Political Science Commons^™

The Arctic Game, Sarah E. Nuernberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since outsiders first visited the Arctic, they have believed in man's ability to conquer the region. Today's Arctic conquest is not one of heroic exploration, but rather one of ownership and exploitation. This paper illustrates contestation in the Arctic through the metaphor of a game, with attendant prizes, players, and rules. It focuses on how to prevent the future destruction of the Arctic given the interactions of the Arctic's landscape, prizes, players, and current management frameworks. In the wake of renewed resource exploitation and escalating climate change impacts, the current frameworks and mindsets are inadequate to support the precarious balance …

Landslide: The “Obama Surge” And The Future Of California Politics, Corey Cook, David Latterman

McCarthy Center Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The 2008 presidential election in California resulted in a landslide of historic proportions. Barack Obama’s victory, fueled as it was by 2.1 million firsttime voters, seemingly portends a realignment in California. At the same time, outside the presidential election, the results in 2008 were well within the norms of California politics. Utilizing an original dataset, we unravel this conundrum by examining whether these “surge voters” were substantially different from habitual voters, whether they have stayed engaged in electoral politics, and what might that tell us about the future partisan and political alignment in California?

Medvedev Vs. Putin In Kremlin-Sponsored Advertorials In The U.S. And India, Evhenia Viatchaninova

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

This essay explores the image making of Vladimir Putin vs. Dmitri Medvedev in the Kremlin-sponsored advertorials the "Russia Now" and the "Russia India Report" circulated as free supplements to The Washington Post, and The Times of India, India, in 2011. Advertorial content mentioning each politician was analyzed using basic qualitative and quantitative techniques, and several image making messages highlighting Putin's vs. Medvedev's leadership were deduced. Both advertorials served as a platform for mediated public diplomacy aimed at influencing foreign publics' perceptions of Russia's leadership in the wake of a major presidential election.

One State Or Two In Israel/Palestine: The Stress On Gender And Citizenship, Gordon Babst, Nicole M. Tellier

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

As is the case with any of the three great Abrahamic religions, there is considerable ambiguity regarding the status and role of women both within doctrinal interpretations, and between religious and other cultural traditions in the community. These ambiguities are reflected in political practice and condition women's aspirations regarding what is possible for them to achieve. Nowhere is it more true that understandings of religious imperatives permeate politics and work to make other lines of division all the more intractable than in Israel/Palestine. The proclivity to violence between the two peoples not only victimizes women, but foreshortens attention to their …

The Rhetorical Criteria Of Kennedy's Camelot, Stacy Fawn Wilder

Online Theses and Dissertations

John F. Kennedy's presidential rhetoric reflects key criteria necessary for creating and sustaining the American Camelot myth. That myth was successfully ingrained within the American psyche through the use of visual rhetoric, campaign speech rhetoric, and crisis time rhetoric. Moreover, the collective memory of cultural trauma following Kennedy's assassination suggests a promising continuation of the Camelot myth. Because the four rhetorical categories (visual, campaign, crisis, and collective memory) worked in tandem, all were essential for creating Kennedy's legacy.

Political Performance, Leadership, And Regional Integration In Europe, Gaspare Genna, Birol Yesilada, Peter Noordijk

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

Examining The Role Of Identity In Negotiation Decision Making: The Case Of Cyprus, Cigdem Sirin

Selected Works Temporary Series

This study examines the effects of ethnic and social identities on negotiation decision making in the context of the Cyprus conflict. I conduct a theory-driven case study of the 1959 Zurich-London agreements on Cyprus, analyzing the positions of Turkey, Greece, Britain, and the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities during the negotiation process. I find that even in the presence of adversarial ethnic ties, decision makers who have a shared (and salient) social identity are more likely to employ collective-serving decision strategies and seek evenhanded solutions that will not jeopardize their mutual interests. In contrast, decision makers with severe ethnic fragmentation …

Ford Foundation, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

No. 15: The State Of Food Security In Manzini, Swaziland, Daniel Tevera, Nomcebo Simelane, Graciana Peter, Abul Salam

African Food Security Urban Network

This study of the food security situation of the poor in Manzini, Swaziland’s economic hub, formed part of AFSUN’s baseline survey of eleven Southern African cities. It found that the urban poor here are less food secure than in any of the other cities in the survey. On the basis of the findings presented in this paper, AFSUN makes several policy recommendations to deal with food security challenges in the poor urban areas of Swaziland. Among these is that government needs to target urban households specifically in addition to its focus on poverty in rural areas. A more national approach …

Organized Labor And U.S. Foreign Policy: The Solidarity Center In Historical Context, G. Nelson Bass Iii

Humanities and Politics Faculty Book and Book Chapters

During the Cold War the foreign policy of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), was heavily criticized by scholars and activists for following the lead of the U.S. state in its overseas operations. In a wide range of states, the AFL-CIO worked to destabilize governments selected by the U.S. state for regime change, while in others the Federation helped stabilize client regimes of the U.S. state. In 1997 the four regional organizations that previously carried out AFL-CIO foreign policy were consolidated into the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center). My dissertation is an …

No. 09: Migration, Development And Urban Food Security, Jonathan Crush

African Food Security Urban Network

Over the last decade, two issues have risen to the top of the international development agenda: Food Security & Migration and Development. Each has its own agency champions, international gatherings, national line ministries and voluminous bodies of research. There is thus a massive institutional and substantive disconnect between these two development agendas. The reasons are hard to understand since the connections between migration and food security seem so obvious. Food security needs to be “mainstreamed” into the migration and development agenda and migration needs to be “mainstreamed” into the food security agenda. Without this happening, both agendas will proceed in …

Phenomenological Theories Of Crime, Peter K. Manning, Michael W. Raphael

Graduate Student Publications and Research

The distinctive aspect of phenomenological theories of crime is that they are based upon a stated epistemology: how things are known and a specific ontology—the nature of social reality. This specificity aligns itself with neo-Kantian concern with forms of knowing, interpretation, and meaning, as well as with 20th-century concern with perception, cognition, and the framing of events. While there are influences of phenomenological thinking on varieties of theorizing, such as symbolic interactionism, critical theory, queer theory, and gender-based theories of crime, these ideas are refractions and are inconsistent in their reference to and understanding of the foundational phenomenological works. A …

Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric In Western Europe: The Role Of Integration Policies In Extreme Right Populism, Nathalia Martins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The recent rise of Western Europe's extreme populist Right (EPR) parties has been attributed to the EPR's mobilization of grievances over the issue of immigration (Ignazi 1991; Taggart 1996; Fennema 1997; Schain, 1998; Mudde 1999; Brubaker 2001; Ivarsflaten 2007). This study contributes to the literature on EPR's anti-immigrant rhetoric by examining whether different integration policies play a role in conditioning anti-immigrant rhetoric, and if so, what their role is in the formulation of such rhetoric. This thesis is comprised of two case studies: the French assimilation approach to immigrant integration and the rhetoric of Front National's leaders Jean-Marie and Marine …

From 1994 To 2011: Are San Francisco Commissions More Representative?, Maria X. Martinez, Esin Nacar, Aimee Nichols

McCarthy Center Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Balancing The Process Of Democratization And The Continuation Of State Stability: The Case Of Mexico, Elise Dunn

Government and International Relations Honors Papers

Through an empirical analysis of the state of Mexico, this thesis examines the transition to democracy from a previously consolidated, stable authoritarian system in order to make conclusions regarding the challenges inherent in such a transition for the maintenance of stability. Previously, Mexico was ruled under the hegemonic party, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) from 1929-2000.

This research finds that the PRI’s hegemonic structure relied on unsustainable corporatist institutions that were built, not to strengthen the state, but rather to strengthen the party; as such, Mexico’s nascent democracy is left vulnerable with ineffective institutions with which to deal with crises …

The Dragon Takes Flight: China's Journey Toward Building Its C-919 Large Passenger Aircraft And Its Impact On The Us And Boeing, Derek Adam Levine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the enormous risk associated with the development of a large indigenous airliner, China after a failed attempt in the mid-1980s, since 2003 has decided once again to embark on a journey toward the development of a 190 seat commercial airliner. Nations are typically interested in the development of indigenous airliners because of the potential spillover effects that years of research and development have on the economy and the military. Equally important is that China no longer wants to relinquish its large commercial airplane market to foreign companies such as Boeing and Airbus with their market expected to constitute nearly …

No. 16: The State Of Food Insecurity In Msunduzi Municipality, South Africa, Mary Caesar, Jonathan Crush, Trevor Hill

African Food Security Urban Network

There is plenty of food in Msunduzi, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, but the urban poor regularly go hungry. This study of Msunduzi’s food security situation formed part of AFSUN’s baseline survey of eleven Southern African cities. The survey results show that the urban poor in Msunduzi are significantly worse off than their counterparts in Cape Town and Johannesburg. A third of the households reported that they sometimes or often have no food to eat of any kind. Household size did not make a great deal of difference to levels of insecurity but female-headed households are more food insecure than …

No. 14: The State Of Food Insecurity In Windhoek, Namibia, Wade Pendleton, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Akiser Pomuti

African Food Security Urban Network

AFSUN recently conducted a survey of poor urban households in eleven major cities in Southern Africa to better understand the seriousness of the urban food insecurity situation. This report looks in detail at the results for Windhoek and seeks to answer one central question, that is, why do the urban poor in Namibia’s capital generally appear to be better off than the urban poor in most of the other ten cities where the survey was conducted and why, at the same time, does Windhoek contain some of the most food insecure households in the region? As a city of migrants, …

The Secession Of South Sudan: A Case Study In African Sovereignty And International Recognition, Christian Knox

Political Science Student Work

This thesis focuses on the recent secession of South Sudan. The primary research questions include an examination of whether or not South Sudan’s 2011 secession signaled a break from the O.A.U.’s traditional doctrines of African stability and noninterference. Additionally, this thesis asks: why did the United States and the international community at large confer recognition to South Sudan immediately upon its independence? Theoretical models are used to examine the independent variables of African stability, ethnic secessionism, and geopolitics on the dependent variables of international recognition and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The history of Sudan's peace process is explored, as well …

Midterm Elections Used To Gauge President's Reelection Chances, Desmond D. Wallace

Bridges: A Journal of Student Research

Since 1952 there have been thirteen instances in which the incumbent president's party lost seats in the House of Representatives in a midterm election. Researchers have created two competing theories to explain this trend. The surge-and-decline theory argues that the reasons for causing high voter turnout in a presidential election are absent in a midterm election, leading to a decline in voter turnout and subsequent losses by the president's party. The other theory, the referendum theory, argues that losses suffered by the president's party are due to the president's performance and the performance of the economy. When it comes to …

Two Cheers For Burma’S Rigged Election, Neil A. Englehart

Political Science Faculty Publications

Burma’s recent election was clearly not free and fair. However, it can also be seen as improving a uniquely unrepresentative government, creating greater pluralism, and institutionalizing differences within the ruling junta. Even the rigged election may have created opportunities for further opening in the future.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note No. 14: Anti-Aircraft Mounted .50 Cal. Machine Gun And Surface-To-Air Missile Recovered In 2009, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note No. 12: Forensics Of Recovered Weapons From Piedras Negras Tactical Engagement Between Los Zetas And Gate (Grupo De Armas Y Tácticas Especiales), David A. Kuhn, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note No. 11: Mg 34 Machine Guns Recovered In Nayarit—Hezbollah Arms Transfer Concerns, David A. Kuhn, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note No. 10: Claymore Anti-Personnel Mine (And Other Military Hardware) Recovered In Zacatecas, David A. Kuhn, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note No. 8: Teen Tortured, Dismembered, Beheaded By Trafficking Gang In Bethany, Oklahoma, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Changing Forms Of Insurgency: Pirates, Narco Gangs And Failed States, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The primarily bipolar world that helped to characterize the decades long Cold War has begun to realign itself. The information revolution, increasing globalizations, the ongoing expansion of transnational terrorist and insurgent networks, and many other elements of this systemic level change have continued to take place into the early twenty-first century. Within the context of this large-scale shift in human and state relations, one question that has often been asked by analysis is whether changing forms of insurgency are taking place. If this is so, these changing forms of insurgency would be distinct from the currently dominant political form of …

Paying The Price Of Civilization, Mindy Peden

Political Science

Liberal democratic theory has not adequately addressed the tension between democracy and capitalism and this can be seen most clearly when trying to develop a political theory of taxation. Liberal democratic and public finance experts on taxation have focused on principles of justice and fairness. The imposition of specific kinds of taxes on Africans well after the beginning of colonialism in South Africa will help shed light on the internal challenges to liberalism that such a principled approach to taxation reveals. Through an extended exegesis on colonial tax policy, I will show how a faith in civilization, a racialized belief …

Russian Foreign Policy In The Middle East: Priorities And Effectiveness, Brett A. Schneider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes contemporary Russian Foreign Policy toward the Middle East. Six factors are identified as most critical to Russian foreign policy in the region: Islamic terrorism, arms transfers, natural resources, influence over former Soviet Spaces, general trade, and great power status. With rare exceptions, these principles are shown to guide Russian foreign policy in the Middle East since 2000.

The paper continues by considering the effectiveness of Russia in achieving its desired policy outcomes in the Middle East. This includes assessing situations in which two or more priorities run counter to each other. Generally, Russia is shown to be …

Preventing The Clash: Reexamining U.S. Public Diplomacy In The Middle East, Clifton Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes U.S. public diplomacy in the Middle East. In explaining the concept of public diplomacy itself and its evolution in the United States, four factors are identified as most crucial to the capabilities and limitations of U.S. public diplomacy in the region: U.S. foreign policy options, institutions, strategies, and tools. These factors are shown to affect the outcome of U.S. public diplomacy programming in the Middle East and are the foundation for a new U.S. public diplomacy model.

The paper continues by examining the development of contemporary U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, providing a traceable landscape …