combine legislative, electoral and legal strategies to effect change, systematic legal efforts on behalf of gay rights did not emerge until well after a concerted lobbying and legislative campaign arose. Why did a politically powerless group seeking rights turn to litigation much later than we might have expected? A targeted case study of gay activism in Boston confirms that political opportunity is an important external factor that shapes strategic choice. However, the impact of these structural factors is …
Treaty Commitment And The Reconstruction Of Social Relations Among States, Youcheer Kim
Treaty Commitment And The Reconstruction Of Social Relations Among States, Youcheer Kim
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Does states’ treaty commitment promote the inter-state socialization? A gap exists in the existing constructivist International Relations literature as to which agents could promote the internalization of constitutive beliefs through which process. This project seeks to illuminate whether states’ treaty commitments have promoted the inter-state socialization in three dimensions: (1) the convergence of voting patterns in the UN General Assembly (2) the convergence of state practices in territorial disputes (3) the emergence of rules-oriented domestic governance. I draw on classical sociology, public law theory, the English School theory, and the Transnational Legal Process theory to develop the Social Theory of …
The Grammar Of Politicization And Depoliticization : Arendt's Republicanism And The Translation Of Revolutionary Politics And Judgment Into Political Institutions, Daniel Kuchler
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
For Arendt, political freedom is both a spontaneous rejection of rule and the foundation of institutions. In my dissertation, I argue that both aspects are linked together by her concept of political judgment. This reading of Arendt contrasts with a strand of political theory that seems to argue that public-participatory politics, as found in revolutions, cannot be translated into lasting institutions: Wolin and Rancière argue that any attempt at establishing institutions undermines the participatory character of politics. Habermas and Pettit on the other hand argue for establishing lasting institutions, but they do so at the expense of a rich concept …
Modalities And Citizen Bribe Offers : The Case Of Post-Soviet Corruption, Turkhan Sadigov
Modalities And Citizen Bribe Offers : The Case Of Post-Soviet Corruption, Turkhan Sadigov
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
This work analyzes relatively neglected side of corruption ‒ population bribe offers (as opposed to bureaucrats' bribe demand). The regional focus of the work is on the post-Soviet space, with Azerbaijan, Estonia and Russia as case studies. Drawing on all relevant theories and variables of corruption research, the manuscript emphasizes the importance of ideational factors of corruption in addition to material variables. To analyze ideational factors, the research introduces methodological innovation ‒ the concept of archetypal Modalities. The main argument of the work is that traditionalist value orientations (Local, Symbol and Passive modalities) are statistically significant in predicting the incidence …
The Creation Of The Self And The Birth Of Inequality : Locke And Rousseau On Natural Rights And Private Property, Michael Sokoler
The Creation Of The Self And The Birth Of Inequality : Locke And Rousseau On Natural Rights And Private Property, Michael Sokoler
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The formation of civil societies marked one of the most monumental shifts
Gender : Impacts On Participation In Elected Local Government, Kathleen Kt Tobin
Gender : Impacts On Participation In Elected Local Government, Kathleen Kt Tobin
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The purpose of this research is to analyze women’s underrepresentation in elected local government and to explore the particular constraints associated with this type of political participation. Understanding why there is a dearth of women in elected office, with a focus on actual barriers to entry at the local level, is critical because the lack of gender balanced representation has serious implications for the way our democracy functions and has significant consequences for citizens because of the resultant effects on governance and quality of life. Theorists have identified cultural, political, and social impediments to women's participation in politics, and this …