Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Resource Curse: The Cases Of Botswana And Zambia, Audria Crain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A puzzling correlation has been observed over the last thirty years between slow or negative economic growth and countries with large export dependence on natural resources. This correlation has been dubbed "the resource curse." It has been argued that resource wealth has an inherently negative effect on the economic growth of developing countries. Zambia is such a country in which resource-dependence has been coupled with poor economic performance; Botswana, however, is an important exception to this phenomenon. The question is: Why or how has Botswana surmounted the effects of the resource curse while Zambia has not? A comparative case analysis …

Gender, Empowerment And Coffee In Mexico And Central America: A Policy Analysis, Lisa M. Fry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coffee is an important commodity for Central American countries. Like other agricultural production, coffee production in the region is undergoing a “feminization” in which women become the primary producers. However, female agricultural producers face constraints that their male counterparts do not. This study analyzes policies to determine if they promote or continue the inhibition of empowerment of female coffee producers. The results of the study indicate that policies relating to Central American coffee production are promoting women’s empowerment, but implementation remains weak. Policy recommendations are included.

"Wanted: Dead Or Alive": Masculinities And Us Military Intervention In Afghanistan, Michelle E. Bellini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hegemonically masculine concepts are frequently employed by decision-makers during times of crisis and war. Language used by leaders is powerful in securing domestic support for US foreign policy decisions, and hegemonic masculinity shapes the ways in which leaders conceive of conflicts and in what ways those conflicts should be addressed. Notions of hegemonic masculinity exert a powerful, structural influence on US Presidential foreign policy decisionmaking.

The attacks of September 11^th, 2001 changed United States foreign policy in fundamental ways. This research examines the role of hegemonic masculinity in President George W. Bush's policy speeches, both how hegemonic masculinity …

Maritime Terror: A Comparative Study Of The Barbary Corsairs And Modern Somali Pirates, Lauren M. Halton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maritime piracy off the Horn of Africa, although not a new security threat, has grown at an alarming rate in the twenty-first century. This study compares modern Somali piracy with the Barbary Corsairs problem of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to understand what policy responses might be most effective. The comparison focused on pirate characteristics and motives; targeted ships; attack frequency; hostage treatment; counter measures to combat piracy; and outcomes.

Financial motivation, level of organization, and viciousness of attacks are all characteristics the Somali pirates and Barbary Corsairs share. They differ in that the Corsairs operated as part of a …

A Response To Aid Dependency: Service For Aid, Angela L. Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"A Response to Aid Dependency: Service for Aid" by Angela Bennett is a composition reviewing literature on humanitarian assistance and aid dependency. She appraises current programs which delivery humanitarian assistance by utilizing reward incentives for participation in social programs in order to combat dependency on outside sources of support. The author uses her experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic for examples of expectance on aid. The Service for Aid model is proposed as a new approach to humanitarian aid delivery, requiring recipients to participate in capacity and capability building programs in order to earn aid in …

Leadership Analysis: Decision Making In Syria, Taylor Reed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is intended to identify the distinctive traits of Syrian leadership. Its purpose is to better serve policy makers as they confront the challenges Syria presents. The first section identifies major research on decision making and leadership analysis. The second section is an analysis of Syria's leadership components. The third section uses several quantitative methods to identify the leadership traits of President Bashar Al-Assad. A psychological leadership profile of the figurehead creates added complexity to the structural analysis, but is relevant because it has the capability of allowing actual policy makers to deal with their Syrian counterpart. Bashar Al-Assad …

The Role Of The Epistemic Community In Influencing Privacy Legislation: The United States And The European Union, George Edward Richie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Threats to individual privacy from computer information, database, and surveillance technologies of the mid-20th century prompted the formation of a privacy epistemic community that informed and influenced privacy policy and legislation in the United States and the European Union. Because the United States was more advanced in computer technology than the European nations, awareness of privacy issues, and the privacy epistemic community, emerged first in the United States---and migrated to Europe a generation later. The United States legislated the Privacy Act of 1974, which became the benchmark for individual privacy protection in the United States. While several European nations passed …

Deconstructing Collective Identities And Violence: Analytical Perspectives From Indonesia, Brandon Scott Sternquist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to establish a more applied, analytical approach to analyses of collective identity and violence while providing insights into the dynamics of the regions of Indonesia considered. By focusing on two regions of Indonesia - Aceh and Kalimantan - which are populated by distinct peoples and have experienced violence in contemporary times, this study contributes to the expanding literature on the social dynamics of identity and violence. To ensure a more practical approach within the study, concepts and frameworks which have contributed to discussions of the nature of identity and acts of violence are utilized. …

Fostering Global Security: Nonviolent Resistance And Us Foreign Policy, Amentahru Wahlrab

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation comprehensively evaluates, for the first time, nonviolence and its relationship to International Relations (IR) theory and US foreign policy along the categories of principled, strategic, and regulative nonviolence. The current debate within nonviolence studies is between principled and strategic nonviolence as relevant categories for theorizing nonviolent resistance. Principled nonviolence, while retaining the primacy of ethics, is often not practical. Indeed, most nonviolent movements have not been principled, or solely principled. Strategic nonviolence is attractive because it does not require any individual or group to believe in a particular faith or ethical tradition. However, strategic nonviolence is problematic as …

Navigating Through U.S.-China Policy: An Investigation Of China National Off-Shore Oil Corporation's Proposed Acquisition Of Unocal Corporation And How Domestic Politics Plays A Role In Balancing U.S. Trade Policy With National Security Policy, Vicki Lynn Spencer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation, Ltd. ( CNOOC) attempted to buy American-owned Unocal Corporation, it unleashed a "perfect storm" in Washington. Members of Congress immediately called upon President Bush to invoke his Exon-Florio authority to prevent the transaction. After the president claimed action would be premature, Congress quickly coalesced to block the deal. The Chinese expressed surprise at the political backlash and ultimately CNOOC was forced to withdraw its bid.

The purpose of this study is to explain the fervor that arose over CNOOC's proposed acquisition of Unocal. The study builds upon the theoretical approach of new institutionalism which …

Modern Slavery: A Regional Focus, Amanda Gould

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kevin Bales, through his study in Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader, provides an important quantitative analysis on the predictive factors of modern slavery. Upon examining his study though, several issues arise including too few observations for several of the variables and the lack of a regional variable. The author decided to rerun his study with replacements for the problematic variables used previously. Upon obtaining the results from this, the author examined development theory (development is believed to be closely liked to slavery), and began creating an alternative model, which eventually included the addition of a regional variable. This model differed …

Climate Change And Indigenous Peoples In Latin America, Amy C. Rademacher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on the detrimental effects of climate change on indigenous peoples in Latin America. Indigenous peoples throughout the region tend to live subsistence livelihoods, which tie them closely to their land and the surrounding environment. This close relationship often means that indigenous peoples acutely experience the effects of climate change and are more susceptible to its negative outcomes than other populations. Further, indigenous peoples in the region lack the mitigation and adaptation capacities to deal with damaging climatic effects.

This research was designed to view the impacts of climate change on indigenous peoples through a human rights framework, …

The Implementation Of Restorative Justice In Iceland: A Comparison Of Police- And Expert-Led Conferencing, Hafsteinn Gunnar Hafsteinsson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On first of October 2006 the Ministry of Justice in Iceland launch a restorative justice pilot project. Building on the pilot project data, this thesis evaluates the implementation of restorative justice into the criminal justice system in Iceland by asking victims, offenders and other participants in police- and expert-led conferencing to answer questionnaires' relating to these two types of restorative justice practices to crime. The thesis compares its results with findings from a review conducted by Paul McCold (1998) who more than a decade ago challenged concerns on police facilitated conferencing. The data examined in the present thesis support Paul …

Avoiding Tough Policy Choices In An Influenza Pandemic: The Role Of Kettl's Rocket Science Model In Public Health, Danny Lambert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The security and social inequality approaches to public health present distinct answers to policy objectives relative to a pandemic. However, each approach leaves us with tough choices between the most valued objectives. I demonstrate how the networked approach, which Kettl's Rocket Science Model (RSM) exemplifies, does not leave us with such choices. Furthermore, I connect the epidemiological concepts public health practitioners apply toward communicable disease pandemics to RSM concepts. Finally, drawing on the disease parameters of a worst-case scenario influenza pandemic, I demonstrate how the networked approach helps public health practitioners expand capacity such that tough choices are unnecessary.