International and Area Studies Commons^™

Harnessing The Power Of Cliftonstrengths®: How Multinational Corporations Can Use Deep-Level Diversity To Enhance Organizational Inclusion, Trapper Kay Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explicitly investigated how multinational corporations can enhance workplace inclusion through the novel use of the CliftonStrengths® assessment as a dimension of deep-level diversity. The study gleaned insights from employees’ perspectives, employing a constructivist grounded theory approach to explicate their experiences in rich qualitative narratives. Through open-ended surveys and intensive interviews, participants were selected using purposeful sampling to ensure meaningful data collection from the study organizations’ three global regions. The researcher conducted the analysis systematically through the constant comparison of data utilizing the NVivo14 software to assist in constructing codes, themes, and a theoretical schema. Results highlighted the significance …

Choosing Sides: Military Behavior In Severely Polarized Democracies, Timothy W. Ford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why does severe polarization result in military intervention in some cases but not others? I argue that the organizational culture unique to a particular military plays a critical role in influencing behavioral outcomes in severely polarized democracies. When faced with sovereign power disputes that arise as a result of severe polarization, military organizations are most likely to develop new strategies of action from the dominant practices, norms, and ideas of military leaders. Severe polarization presents a unique threat to civil-military relations and provides the type of unsettled social periods in which cultural ideologies express an observable influence on military behavior. …

Famines, Poverty And Intergenerational Mobility In Developing Countries, Monishankar Sarkar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The famine has not ended yet. Though much has been done, famine is still visiting some parts of the globe, ravaging economies, taking lives, and compelling people to experience acute hunger, starvation, and associated diseases. Deadly famines have impacted parts of Asia and the Pacific at different times. China has experienced the most lethal famine in history in terms of severity and fatalities. Africa is still facing famine. There are many countries worldwide, across continents, whose population is still facing hunger and starvation on an alarming scale. Thus, famine is still relevant today.

The effects of famine have been the …

A New Era Of Distilling: How Dynamic Capabilities Drive Transformation In The Distilling Industry, Sean M. Scally Sr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The distilling industry has a rich history, starting from when people realized that by adding water, sugar, and starch together, they could develop a drink with alcohol that was safer to drink than the water all around them. Over several centuries, this discovery has grown into a significant industry worldwide. In the United States, the distilling industry went from a farm-based barter system to a multi-billion-dollar industry in 2020 (Schwarz, 2021). The sector has faced changes in regulations and other external factors that challenge how distilleries maintain market share, status, and internal challenges due to operational capabilities and market demands. …

Multi-Level Governance Of Climate Change Adaptation: United Nations Negotiations And Adaptation Project Implementation In Nicaragua And Samoa, Anna E. Mcginn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rapid entry into force of the Paris Agreement reaffirmed, with certainty, that the international community would continue its efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change impacts opening a new era of international cooperation on climate change. This thesis explores how both negotiations around climate change adaptation and adaptation project implementation have evolved in this post-Paris Agreement era (from adoption in December 2015 to present). Using the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Adaptation Fund as the central lens, the chapters explore international negotiations around the Fund as well as two Adaptation Fund funded …

The Carolina Gay Association, The Southeastern Gay Conferences, And Gay Liberation In The 1970s South, David Hooper Schultz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores how the successes and failures of local organizing networks in the South shaped national conversations on the rights of queer Americans. Its starting point is 1970 with the Triangle Gay Alliance’s formation in Raleigh, and it ends in 1978 with the third annual Southeastern Gay Conference and repeal of Miami-Dade County’s nondiscrimination ordinance. Paying close attention to the founding of the Carolina Gay Association in 1975 and the subsequent Southeastern Gay Conferences (SEGCs), the thesis connects the attendance at conferences to locally-organized activist groups from North Carolina to Florida to show that rather than being “lonely hunters” …

Dear Hubert Creekmore: An Archival Search Into The Life Of A Queer Mississippi Writer, Mary Stanton Knight

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dear Hubert Creekmore: An Archival Search into the Life of a Queer Mississippi Writer examines the life of writer, translator, poet, painter, and trained classical pianist Hiram Hubert Creekmore, Jr. through archival research of collections donated by the author at three public institutions. The thesis explores the private relationships Creekmore had with literary and artistic figures from 1940-1966 and the silence surrounding LGBTQ archives to produce a more extensive biographical work on the author. Creekmore’s relationships with a variety of writers, composers, artists, and publishers is examined in order to discover his circle of friends as well as attempt to …

Getting To The Root: The Struggles And Resilience Of Black Womanhood Through Stories Of Natural Hairstyles While Attending A Predominantly White Institution, Je'monda Roy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will provide the framework for black women’s stories of struggle and resilience through natural hairstyles at a Mississippi predominantly white institution – The University of Mississippi. Although the framework of this essay is set in one institution in a state located in the Deep South, the stories and methods apply to the American society and how the lack of black representation in white spaces shape black lives, specifically black women’s lives. Like creating black safe spaces in white spaces, black hair is used as a theme in this essay to shape the stories of black women’s experiences – …

Silence Descends: Lynchings And Their Aftermath In Lafayette And Union Counties, Mississippi, Jonathan Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The role of silence is explored with regard to how two lynchings in North Mississippi have, or have not, been memorialized. L.Q. Ivy was lynched in Union County in 1925. Despite several newspaper articles over the decades since the lynching has occurred his death is not acknowledged in the local history narrative, nor is it memorialized with a marker. Elwood Higginbottom was lynched in neighboring Lafayette County in 1935 and, despite a silence that has persisted for decades, has recently been memorialized. The process of memorializing Higginbottom’s lynching and what it has meant to the family is compared to the …

Exploring The Capabilities Approach In A Sport For Development And Peace Setting., Jeffrey F. Levine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) has become a popular approach to development. However, critical scholars remain skeptical of SDP’s effectiveness. Utilizing a holistic approach that includes local voices may help a program’s effectiveness. Scholars are searching for a framework flexible enough to accommodate the varied nature of programs. One theoretical approach is the Capabilities Approach, which evaluates well-being based on what people can do and be. This case study explored the Capabilities Approach in an SDP setting. Youth Odyssey, a non-profit organization that works with at-risk youth through adventure programming, was the case. This case study explored what role …

Analysis Of Gender And Gender-Related Implicit Leadership Themes In Hr Practitioner Literature : A Comparison Of The United States And Brazilian Hr Practitioner Publications., Flavia De Sousa E Castro Rossetti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among the many factors studied in relation to the women and leadership equality gap are gender stereotypes, implicit leadership theories, and the congruity of gender role expectations (Eagly, & Karau, 2002). Multiple studies in the scholarly literature support the finding that men, rather than women, are more likely to be seen as leaders (Bierma, 2016; Eagly, & Schmidt, 2001), and this finding appears to be robust across some cultures (Schein, 2001). While the scholarly research on women and leadership has been burgeoning, few research studies have investigated how human resource (HR) practitioner literature addresses themes related to women and leadership …

Determining Public Perceptions Toward Wildland Fire In The Veluwe Region Of The Netherlands, Amy Brennan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Netherlands has been facing a growing threat of wildfires due to warmer

and drier weather patterns. The purpose of this study was to identify public

perceptions toward wildland fire in the forested Veluwe region of the country. The

Dutch have little experience with wildland fires or fire as a management tool. In a

collaborative effort between Stephen F. Austin State University and the Instituut

Fysieke Veiligheid, the Dutch public safety agency, a survey was distributed to

residents and visitors to the Veluwe to reveal and quantify public opinions and

perceptions regarding wildland fire and public expectations of government

agencies …

Elsewhere, Amber Law

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The photographer discusses the work in Elsewhere, her Master of Fine Arts exhibition held at East Tennessee State University in the Reece Museum, located in Johnson City, Tennessee. The exhibition is displayed from March 1 through March 31, 2016 and consists of 17 color photographs and 3 videos representing a body of work that visually communicates the photographer’s interest in transient lifestyles.

The influence and research regarding the concept is communicated by a focus on artists, literature and art historical knowledge that pertain to Law’s work. The artists included are Rineke Dijkstra, Jocelyn Lee, Lise Sarfati, Stephen Shore, Robert …

Investing In A Better World: A Study Of Country-Level Factors On Investment Outcomes, Richard Matthew Ostberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a design to examine the effects of environmental factors in a country such as education systems levels, corruption, and social freedoms on investment outcomes. The literature review suggests that countries with poor education at the secondary level tend to have lower standards of living, lower levels of freedom, as well as high levels of corruption which appear to have negative effects on their market economies. This study was designed to examine existing data from multiple sources along multiple dimensions, and use a hierarchical linear model, as well as a portfolio optimization model, to assess the impact of …

Quantifying And Forecasting Vulnerability To Dyadic Conflict In An Integrated Assessment Model: Modeling International Relations Theory, Jonathan David Moyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The character of state interaction matters. This dissertation quantifies this interaction from 1960-2001 and then forecasts it from 2010-2050. I contribute to the field of International Relations by improving traditional measures of Realism and Liberalism, quantifying new perspectives sensitive to cultural interaction, and statistically evaluating these indices relative to the occurrence of conflict. It is the first step in an academic research agenda that desires to expand the scope of possibility regarding the modeling of International Relations theory for the purpose of theory evaluation and policy analysis.

This dissertation spans two fields of study that do not typically overlap: International …

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 …