Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Bureaucracy, Bottlenecks, And Bots: Ai And Migrant Experiences At Germany’S Foreigners’ Authorities, Johanna Brusa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How can AI provide a meaningful tool in migration management for the German government? Seeking highly-skilled migrants and overburdened by mass migration, the German government is turning to AI to generate solutions to bureaucratic overload in the Ausländerbehörden (ABH, the Foreigners’ Authorities), the Federal Republic's administrative system for managing the processing of migration. AI promises to ease the bureaucratic burden on civil servants, but can it improve migrants' experiences in their interactions with the ABH? And, critically for the German state, could it help convince highly-skilled workers to make Germany their home? Analyzing 530 Google reviews of six different ABH …

New York State Excelsior Scholarship Program: A Post-Implementation Analysis Of Student Success, Eligibility, And Indebtedness – An Intersectional Study Of Black And White Female Students, Marcus I. Richardson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The New York State (NYS) Excelsior Scholarship Program, introduced in 2017, was designed as a “first-in-the-nation” tuition-free initiative intended to expand college affordability for undergraduate students attending public institutions in New York State. While the program aims to increase access to higher education, its eligibility requirements, particularly the expectation that students complete 30 credits annually through continuous full-time enrollment, may disadvantage students whose academic pathways diverge from traditional enrollment patterns. This study examined the relationship between structural, financial, and academic factors and students’ ability to retain Excelsior Scholarship eligibility at the City University of New York (CUNY). Using institutional data …

Goddess In A Trash Can: Religious Ritual Disposal In New York City Public Parks, Zoe Oro-Hahn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Practitioners of Afro-Caribbean religions, including Santería, Vodou, Espiritismo, and Las 21 Divisiones, utilize the New York City Public Parks system to hold rituals, connect with spirits and ancestors, and dispose of religious remains leftover from trabajos (workings) and brujería (witchcraft). Utilizing photos from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, my thesis considers the religious, political, social, and practical rationale behind this phenomenon, explores the rituals occurring, and provides policy suggestions that balance religious needs of practitioners with the safety and wellbeing of New York City’s parks.

A Hot Topic:
Congressional Polarization And Climate Change, Mercedes R.P. Wilby

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Scholars offer competing explanations for how congressional polarization develops and operates. The literature variously points to shifting agendas, procedural change, or member adaptation or replacement. In this project, I study how congressional polarization occurs by asking what mechanisms account for the emergence of climate policy polarization. Climate policy is a useful test case to evaluate these competing theories. As a relatively low-salience, highly technical issue that is neither new nor inherently ideological, it is not an obvious candidate for deep partisan division. Yet climate policy has become sharply polarized, extending partisan disagreement even to the underlying science.

In order to …

Essays On Health And Immigration Policy, Selen Ozdogan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of two essays in applied microeconomics, each examining how individuals and institutions respond to policy changes. Both essays leverage natural experiments and recent advances in difference-in-differences estimation to identify causal effects. Both also speak to a common theme in public policy: the gap between intended and actual consequences of government intervention, and the role that policy design plays in shaping those consequences.

The first essay examines the impact of state-level e-cigarette excise taxes on nicotine and tobacco exposure among adults aged 18 and older. A central contribution is its use of individual-level panel biomarker data from urine …

Erosion And Accretion: Mobilities Of Sand, People, And Memory At Queer Riis Beach, Jah Elyse Sayers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The People’s Beach at Jacob Riis Park on the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens, New York, is a vibrant place of queer and trans public-space placemaking—and especially Black and working class queer and trans placemaking. A distinct queer ecology emerges in the interplay of the dynamic movement of the barrier island, queer and trans—especially queer and trans Afro-diasporic—mobilities. This queer ecology, while articulated with, also defies and exceeds logics and workings of private property. In response to a convergence of pressures on Black, queer, trans, and working-class placemaking on the beach site in the 2020s, beachgoers have mobilized longstanding provisional socialities …

The New York City Fields Of Calcio Libero: Where Protagonists Activate Counter-Hegemony, Olivia Soderini

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Derivative from a deeply rooted calcio (“football”/ “soccer”) passion, with years of associated empiricism in diverse contexts, as well as from a profound intellectual interest in examining (im)migratory trends through interdisciplinary lenses, stems the development of this project’s topical focus and multi-dimensional argument. My calcio experiences, further combined with my interest in and knowledge of political and critical theory, served as the converged impetus of recognizing what already exists and is thriving: (im)migrant protagonism and counter-hegemony by way of New York City (“NYC”) calcio libero.[1] This project embarks on a creative autoethnographic and analytical journey to explore pickup’s …

The Impact Of Corruption On Private Investment In The Mena Region: An Empirical Study On The Period Of 1996-2023, Mohamed A. El Regdawy

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to examine and understand empirically the impact of corruption on private investment in the MENA region during the period of 1996-2023, as private investment is a key enabler for sustainable economic growth. To better understand such a relationship, a Pooled Mean Group estimator was implemented to figure out this relationship in both the short run and long run. The findings confirm that in the long run, within the context of MENA, corruption was used as a tool to overcome the lack of quality in the regulations that were supposed to enable the role of the private sector. …

From Institutions To Families: Assessing The Progress Of Egypt’S National Strategy For Alternative Child Care Reform, Yasmine M. El Hagry

Theses and Dissertations

This study serves as a critical mid-term review of the Egyptian National Strategy for Alternative Care for Children and Youth without Parental Care (NACS) (2021-2030). The 10-year strategy overall goal is to shift from institutional care, such as orphanages, to family-based care, such as kafala, the Islamic alternative to legal adoption, for children deprived of parental care. While the global literature strongly advocates deinstitutionalization, empirical research on the operational risks and unintended harms that can arise during such complex transformations remains scarce.

Adapting the International Civil Service Effectiveness (InCiSE) Framework, this research uses a qualitative approach to diagnose the …

Turning Boycott Into A Sustainable Opportunity: Leveraging Boycott To Boost Local Production And Enhance Local Market Competitiveness In Egypt, Alaa Maher

Theses and Dissertations

While existing literature largely concentrates on the consumer behavior dimensions of boycotts, limited attention has been paid to their structural economic implications for FDI and local production. This paper frames the 2023 boycott campaign as a demand shock in Egypt’s food and beverages sector. Dependency theory is applied to assess the pre-boycott stage, where MNCs’ market power created structural dependencies within the sector. Dynamic capabilities theory is employed to explain the heterogeneity in firm responses during the boycott and their attempts to acquire sustainable market share. Using a multi-case study design, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted across 16 firms in …

Understanding And Enhancing Suicide Prevention Strategies In The Military: The Roles Of Culture, Leadership, And Command Climate, Kelly Johanna Pires

Dissertations

Military service members are shaped and molded to fit a military culture that emphasizes mission readiness and continuous preparedness. Countless hours are spent training for various situations that can arise. Many trainings are geared toward worst-case scenarios that can cause an increase in stressors and traumatic events. They are expected to demonstrate resilience and overcome adversity to remain mission-ready. This expectation to be mission-ready creates the space for mental health difficulties as well as stigma and avoidance of help-seeking behaviors. In many cases, the desire to stay mission-ready creates a barrier for conversations around mental health. The military emphasizes qualities …

Book Review: Obama And The Bomb: New Start, Russia And The Politics Of Post-Cold War Arms Control, Brennan Deveraux

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Frank Leith Jones

Reviewed by: Brennan Deveraux, US Army Strategist

A close examination of how nuclear arms control shaped military planning, diplomacy, and domestic politics during a pivotal moment in post–Cold War relations. This review explores how treaty negotiations became a test of trust, strategy, and civil-military engagement at the highest levels of US national security decision making.

Book Review: The New Calculus Of Escalation: Avoiding Armageddon In Great Power Conflict, Darren W. Buss

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Martin C. Libicki

Reviewed by: Colonel Darren W. Buss, faculty instructor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College

In The New Calculus of Escalation, Martin C. Libicki redefines how we understand the thresholds between peace, conventional war, and nuclear conflict in an era shaped by cyber warfare and emerging technologies. Drawing lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war and Cold War doctrines, he offers a fresh framework for managing escalation to prevent catastrophic outcomes. This timely and thought-provoking book is essential reading for strategists, policymakers, and anyone concerned with the future of great power conflict.

The Social Construction Of Risk: How Media Socially Constructs Risk Perceptions Surrounding School Shootings Among College Students, Natalie Jobe

University Honors Theses

Although school shootings are statistically rare events, public fear surrounding them has continuously increased across the United States. This thesis explored how college students perceive the risk of school shootings despite the relatively low probability of experiencing these violent events, with particular attention to the role of media framing, sensationalized reporting, and repeated exposure to violent social and digital media. In order to examine how media framing, social and digital media exposure, as well as ongoing encounters with violent content affect risk perception, this research conducted six interviews with traditionally aged college students from Portland State University regarding their experiences …

The Scars Of Renewal: How The Legacy Of Urban Renewal Informs Community Response To Gentrification In San Francisco's Fillmore District, Christopher Hayes

University Honors Theses

What is the disconnect between what the people living in the city say that they want, what the politicians say they're doing to address it, and where does that disconnect come from? Using a case study of San Francisco's Fillmore District, this study investigated discourses of gentrification in media coverage. As a historically Black neighborhood that was severely disrupted by post-World War II Urban Renewal programs, the Fillmore's story mirrors that of many other neighborhoods in the United States. Today, there are heated debates about how to move forward with development given this history and the declining numbers of African …

Book Review: Beyond Black Hawk Down: Intervention, Nation-Building, And Insurgency In Somalia, 1992-1995, Christian Werner

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Jonathan Carroll

Reviewed by: Colonel Christian Werner, director of European studies, Department of National Security and Strategy, US Army War College

In this groundbreaking military history, Jonathan Carroll moves beyond the infamous Battle of Mogadishu to uncover the full scope of the US and UN intervention in Somalia. Drawing on newly available sources and the Somali perspective, Carroll reveals how a promising humanitarian mission unraveled into a cautionary tale of political missteps and failed nation-building. Beyond Black Hawk Down offers vital lessons for future interventions in fragile states, making it essential reading for policymakers, historians, and military strategists alike. …

Book Review: Lessons Learned And Unlearned: The Drivers Of Us Indirect-Fire Innovation, Michael E. Lynch

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Brennan S. Deveraux

Reviewed by: Dr. Michael E. Lynch

How does military innovation really happen—and what causes it to stall? In Lessons Learned and Unlearned, Brennan S. Deveraux traces the evolution of U.S. indirect-fire systems, revealing how institutional memory, battlefield experience, and strategic priorities shape technological progress. This sharp analysis offers vital insights for defense planners, historians, and anyone interested in the mechanics of military adaptation.

Review Essay: World War Ii Generals, John A. Bonin

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Books Reviewed:

1. Tubby: Raymond O. Barton and the United States Army, 1889–1963 by Stephen A. Bourque

2. Patton’s Tactician: The War Diary of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes edited by James W. Holsinger Jr.

Reviewed by: Dr. John A. Bonin, distinguished fellow, US Army War College

Two revealing studies shed light on overlooked World War II commanders whose leadership shaped key moments from Normandy to the early Cold War. These dual studies uncover the complexities of senior Army leadership—showing how personal relationships, hard‑won experiences, and strategic insights shaped victory in Europe.

©2026 John A. Bonin

Book Review: Occupation: Russian Rule In South-Eastern Ukraine, Christopher J. Hickey

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: David Lewis

Reviewed by: Colonel Christopher J. Hickey, PhD, associate professor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College

In this timely and penetrating study, David Lewis examines the mechanisms and consequences of Russian governance in occupied southeastern Ukraine. Through on-the-ground analysis and geopolitical insight, the book reveals how local institutions, identity, and resistance are reshaped under foreign rule. It’s an essential read for understanding the evolving dynamics of power, control, and legitimacy in one of Europe’s most contested regions.

Drone Urbanisms, Siew Ying Shee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Across contemporary cities, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) particularly drones have emerged as critical instruments for sensing, visualizing, and reconfiguring the built environment. Yet, urban space is not merely a passive backdrop for drone activity; it both shapes and is reshaped by them. The central question for understanding drone urbanism, then, is not only what drones do, but how their deployment redistributes the agency to see, know, and intervene across human operators, infrastructures, and algorithms.This renegotiation of visibility, authority, and knowledge takes shape through the ways drones mediate the governance and experiential textures of the city. Departing from the distant totalities …

Calibrations And Compliance: The Role Of Motivations In Policy Instrument Design, Panchali Guha, Ishani Mukherjee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Most research on the role of policy calibrations in fostering policy target compliance has focused on the calibration of incentives and deterrents; less attention has been paid to examining the deployment and calibration of a wider range of policy instruments with the intention of eliciting a greater degree of compliance from policy targets with heterogeneous motivations. This article addresses this gap in the literature by empirically testing multiple hypotheses on the relationship between the calibration of different kinds of policy instruments and policy compliance for policy targets characterized by different motivations. Using data from a vignette experiment set in the …

Of Climate Justice And Magical Realism, Sonya Ziaja

Michigan Law Review

A review of Climate Justice: What Rich Nations Owe the World—and the Future. By Cass R. Sunstein.

News Media Coverage Of Measure Ula: How The Story Of La’S Big Project To Address Homelessness And Affordable Housing Got Sidetracked By The Story Of Big Real Estate, Christopher R. Martin

Faculty Publications

“Measure ULA,” named after United to House LA, was approved by voters in Los Angeles in 2022 to create a dedicated, long-term funding source for solutions to homelessness in LA, including funding the construction of affordable homes and preventing homelessness by helping tenants stay in their homes. The funding would come from a new tax on the most expensive real estate transactions in L.A. (i.e., mansion tax), and would affect fewer than 4% of all property transactions. At the end of three years of local news coverage about Measure ULA from the Los Angeles Times and LAist, the news audience …

The Political Economy Of Mandatory Disclosure: A Literature Review, Hao Liang, Hanyu Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Reviewing the literature on mandatory corporate disclosure from a political economy perspective, we synthesize the classic justifications for disclosure regulations while emphasizing why voluntary disclosure often fails to achieve socially efficient transparency. We also highlight how legal institutions, enforcement capacity, and political forces shape the design, credibility, and effectiveness of disclosure mandates. Drawing on evidence from international and China-focused studies, we review empirical findings on how mandatory disclosure affects investor protection, information environments, and firm behavior, showing that similar reporting rules yield different outcomes across institutional settings. We further extend the discussion to ESG and climate-related disclosure to examine emerging …

The City As Showroom: Singapore And The Rise Of The "Urban Solutions" Industry, Sol Andrew Stokols

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article uses the concept of the “city as showroom” to describe an emergent logic shaping urban development that stems from the growing importance of “urban solutions” as an industry. Focusing primarily on Singapore, the article examines how certain urban districts and high-profile sites are conceptualized as “showrooms” for the infrastructure and urban technologies they aim to export around the world. The idea of the “city as showroom” combines aspects of the curation of a city’s image through showcase districts, as well as “testbed urbanism” seen in certain smart-city projects. Singapore's need to reproduce itself as a model of urban …

Power-Sharing Under Pressure: What A Decade Of Community Partnership Reveals For Philanthropy Today, Clare Nolan, Pilar Mendoza

The Foundation Review

Between 2017 and 2024, U.S. philanthropy experienced a period of significant innovation as many foundations reconsidered long-standing assumptions about control and began taking steps to share power more directly with the communities they fund. This article draws on community leaders’ reflections, alongside the authors’ perspective as long-term evaluators, to examine how these commitments were experienced in practice.

The article focuses on the David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s Starting Smart and Strong Initiative (S3I), a 10-year effort to strengthen early learning systems across East San Jose, Fresno, and Oakland, California. Drawing on interviews with grantees and technical assistance partners, along with …

Adaptive Learning Partnerships In Action: Insights And Reflections From The Macarthur Foundation’S Big Bet On Nigeria, Julian Williams, Michael Moses

The Foundation Review

This article explores the evolution of the authors’ strategic learning partnership during their work together with the MacArthur Foundation’s Big Bet On Nigeria. The authors share practical insights into how foundations can cultivate learning relationships grounded in trust, aligned with priorities of program staff and grantees, and calibrated to generate timely, actionable insights.

The authors highlight the key principles that enabled them to help the program and grantees identify and adapt to emerging challenges, lessons, and needs, both within the programming context and in the foundation. In doing so, they offer a roadmap for funders and evaluators seeking to embed …

Front And Back Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

From Framework To Practice: Insights About Aligning Foundation Impact And Strategic Positioning In A Trust-Based Philanthropy Era, Nancy Pole, Marie-Andrée Mbengue-Reiver, Anne Loranger-King

The Foundation Review

This article examines how a framework revealing foundations’ distinct orientations towards social impact has been used in practice, illustrating the tool’s utility and areas for refinement through one foundation’s experience.

Originally developed for Quebec’s philanthropic ecosystem, the heuristic positions foundations along two continua: strategic posture (problem-solving versus communitysupporting) and impact focus (grantee outcomes versus foundation outcomes), creating four impact orientation quadrants.

The case reveals productive tensions when different parts of a foundation occupy different quadrants. They are particularly acute for public foundations accountable simultaneously to donors, grantees, government funders, and communities.

These insights inform future framework iterations with a view …