Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Comparing The Us Response To The Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan And The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine: Learning From The Past And Planning For The Future, Zachary Hogan

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

As the Russo-Ukrainian war continues to rage, the decisions of the present are of paramount importance. In order to make the most positive and well-supported decisions in this ongoing conflict, it would be wise to look to past instances of similar situations. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is such an instance. The parallels between the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the past Soviet invasion of Afghanistan are extensive and, more importantly, informative for U.S. foreign policy. It is with this lens that this paper will pursue a historical foreign policy analysis of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, its circumstances and …

International Human Rights Through Queer Theory: A Discursive Analysis Of The Russian, Lithuanian, And Kyrgyz Lgbtq+ Lived Experience Within The Global Paradigm, Mariem Youssef

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis attempts to shed light on the subordination of international human rights law to that of the paradigm of international relations through asserting the existence of US Empire i.e., that emulates historical empires, British and French, which aims to emancipate subjugated minorities, formerly women and presently LGBTQ+ individuals from their national oppressive regimes. This is achieved through a discussion of pervious literature that discusses queer theory with a special focus on Russia, Lithuania, and Kyrgyzstan as the main case studies. While the overt intentionality of the “empire” is to protect LGBTQ+ individuals through perpetuating the prototype of the “International …

Striving For Peace Through Speech: Analyzing The Effect Personal Diplomacy And Summitry Had On Presidential Communist Rhetoric, 1984-1986, Jack Cravwn

Senior Theses

Globalization has ushered in an unprecedented era of connected national politics, economies, and populations. Strong ties have intertwined the fates of nations and brought about a new era of international cooperation. However, the rise of populist and isolationist movements in the past two decades threatens to change the geopolitical landscape and diplomacy around the globe. As the United States loses its hegemonic role to the quickly growing economy of China, it is imperative that American foreign policy reflects the need for continued cooperation and support. This raises the question of the effectiveness state diplomacy and summitry has in easing tensions …

Does Electoral Proximity Influence Commitment To International Human Rights Law?, Nolan A. Ragland

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Slava Ukraini: A Psychobiographical Case Study Of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’S Public Diplomacy Discourse, Amber Brittain-Hale

Theses and Dissertations

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's public diplomacy during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict was examined in this dissertation. Zelenskyy’s discourse emphasized his action-oriented traits, Ukrainian identity, and nationalism. The study employed LTA, and LIWC-22, for natural language processing analyses of Zelenskyy's public speeches and diplomatic discourse. Zelenskyy demonstrated agency, adaptability, collaboration, and positive language patterns, suggesting confidence and optimism, according to the data. In addition, the research emphasizes how domestic and international factors influence state behavior, as well as how political demands, cultural, historical, and political factors influence Zelenskyy's decision-making.

This dissertation sheds light on a global leader's psychobiographical characteristics, beliefs, and motivations during a …

The Belt And Road Initiative Policy: How Chinese Policy Influences Southeast Asia And South Asia, Chendong Wang

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This article would be divided into two main parts. In the first part, this article introduces what is the BRI policy and the history of the BRI policy. The BRI policy is a Chinese strategy and network to connect with Chinese partners and potential partners through economic, political, and cultural three perspectives. In the second part, this article describes the BRI policy development and the response from Chinese neighboring countries which mainly include the Southeast and South Asian Countries. Southeast Asian nations and south Asian nations would first be directly impacted by politics, the economy, and culture. Southeast Asian countries …

Global Governance Or Global Government? An Examination Of Anarchy Vs. Hierarchy, Global Civil Society And International Governmental Organizations, Grace R. Purvis

University Honors Theses

The goal of this paper is to argue that we currently have a system of global government rather than global governance. To prove this, It examines two main areas, international hierarchy and global society. In terms of hierarchy, it considers the existence of hierarchy among nations as well as a practical hierarchy in global decision making and functioning. This is shown via an examination of American Empire, Power Transition Theory, the Washington Consensus, the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The second major focus, global society, considers how nations utilize international organizations and technology to allow for the …

Ping Pong Diplomacy: Us - China Supply Chain Relations Today, Camille Wagner

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

“The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.” The masterpiece that is The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien holds many timeless words of wisdom, the one quoted above being a good summary of this paper. This business thesis will tell the story of ping pong diplomacy, globalization, and how this diplomacy can be revived in a modern world where U.S. – China contentions continue to threaten supply chain stability.

How Biden Wants Us To Think About Ukraine’S Conflict, Rainer Shea

Communication 300 Papers

President Joe Biden’s rhetorical style when talking to the American people about the conflict in Ukraine is one which can be compared to that of President George W. Bush in regards to the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks. During Biden’s speech about Ukraine in March of 2022, he conveyed an idea parallel to that which Bush conveyed: an enemy of the United States has committed a transgression which can’t go unpunished, and the “free world” needs to fight back at any cost. In order to make this case, Biden used the speech to counter Putin’s arguments for a …

Crisis, Cooperation, And Coercion: Migration Diplomacy In Europe, 2014-2017, Jessica L. Jones

Political Science ETDs

In this dissertation I ask when and how states employ migration diplomacy – and its coercive and cooperative variants – during the European Migration Crisis, 2014-2017. I argue that states use migration diplomacy to minimize the costs of migration crises and are more likely to use migration diplomacy when either the incurred or anticipated costs of migration crises are greater, when they are less powerful, and when anti-migrant domestic political pressures are higher. I use a multimethod approach to answer my questions. Results from my multivariate logistic regressions support my expectation that states are more likely to engage in migration …

Identification Of Cultural Differences And Their Effects On International Relations: A Novel Approach, Stephen W. Jones

Dissertations

International Relations suffers from underspecified treatments of culture that risk reifying, essentializing, or ignoring the effects of cultural differences in the conduct of relationships between states. Following a review of the development of the culture concept, this interpretivist, epistemologically critical realist, dissertation introduces intercultural adaptive frameshifting from the intercultural communication literature. To assess whether culture has effect within an epistemic community, four frameworks are evaluated within a non-IR field (global Christian reasoning). Speech act theory is used to assess meaningful affect through illocutionary and/or perlocutionary divergence based on cultural difference.

Following the findings that such cultural differences do in fact …

Victims To Victors: Women Reclaiming Conflict Management In Sub-Saharan Africa, Joy N. Ballard

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Women in sub-Saharan Africa are often viewed as the victims of the conflict around them. This view discredits the hundreds of women who are serving in legislative and executive branches across the region. This research investigates if women in positions of power make more peaceful decisions in times of conflict than their male counterparts. Using negative binomial regression methods this research examines the percentages of women in legislative and executive branches to number of conflict days in a year and number of peace agreements signed. This study found that as the percentage of women in office rise the number of …

The United Arab Emirates Soft Power In The International Relations Context, Ahmed Mohamed Saeed Jber Al Suwaidi

Dissertations

In the modern world, soft power is a significant concept referring to nations’ ability to influence others without the need to use force or threats. Developed nations have made a great effort to enhance their soft power practices in order to utilize this power to influence fellow nations. The United Arab Emirates’ soft power is still considered a relatively new area of practical academic discipline. Nonetheless, the UAE's soft power practices remain essential in determining its position on the global scale. To develop a soft-power strategy, objectives and needs must be outlined. To address these objectives and needs, mixed-method research …

From Reform To Resignation: Explaining Why Some Protest Movements Escalate Demands, Sooyeon Kang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the unresolved puzzles in the civil resistance and contentious politics literatures relates to the fact that some movements that begin as reformist (seeking redress in a certain policy space) escalate to maximalist claims (demanding the ouster of a national leader or the entire regime) – a process I call “demand escalation.” For instance, in the summer of 2019, thousands took to the streets of Hong Kong to protest a proposed extradition bill that would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China to face trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party. However, even after Hong Kong’s …

Strategic Culture And Cyber Strategy, Andrew S. Olejarski

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this paper is to explore the relationship between strategic culture theory and how it interacts with war-parallel usage of cyber methods. Cyber methods, at times incorrectly classified as "cyberwarfare", as a means of statecraft are becoming increasingly prevalent, and developing an understanding of how states use them, particularly during conflicts, would be a great boon to the field of security studies. Strategic culture theory, an international relations theory focusing on the relationship between culture and strategy, may be an effective means to analyze conflict-parallel use of cyber methods. This paper will consider the relationship between strategic culture …

Cooperation In The International System: An Interdisciplinary Investigation At The Intersection Of International Relations And International Law, Kalyani Unkule

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

A conversation between the disciplines of International Relations and International Law illuminates the nature of interstate cooperation and enhances our understanding of the nature and potential of international law. There are methodological and practical asymmetries between International Relations and International Law which create ideal conditions for interdisciplinary work. Studying international cooperation on protecting cultural heritage enable us to address the above questions and reevaluate and extend underlying theoretical frameworks.

Faits Accomplis In The Shadow Of Shifting Power, Joshua Adam Hastey

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The military fait accompli is so understudied a phenomenon in the international relations literature that even its definition is not widely known. A fait accompli is a unilateral revision to the status quo in an ongoing dispute over some distribution of benefits. Though recent work has demonstrated that faits accomplis are relatively common events in international history and current international relations, the subject remains undertheorized and empirically underexplored. This dissertation seeks to open up the conversation about faits accomplis in two complementary ways. First, it advances an original formal model of faits accomplis in the shadow of power shifts, …

Exhuming Norms: Examining The Influence Of International Norms On The Independent Commission For The Location Of Victims’ Remains In Northern Ireland, Tamara Kathleen Hinan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Forced disappearances are crimes against humanity that occur when individuals disappear, often occurring during a period of political conflict. During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the conflict among Irish nationalists and British unionists between 1968 and 1998, 16 people were disappeared by Irish nationalist paramilitary forces. In 1999, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) was established to investigate the disappearances, locate the remains and return the victims to their families.

The ICLVR is not the first institution to conduct forensic human rights investigations into forced disappearances, these investigations have become the standard approach internationally. However, little …

Friendship Projects Within Embargo: Peacemaking And Power Between Us And Cuban Quakers 1987-2019, Jade Souza

University Honors Theses

This paper analyzes Quaker friendship projects between US and Cuban Quakers within the embargo period, with friendship construction being looked at as creative act within a contact zone. How are these intercultural friendships formed and sustained within communities from two countries in conflict? How do they relate to larger social dynamics such as intractable conflict and tourism? How do the friendships change the dynamics within these communities? Two examples of friendship projects are looked at in terms of the strategies they employ to navigate the dynamics of conflict and social inequality between the two states.

American National Identity And Grand Strategy In The Post-Cold War Era, Norman T. Carter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a correlation between American grand strategy and post-Cold War national identity. Congressional leaders, policy makers, scholars, and observers have noted that the United States lacked a coherent grand strategy for the immediate post-Cold War era. However, President Bill Clinton built a grand strategy of selected engagement predicated it on the historical values of modern American national identity. Through published national security data, speeches, and observations of strategic choices, this research compared President Clinton’s actions in the international arena to a grand strategy typology. Further, through the theoretical lens of constructivism, an assessment of President Clinton’s national identity construct, …

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. …

Nonstate Actors And International Law: Just War Theory Or The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights?, Jason Lee Mitchell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is a debate taking place within the global war on terror (GWT), and its legal and moral parameters are established by two basic arguments. The first is that “Citizens who associate themselves with the military arm of the enemy government, and with its aid, guidance and direction enter this country bent on hostile acts are enemy belligerents within the meaning of the Hague Convention and the law of war” (Ex parte Quirin, 37). The second is that an “Enemy combatant” is a general category that subsumes two sub-categories: lawful and unlawful combatants. The conclusion as it currently stands is …

Arctic Security: The Race For The Arctic Through The Prism Of International Relations Theory, Michael Gregory Morgan Trujillo

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the thesis is to examine future international relations in the Arctic as a theoretical exercise based on realism and liberalism. As the ice cap shrinks, and the region's environment changes, developing costs will decrease allowing for resource-extraction while new transit routes emerge. The opportunities to develop resources and ship via the Arctic are economic and strategically valuable, altering the geopolitics of the region. This thesis seeks to explore how resource development and new transit routes will affect regional politics through the lens of two theories. The two theoretical approaches will examine states and actors' interests and possible …

La Biopiratería: Nuevos Desafíos Para La Triple Frontera Amazónica, Valentina Castaño Bedoya, Erika Vanessa Gaspar Rodríguez

Negocios y Relaciones Internacionales

La presente investigación busca responder a la pregunta: ¿De qué manera la inclusión del concepto de Seguridad Ambiental en los países que componen la Triple Frontera Amazónica contribuye a enfrentar el fenómeno transfronterizo de la Biopiratería? Para ello se estudia a la Triple Frontera Amazónica (en adelante TFA) en relación con dicha problemática a nivel transfronterizo. En tal sentido, se define el concepto de Seguridad Ambiental en los países miembros, contribuyendo a enfrentar dicha problemática. Luego se realiza su caracterización a nivel regional presentando la multiplicidad de casos de estudio que materializan a la biopiratería como fenómeno delictivo trasnacional histórico …

Small Scale Sport Events And Sustainability: A Case Study In Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile, Jennifer Valarde-Menary

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Small-scale sport events have been argued to be sustainable form of tourism development for communities (Gibson, 1999). The purpose of this study was to analyze four small-scale sport events all operated by NIGSA (Nómadas International Group SA) in the Magallanes region of Chile. The four events at the core of this study were: Patagonian Expedition Race, Patagonian International Marathon, Ultra Trail Torres del Paine, and the Ultra Fiord which operate partially or completely inside the Torres del Paine National Park. As a biosphere reserve established by the United Nations, Torres del Paine National Park requires a sustainable perspective of event …

Who Runs The World? An Analysis Of The Internal Dynamics Of International Organizations And Their Impact On The Ability Of Women To Attain High-Level Leadership Positions, Sabrina K. Harris

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study asks how do the internal dynamics of international organizations (IOs) affect the ability of women to attain high-ranking professional positions within international secretariats? To answer this question, theoretical understandings of the autonomy of IOs and the influence of their staff members as leaders are employed, arguing that individuals that comprise the internal bureaucracies of IOs are independent and influential in determining the policies, processes, and performance of their organization. In reviewing the relevant literature regarding IOs, gender, and leadership, this research identifies three key internal dynamics that jointly interact to influence the ability of women to attain-high level …

The Kosovo Moment: The United States And The Post-Cold War Balkans, Visar Xhambazi

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study attempts to assess the importance of the humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, the last phase of Yugoslavian agony. It provides a historical background of the region in order to better understand the mosaic of ethnic divisions and hatred as well as the cultural differences and the rise of nationalism through time. Furthermore, it analyzes the events and evaluates the performance of the United States, Europe and intergovernmental organizations in preventing genocide, pushing for regime change and state-building. The last stage considers the United States role in the Balkans and beyond, aiming to provide essential lessons and recommendations on future …

Ukraine At The Crossroad In Post-Communist Europe: Policymaking And The Role Of Foreign Actors, Ryan Barrett

Dissertations

As the mounting protests from Maidan Square in Kyiv led to the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovich, Ukrainians found themselves at an unavoidable fork in the road in their history. For years the country had become a new frontier of Western influence, forcing a decision between tightening economic and cultural ties with Western countries or with Russia. The basic question many Ukrainians now faced included choosing between their Soviet past or a potential liberal democratic future. Furthermore, the Russian takeover of Crimea became the first major invasion of a European country since 1968. This military maneuver stunned the international community …

Restive Subjects: Russian Protest, 2007–2013, Carey C. Neill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops and evaluates a structural theory of protest onset, applied to the Russian case. Russian stability has become a pressing international political concern, as Putin has annexed the Crimea, fomented one war, in Ukraine, and become a major player in another, in Syria. In December 2011, thousands of Russians gathered in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and other cities for the largest set of protests since the fall of the USSR. Waves of protest have reappeared sporadically since. Each time, events create islands of dissent, spread widely, but unevenly, throughout the country - in a picture reminiscent of the pre-collapse …

College Teachers' Perceptions About Teaching Global Competency, Izabela Agata Majewska

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

National and international organizations emphasize the importance of teaching global competence in American higher education as a way of preparing students for the rigors of a globalized workforce. Lack of nation-wide educational initiatives aimed at providing institutional guidelines for assessing international relations (IR) courses for this skill acquisition requires colleges to rely on their own resources and ingenuity. Presently, no course assessment methods for gauging global competency attainment exist at Florida College. The purpose of this study was to investigate faculty perceptions of instruction and learning of global competence. Mezirow's transformative learning theory was the conceptual framework that guided this …