Political Science Commons^™

“Normalizing” Japan?: Contestation, Identity Construction, And The Evolution Of Security Policy, Daisuke Minami

Political Science Honors Projects

In this thesis, I address two puzzles regarding Japan’s security policy: (1) its minimalist military posture despite its economic power during the Cold War and (2) the recent shift from this minimalist security policy to an assertive one marked by a strengthening of its international security role and military. I argue that although many IR scholars, mainly from the realist camp, claim that the formation of the original security policy (puzzle 1) and subsequent transformation (puzzle 2) is driven by the state’s rational response to external conditions in the international security environment, it can more adequately be explained by the …

The Development Of A New Paradigm Of Humanitarian Intervention: Assessing The Responsibility To Protect, Jayne Discenza

Political Science Honors Projects

The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) concept aimed to clarify the relationship between state sovereignty and humanitarian intervention, and its invocation during the recent intervention in Libya provides an opportunity to assess its impact. This project compares the events of Libya with the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina of the early 1990s, examining the framing of these conflicts as well as the perceived role of other states, the engagement of international organizations with the concept, and the effect on operations during the humanitarian interventions themselves. Providing a historical comparison more accurately situates the contributions of RtoP in the re-prioritization of human rights over …

Making War And Securing Peace: The Viability Of Peace Enforcement As A Mechanism For Promoting And Securing Civil War Termination, Shawn H. Greene

Political Science Honors Projects

Peace enforcement—the threat or use of military force to compel belligerent adherence to a civil war settlement—has become increasingly salient in the past decade. Using a hazards analysis of all civil wars and associated third party interventions between 1945 and 2013 in addition to three structured, focused case studies, I argue that peace enforcement operations that 1) utilize the appropriate typological spoiler management strategy and 2) maintain legitimacy and impartiality through close cooperation with UN peacekeepers, are the most successful at catalyzing civil war termination and securing durable peace. I also provide a theoretical framework through which to study peace …

Virginia Woolf & Michel Foucault: Methods Of Justice, Elizabeth K. Doré

Senior Honors Projects

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is primarily known today as a central British modernist novelist. In addition, she was also an important theorist of power, subjectivity, and ethics, especially as she turned her attention in the 1930s--as fascism spread and intensified across Europe--toward the public sphere in which European women were still then more or less without (easy) access. I read her late novels and essays alongside her diary in order to excavate the theoretical/political/ethical premises of her thought. I contend that she shares with the late thought of French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) an original conception of ethics. Woolf and Foucault’s …

Guns Of Fortune: How Guns Move To Fulfill Demand, Michael J. Coates

Senior Honors Projects

Legislators face a compelling dilemma, how can they decrease the prevalence of gun violence? Cities and States around the United States have laws intended to prevent violent criminals from acquiring and using weapons, but it remains debatable whether these laws are effective.

This study posits that guns are subject to the laws of supply and demand and the variable gun laws in states across the country decreases the effectiveness of local and state gun legislation. In short, guns are trafficked across state lines to meet demand in states with stricter gun laws.

Data for the study was collected from the …

The Reorientation Of Iranian Trade From West To East Since 1979, Leslie Bilger

HIM 1990-2015

Iran, with its attractive geographical position and its abundant natural resources, has had an undeniable attraction for the world's greatest powers over the history. Well before the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, this country established high level of economic interactions with a great variety of political partners. In recent years, the country's change of regime has had a crucial impact on those relationships. By analysing the trade data between Iran and Western countries (the U.S.A., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, and Italy) as well as the major Eastern countries (China, Russia, and India), it is possible to establish …

Enhancing Solidarity And Cooperation Social Identity Theory And China's Involvement In Africa, David Thomas Aston

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

China has increasingly intensified engagement with Africa since 2000. In 2001, trade between Africa and China was at $10.6 billion. In 2011, trade had exploded to over $160 billion.1 Chinese investment in Africa has grown from tens of millions of dollars to over $10 billion.2 This surge of trade and investment in Africa has not yet been matched by any other global power. Recently, Hu Jintao doubled China’s loan commitment to Africa to over $20 billion. This increase of trade and investment reflects a growing Chinese influence in Africa.3 What caused this increased Chinese interest in a continent that has …

The Place-Based Approach: Public Policy In Context, Neil Bradford

Data and Test Instruments

No abstract provided.

Imagining Jazzocracy: Notes Toward A New Democratic Subject, Mario Tofano

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

What does participatory democracy look like? This essay finds an answer in the indigenous art form of the United States—jazz. Political engagement in America must learn from the jazz aesthetic which realizes the communal projects of individuals in concert. After a brief survey of the biological, historical, and cultural formations that construct our political environment this essay advances equaliberty as the foundational concept for the Jazzocrat, the new political subject for tomorrow’s participatory democracy.

Deepening Democracy At The Grassroots Level: Citizen Participation In State Devolved Funds (Cdf) In Kenya, Fredrick Omondi Otieno

Pan African Studies - Theses

That democracy is the most suitable form of government is no longer contested. However many questions shaking this global consensus continue to abound. Why is there a growing cynicism and apathy with the notion of democracy across the globe? Why has the concept of democracy had to attract adjectives that attempt to qualify or categorize it in different parts of the world? And perhaps most importantly, if in deed democracy is such a good "thing" how can it be made meaningful? This thesis looks at citizen participation in a state devolved fund (CDF) in Kenya as a space through which …

Revisiting The Achievements Of The Ancient Celts : Evidence That The Celtic Civilization Surpassed Contemporary European Civilizations In Its Technical Sophistication And Social Complexity, And Continues To Influence Later Cultures., Adam Dahmer

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

The Masaryks Of Czechoslovakia: Contributions In Sociology, Social Welfare And Politics, Rebecca L. Hegar

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article profiles contributions to sociology, social welfare and politics by members of the Masaryk family of Czechoslovakia, with primary emphasis on the career of Alice G. Masaryk (or Masarykovd), an applied sociologist and founder of Czech social work. As the daughter of Tomdi G. Masaryk, an academic philosopher and early sociologist who became the first President of Czechoslovakia in 1918, her life and work are inextricably linked with the country's history and with one of the remarkable families of their era. Research for this articlei nvolved searchingl iteraturef rom several disciplines and reviewing historical publications and documents from relevant …

Advocate, May 2013, Vol. [24], No. [5], Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

From the Editor's Desk: Out with the Old, In with the...Same Old? (p. 3)

CUNY News in Brief (p. 5)

Political Analysis: Rent-Controlled, J. A. Myerson (p. 7)

Searching the CUNY Catalog not working for you? You’re not alone!, Reethee Antony (p. 9)

Guest Columnist: Terror in the West, Texas, Night, Amy Goodman (p. 10)

The Radical Greens: How Divestment, Direct Action, and Leftist Politics are Shaping the Environmental Movement, Mike Stivers (p. 13)

The Trouble with Professor Petraeus, Arun Gupta (p. 17)

Irregular Future: A Conversation with Matt Kennard, Michael Busch (p. 20)

Book Review: Recovering …

Political Performance, Leadership, And Regional Integration In Europe: An Examination Of The French And German Roles, Gaspare M. Genna, Birol Yesilada, Peter Andrew Noordijk

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prior research on a regional leader’s role in the deepening of regional integration assumes that economic power translates directly into political capabilities. Relative political capacity among states is central to the creation and deepening of regional integration since it is this capacity that smoothes out the transition from a closed to an open economy. Should a state have low levels of this capacity but desire openness, it will partner with regional leaders given the leaders’ higher relative political capacity. However, the leaders’ subsidy of a partner’s capacity comes at a price. The leaders would trade political capacity for forming a …

The Dialectics Of Citizenship: Exploring Privilege, Exclusion, And Racialization, Bernd Reiter

Government and International Affairs Faculty Publications

What does it mean to be a citizen? What impact does an active democracy have on its citizenry and why does it fail or succeed in fulfilling its promises? Most modern democracies seem unable to deliver the goods that citizens expect; many politicians seem to have given up on representing the wants and needs of those who elected them and are keener on representing themselves and their financial backers. What will it take to bring democracy back to its original promise of rule by the people? Bernd Reiter’s timely analysis reaches back to ancient Greece and the Roman Republic in …

Society Contra State: Murray Rothbard’S Conception Of The Proper Role Of Coercion In Society, Alex Braud

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Freedom Of Expression...With Attitude, Aimee Chalin

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Political Twittoric : The Rhetorical Use Of Twitter By The Obama 2012 Presidential Campaign, Kainat Najmi Abidi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

With the entrance of the digital age, the Presidential campaign has begun accommodating the growing trend of new technologies. A campaign can reach an audience in person, on the radio, through the newspaper, on television, and on the Internet. In 2008, President Barack Obama broke the limitations of campaigning by going social, which he continued in his run for reelection in 2012. Obama tapped into the popular social network of Twitter to run a portion his 2012 campaign. By utilizing this new network, Obama’s campaign accessed the multimodal quality of Twitter to benefit their goal of winning the 2012 election …

Massacre In Central Burma: Muslim Students Terrorized And Killed In Meiktila, Richard Sollom, Holly G. Atkinson

Publications and Research

This report details the results of a Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) investigation into the March 20 and 21, 2013, attacks on Muslim students, teachers, and residents in the Mingalar Zayyone quarter of Meiktila, a small town in central Burma.

A two-person team, the authors of the report, from PHR conducted 33 interviews about the attacks, which resulted in the deaths of at least 20 children and four teachers. The report details the attacks by the Buddhist mobs, provides evidence that local police officers were complicit in the crimes, and lists policy recommendations for the Burmese government and the international …

Female Political Leadership In The Southern Cone : Roles And Perceptions Of Women In Formal Politics., Rosslyn Elliott Steinmetz

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Cracking The Tax Codes: How State Tax Laws Influence The Number Of Manufacturing Jobs Within Their Borders, Nick Lorenson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

With the recent economic downturn, jobs have been at the forefront of people’s concerns. Policy makers in every state have promised their constituents new jobs. Of particular importance are high paying jobs. Manufacturing jobs tend to be a well-paying and highly sought after form of employment. However, in recent decades, the percentage of manufacturing jobs has been declining in the United States. Also, manufacturing facilities have shown an increased likelihood of relocating to different states. I theorize that manufacturing facilities relocating and expanding in different states is primarily due to state tax policies. This phenomenon has increased within recent years …

An Analysis On The Effects Of Voter Id Laws And Minnesota’S Decision To Vote Against It, Amy Asell

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In recent years, the topic of voter identification has been a hotly contested issue in state legislatures around the country. Since 2003, nearly 1,000 bills concerning voter ID have been introduced in a total of forty-six states. In 2012 alone, voter ID legislation was pending in thirty-three states. On November 6, 2012, the citizens of the state of Minnesota voted on whether they supported an amendment to the state Constitution that would require all voters to present a valid photo ID in order to vote. Despite poll numbers indicating that a majority of Minnesotans supported the amendment the voter ID …

Marriage Equality: Media Coverage And Public Opinion, Amanda Studley

Senior Honors Projects

The struggle for equality is nothing new in this country. Every minority group has faced it’s own hardships when trying to advocate for the advancement of their people. One of the most recent struggles has involved the LGBT community and their pursuit of equal marriage laws nationally. Currently the campaign for marriage equality has had success in nine states and the District of Columbia, each of which now grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However, thirty states have enacted constitutional bans on same-sex marriage (NCLS 2013). Currently 49% of the population endorses full and equal marriage rights for same sex …

A Constructivist Approach To Post-Reunification German Military Interventions: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, And Afghanistan, Nicholas Iaquinto

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Scholars and journalists have periodically referred to Germany and its military, the Bundeswehr, as normalizing. The trend, which is defined here as the increasing frequency and intensity of out-of-area military operations, is contested among international relations scholars, and this debate reaches the core of the three main theories outlining drivers of state behavior. This paper analyzes the underlying causation of normalization from these schools of thought by considering the decision-making process leading to Germany’s participation in multilateral military operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.

Including neorealism, neoliberalism, and constructivism, these theories are first divided into rationalist and constructivist classifications. …

State 194: Assessing The Institutional Capacity Of The Palestinian Authority As The Foundation For An Independent State, Amanda Lynna Claypool

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Mahmoud Abbas’s 2011 attempt to obtain Palestinian statehood through the United Nations challenged the status quo “Middle East peace process” by offering an alternative solution to the system of bilateral negotiations that has otherwise been stagnant for much of the last decade. Since Salam Fayyad became prime minister in 2007, the Palestinian Authority has been actively working towards building institutions that would serve as the foundation for the future State of Palestine. International accolades for Fayyad’s initiative garnered far-reaching support to facilitate the state-building program.

In the six years since then, the Palestinian Authority has developed the institutions that are …

Israel’S Newfound Petroleum Wealth: A Critique Of The “Resource Curse”, Lauren Meadors

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In 1999, a company in Israel did what no one thought could be done – it struck natural gas and lots of it. Since then, two of the largest offshore natural gas fields have been found in Israel’s waters, disproving the belief that Moses led the Jews to the only Middle Eastern country to not have petroleum. In 2011, it found what is believed to hold 250 billion barrels of shale oil – an amount that rivals the 260 billion barrels of crude oil in Saudi Arabia. Most economists argue, however, that this is not good news for Israel due …

In-Group Bias—Coloring Public Opinion And Spurring Public Backlash: A Comparative Analysis Of Affirmative Action And Title Ix, Samuel Joseph Knehans

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Civil Rights and Women’s Rights Movements were two parallel rights revolutions in American history. Each spurred noteworthy social change for a disadvantaged group, through affirmative action for African Americans and through Title IX programs for women. However, when one looks at the college enrollment data, it becomes clear that these programs achieved success at different rates—at least in higher education. This thesis is an attempt to explain why these seemingly analogous programs produced such disparate results. It attempts to answer the question: Did in-group bias influence public opinion and public backlash in the form of Supreme Court litigation, impacting …

Education For All: An East African Example, Alyssa Ierardo

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Education for All (EFA) movement to end global educational disparity is a multilateral initiative led by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Initiated in 2000, the EFA movement represents the commitment of 164 nations to the Dakar Framework for Action which outlines six goals that seek to redress issues of social disparity and to improve access to and quality of education worldwide by 2015. In this report, the progress of the EFA movement in the United Republic of Tanzania serves as a proxy for evaluating the global potential of EFA initiatives. Failed post-colonial education reform efforts …

Human Trafficking And Human Rights: The Movement Of Women From Nigeria To Europe, Chinenye Monde-Anumihe

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The phenomenon of human trafficking, especially the trafficking of young women and girls into exploitative and commercial sex labor, has recently attracted considerable local, national and international attention. This sex trafficking phenomenon exists against the backdrop of poverty, unemployment, and social instability, signaling a correlation between these elements. This research paper will define the concept of human trafficking in comparison to human smuggling and migration and will discuss the complexity in applying the definition. The magnitude and scope of the problem of human trafficking will be examined as well as its causes.

Human trafficking will be analyzed by international standards …

Kemalism: A Revolutionary Ideology And Its Islamist Opposition, Juliann Merryman

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

“Kemalism: A Revolutionary Ideology and its Islamist Opposition” seeks to define the Kemalist reform period as a revolutionary movement. During the 1920s and 1930s, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his authoritarian government undertook a series of sweeping social and political reforms. This paper seeks to establish these reforms and the underlying Kemalist ideology as a revolutionary ideology. Using a functionalist perspective, the essay illustrates the various crises that faced the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A number of reform efforts failed to effectively address the entirety of Ottoman societal ills.

The rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the …