Political Science Commons^™

A Discourse Analysis Of The Development Of Institutional Compliance Mechanisms At The International Maritime Organization, Rebecca Pskowski

World Maritime University Ph.D. Dissertations

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) plays a pivotal and essential role in international maritime governance, providing a forum for nation states to develop and agree to international standards for maritime safety and security and the protection of the marine environment. IMO is widely perceived to be one of the most successful universal international organizations (IOS), because of the high technical quality of the conventions and other legal instruments it develops, and the near-universal acceptance of most of those instruments. IMO could be seen as an exemplar of the "technical" specialized United Nations agency, where nation-states set aside politics to agree …

Effects Of Actualized Language Policy On Ukrainian Stability, 1989-2022, Dawn Hersey

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation seeks to generate a new perspective of the complicated relationship between actualized policy and stability through looking at Ukraine’s language policies and stability in a mixed manner approach that includes both primary and secondary sources. Russia justified its irridentist activities through claiming to protect Russian nationals within Ukraine’s borders: language policies within Ukraine appear to be a trigger for Russian antagonism. Neither Russian irridentism nor Ukrainian nationalism are being considered as right or wrong in this dissertation: the intent is to highlight trends, patterns, and perceptions in alignment with Ukrainian language policy. This dissertation does not present a …

Reassurance After Abandonment: Alliance Politics After Alliances End, Poyung Lin

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation examines how major powers respond after pursuing abandonment policies, with particular attention to whether and how they seek to reassure their clients. Drawing from the literatures on reputation, alliance politics, and international credibility, it develops the theory of Selective Reassurance, arguing that reputational concerns, especially the desire to maintain a reputation for keeping promises, shape uneven patterns of post-abandonment military support. The study employs a mixed-methods design. Quantitatively, it analyzes U.S. material support from 1950 to 1989 using Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood models, revealing that the United States systematically increased military aid to states in regions affected by abandonment, …

Technology, Repression, And Contention: How Do Internet And Communication Technologies Affect Political Violence And Collective Action?, Reyhan Topal

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation explores the impact of new technologies on state repression, political violence, and contentious politics via three interrelated studies. The first chapter presents a novel theory that describes the technology policies the Chinese government uses to oppress Uyghurs and turn them into obedient citizens. The chapter analyzes artificial intelligence tools, incarceration testimonies, official documents, police data, satellite evidence, and reports by nongovernmental organizations and scholars. Its findings shed light on the pervasive and increasingly dangerous nature of state repression in the digital age. The second chapter investigates the relationship between digital repression and the nature of conflicts using a …

Framing Ethnicity: How Ideological Threats Shape State Policies Towards The Ethnic Chinese In Southeast Asia, Zheng Wang

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Post-colonial multiethnic societies still face significant challenges in nation-building today. Not only do countries follow different paths in dealing with ethnic diversity, but many also shift their strategies across time. State policies towards the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia, including accommodation, integration, marginalization, and assimilation, vary along two dimensions: the state’s discrimination towards the ethnic Chinese and the room for negotiation between the state and the ethnic Chinese in formulating these policies. Based on puzzling empirical observations on differing levels of changes in state policies towards the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore in the 1960s and 1970s, my …

Rethinking Rural Identity: Reimagining Rural Politics, Matthew B. Kirk

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This work chiefly consists of a genealogical critique of rural identity. Tracing the development and deployment of the concepts of rurality and rural consciousness, I argue that our current depictions of rurality as “spatial other,” replete with its harmful stereotypes, stem from a misconception about the nature of power. Political theorists’ and political scientists’ appraisals of rurality suggest that the set of actions that define rural politics are a product of their relative powerlessness. Rural locales’ removal from the center of power in urban spheres means that rural politics is reduced to reactionary, violent, and conservative political thought and engagement. …

Fallow Fields Or Fertile Ground: Analysing Food Governance In A Changing World, Johanna L. Wilkes

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Our food systems are failing us. In particular, industrial food systems fail to deliver healthy, adequate food to billions of people (FAO et al. 2019; FAO et al. 2024) and have led to increased instances of mental health crises for farmers (Jones-Bitton 2019; Younker & Radunovich 2021). In addition, industrial food systems contribute to the devastating impacts of a warming climate (IPCC 2021), biodiversity loss (WWF 2021), and soil erosion (Wise 2019; Badreldin and Lobb 2023) worldwide. Yet, little structural change has occurred in the way agriculture is governed and the problems created by industrial agriculture are becoming increasingly entrenched. …

What Is Success? How Peer Support Workers In Ontario See Addiction & Recovery, Ngaire Rasmussen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The drug crisis in Canada has high mortality rates, especially in remote and rural communities, but there are significant barriers to accessing healthcare to which peer support may represent a partial solution, (Eddie et al., 2019; Englander et al., 2020; The Government of Canada, 2023; Kourgiantakis et al., 2023; Lavalley et al., 2020; Lennox et al., 202; Russell et al., 2021). Research how peer support workers define success in their work with adults experiencing addiction in Ontario, Canada is lacking, but important to understanding the crisis and implementing peer programs. Grounded in Marxist theory, the following exploratory research investigated the …

Parting The Corn Rows: Nikita Khrushchev’S Visit To Iowa, 1959, Jordan Stiles

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

On September 23, 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited Roswell Garst to inspect US hybrid corn and agricultural methods. Khrushchev’s initial reforms are discussed to show why Khrushchev sought agricultural knowledge abroad. The details of Khrushchev’s and Garst’s life regarding their work in agriculture are explored up to the visit. The visit would leave an indelible mark on the USSR and Iowa. Khrushchev and his successors would use Garst’s model for hybrid corn farming as the template for Soviet farming. Garst would use his limelight to catapult his corn diplomacy into action around the world. Lastly, the legacy of Khrushchev’s …

Who Speaks For The State?, Robert Young, Kristina Daugirdas, Diem Ho, Duncan Pickard, Larry D. Johnson

Articles

Who speaks for the state is a critical question in international relations. Statements by government representatives have normative force—capable of binding the state in numerous ways, from norm formation to staking out a litigation position. Governments choose their representatives carefully, and typically vet positions and even statements in advance. Indeed, the stability of international relations hinges on the assumption that state representatives act with governmental authority. The stakes of disputes over who speaks for the state are thus high.

Several such contestations have emerged in recent years, in a variety of international fora. At the United Nations General Assembly, the …

When The Empires Strike Again: The Effects Of An Imperial Past On The Post-Cold War International Order, Begum Wolfe

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Although on the surface empires appear to be ancient and irrelevant political constructs from a distant past, I argue in this dissertation that even after the empire officially dissolves, the core of the bygone empire continues its political existence in the mindsets of the empire-bearing people. This is mainly explained through certain imperial memories, glories and traumas, that have permeated into these states’ identities. In these so-called post-imperial states, then, such a unique experience of having functioned as an empire translates into foreign policy behavior that is patterned, predictable, but also puzzling especially regarding certain issues with an imperial baggage. …

Application Of Machine Learning And Natural Language Processing To Understand The Partisan Mobilization Of Ethnic Minorities, Ani Tepnadze

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation explores how competing interests across secondary dimensions of identity shape marginalized groups' capacity to institutionalize their grievances, particularly ethnic minorities. More specifically, I explore two mechanisms, intragroup cohesiveness and distinctiveness, as a driving force of grievance mobilization. This research is interdisciplinary, drawing on theories from political sociology, political communications, and computational social science. I examine the question of ethnic group particization in two stages. In the first stage, I developed an original machine learning pipeline to process large text corpora and identify the indicators of the strength of collective ethnic grievances in online group discussions. In the second …

Soccer Sheikhs: Qatar, Football, And The Quest For Self-Confidence And Global Prominence, Ali Ahsan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines Qatar’s strategic use of football as a mechanism for securing ontological security within the international system. Moving beyond standard International Relations explanations of state behavior, the study draws on ontological security theory which emphasizes the need of states to sustain a coherent sense of self through routines, narratives, and recognition. By framing football as such a practice, the dissertation advances the study of sport as a growing area of interest in the political sciences. Through a qualitative methodology employing Reflexive Thematic Analysis of expert interviews, the research analyzes Qatar’s football policies, including hosting the 2022 FIFA World …

The Position Of The United States Of America Vis-A-Vis The Question Of Western Sahara: Assessing The Role Of Think Tanks In The Conflict, Hamid Baadeche

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

ABSTRACT

The Position of the United States of America Vis-à-vis the Question of Western Sahara: Assessing the Role of Think Tanks in the Conflict

Hamid Baadeche

Think tank organizations, particularly in the United States, have become a prominent feature of the political landscape. They act as advocates for specific policies that they consider beneficial for the country or a particular societal group. They function as a primary source of information, which they then aim to transform into well-informed policies and sound decisions. They are referred to as "the revolving doors," "idea brokers," and "idea factory." As such, their foremost objective …

Authoritarian Control Over Election Administration, Nazar Boyko

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Street-level election bureaucracy (SLEB) remains one of the least studied aspects of authoritarian elections. Our current understanding of micro-level election administration in autocracies is fragmented and unsystematic. In this dissertation, I develop and test a theory of authoritarian SLEB that comprehensively addresses key elements of election administration: the incentivization and mobilization of election commissioners, the establishment of control over election commissions, the monitoring of their performance, and the post-election reshaping of their personnel composition. Drawing on rational choice theory, I propose a framework in which autocrats are seen as outcome-maximizers who strategically design SLEB to achieve their electoral goals. The …

Signs Of Democratic Resilience Following Aotearoa New Zealand’S March 15th Mosque Attacks, Claire Fitzpatrick, Emily Beausoleil

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Political responses to extremist attacks and other forms of social trauma might be deemed ‘resilient’ insofar as they restore order and security but can undermine democratic ideals and practices. This article offers an evaluative framework for democratic resilience to make sense of public discourse in the aftermath of extremist attacks. We argue that a democratically resilient response entails five necessary dimensions, each of which is required for dialogue across difference capable of ‘working through’ social trauma within the democratic polity. We then apply this framework to analyse the March 15 2019 mosque attacks in Aotearoa New Zealand, using mixed methods …

Bouncing Back Or Forward? Two Approaches To Democratic Resilience After Extremist Attacks, Selen A. Ercan, Jordan Mcswiney, Emily Beausoleil, Claire Fitzpatrick, Andrea Felicetti

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Violent extremist attacks pose a serious threat to democracy, undermining its institutions, norms and practices. This article examines the disruptive impact of violent extremism on the public sphere and considers the role of political leaders in responding to these challenges. Leaders are widely recognised as the key actors shaping the public discourse after extremist attacks, by either reinforcing or resisting the division intended by these attacks. Yet, their role in building democratic resilience – that is, fostering the public sphere’s ability to respond to extremist attacks without compromising its democratic commitments – remains underexplored. Drawing on a range of case …

Conservative Opposition To Climate Policy May Be Partially Threat-Based: A Test And Critique Of The Integrated Threat Model Of Climate Attitudes, Samantha K. Stanley, Zoe Leviston, Kirsti M. Jylhä, Iain Walker

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

One explanation for the link between political conservatism and rejection of the science and solutions of climate change is based on perceived threats. Yet, until recently, this claim has not been studied by simultaneously considering the different levels at which individuals may experience a sense of threat (i.e., threat of climate change or climate policy, at personal or collective level, on economic or cultural domains). A recent theoretical advance integrated the existing threat-based explanations for conservatives' lower acceptance of climate change and support for pro-climate policy. We aimed to subject aspects of this integrated threat model of climate change attitudes …

The Dark Side Of International Cooperation: Indifference And The Psychosocial Dynamics Of Cooperative Deterrence, Jamal Barnes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

States are increasingly resorting to international cooperative agreements to deter migrants and refugees from irregularly arriving at their borders. Although scholars have shown how these cooperative deterrence policies are undermining important refugee and human rights protections, making migration journeys more dangerous, and securitizing and criminalizing people on the move, what has not been adequately examined is how these cooperative arrangements can bring about normative changes that produce indifference to the suffering of refugees and migrants. This article examines the psychosocial dynamics of cooperative deterrence policies to show how the social processes of authorization, routinization, evasion of responsibility, and dehumanization weaken …