Political Science Commons^™

Weakening Of The Nation-State By Climate Change: Water Weaponization By Isil, Annika Cole

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

Climate change is quickly becoming one of the biggest threats faced by the international community and has the capacity to greatly impact global security. The relationship between climate change and conflict is still unraveling; however, worsening climatic events have contributed to political instability around the world. As climate change implications become more apparent, water is less abundant due to worsening droughts and less precipitation, allowing it to become a target for groups seeking to control territory or populations. This paper examines the impact of climate change in shifting the power dynamic between states and violent non-state actors within their borders. …

Scratch A Desert, Produce A Garden: The American Failure To Facilitate A Two-State Solution, Sophie Myers Concannon

University Honors Theses

A majority of Americans support a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state for the first time since 2012, according to Gallup polling data from February 2020. In February 2021, Gallup found that the majority was maintained at 52%, indicating a momentous shift in American public opinion. Through careful examination of the historical precedent between the United States and Israel, culminating in a shared American-Israeli narrative that has permeated public opinion for decades, I investigate why this shift has occurred, as well as why this shift has not been reflected in foreign policy objectives and party platforms.

True Leadership Would See Trudeau Attend Nato Summit Virtually As Canadians Await Covid-19 Vaccines, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

The text provided highlights criticism of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's attendance at the NATO summit amidst ongoing domestic vaccination efforts. Drawing on the leadership example of Ernest Shackleton, it argues for prioritizing national COVID-19 vaccinations over international summitry. The piece critiques NATO's perceived symbolic nature and lack of substantive debate, contrasting it with Shackleton's leadership style during adversity. It advocates for global vaccine equity and questions the necessity of Trudeau's summit attendance amid completed negotiations.

Financial And Trade Relationships Between The Eurozone And China In The Age Of Resilience, Alessandro Del Ponte, Paolo Canofari, Audrey De Dominicis

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

How did the financial and trade ties between China and the Eurozone develop in the aftermath of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis? We analyze these trends until the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Using data from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we examine the financial and trade dynamics between the two currency areas and analyze the related risks and opportunities. The data point to several patterns. We find that financial volatility in China has been substantially greater than in the Eurozone. Even so, the largest and strongest Eurozone economies – France and Germany- …

Media Analysis Of Conflict In Chinese-Zambian Engagement: From Zaffico To The Covid-19 Discrimination Controversy, Nicole Mazurova, Pokai Tsao, Taurence Chisholm Jr.

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

This paper examines the role media plays in polarising views and escalating tension. The cases studied reflect the competing perspectives on Chinese engagement in Zambia, from the courtship of Chinese investment to rising anti-Chinese sentiment. Based on a comparative media analysis of English and Mandarin news articles about the ZAFFICO and COVID-19 discrimination controversies, we argue that the multi-layered polarisation in Zambia’s media landscape amplifies existing identity-conflicts. Framing—the tone, word choice, and selection of detail—in articles changes with the positionality of the media outlet and shapes the discourse around the cases. Sensationalisation, misinformation, and divergent frames contribute to conflict between …

The Second Kashmir (Informational) War Of 1965, Navdip Hans

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Second Kashmir (Informational) War of 1965 considers that Pakistan over-optimistically assessed information prior to the onset of hostilities with India. This thesis posits that information released from significant battlefield events quickly dispelled Pakistan's optimism which led to an accurate updating of beliefs and expectations. This resulted in a downward revision of demands by Pakistan to convergence with India resulting in settlement ending the war.

The Compressed Modernity Of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage In Taiwan: Digital Activism, Human Rights Discourse, And Intertwined Sexual, Political And National Identities, Jyun-Jie Yang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 2019, Taiwan became the first Asian country to officially legalize same-sex marriage. Remarkably, the Taiwanese queer movement achieved the goal of marriage equality in only 30 years, with the first tongzhi (同志) activist group organized in 1990. Compared to Euro-American social movements, Taiwanese tongzhi activism has experienced a “compressed modernity” (Chang, 1999, 2010a, 2010b), which accelerates cultural and social transformations. Although Taiwanese academia has been significantly influenced by queer studies as a form of western knowledge production, local scholars and activists created a new interpretation from “queer” to “tongzhi.” Entangled with complex political identifications in post-martial-law Taiwan, …

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

LSU 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 …

Gender Inequality And Terrorism: The Impacts Of Female Empowerment On Domestic And Transnational Terrorism, Jennifer Dumas

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the post-9/11 years, terrorism has emerged as an urgent issue with important national security and foreign policy ramifications. Within political science, terrorism research has likewise developed as a burgeoning subfield with the potential for significant contributions to policymaking worldwide. However, the literature has until recently generally neglected gender inequality as a structural antecedent to terrorism, despite studies which support a relationship between gender parity and conflict mitigation in other areas as well as increasing calls for the integration of gender measures into counterterrorism agendas and initiatives among scholars and policymakers. To address this gap in the literature, I introduce …

Book Review: Criminalizing Atrocity: The Global Spread Of Criminal Laws Against International Crimes, Verónica Michel

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Book review of the book Criminalizing Atrocity: The Global Spread of Criminal Laws against International Crimes by Mark S. Berlin.

Dossier: Uyghur Women In China’S Genocide, Rukiye Turdush, Magnus Fiskesjö

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In genocide, both women and men suffer. However, their suffering has always been different; with men mostly subjected to torture and killings, and women mostly subjected to torture and mutilation. These differences stem primarily from the perpetrators' ideology and intention to exterminate the targeted people. Many patriarchal societies link men with blood lineage and the group’s continuation, while women embody the group’s reproductivity and dignity. In the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in East Turkistan, the ideology of Chinese colonialism is a root cause. It motivates the targeting of women as the means through which to …

Authoritarianism And The Rentier State - Venezuela And Nigeria, Victoria Zobeida Castillo

Senior Theses

The oil states scattered throughout the developing world are no more democratic or peaceful than they were at the beginning of the twentieth century's natural resource era. In fact, some countries are worse, tainted by civil unrest, plummeting per capita income, and rising inflation. These socioeconomic ailments are often referred to as the Resource Curse or Dutch Disease. Mineral wealth, however, should not be confused with the dangers of sole oil wealth. The oil states are significantly more likely to be governed by authoritarian leaders. The irony of oil's unusual properties of fluctuating prices and secretive contracts do not solely …

Bridging The Realms Between Cyber And Physical: Approaching Cyberspace With An Interdisciplinary Lens, Lena Andrea Rose

Senior Theses

This project investigates the use of cyber technology as a political tool through the investigation of the following case studies: (1) The Sony Pictures Hack in the United States in 2014, (2) The Qatari News Hack in 2017, and (3) China’s enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law in 2020. These three case studies depict that rapid technological advancement has led to greater cyber warfare between state powers. The Sony Hack examines political coercion, the Qatari Hack examines disinformation, and the Hong Kong National Security Law examines surveillance and suppression of opposition. As a result of an increasingly complicated …

The Role Of International Factors In Electoral Volatility In Latin America: An Examination Of Structural Adjustment, Michelle Kuenzi, Hafthor Erlingsson, John P. Tuman

Political Science Faculty Research

Does structural adjustment increase party system instability in Latin America? We employ the Latin American Presidential and Legislative Elections (LAPALE) database (http://www.lapaledata.com) and our own original data set for structural adjustment to assess the effects of structural adjustment and other economic, social, and political variables on legislative volatility in 18 Latin American countries during the period of 1982 to 2016. The results of our study indicate that structural adjustment results in higher levels of within-system electoral volatility and support a broad version of economic voting theory. Extra-system electoral volatility is driven primarily by institutional and demographic factors. Our findings also …

The Effect Of International Level Covid-19 Stay-At-Home Orders On Death Rates, Valeriia Manchak, Annalisa Stoll, Kyle Conniff

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

In this paper, we document and compare data gathered from more than 50 countries with different demographic characteristics, lockdown policies, health systems, and different varying timelines to combat COVID-19. After discussing the variables and their impact on the mortality numbers, we will make a recommendation concerning the different lockdown policies for future use. The main objective of this paper is to investigate connections between government policies, population age, age density, smoking rate, IQ air pollution, forms of greeting, death rate, obesity/health index, mean age, face coverings, contact tracing, international travel control level, etc. and how these independent variables might affect …

The Role Of Nations-State In Protecting And Supporting Internally Displaced Persons, Daisy Byers

Master's Theses

The rising increase of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has become a global problem. There are over 40 million internally displaced people globally, and 15.9 million are displaced in Africa. These displacements come into place due to war/conflict, corruption, massive human rights violations, natural disasters, urban renewal projects (at the hands of powerful nations such as America, China, France, UK, etc.), and large-scale development projects. According to UNHCR, refugees are people who have international cross-border. In contrast, internally displaced persons must stay within their own country and stay under the protection of their government, even if the government is the reason …

The European Union: Data Protection For Economic Competition And Regional Security, Matthew D. Wurst

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

The collection and use of personal data is being increasingly scrutinized by governments and the European Union (EU) has been attempting to handle the development of data protection based progressive protections to protect its citizens data and right to privacy. With the reemergence of Russia in challenging the state of affairs within Europe, their illegal seizure of the Crimea from Ukraine demonstrated the lengths Russia will go to in order to preserve its sphere of influence. Furthermore, Russia’s use of cyber tactics and hybrid warfare has caused many in Europe to become more concerned for their security. When viewed through …

A Tale Of Two Biennales: How Contemporary Art In Italy Reflects Current European Politics, Hannah Rosabel Capucilli-Shatan

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.

An Inferentially Robust Look At Two Competing Explanations For The Surge In Unauthorized Migration From Central America, Nick Santos

Dissertations

The last 8 years have seen a dramatic increase in the flow of Central American apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol. Explanations for this surge in apprehensions have been split between two leading hypotheses. Most academic scholars, immigrant advocates, progressive media outlets, and human rights organizations identify poverty and violence (the Poverty and Violence Hypothesis) in Central America as the primary triggers responsible. In contrast, while most government officials, conservative think tanks, and the agencies that work in the immigration and border enforcement realm admit poverty and violence may underlie some decisions to migrate, they instead blame lax U.S. immigration …

Refuge Must Be Given: Eleanor Roosevelt, The Jewish Plight, And The Founding Of Israel, John F. Sears

Purdue University Press Books

Refuge Must Be Given details the evolution of Eleanor Roosevelt from someone who harbored negative impressions of Jews to become a leading Gentile champion of Israel in the United States. The book explores, for the first time, Roosevelt’s partnership with the Quaker leader Clarence Pickett in seeking to admit more refugees into the United States, and her relationship with Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, who was sympathetic to the victims of Nazi persecution yet defended a visa process that failed both Jewish and non-Jewish refugees.

After the war, as a member of the American delegation to the United Nations, Eleanor …

The Phenomenon Of Sexual Violence During Armed Conflicts In The Twenty-First Century: Entering The Era Of Survivors As Agents Of Peace, Shayna Kushner

International Relations Honors Papers

Evidence suggests the twenty-first century has witnessed a surge in armed conflicts and ethnic wars targeting marginalized communities, subjecting innocent civilians to violence and destruction. Among the tactics aimed to disrupt family and social ties within the existing communities, some armed groups and government sponsored soldiers have subjected vulnerable individuals to wartime rape and conflict-related sexual violence including physical and mental abuse. While the international community attempts to intervene militarily and judicially to quell the sexual violence, institutions and individual actors fall short of providing justice and accountability to survivors and victims of conflict-related sexual violence. Through the case studies …

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …

This Is America: Comparing The U.S. And Foreign Media Press Coverage Of African American Foreign Policy Officials, Nina Burges

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

There is universal recognition that the foreign policy making talent in the United States is woefully unrepresentative of America’s vibrant minority populations, and more is required to attract minorities to pursue public service careers representing the United States abroad and accurately reflect its diversity. However, little attention is paid towards the international response to America’s diversity as it relates to when people of color represent the United States as diplomats, foreign service officers and White House foreign policy officials, as well as in less official capacities as scholars and humanitarian workers. These concerns assume new relevance against the backdrop of …

Bridging The Gap: Analyzing The History Of U.S.-Russian Relations Throughout History And The Actions That Would Improve Them, Coleman Anderson

Senior Honors Theses

After the onset of communism in Russia, relations between the United States and Russia have been tense up to the modern day. Even the fall of the Soviet Union could not usher in a permanent peace between the two countries, with mistrust pouring over from both parties. Utilizing both primary sources and commentary from subject matter experts, this paper argues that in order to achieve a legitimate and sustainable policy of peace between the United States and Russia, policymakers need to first understand the history and culture of the people they are reaching out to. Using this knowledge, policymakers can …

Minorities And Authoritarianism In The Middle East: A Case Study Of Muslim Alawites In Syria, Maher Al Tayara

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Why are some minorities in the Middle East less inclined to support democratization or political liberalization efforts? Here, I examine if and how minorities differ in their support for democratization from the majority groups in the Middle East. I will analyze why some minorities prefer to support authoritarian regimes over supporting democratization. I examine how the religion of a minority affects its preference for regime type. I will also examine how historical backgrounds and international patronage affects those preferences. I will identify two historical moments in the Middle East that played a role in shaping those preferences: the post-World War …

Addressing Climate Induced Displacement: An Analysis Of Protection Policies For Environmental Migrants, Meredith R. Lawing

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

One of the fastest growing populations of displaced people are those forced to migrate because of climate change, but under current international legal agreements they receive no protections or support. In response to the lack of security and stability provided to climate displaced populations and host countries, supplementary agreements have been proposed at the international level to address the gaps in existing policy. The purpose of this analysis is to identify policy agreements intended to support environmental migrants during times of displacement, evaluate the policies’ effectiveness, and determine what issues they address regarding climate induced displacement. All of the policies …

Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan

University Scholar Projects

The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …

Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan

Honors Scholar Theses

The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …

Australia And The United States: The Role Of Secondary Allies In Burden-Sharing, Rachel Mcvicker

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Modern conflict is rarely fought bilaterally, instead many states share the burden of war. Multilateralism adds legitimacy to, and potentially reduces the cost of, the mission and so the major powers recruit its allies to fight wars with them. Conflict is costly for all states involved. As a result, the decision to join the effort is not simple. The smaller allies that major powers ask to join in must justify the cost of that conflict. Some states always fight alongside its major allies, others have more variability in its commitments. This paper aims to find the reasons why states, specifically …

The Impact Of Culture On Member State Migration Policy In The European Union, Sophia Notter, Jennifer Ramos

Honors Thesis

The European Union (EU) was formed with the belief that further integration among European states would bring sustainable peace. This began with economic integration but continued to include political and social integration as well. This ad hoc method of creating cohesion among sovereign Member States was generally accepted among Member State governments and citizens. However, in 2014, when a flood of refugees began arriving in Europe, fleeing from violence and instability in the Middle East and North Africa, the EU as an institution, and what exactly it means to be European, was challenged. Instead of pulling together and promoting the …