Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Bold Leader Or Bully? Interpreting Chinese Regional Maritime Behavior, Harrison I. Fried

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 2009, tensions have increased markedly between China and its maritime neighbors over disputed territories in the East and South China Seas. China’s neighbors accuse it of acting like a bully, alleging that China engages in behavior that is aggressive, inappropriate, and oppressive. But can such accusations be substantiated through objective analysis, or is bullying truly in the eye of the beholder? Further, is China simply acting boldly, albeit in a manner that is justifiable, as it emerges as a leader in the region? The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether labeling China’s behavior as “bullying” (as China’s …

Alliances And Preferences: Party System Institutionalization's Potentially Intervening Role On Pre-Election Cooperation In Australia, Fiji, And Papua New Guinea, Lee T. Barrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project examines the intervening role of party system institutionalization in determining the effect of electoral rules on the behavior of political parties. Highly institutionalized systems differ across multiple dimensions--supply stability, volatility of results, and rootedness of parties--from fluid systems. Party behavior can be depicted rationally as a response to both institutional incentives and the historical and sociological context of a nation's party system. Electoral incentives promoting certain types of party behavior can be negated by party system mechanics that deter those behaviors. The research uses a medium-N structured, focused comparison of elections from Australia, Fiji, and Papua New …

Robustness: A New Us Cyber Deterrence Strategy, Eric M. Decampos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The growing trend of computer network attacks provokes the necessity for a comprehensive cyber deterrence strategy to deter aggressors from attacking U.S. critical infrastructure. The current U.S. cyber deterrence strategy based on punishment is ineffective in deterring aggressors as evidenced by the increasing number of computer network attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure. Therefore, the U.S. should look towards an alternative strategy based on robustness to deny enemy objectives and absorb attacks. To identify the superior cyber deterrence strategy, this study uses a qualitative assessment based on open-sourced information to evaluate the effectiveness of each strategy. The findings of this study …

An Evaluation Of The Potential Impact Of Community Oriented Policing In Latin America, Gabriella A. Ippolito

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the potential impact of community oriented policing in Latin America through a series of case studies from Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and El Salvador dating from the early 1990’s to the present. They are analyzed through a typology that organizes community oriented policing strategies according to costliness to the police. Costliness is defined as the amount of power that the police have to renounce to the community to implement a certain strategy. The thesis concludes that community oriented policing is an improvement over militarized policing strategies as it has the possibility to enhance both human security and …

"Wee Women's Work": Women And Peacebuilding In Northern Ireland, Amanda E. Donahoe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

International norms on intrastate conflicts, such as United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, call for women to participate in peace processes in countries emerging from conflict and civil strife, including those divided by identity-based conflict. However, scholars of post-war recovery in international relations and comparative politics have raised questions about the extent and effect of women’s participation in peace processes, and in politics more generally, in divided societies given underlying social, economic, and political barriers that impeded access to decisive or authoritative political decision-making. A critical question in the literature on women’s participation in post-conflict reconciliation-related dialogue and joint action …

The Contrasting Paths Of Jordan And The United Arab Emirates In Nuclear Cooperation With The United States, Erica N. Fein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As one of about eight countries that supply nuclear materials and equipment for nuclear energy development to the rest of the world, the United States also requires some of the most stringent nonproliferation measures of its prospective clients. In 2009, the United States signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under the terms of the agreement, the UAE foreswore developing sensitive fuel cycle technologies on its own soil in exchange for the ability to receive U.S.-origin materials and equipment. The Kingdom of Jordan is also seeking to develop a nuclear energy program in the face of …

Recognizing 'Game Changers' In Extrapolation Models: An Application To Counterinsurgency, Micah Dolcort-Silver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent empirical studies suggest insurgencies may be accurately described by aggregated extrapolation models, such that past behavior becomes the best predictor for future action. I argue that aggregated extrapolation models possess two flaws that make it a poor choice for examining insurgencies. First, aggregated extrapolation models ask the wrong question. The more interesting question is to ask when present action is no longer explainable by past behavior. Secondly, aggregate models mask changes that a phenomenon undergoes over time which are only revealed upon disaggregating the data. Starting with a model and findings provided by Neil Johnson, I use casualty data …

Regime Evolution And The Non-Proliferation Regime: The Proliferation Security Initiative As A Case Study Of Transgovernmental Networking, Pallavi Gulati

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The practice of non-proliferation has evolved significantly since its origins during the Cold War. The most recent and notable contribution to the non-proliferation regime has come in the form of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a loose consortium of 102 nation-states through which countries can coordinate, share intelligence, and build capacity to interdict weapons of mass destruction (WMD) related transfers. My objective in this paper is to move beyond the “activity not an organisation” rhetoric espoused by proponents of the PSI and to ask a set of deeper and broader questions regarding why transgovernmental networks (TGNs) like the PSI arise …

Invisible Victims: An Analysis Of Human Trafficking Vulnerability And Prevention In Bulgarian Romani Communities, Eric Helms

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is an international problem that plagues every country in the world. Although no reliable concrete data exist on the extent of human trafficking internationally, it is estimated that thousands of women are trafficked into the European Union every year. According to research conducted by the European Roma Rights Centre in 2010, a disproportionately high percentage of these victims are of Roma ethnicity. Research from service providers, law enforcement and international organizations estimates that Roma comprise between 50 to 80 percent of human trafficking victims in Bulgaria with similar levels across Central and Eastern Europe. High levels of ethnic …

Constructing Heroic Ideologies: Mao And Reagan, Alexander A. Bowe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The political hero cult of Mao Zedong is archetypal in terms of the development of a modern cult of personality. It was centrally planned and used by the Chinese Communist Party as a political weapon. Its development is well-documented, but this paper describes an element of it that has not been discussed, which is the fact that the true object of veneration in the Mao cult was actually his ideology as a distinct entity from the man himself. This ideology's creation was the original purpose of the CCP's participation in his cult because it was a source of political legitimacy. …

A New Method To Evaluate Community Based Mediation Programs: Multi-Attribute Cost Utility Analysis, Cory William Stufflebeem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to develop a new approach to evaluating the cost-effectiveness of community based mediation programs in order to promote a more robust methodology for researching community based mediation in general, and to provide a means for the favorable claims of community based mediation to be accurately validated.

A methodology was created based on multi-attribute cost utility analysis. This analysis involves studying two programs simultaneously: a community based mediation program and a corresponding court adjudication program/institution. These programs are evaluated on three measures of effectiveness or attributes: satisfaction rating, number of successful cases processed, and compliance …

Africom's Impact On International And Human Security: A Case Study Of Tanzania, Mikenna Maroney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The expansion of U.S. military engagement in Africa is based on American national security interests. The objective of this research was to add to existing evaluations of the U.S. Combatant Command for Africa (AFRICOM) by taking an in-depth look at its impact through a case study of Tanzania and sought to answer three questions: What is the impact of AFRICOM on executing U.S. national security policy in Tanzania? To what extent has AFRICOM addressed the conditions of human insecurity in Tanzania? What is the public perception about AFRICOM among the Tanzanian public? To answer these questions this assessment utilized secondary …

Parties And Peacebuilding: The Institutional Origin Of Multiethnic Politics In India, Indonesia, And South Africa, Geoffrey P. Macdonald

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Under what conditions do multiethnic political parties win elections in deeply divided societies? Using the cases of India, Indonesia, and South Africa, this dissertation first argues that the nature of liberation movements creates a soft path dependence that affects party formation. Ethnically inclusive liberation movements create conditions conducive to the formation of multiethnic political parties. Yet after this juncture point of party formation, multiethnic politics have dominated India and Indonesia while South Africa has experienced a slow degeneration into ethnic politics. To explain this divergence, this dissertation next examines the interaction of election rules and ethnic cleavage structure. India and …

Genetically Modified Food In The Us And The Uk: Proponents, Dissenters And Media Coverage, Tess Ann Doezema

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is a qualitative study examining the communication surrounding the issue of genetically modified food in the UK and the UK from October, 2011 through September, 2012. Material from biotechnology industry organizations, industry-funded non-profits, groups campaigning against the continued use of the technology, and mainstream media coverage of the issue in both countries during this time was examined using thematic analysis. The issue is analyzed through the lenses of Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model, agenda building and framing theory. The research finds support for agenda building as well as a modernized understanding of the propaganda model, which the researcher …

Chinese Intellectuals And China's Policy Toward Japan, Wenting Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims at integrating two scholarships: state-society relation studies and Chinese foreign policy analysis. I created Two-level Perception Gap Model to analyze different intellectual groups' relations with party-state by confirming Chinese intellectuals play a role in CFP making in general, China's Japan policy in particular. This model is an alternative approach, instead of conventional wisdom patron-client approach, to explain and analyze the pluralized intellectual-state relations in China. This model first analyzed the role of two intellectual groups, namely think tank scholars and popular nationalist, in China's Japan policy making, and then based on these analyses it explains the interactional …

Islamic Political Thought: Reviving A Rationalist Tradition, Hazem Y. Salem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work develops the foundations of an Islamic argument for secular, liberal democracy from within the Islamic discursive tradition. First, it challenges the presentation of contemporary Islamic political thought as a unified, continuous development of the classical canon by showing the influence of the now marginalized medieval rationalists in the development of Islamic political thought. The classical rationalist concern with divine justice forced the founders of Sunni orthodoxy to state their epistemologies and their positions on ethical ontology. The orthodox positions, and their related methods of legal-juristic reasoning, are shown to be incapable of accommodating the modern Islamic positions on …

U.S.-Taiwan Relations: A Study On The Taiwan Relations Act, Jacqueline Anne Vitello

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between the United States and Taiwan is of great importance to both parties. Taiwan offers certain strategic opportunities for the promotion of American national security interests, and the U.S. accordingly provides Taiwan with support of both a defensive and diplomatic nature. The official U.S. policies regarding relations with Taiwan are enumerated in the Taiwan Relations Act (United States Code Title 22 Chapter 48 Sections 3301 - 3316). The act, approved by the U.S. Congress in 1967, stipulates the terms of the bilateral relationship with regard to national defense and diplomatic relations among other factors. This paper seeks to …

Comparing Integrative Complexity Of Holocaust Rescuers And Perpetrators, Fernando Alberto Ospina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To contribute to the social psychological literature on Holocaust rescue, this thesis seeks to explore possible connections between open-mindedness and rescuing during the Holocaust, a previously unexplored intersection in the social science literature. Open-mindedness is the ability and/or willingness to adopt alternative points of view (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), while rescuing entails helping others in high-risk circumstances without expectation of reward or compensation.

While most of the scientific study of psychology has focused on how human beings are flawed and damaged. People are seen as sick or damaged and the scientific study of psychology tends toward trying to alleviate these …

Spectacle, Sacrifice And The State: The Legacy Of European Fascism And The Revival Of Martyrdom In The Modern World, Gerald Robert Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rise of political martyrdom in the contemporary world is not a new phenomenon but can be traced back to at least the early Twentieth Century with the rise of European Fascist movements. Both they, and the fascist-like movements of today, share a cluster of characteristics that allow for fruitful comparisons of the ways in which martyrdom spectacles are used to communicate with constituent populations, facilitate a culture of violence, perpetuate their revolutionary zeal and demonstrate the characteristics of the ideal citizen. Examining four major movements; Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, the Palestinian Hamas and the modern Iran, this dissertation argues …

Assessment Of The Performance Of A Resilient Hybrid Political System: The Case Of Malaysia, Siti Z. Razali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Countries that come out of the "gray zone" during "third wave democratization," as ambiguous as they may seem politically, may not be a manifestation of a failed democratization attempt. Rather, their "hybrid" characteristics, portraying neither a full democracy nor outright authoritarian practices entrenched in the system, may plausibly serve as a panacea to governing, especially in a troubled state.

Many studies that have depicted the "hybrid" political system have focused more on its conceptualization and typology rather than how this kind of regime actually performs and functions. However, studying this regime type only at its surface does not help us …