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Articles 1 - 23 of 23
Full-Text Articles in Comparative Politics
Human Rights Regime In West Africa: The Case Of Ecowas And The Journey To Nigeria's Fourth Republic, Fatima Mercy Aigbomian
Human Rights Regime In West Africa: The Case Of Ecowas And The Journey To Nigeria's Fourth Republic, Fatima Mercy Aigbomian
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
As regional economic communities within Africa expanded into courts to resolve economic disputes and these courts further metamorphosed into human rights courts, scholars of international human rights law have theorized about the reason for the “proliferation” of human rights mechanisms in Africa. This article examines why regional economic communities have courts whose jurisdiction have been expanded to hear human rights claims. I focus on the role of domestic politics and the strategic leadership of dominant member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Contrary to approaches that emphasize human rights courts are a well-orchestrated showmanship utilized as …
Die Deutsche Nationalversammlung Und Weimar: On The Creation Of Democracy In Weimar Germany, Jason Wendling
Die Deutsche Nationalversammlung Und Weimar: On The Creation Of Democracy In Weimar Germany, Jason Wendling
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
This paper is a historical analysis of the creation of the Weimar Republic, as well as a political analysis of the Weimar Republic’s constitution. In reviewing both Weimar’s history as well as the constitution, I hope to inspire learners to look back to the Weimar Republic, and not focus primarily on the failures that led to the rise of the Nazi Regime, but rather celebrate the successes that the drafters of the constitution were able to achieve. I review the history of the 1918 November Revolution, the history and party programs of the three important parties of the Weimar Republic, …
The Conceptual "New Cold War": A Comparative Analysis Of Great Power Competition, Annie Goodman
The Conceptual "New Cold War": A Comparative Analysis Of Great Power Competition, Annie Goodman
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
The Cold War was a decades-long competition between the US and the Soviet Union marked mainly by an existential nuclear arms race, the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction, and the dire opposition of democracy and communism worldwide. Today, however, the concept of a ‘Cold War,’ a frozen conflict, has expanded to include other forms of competition, and perhaps even new conflicts based in a state’s desire for hegemonic power. In this project, I sought to perform a comparative, qualitative analysis of the US/Soviet Cold War and the ongoing competitions between the US and China to determine if the US/China conflict …
The Role Of Non-Governmental Organizations (Ngos) In Improving Human Rights In Iraq, Naser A. Yahya
The Role Of Non-Governmental Organizations (Ngos) In Improving Human Rights In Iraq, Naser A. Yahya
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Iraq has had a long history of human rights violations since its inception as a modern state in 1921. This is true especially under the personalistic dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Under his regime, the Iraqi people suffered a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including political imprisonment, torture, and summary and arbitrary executions. This regime used a variety of mechanisms to squelch political dissent, including house-to-house searches; arbitrary arrests, often in large numbers; surveillance; harassment and questioning of family members; detention of targeted individuals, such as those returning to Iraq pursuant to amnesties, at unknown locations; …
What Makes Green Parties Successful: A Comparative Analysis Of Germany, Austria, And France, Macy Miller
What Makes Green Parties Successful: A Comparative Analysis Of Germany, Austria, And France, Macy Miller
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
Starting in the 1980s, green parties began to make their debut. Their establishment was considered to be largely in response to environmental and anti-nuclear movements. Although their history has been quite brief, these parties have been making waves throughout the world. Throughout this research, a pattern arises between economic stability and quality of life, mainstream party competition, policy positions, and green voters themselves when examining the success of the green parties. In particular, they have demonstrated great success in the European Union. In an attempt to explain this success, this research explores three specific green parties: the German, the Austrian, …
Institutional Form And Its Influence On Instability Following The Assassination Of A Head Of State, Ashlee Mcgill
Institutional Form And Its Influence On Instability Following The Assassination Of A Head Of State, Ashlee Mcgill
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
The period following an assassination is one of fear and uncertainty for citizens of a nation after their leader has been assassinated. However, different nations experience assassinations differently; while some collapse and result in failed states, other nations have seen leaders rise to power. Thus, I examine how institutional forms—democracy, autocracy, and anocracy—influence and structure how a country experiences instability following the assassination of a head of state. I do this through a qualitative case study of three assassinations: John F. Kennedy of the United States in 1963; Rafael Trujillo of the Dominica Republic in 1961; and José Antonio “Chichi” …
Can Continuous Campaigns Cause Conscientious Citizens To Cower?, Melissa Hall
Can Continuous Campaigns Cause Conscientious Citizens To Cower?, Melissa Hall
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
The following study examines the relationship between campaign season length and voter turnout. Campaign season length is defined as the period between either the legal beginning of the campaign season as specified by the government or the announcement of the first candidate’s candidacy and the date of the election. Voter turnout is defined as the percentage of eligible voters that voted in the election. Eligible voters include all people of voting age in the country, regardless of whether they are registered to vote. There is no existing literature on the effects of campaign season length on voter turnout. My hypothesis …
Cruising Into Conflict: A Mixed Methods Examination Of Cruise Missile Possession And The Initiation Of Military Force, Dennis Crawford
Cruising Into Conflict: A Mixed Methods Examination Of Cruise Missile Possession And The Initiation Of Military Force, Dennis Crawford
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This research examines the effect of cruise missile possession on state behavior. Specifically, it seeks to determine if countries who possess cruise missiles are more likely to initiate a military threat, display, or use of force than countries who do not possess cruise missiles. Traditional International Relations theory suggests that, all else being equal, a state with an asymmetrical military advantage should enjoy concessions from target states, decreasing the likelihood of armed conflict. Accordingly, coercion theory warns the use of armed force to change adversarial behavior should be exercised sparingly. However, this dissertation finds that states possessing cruise missile initiate …
The Prosecution Paradox: How The International Criminal Court Affects Civil War Peace Negotiations, Julia Reilly
The Prosecution Paradox: How The International Criminal Court Affects Civil War Peace Negotiations, Julia Reilly
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Since the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s inception, observers have disagreed about how it would affect prospects for peace when it is involved in situations of ongoing conflict. Therefore, I ask, why do some of the civil war peace negotiations involving the ICC end with full peace agreements, while others end with resumed violence? I argue that how the Court affects the occurrence and outcome of peace negotiations is largely a function of the role that it plays in the situation. Due to its institutional design, the Court has the capacity to play either an oversight or a prosecutorial role in …
Stealth Democracy: Authoritarianism And Democratic Deliberation, Peter Muhlberger
Stealth Democracy: Authoritarianism And Democratic Deliberation, Peter Muhlberger
University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications
In Stealth Democracy, Hibbing and Theiss-Morse seek to show that much of the American public desires "stealth democracy"--a democracy run like a business with little deliberation or public input. The authors maintain that stealth democracy beliefs are largely reasonable preferences, and the public does not want and would react negatively to a more deliberative democracy. This paper introduces an opposing "authoritarian stealth democrats thesis" that suggests that stealth democracy beliefs may be driven by authoritarianism and a variety of related orientations including poor political perspective taking and low cognitive engagement. These orientations may be ameliorated through democratic deliberation. Hypotheses are …
Shield Or Glue? Key Policy Issues Constraining Or Enhancing Multinational Collective Ballistic Missile Defense, Marxen Kyriss
Shield Or Glue? Key Policy Issues Constraining Or Enhancing Multinational Collective Ballistic Missile Defense, Marxen Kyriss
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This dissertation explores a series of eleven political factors nations would have to consider should they contemplate joining a military coalition or alliance that uses ballistic missile defense (BMD); which of these factors incentivize or dissuade states from joining this coalition, and whether they vary from region to region, or state to state. It uses a two-stage case-study-based qualitative research design, in which the first theory generation phase was comprised of 21 experimentation events over a ten-year period with BMD policy experts from 24 nations led by the United States Strategic Command known as NIMBLE TITAN. The results of these …
Why Gun Violence Continues Its Rampage Across America: A Comparison Of American And Australian Firearm Policies, Daniel Schaub
Why Gun Violence Continues Its Rampage Across America: A Comparison Of American And Australian Firearm Policies, Daniel Schaub
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
This thesis is a comparative case study between US and Australian firearm policies and gun culture. I ask, given the large number of injuries and mass shootings due to firearms, why has the United States not implemented stronger firearm regulations? I conduct a comprehensive literature review of American gun culture throughout history and modern firearm violence in both the United States and Australia. By utilizing the framework of historical institutionalism and the concept path dependency, I explain why and how institutions in the United States are unique and how they differ from similar institutions in Australia. I find that the …
Revolutionary Leaders And Mass Killing, Nam Kyu Kim
Revolutionary Leaders And Mass Killing, Nam Kyu Kim
Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications
This article argues that revolutionary leaders are more willing to commit mass killing than nonrevolutionary leaders. Revolutionary leaders are more ideologically committed to transforming society, more risk tolerant, and more likely to view the use of violence as appropriate and effective. Furthermore, such leaders tend to command highly disciplined and loyal organizations, built in the course of revolutionary struggles, that can perpetrate mass killing. This study uses time series cross-sectional data from 1955 to 2004 to demonstrate that revolutionary leaders are more likely to initiate genocide or politicide than nonrevolutionary leaders. The violent behaviors of revolutionary leaders are not limited …
Competing For Attention: A Comparative Study Of Social Movements And News Media In Abortion Debates, Katherine Eugene Lebreton Hunt
Competing For Attention: A Comparative Study Of Social Movements And News Media In Abortion Debates, Katherine Eugene Lebreton Hunt
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Why do some social movements in abortion debates get more attention from the news media than others? Do movements that support the status quo receive more attention than those opposing the status quo? Through quantitative content analysis of eight major newspapers in South Korea, Ireland, and Canada and fieldwork in South Korea and Ireland, I theorize that antistatus quo groups – whether they are for or against abortion rights – may reopen debate conditions in their countries by strategically using international human rights norms and frames and gaining standing in the news media in environments that tend to be hostile …
Her Ladyship Chief Justice: The Rise Of Female Leaders In The Judiciary In Africa, Josephine Dawuni, Alice J. Kang
Her Ladyship Chief Justice: The Rise Of Female Leaders In The Judiciary In Africa, Josephine Dawuni, Alice J. Kang
Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications
In recent years, women have been selected as leaders of African judiciaries. This article identifies where and when women have become chief justices and presidents of constitutional courts from 1990 to 2014. We profile women from three civil-law and three common-law countries and find that the women selected meet or exceed the requirements for holding the highest position in the judiciary. We then explore why some African countries, but not others, have had female judicial leaders. We initially find that the selection method may be less important than the type of legal system, the commitment of gatekeepers, the end of …
Determinants Of Rural Latino Trust In The Federal Government, Nathan Munier, Julia Albarracin, Keith Boeckelman
Determinants Of Rural Latino Trust In The Federal Government, Nathan Munier, Julia Albarracin, Keith Boeckelman
Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications
Trust in government is essential to democratic practice. This article analyzed the factors shaping trust in the federal government using a survey of 260 Mexican immigrants living in rural Illinois and in-depth interviews with 32 participants. To analyze these data, we drew a distinction between support for the regime (system of government that is relatively stable in a political system) and support for authorities (those who temporarily occupy positions of power) to test whether regime or authorities’ considerations shaped respondents’ political trust. The results showed that both considerations influenced trust in the federal government. We also found that a perception …
Private Soldiers In Africa: A Look At The Effects Of Private Military Contractors And Mercenaries On The Duration Of Civil Wars In Africa From 1960 To 2003, Seth H. Loven
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This thesis examines the effect of private soldiers, both Mercenaries and Private Military Contractors (PMC), on the duration of civil wars in Africa from 1960 to 2003. Linear regression is used to determine if private soldiers increase or decrease the duration of civil wars. Ultimately it is found they have little to no statistical impact. This is contrary to the expectations of the theoretical literature on private military contractors, some of which expects private soldiers to profit from war and seek to lengthen duration, and some of which expects the use of additional private soldiers to shorten the duration of …
Suicide Attacks In Afghanistan: Why Now?, Ghulam Farooq Mujaddidi
Suicide Attacks In Afghanistan: Why Now?, Ghulam Farooq Mujaddidi
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Why, contrary to their predecessors, did the Taliban resort to use of suicide attacks in the 2000s in Afghanistan? By drawing from terrorist innovation literature and Michael Horowitz’s adoption capacity theory—a theory of diffusion of military innovation—the author argues that suicide attacks in Afghanistan is better understood as an innovation or emulation of a new technique to retaliate in asymmetric warfare when insurgents face arms embargo, military pressure, and have direct links to external terrorist groups. The findings of my in-depth case study of Afghanistan between 1978 and 2010 support the proposition and show that it was an …
Testing Two Explanations Of The Liberal Peace: The Opportunity Cost And Signaling Arguments, Nam Kyu Kim
Testing Two Explanations Of The Liberal Peace: The Opportunity Cost And Signaling Arguments, Nam Kyu Kim
Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications
Considerable evidence suggests that economic interdependence and integration reduce the likelihood of militarized conflict. However, scholars have devoted remarkably scant attention to testing different explanations of the liberal peace. This article offers an empirical test that can help adjudicate the two main arguments on the liberal peace: the opportunity cost and signaling arguments. Under the incomplete information assumption, I derive different observable implications of the competing arguments regarding how target states respond when challenged. By estimating selection models comprising dispute initiation and reciprocation, I find that, as challengers are more dependent on bilateral trade, targets are less likely to reciprocate …
Patronage Politics And Public Goods Provision In Africa, Alex M. Kroeger
Patronage Politics And Public Goods Provision In Africa, Alex M. Kroeger
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Many prevailing views contend that African politics are strongly influenced by vertical networks of dyadic patronage relationships that have a damaging effect on political systems, economies, and civil society. Since independence, the increasing size of many African cabinets would, following the literature, indicate a growth in political patronage networks. While these networks may increase the likelihood of leadership survival, it is expected, ceteris paribus, that growing patronage coalitions would diminish government revenue allocated toward the provision of public goods. This study goes beyond previous research by quantitatively examining the relationship between cabinet size and public goods provision that has …
Hellfire And Grey Drones: An Empirical Examination Of The Effectiveness Of Targeted Killings, Matthew A. Morehouse
Hellfire And Grey Drones: An Empirical Examination Of The Effectiveness Of Targeted Killings, Matthew A. Morehouse
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
This study examines the effectiveness of the United States’ targeted killing program. Specifically, do targeted killings work as an effective program for combating global terrorism? This thesis is divided into parts. The first section provides a brief introduction to targeted killings. The second part consists of an examination of targeted killings as an essentially contested concept, arguing that targeted killings can be defined in a manner consistent with the scientific enterprise. The third section contains a thorough review of the literature on targeted killings, demonstrating that there is a dearth of works investigating the actual effectiveness of targeted killings. The …
Populism And Human Rights In Theory And Practice: Chavez's Venezuela And Fujimori's Peru, Joseph P. Braun
Populism And Human Rights In Theory And Practice: Chavez's Venezuela And Fujimori's Peru, Joseph P. Braun
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Despite ample literature on the topic of populism itself, much less has been written on the specific relationship between populism and human rights. First, I discuss the relationship between populist ideology and human rights in theory. I argue that populism is inconsistent with human rights accounts because of its rejection of pluralism and vilification of the ‘other.’ Second, I explore the relationship between populism as a political strategy and its impact on human rights under two Latin American regimes. I argue that despite its tendency to produce short-term gains in economic and social development, a review of the two cases …
And Justice For All: Developing Rule Of Law In The Balkans, Ryan M. Lowry
And Justice For All: Developing Rule Of Law In The Balkans, Ryan M. Lowry
Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
The United Nations created the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to bring to justice those who had committed the worst crimes during the conflicts in the Balkans during the 1990s. From the outset, this institution was envisioned to temporarily process indicted war criminals. The domestic courts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia were seen as being corrupt and ill equipped to handle such cases; rule of law was absent or severely lacking in these countries. As the Tribunal winds down, however, both international and domestic actors have emphasized the need to strengthen their judicial systems that will create a …