Political Science Commons^™

International Energy Geopolitics, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Overview of international energy geopolitical trends. Emphasizes the importance of the Persian Gulf, South China Sea, East China Sea, Russia, and the Arctic to U.S. and international economic and strategic developments. Stresses the continuing importance of fossil fuels in domestic and international energy consumption, the variety of energy sources being used by various global regions, the potential for military conflict over access to natural resources, and how emerging energy leaders will determine global energy, environmental, and international security developments.

Enhancing Your Intelligence Agency Information Resource Iq: Pt. 2: The Central Intelligence Agency, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides an overview of information resources produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) including popular reference works like World Factbook and Chiefs of State and Cabinet Leaders of Foreign Governments. Additional content describes the CIA's origins and development, descriptions of current organizational components, information about it's directors, and the text of historical National Intelligence Estimates (NIE) and the President's Daily Brief covering topics as varied as North Korea, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and NIE's on Soviet ballistic missile forces and numerous other topics. Features artifacts from the CIA Museum.

Security Dilemma In U.S.-China Relations: A Non-Traditional Security Studies Perspective, Jessica Tran

Master's Theses

Since Former President Barack Obama’s announcement of the Pacific Pivot in 2011, the security dilemma in U.S.-China relations have worsened considerably. Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the shifting of U.S. military focus to the Asia-Pacific region is expected to continue. As the U.S. moves forward with increasing its military presence in the Pacific to counter a perceived “aggressive” China, it may lead to serious consequences. This thesis presents the argument that China’s conception of national security includes the defense of the state from both foreign and domestic threats. Therefore, China’s military developments and policies are not strictly in response to …

Non-Traditional Transitional Justice Mechanisms And Perceptions And Symptoms Of Victimization Among Diasporic Individuals: Members Of The Coptic Christian Diaspora In The United States As A Case Study, Samy S. A. Gerges

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

Transitional justice measures are state-centered measures articulating atrocities committed by officials and occurring within the borders of a specific state. Questioning members of a Diaspora about the impact of transitional justice on their self-classification as victims and their experienced symptoms of victimization may therefore support attempts to expand the field of transitional justice. This study contributes to a body of work promoting understanding of the possibilities and constraints of transitional justice mechanisms, in the context of hate crime against Copts by Muslims in Egypt. To analyze the impact of restored relationships on self-classified victimhood and experienced symptoms of victimization, the …

The Case For Management In The Turkish-Kurdish Conflict., Devin P. Brown

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The Turkish-Kurdish conflict has ravaged Turkey for nearly 34 years. It is one of the world’s longest enduring rivalries, garnering significant international attention. Since 1984, experts estimate that at least 30,000 people have died in this conflict. In just the past two years, the fighting has killed 3,362 peopleand displaced another half million people. Although the parties have attempted to resolve this dispute multiple times, a comprehensive peace deal has remained elusive. So what should be done about this conflict? Is there a way to compel these parties to forge a lasting peace deal? Or, should the international community focus …

Zionism, Imperialism, And Indigeneity In Israel/Palestine: A Critical Analysis, Ran Ukashi

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article explores the similarities and differences between Zionism and archetypical European modes of settler colonialism to demonstrate the incongruence between the two phenomena. This analysis is contextualized around the recent discourse surrounding the competing claims of indigeneity to historic Israel/Palestine. The claims of both the Jewish and Palestinian Arab communities are explored to demonstrate that both communities can rightfully claim degrees of Indigenous connection to the territory, but that Palestinian Arab claims of being the sole Indigenous inheritors of the land are dubious. The analysis utilizes Burton's unmet human needs theory, and Kriesberg's theories on identity and conflict intractability …

Out Of The Shadows: Women Of The Fmln Guerrilla Army In El Salvador’S Civil War, 1979–1992, Erica Gonzalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the course of a century, revolutionary movements have emerged every few years across the region of Central America, movements that fought for overturning dictatorships and confronting socio-economic inequalities. Women experience higher levels of poverty, human rights violations and discrimination due to gender inequalities. Representing 30% of the FMLN guerrilla army, women in El Salvador took a quantum leap into one of the most horrific and violent armed conflicts in the history of the country (Montgomery 123). Theorists have sought to explain why women became involved in the war. Experts of insurgent collective action agree that women's participation played a …

“I Forgive To Forget”: Implications For Community Restoration And Unity In Northern Uganda, Julaina A. Obika, Emilio Ovuga

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

As the people in northern Uganda begin to rebuild their lives after the devastating war that lasted more than twenty years, reconciliation and community restoration becomes paramount. Forgiveness of wrongs committed and past hurts is an important vehicle to achieve reconciliation and co-existence in a society that is wrought with past social upheavals, fragile relationships and painful memories. This study aimed at exploring and understanding the ‘local’ meanings and notions of forgiveness and its importance in re-cementing a ‘broken’ Acholi society. Personal accounts of wrongs committed and processes of forgiveness were recorded, edited and shared with the public in Awach …

The Dilemma Of Responsibility To Protect In The Great Lakes Region, Ruth B. Aluoch

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

This paper examines the underlying complexities that constitute a dilemma for the responsibility to protect in Africa most specifically the Great Lakes Region. I argue that clarifying the meaning and intention of the doctrine in any given context is predicated on understanding the distinct and complex environment in which the doctrine is invoked. These complexities and their differentiation on a case by case basis construe the doctrine as progressive; with political, legal and moral significance making it fit for its purpose. On the other hand the variation of prevention and protection amounts to the denunciation of it as being selective, …

The Revolution Conundrum In Cameroon: A Study Of Relative Peace Under President Biya's Rule, Marianna Babboni

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper attempts to answer the question: What are the factors that have contributed to relative peace in Cameroon under the rule of President Paul Biya up until the civil uprisings in the Anglophone regions in 2016? Cameroon has witnessed consistent civil unrest in the forms of protests and strikes and yet the political structure remains strong against all opposition. Within the limitations of the research, the study finds three main explanations: state terror tactics and divide and rule strategies have quelled opposition, the survival culture of the population has resulted in creative economic alternatives that subsidize civil disorder, and …

The Un’S Political Engagement In The Occupied Palestinian Territories: Reconceptualized Strategies In Humanitarianism And Diplomacy In The Middle East Peace Process, Alara Hanci

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper studies the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories, focusing on the Palestinians’ short-term needs in emergency relief as well as their long-term needs regarding sustainable development, good governance, legal and physical protection. Against the backdrop of a cost/benefit analysis of the current UN humanitarian operational model, the paper then introduces new models of engagement, such the UN’s positioning itself as a mediator between the PA and the civic society throughout the implementation of a decentralized development model. Within this framework, the UN is advised to complement its engagement by facilitating negotiations towards a unified Palestinian government that …

Fake News, Political Narrative, & Social Media: A Structuration Approach, Adam M. Housh

Capstone Collection

This research aims to unveil a connection between fake news distribution, readership demand, and social media networks, in this case, Facebook. In this research, fake news is defined as “content that is deliberately false and published on websites that mimic traditional news websites (Johnson and Kelling 2017, p3)”. It is argued that fake news content is not produced at random, but is tailored to particular political demographics and narratives. Exposure to such media not only validates ideological positions, it polarizes political beliefs. Furthermore, Facebook not only acts as an effective distribution medium, but allows individual users to skip structural filters …

Letter: To President John Delaney From Archbishop Desmond Tutu, April 2018, Desmond Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Collection Textual

A letter from Archbishop Tutu to University of North Florida President John Delaney regarding the papers he gifted to UNF in President Delaney's honor.

The Geopolitics Of Canadian Defense White Papers: Lofty Rhetoric And Limited Results, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

As the United States northern neighbor, Canada serves as a NATO ally and a strategic partner with Washington through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Canadian forces have fought honorably and bravely in concert with American forces in many wars. Canada's government, however, has been less consistent in promoting a credible vision of Canadian national security policy and geopolitical interests in its defense white papers. These documents have often contained idealistic rhetoric about adhering to a rules-based international order and defending freedom. In reality, Canadian governments of varying political parties have consistently failed to provide the sustained funding and …

Why The United Nations Underperforms At Preventing Mass Atrocities, Edward C. Luck

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Defections And Democracy: Explaining Military Loyalty Shifts And Their Impacts On Post-Protest Political Change, Kara Leigh Kingma Neu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why do militaries shift their loyalty from authoritarian regimes in some instances of anti-regime protests and not others, and why do these shifts sometimes lead to democratic change? These questions are crucial for understanding the role of the military in democratization, given competing expectations in the literatures on civil-military relations, pacted transitions, and civil resistance. They are also important for understanding the outcomes of protests and other nonviolent campaigns for regime change, a topic of increased attention in recent years. To answer them, I propose an argument rooted in the bases of military authority. Militaries are delegated authority by regimes …

Before The Peace: Ceasefire Durability In Ethnic Civil Wars, Justin Winokur

Government and International Relations Honors Papers

Why do some ceasefires last for days, while others last for months or years? Previous research on ceasefires has not directly considered the question of ceasefire durability, or has focused solely on the dynamics of ceasefire durability in interstate war. In order to address these knowledge gaps, this study explores the question of ceasefire durability in the context of ethnic civil wars. It is hypothesized that ceasefire durability is related to belligerents’ territorial satisfaction, relative power, and actor cohesion. Analyzing two ceasefires from the Bosnian civil war, the study finds that durability is a function of the interaction between territorial …

The Right To An Image, Sharon Sliwinski

Data and Test Instruments

No abstract provided.

Who Is My Neighbor? Identifying Epistemic Peers Among Polarized Communities, Alex Hoagland

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Developing A Cyberterrorism Policy: Incorporating Individual Values, Osama Bassam J. Rabie

Theses and Dissertations

Preventing cyberterrorism is becoming a necessity for individuals, organizations, and governments. However, current policies focus on technical and managerial aspects without asking for experts and non-experts values and preferences for preventing cyberterrorism. This study employs value focused thinking and public value forum to bare strategic measures and alternatives for complex policy decisions for preventing cyberterrorism. The strategic measures and alternatives are per socio-technical process.

Polar Opposites: Assessing The State Of Environmental Law In The World's Polar Regions, Mark P. Nevitt, Robert Percival

Faculty Articles

Climate change is fundamentally transforming both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. Yet these regions differ dramatically in their governing legal regimes. For the past sixty years the Antarctic Treaty System, a traditional “hard law” international law treaty system, effectively de-militarized the Antarctic region and halted competing sovereignty claims. In contrast, the Arctic region lacks a unifying Arctic treaty and is governed by the newer “soft law” global environmental law model embodied in the Arctic Council’s collaborative work. Now climate change is challenging this model. It is transforming the geography of both polar regions, breaking away massive ice sheets in …

Predicting The Probability Of Negotiation In Civil Conflicts: An Empirical Investigation Of Intrastate Conflicts Between 1989 And 2008, Ilker Kalin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Since the end of Cold War, more civil conflicts have been settled by negotiated settlements, as compared to previous eras. While the extant literature has offered various explanations of this trend by examining the costs and types of war, scholars’ primary focus has been on researching the determinants of conflict resolution. Yet, what brings the parties of civil conflicts to the negotiation table in the first place has remained largely unexplored. In particular, previous scholarship has failed to grasp negotiation as a process and costly choice in itself. This dissertation lays out the conditions paving the way for negotiations in …

Place Over Politics: Power, Strategy, Terrain, And Regime Type In Interstate War Outcomes, 1816-2003, Connor Joseph Sprayberry Sutton

Wayne State University Dissertations

While the study of war occurrence is among the primary considerations of the field of international relations, only recently has attention turned towards the study of war outcomes. This attention is best represented by the democratic victory proposition, which suggests that democracies win the majority of their wars by virtue of being democratic. However, elements of this study are currently incipient. In turn, this dissertation generates a novel set of variables to measure the impact of terrain on war outcomes, including measures of spatial extent, topographic heterogeneity, and land cover heterogeneity. These metrics are generated for all 94 interstate wars …

Countering Violent Extremism In Peshawar Pakistan, Licona Bryan

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Spikes of militancy, intolerance, ethnic division and sectarianism have all risen within Pakistan in recent years, yet Pakistan’s continuous battle to deter violent extremism fails to be successful. Following the December 16, 2014 Army Public School (APS) massacre in Peshawar Pakistan little empirical attention has been paid on how the Pakistani government, in the Northwest region of Pakistan, is countering violent extremism (CVE). As well as, its link to policy-making decisions on CVE. This dissertation study sought to analyze the currently active CVE narrative that Pakistan implemented into its Constitution in 2014. This qualitative explanatory case study project focused on …

Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute: Seeking A Peaceful Solution, Aaron Marcus Homer

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of those dispute settlement mechanisms that are capable of resolving the Guyana-Venezuela border dispute. This thesis will analyze those legal principles and/or techniques of the International Court of Justice, mediation and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which are indispensable for dispute resolution. I argue that a resolution is significant for the stability of the international community.

Guyana and Venezuela possess economic and political interests in the disputed Essequibo region. Venezuela’s predilection for bilateral negotiations contradicts Guyana’s request for a judicial solution. These extreme positions are not novel but …

Strength Through Diplomacy: A Fundamental Review Of The Relationship Between North Korea And The United States, Benjamin D. Blackstone

CMC Senior Theses

At the time that this thesis is printed, we are reminded of the tumultuous relationship between North Korea and the United States every day. If we follow the mainstream news regularly, it seems like we are on a steady path to war. Ultimately, this paper is centered around the question: what is the best foreign policy strategy for both countries to achieve respective goals, without descending into armed conflict? Specifically, I evaluated the failures of the last three U.S. Presidents and used their shortcomings to explain limitations in current foreign policy strategy. I also attempted to show North Korean concerns …

Religion, Nationality, And Empathetic Responses To Refugees, Reed Rasband

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Prelude To Genocide: Arusha, Rwanda, And The Failure Of Diplomacy, David Rawson

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

As the initial US observer, David Rawson participated in the 1993 Rwandan peace talks at Arusha, Tanzania. Later, he served as US ambassador to Rwanda during the last months of the doomed effort to make them hold. Despite the intervention of concerned states in establishing a peace process and the presence of an international mission, UNAMIR, the promise of the Arusha Peace Accords could not be realized. Instead, the downing of Rwandan president Habyarimana’s plane in April 1994 rekindled the civil war and opened the door to genocide.

In Prelude to Genocide, Rawson draws on declassified documents and his own …

A Comparative Study Of Extreme Religious Nationalist Terrorist Groups In The United States, Colleen Arthur

Undergraduate Research Posters

The aim of this paper is to conduct a comparative study of Radical Right Wing terrorism and Radical Islamic terrorism both of which are categorized under the Religious Nationalism/Extremism typology of terrorism. In order to compare and contrast the two fairly, I broke down the ideology, motives, methods, and the demographic profile of members of both Radical Right Wing and Radical Islamic terrorism then provided examples of different groups that fall within those categories in order to effectively illustrate the striking similarities of the two categories that have been addressed and condemned differently by the United States. Then I had …

Faith-Based Civil Society Organizations And The Protection Of Victims Of Human Rights Abuses In Nigeria, Nathaniel Umukoro

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Nigeria has witnessed various forms of human rights violations such as extrajudicial killings, rape, and torture during both military and civilian regimes. Amnesty International, the U.S. State Department, and the Political Terror Scale of the Centre for Systemic Peace indicate that Nigeria is a country characterized by generalized human rights violations.

Over the years, several scholars have examined the causes, nature, responses of the state, and reasons for the persistence of human rights violations in Nigeria. A careful consideration of these studies indicates that the role of faith-based civil society organizations in the protection of victims of human rights abuses …