Political Science Commons^™

Revisiting Gender Equality In Millennium Development Goal 3: Establishing Education For Women As A Human Right, Colleen Renee Kahl

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate Millennium Development Goal 3 and to propose a new goal based in a human rights-based approach. This goal promotes gender equality and women's empowerment and is primarily measured by gender parity in education. For many countries in the developing world, this goal is far from being reached and has resulted in millions of children, particularly girls, out of school. The primary focus of this thesis will be on the secondary level of education as gender parity is far from being obtained. This thesis will review the goals and the human rights-based approach …

Konferenca Ndërkombëtare Për Kosovën (Konferenca E Rambujesë), Arbnora Zariqi Baraliu

Theses and Dissertations

HYRJE: Konferenca e Rambujesë paraqet ngjarjen më të rëndësishme për popullin e Kosovës. Që nga kjo Konferencë, fati i shqiptarëve të Kosovës nisi të ndryshoj në të mirë, populli tani e tutje kishin edhe përkrahjen ndërkombëtare për zgjidhjen e fatit të tij.

QËLLIMI: Qëllimi i këtij punimi ka qenë që të studiohet roli dhe rëndësia e Konferencës Ndërkombëtare për Kosovën (Konferenca e Rambujes), duke analizuar librat e shkruara nga pjesëmarrësit në këtë konferencë, shtypin e kohës dhe më të vonshëm, si dhe materiale nga interneti.

MATERIALET DHE METODAT:Si materiale për këtë temë janë shfrytëzuar librat e autorëve që ishin …

The Turkish Foreign Policy Under The Justice And Development Party (Akp): A Paradigm Shift?, Ali Demirdas

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the Turkish foreign policy has become even more important in recent years given the developments surrounding the country. Furthermore, the last decade witnessed a radical change in the Turkish foreign policy making under the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

This dissertation aims to explain the nature of this change based on the application of the Policy Paradigms Theory, comparing the components of the AKP foreign policy understanding with those of the Kemalist, the status que paradigm that defined the foreign policy making in Turkey well into the early 21st century. The application of the theory provides evidence, based on …

The Liberal Commercial Peace, Regional Considerations: International Relations Of Southeast Asia, Latin America, And The European Union Countries, Chienwu Hsueh

Theses and Dissertations

Most of the large-N empirical studies on the liberal commercial peace theory demonstrate that, in general, trade has a robust pacifying effect in reducing the probability of dyadical militarized interstate disputes. However, why trade’s pacifying effect varies across time and space remains a puzzle that previous research has not yet solved. The liberal commercial peace literature suggests the following questions are in need of answers: Why does trade promote peace mainly in inter-region dyads but not in intra-region dyads? What are the preconditions that make trade’s pacifying effect work or not work? In this research, I argue that there are …

The Domestic Adoption Of International Human Rights Law: The Roles Of Regional And National High Courts In Latin America, Rebecca Ann Reid

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the question: under what conditions do regional and national high courts matter in the promotion and domestic incorporation of international human rights law? In order to address this question, I argue that domestic high courts can proactively adopt international human rights laws through their interpretation of the law and resulting case decisions. Regional courts promote international law, particularly through their requirement of domestic legal reforms in their judgments. I examine the extent of state compliance with these requirements, where compliance consists of these changes in the domestic legal system thereby institutionalizing international laws and transforming them into …

The Political Economy Of Property Rights In China: Local Officials, Incentive Structure, And Private Enterprises, Ingrid Yingxia Li

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation tries to solve two puzzling questions in China’s economic miracle: why some private firms enjoy better property rights protection than others under similar political and economic institutional conditions. Secondly, under the incentive structure designed by the central government, why some local officials in some localities actively protected private property rights than others hence foster local economic development. Existing literature either emphasizes social networks or focuses on fiscal decentralization and personnel control system. But neither these accounts is able to systematically explain the considerable variation of private property rights protection across regions and over time.

I develop a game-theoretical …

Qatari Foreign Policy And The Arab Spring: From Mediation To Intervention, Basma Mahmoud Eletreby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the controversial role that Qatar has been playing in the Arab Spring, specifically from 2011 to 2013. Evidently, Qatari foreign policy will be assessed to comprehend the power this small state has been gaining in Middle East politics in a region plagued by never ending manifestations of power struggles and turbulent developments. The case studies of Egypt, Libya and Syria in which Qatari foreign policy involvement deployed the same rationale will be investigated to examine the increasing involvement of Qatar in Middle East politics. It concludes that the foreign policy of Qatar was both opportunistic and pro-Islamist …

Essays On Battle Clusters In Internal Armed Conflicts And Insurgencies: Concept, Causes And Consequences, Chifeng Liu

Theses and Dissertations

With the purpose to re-conceptualize the intensity of internal armed conflicts, I argue that the characteristics such as location, scale and duration of “major battlefields,” i.e. the spatio-temporal clusters of combat events are important in the evaluation of impact of modern civil wars and insurgencies. I start with elaborating and constructing a new concept of conflict magnitude with battle clusters using up-to-date geo-referenced data and spatial statistic methods. In the second article, I first explain the location and duration of major battlefields. The findings indicate that an area with multiple non-state armed groups (NSAGs) is more likely to become main …

Troubled Waters: Security, Economic Development, And The Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands., Kevin Mckenzie

Theses and Dissertations

This project uses a case-study approach to determine the causes of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Island dispute between Japan and the People's Republic of China.

The Egyptian Uprising And April 6th Youth Movement Split, Somaia Metwalli El Sayed

Theses and Dissertations

Few months after the Egyptian uprising, a considerable number of April 6th Youth movement announced their split. Knowing that the movement was already suffering from internal disputes over a number of issues, the research problem is centered on questioning whether and how the uprising played a role in such incident. Academic scholarship on social movements developed partial and action-oriented theories to explain different processes and dynamics of movement’s collective action. However, little work has been done on the trajectory of social movements in the Middle East, especially after radical forms of change as revolutions, uprisings or upheavals. It is argued …

The Graffiti Of Mohamed Mahmoud And The Politics Of Transition In Egypt: The Transformation Of Space, Sociality And Identities, Nouran Al-Anwar El-Hawary

Theses and Dissertations

This study is concerned with the spatial transformations taking place in Mohamed Mahmoud that branches from Midan el-Tahrir; the official site of the Egyptian January 25 Revolution. Since the revolution, this street has witnessed a great deal of violence during several bloody clashes between protesters and security forces. It has also become famous for the dissenting graffiti murals wrapping the walls of it entrance. By conducting ethnography of this block of Mohamed Mahmoud Street, my study focuses on the residents and shop owners in the area, who I frame as the graffiti's ‘unintended audience,’ to understand how these spatial and …

From The Forefront To The Sidelines: Youth In Post-Revolution Egypt, Khadiga Omar

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the reasons for the declining role of youth as effective political players since the Egyptian Revolution in 2011. Particularly looking at the “Revolutionary Youth”, this study investigates why their activism over the course of the past four years could not translate into political power that would lead to the realization of the goals of the revolution. Resource Mobilization Theory, Political Opportunity Structure and Framing constitute a tri-lens through which the political experience of the youth is analyzed in this research. This thesis argues that a) the youth’s organizational dilemma; b) their reliance on protest as the exclusive …

Padania Or Federalism? An Examination Of The Spatial Demands Of Italy's Northern League, Anthony Vincent Pierucci

Theses and Dissertations

This study will analyze what factors affect the oscillation of the spatial demands of ethno-regionalist parties between more moderate and more radical objectives. The factors under examination are electoral, economic, internal organization, and the "other" that the party defines itself against. The study analyzes the relationship between these factors and spatial demands utilizing a case study of the Lega Nord. Ultimately, the study concludes that there is some relation between these factors and the Lega Nord's spatial demands, even if they are not directly causal of the change in spatial demands themselves. The findings also suggest that the generalized findings …

How Much Do Groups Still Matter To Politics? An Examination Of Group Influences On Public Opinion, Lauren E. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Public opinion plays an important role in democracy. A system of government designed specifically to be by the people, for the people and of the people must by necessity listen to the opinions of the people. Accordingly, an important research agenda is determining conditions under which public opinion is listened to and translated into government responsiveness. Most of the public opinion literature answering this question focuses specifically on individual opinion. I argue that this is problematic because politics is ultimately carried out in terms of the collective. Further, I argue that collective opinion is often voiced through groups in society …

Do Americans’ Perceptions Of The Prevalence Of Prejudice Impact Their Racial Policy Preferences? Investigating Meta-Stereotypes As A Potential Causal Mechanism, Alexandra Reckendorf

Theses and Dissertations

Racial discrimination, though more subtle than in the past, is still an enduring presence in 21st century America. Whether looking at education, health care, the workforce, housing/lending practices, or the criminal justice system, studies routinely confirm that racial prejudice and discrimination persist despite claims of a “post-racial” America. Yet, despite the perseverance of racial prejudice and discrimination, policies correcting racial injustice remain contentious, either failing to receive the requisite support to pass reforms or receiving backlash from the public. This project explores meta-stereotypes in the Black and white communities, and highlights meta-stereotypes’ potential impact when determining why some individuals support …

Towards Common European Energy Policy, Mariam Dekanozishvili

Theses and Dissertations

A common European energy policy is emerging. That poses a puzzling instance of European integration and policy‐making. Despite the origins of the European integration project rooted in the coal and nuclear sectors, integration in the energy domain largely failed until the 1990s. The last two decades, however, witnessed an increasing number of energy policy initiatives at the European Union (EU) level and culminated in the inclusion of the energy article in the 2009 Lisbon Treaty.

The dissertation aims to explain under what conditions, and how, European integration succeeds in the domain of energy policy, based on a novel fuzzy‐set qualitative …

Another Kind Of Pink Tide? An Investigation Into The Rapid Expansion Of Lgbt Rights In Latin America, Christopher Joseph Petkus

Theses and Dissertations

Within the past two decades or so, the Latin American region has seen a remarkable rise in the enactment of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights-affirming policies. This trend is particularly notable given the dearth of such progress in the rest of the developing world. As such, this study aims to contribute to the small but rapidly growing body of literature on the subject. In particular, I aim to determine which factors are most explanatory of when and why countries will enact LGBT rights policies and why a disparity exists across the region. The first systematic study of its …

Revisiting The Spiral Of Silence In A Social Media Environment: Egypt’S 2014 Presidential Election As A Case Study, Heba T. Saleh Elshahed

Theses and Dissertations

With the advent of the Internet and anonymous features of online media, users have established novel platforms to voice their opinion freely without fear of negative feedback. This thesis explores the application of a long-standing public opinion theory– the spiral of silence by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann–within the prevalent Social Networking Sites (SNS), particularly Facebook. When applying spiral of silence to online mediated environment, it seems intuitive that the lack of verbal cues and anonymity offered would serve to undermine the fear of isolation and restlessness that results in unwillingness to express minority views. This research contributes to understanding how the spiral …

This Wall Speaks: Graffiti And The Location Of Transnational Space Palestine, Ashley Toenjes

Theses and Dissertations

Extant literature on the Palestinian-Israeli separation wall privileges the wall's function in border-making, while ignoring other discursive and spacial functions it fulfills. My thesis reaches beyond the border-making function of the wall, resituating it as a node among different spacial networks of activism, tourism, and electronic media. My paper argues that Palestinian tactical use of graffiti on the separation wall traverses these spatial networks and provides a case for us to consider graffiti not only as a process which links these networks, but also as a discursive tool through which Palestinians appeal to transnational actors, particularly those who are complicit …

Political Third Parties' Representation In"The Big Three": 24-Hour Cable News Networks' Ideological Construction Of The American Political Duopoly, William Breault

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis conducts content and functional analyses to investigate the amount and functions of third-party mentions in 24-hour cable news networks. Additionally, this thesis applies framing tactics, ideographs, and other rhetorical theory to examine strategies utilized to ideologically construct cognitions regarding the current American political duopoly.

To Thine Own Self Be Cruel: An Analysis Of The Use Of Self-Deprecating Humor As A Rhetorical Strategy By Figures In Positions Of Authority, Brian Sorenson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the use of self-deprecating humor as a rhetorical strategy by figures in positions of authority. A close textual analysis is performed on eight White House Correspondents' Dinner speeches by U.S. presidents. Two speeches are analyzed from each of the four chosen presidents. The presidents whose respective uses of self-deprecating humor will be analyzed are Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

A Longitudinal Case Study Of The Impact Of Democracy On Food Security In Ghana And Implications For Theory Development, Katelyn Marie Colaric

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports the results of a qualitative, longitudinal case study of Ghana that examined the impact of democracy on food security within Ghana since its democratization in 1992. First, the study reviews existing literature about food security, a newly-emerging concern in political science, as well as the literature on democracy and human rights. To fill the gaps in existing literature regarding the impact of democracy on food security, [and the author finds it overzealous to prove that democracy always benefits food security levels across varying states, cultures, and years] the thesis examines food security developments in Ghana, a developing …

The Effects Of Political Control And Institutional Structure On State Ethics Commissions, William Jonathan Rauh

Theses and Dissertations

State ethics commissions serve as both oversight and enforcement bodies. However they are also quasi-judicial institutions whose members are appointed by elected officials. At best this presents problems of oversight, and at worst it implies that commissions can be actively influenced by the very individuals they are tasked with overseeing. Previous studies of ethics commissions have examined the covariates of creating ethics commissions, or have examined the internal functioning of these commissions in the pursuit of their envisioned goals. A largely ignored area of study with regard to these commissions is the degree to which elected officials can exercise influence …

Seeing The Sausage Made: How Compromise Works In Large Groups And Representative Bodies, James E. Crawford Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Inspired by the lack of Congressional compromise during the 2013 federal shutdown, I explore how compromise works in large groups and representative bodies. An on-line survey, personal interviews, and a discourse analysis of the Congressional Record yield a diverse collection of data, including personal and public stories of compromise. I examine the stories and other data through an eclectic mix of contemporary scholarship, borrowing literary theory from the Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin, socio-linguistic concepts from American linguist James Paul Gee, and moral philosophy from Israeli thinker Avishai Margalit. I also incorporate the work of political scientists Amy Gutmann and Dennis …

Taking Interests And International Conflict More Seriously, Chong-Han Wu

Theses and Dissertations

Democratic peace theory provides theoretical and empirical arguments of the importance about democratic institutions in shaping and promoting the global order. Yet critics propose that it is the similarity of policy interests that prevent conflict between the joint democracies instead of the effects of regime types (Gartzke 1998; Oneal and Russet 1999c; Russett, Oneal and Davis 1998; Gartzke 2000). Scholars mainly question whether interests directly cause peace or interests are indirectly caused by liberal variables, such as trade or international organizations. This debate has no obvious conclusion, but it encourages students of conflict studies to pay more attention to the …

Microfinance And Poverty Reduction: How Risks Associated With Government Policies Affect Whether Microfinance Alleviates Poverty In Latin-America, Brian Warby

Theses and Dissertations

The expansion of financial services to the poor, now widely referred to as microfinance, quickly saw tremendous success in Bangladesh beginning in the 1970's and was exported to a number of other countries. For a time microfinance was spoken of as a panacea, in part because it is more detached from governments than other forms of poverty alleviation. I develop a model based on expected utility theory that looks at how risks associated with government policies and characteristics affect whether this mechanism eases poverty. Using a large N analysis of Latin-American states from 1990-2010 and a case study analysis to …

Birthing Ajali (Destiny): Hiv/Aids And Its Effects Amongst Females In Rural Tanzania: A Reduction, Renewal And Prospective Vision For Females In Rural Tanzania, Porsha Latrice Hart

Theses and Dissertations

The HIV/AIDS crisis has impacted Africa for at least fifty years and Tanzania for at least twenty nine years. The government, public health community and nongovernmental agencies have addressed this now pandemic by utilizing strategic planning, prevention and education measures, as well as effective crisis communication. This study makes an attempt to utilize qualitative research to examine the crisis in Tanzania and how it has affected females in selected rural areas. Effective crisis communication will be explored with an emphasis on the discourse of renewal theory. Furthermore, the Center for Disease Control Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Intervention SISTA program will …

Holding International Public-Private Partnership Accountable: An Analysis Of Sensitivity And Vulnerability Dynamics In Ghana's Water Sector Reform And Its Impact On The Target Population, Xi Chen

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the interaction among stakeholders involved in global public-private partnerships, using and developing the theoretical framework provided by the interdependence theory's sensitivity and vulnerability analysis, which is further supplemented by the two-level game model. Citing the case of Ghana's water sector reform, it looks into the dynamics among four categories of stakeholders involved in the partnership, namely the public and private partners, the World Bank (as the broker), and Ghanaian civil societies representing a broad spectrum of the local population. It is charged with the task of investigating the negotiation dynamics of all the listed actors in relation …

Economic Agreements And Interstate Conflict: A Policy Substitution Model Of Coercion, Matthew Daniel-Marion Shaffer

Theses and Dissertations

Economic integration agreements - also called preferential trade agreements or regional trade agreements - have dramatically expanded in scope since World War II. While the proximate goal of economic integration is to increase commercial exchange between member states, there are strong reasons to believe agreements affect security relations as well. In particular, by increasing interdependence between member states through trade and investment, economic agreements increase the opportunity cost of coercion. However, they simultaneously marginalize commercial ties between agreement members and the outside world and exacerbate relative gains concerns through trade diversion. Hence I argue that while conflict between agreement members …

Protracted Social Conflict: A Reconceptualization And Case Analysis, Melissa M. C. Beaudoin

Theses and Dissertations

What are the necessary components of protracted social conflict (PSC)? The works of Edward Azar have laid the foundation as to how PSC is approached in modern scholarship by identifying four necessary components: effective participation, security, distinctive identity, and social recognition of identity. However, do these components account for all of the descriptive and sustaining aspects of PSC? How are these components measured? Furthermore, testing and verification of these components has been limited. Of specific interest to this dissertation, then, is how the theory of PSC is organized and what its theoretically necessary components truly are. This dissertation reconceputalizes and …