International Relations Commons^™

Diplomasi Orangutan Malaysia Dalam Perspektif Ekologi Budaya: Sebuah Tinjauan Kritis Terhadap Implikasi Ekspansi Kelapa Sawit, Akhdiat Dimas Abimanyu

Multikultura

This study examines the phenomenon of Malaysia's orangutan diplomacy as part of public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy in the face of international pressure on the palm oil industry, particularly from the European Union. Inspired by animal diplomacy practices such as China's panda diplomacy, Malaysia in 2024 initiated a plan to make the orangutan a diplomatic symbol to build a positive image and strengthen trade relations with partner countries. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach with a literature review method that utilizes academic sources, policy documents, non-profit organization reports, and mass and social media. The analysis is conducted through a …

Ideologi Di Balik Pidato Kenegaraan Peringatan Masirat Al-Hadraa Ke-49, Muhammad Sidqon Siroj

Multikultura

This study examines the 49th anniversary speech of the Green March (Masirat Al-Hadraa) as an ideological instrument within the political framework of the Kingdom of Morocco. The research reveals that the historical narrative of the Green March is reproduced not merely as collective memory, but as a strategic mechanism to consolidate monarchical legitimacy and assert territorial sovereignty over Western Sahara. Utilizing a qualitative methodology grounded in Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the findings demonstrate that King Mohammed VI’s discourse serves three primary functions: first, reinforcing the monarchy’s historical-religious and institutional authority amidst domestic and regional political pressures; second, …

Peace Innovation And Healing: A Design Justice Framework To Support Change Processes, Strengthen Relationships, Foster Trust, And Build Community, Michelle Helman

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

Many organizations aiming to achieve peace and health equity outcomes often focus their design processes and innovation efforts externally without addressing how their organizational culture can unintentionally reproduce the very harms they are trying to address. The purpose of this qualitative design research study is to explore the role of a design justice framework in piloting a Peace Innovation Project aimed at facilitating an organizational culture change process. Specifically, the study focuses on better understanding how integrating a design justice approach could support research collaborators to center equity and justice as core components in building a culture of peace and …

Embodying Design Justice: A Peace Education Framework To Strengthen Relationships, Foster Trust And Build Community, Michelle Helman

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

BACKGROUND

Groups working toward creating peace and equity often focus on external innovation without addressing internal culture shifts necessary to navigate change and achieve their goals. Michelle’s doctoral research and practice address this challenge through a design research study and peace innovation project focused on organizational culture transformation through a design justice framework. Findings suggest that interweaving the framework with storytelling, arts, and embodiment practices are key to support people in navigating change processes to strengthen relationships, foster trust, and build community.

ABOUT

The workshop offers an applied learning experience for participants to explore the concepts of design and innovation …

From Compliance To Care: Reconstructing Feminist Accountability In Global Aid Governance, Andi Pangeran, Ani Widyani Soetjipto, Shelly Adelina

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

This article critically examines the literature on global aid governance through a feminist lens, focusing on three key areas: epistemic power, organisational depoliticisation, and the ethics of accountability. The review reveals that the coloniality of knowledge in global aid governance creates epistemic hierarchies grounded in claims of objectivity and efficiency, thereby marginalising local voices. Meanwhile, processes such as NGO-isation and professionalisation have transformed activism into administrative compliance. However, within these structures, reflective agency can still emerge through negotiated autonomy and the politics of translation, allowing feminist organisations to maintain their political significance. Regarding ethics, feminist accountability is redefined as a …

Ulama And Vision 2030: Saudi Arabia Government's Strategies To Navigate A Successful Economic Reform, Nashiha Ulya, Hamdan Basyar

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 seeks to diversify its oil-dependent economy, but scepticism persists due to past reform failures, particularly in fiscal policy and labour markets. Ulama, as key figures in the Saudi "social contract," play a vital role in legitimising government policies, especially on social and religious matters. However, reforms promoting private sector growth and social liberalisation have raised concerns among conservative ulama over potential threats to Islamic values. To address this, the government under Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) employs a strategy of separating economic and religious narratives while using a "carrot and stick" approach to manage ulama opposition. This …

How The Sui Generis Principle Has Been Historically Abused In International Law: From The British To The Israelis, Ahmad Hamdan

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

For over a century, powerful actors have used a single Latin phrase, sui generis, as a shield to evade accountability under international law. Meaning “of its own kind,” this theory dictates that a situation is so unique that ordinary rules should not apply. In international law, sui generis typically refers to situations or entities that cannot easily be categorized under existing legal frameworks or conventions. Its use indicates that there is no directly applicable precedent and that, as a result, no legal principles apply; instead, the situation itself will set the precedent. While some researchers argue that …

Digital Diplomacy And Activism: Sustaining Institutional Legacy Through State-Proxy Discursive Competition In The Aftermath Of The Usaid 2025 Suspension, Maryam Alaa Elprince

Capstone and Graduation Projects

This study examines how the 2025 suspension of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) transformed the arena of U.S. foreign-aid diplomacy by eliminating the agency’s operational capacity and erasing its digital presence, thereby redistributing discursive authority across a fragmented communicative field. The research aims to determine how diplomacy adapts when a bilateral institution central to American soft power is dismantled through top-down decision, and whether discursive power exercised online can extend institutional relevance and legitimacy beyond structural collapse. Using an interpretivist qualitative design that combines digital-forensic reconstruction, document-based content analysis, and elite interviews  with top ranking officials, the …

Examining The Results Of Revolutions In The Third World: A Case Study Of The Iranian, Libyan, And Nicaraguan Revolutions, Noah A. Mohammedelamien

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines the post-revolutionary trajectories of Libya, Iran, and Nicaragua to explain why some Third World revolutionary projects preserve and use elements of their founding ideology while others fragment, personalize, or diffuse over time. Rather than focusing on the causes of revolution alone, it analyzes the durability of religious-socialist ideological continuity after revolutionary upheaval. Using a (MDSD) comparative historical and institutional approach grounded in primary and secondary sources, the study evaluates five key dimensions across the cases: religious-socialist ideological fusion, religious elite loyalty, popular religious mobilization, institutional embedding of ideology, and external pressure. The findings suggest ideological continuity is …

Framing The War On Terror: Media Narratives And U.S. Foreign Policy After 9/11, Neva Essex

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The media plays an essential role in developing an informed public and the shaping of information. Foreign policy and the coverage of the U.S. movements abroad drastically changed with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This paper seeks to examine the ways in which media coverage of presidential rhetoric in regard to the U.S. response to terrorism changed over the course of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. With the use of qualitative narrative analysis of print news media sources and official statements made from the White House, this paper will identify the patterns and changes which occurred over the …

News Media Sentiment Toward Chinese Ai: A Comparative Analysis With Belt And Road Initiative Involvement And Public Opinion On China, Asya Vaisberg

Pomona Senior Theses

This study evaluates different countries' news media’s sentiment towards Chinese AI, between May 2023 and May 2024, by using Microsoft Azure NLP Sentiment Analysis. The results are then compared with the country’s public opinion on China and its involvement in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). For this study 12 countries have been selected which are USA, Australia, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Romania, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Philippines, Brazil, and Egypt. For each one, GNews Application Programming Interface (API), which has access to more than 60,000 global news sources, was used to aggregate relevant news articles based on queried keywords. The collected …

Bloody Sunday: A Comparative Analysis Of Nonviolent Marches In Selma And Derry, Samantha J. Romero

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines two different nonviolent civil rights marches: Selma’s march for voting rights in 1965 in the United States and Derry’s march to end internment without trial in 1972 in Northern Ireland. The two marches yielded drastically different outcomes despite employing the shared tactic of nonviolence. This research addresses the vital role that the political opportunity structure, rather than tactical repertoire alone, plays in determining whether state repression leads to reform or further conflict. Through a controlled comparative analysis, the research positions the march itself as a constant across the two cases. Subsequently, governmental allies, institutional openness, and regime …

The Vestiges Of The German Democratic Republic: Memory Politics And Xenophobia In Former East Germany, Diana Zhou

CMC Senior Theses

From the 2015 migration influx onward, xenophobic and nationalist sentiments permeated Germany’s national political discourse. The former socialist territories in eastern Germany have proven particularly susceptible to far-right, anti-immigration, and anti-integration rhetoric. This thesis explores the mnemonic foundations of xenophobic sentiments in former East German states, tracing the development of an antifascist yet ethnically nationalist mnemonic framework to the state-sanctioned myths and invented traditions of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). As the loss of a collective GDR identity produced a reactionary rehabilitation of this framework post-unification, the racial and ethnic “other” — migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees — became constructed …

Eurovision As A Platform For Cultural Diplomacy In Times Of Conflict, Lucy Meza

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how states utilize the Eurovision Song Contest as a platform for soft power, focusing on the conditions under which cultural performance translates into reputational gains. Drawing on Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power, Biasioli’s theory of songwashing, Zamorano’s typology of cultural diplomacy, Anholt’s competitive identity framework, and Feklyunina’s analysis of identity and narrative, it argues that Eurovision’s effectiveness as a soft power platform is fundamentally contingent on the alignment between a state’s cultural narrative and dominant international perceptions of its legitimacy. Through a qualitative comparative case study approach, the thesis examines two nations whose Eurovision participation during …

The Jamaica That Dreams: A Normative Application Of Developmental Theory, Tamoy Pitt

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines Jamaica’s persistent underdevelopment through Martha Nussbaum's normative application of the capabilities approach as per her conception in Creating Capabilities. Through this approach, the paper will argue that Jamaica’s underdevelopment is a result of the failure of its domestic institutions to provide all citizens with the substantive freedoms and capabilities necessary to live lives of dignity. Originally detailed by Amartya Sen in his book Development as Freedom, the capabilities approach posits freedom as both the means and ends to development while rejecting contemporary approaches to development such as GDP, Utilitarianism, or Rawlsian resource-based approaches as insufficient frameworks for …

Confucian Thought As A Strategic Veil: How Western Strategy Should Correctly Compete With China, Owen Miller

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The rise of the People's Republic of China as a peer competitor to the United States constitutes the defining geopolitical challenge of the twenty-first century, but even so, Western strategic analysis has consistently failed to engage China on its own terms. The recurrent pattern of Western misinterpretation results from projecting Western assumptions onto a state whose institutional and cultural drivers operate under fundamentally different premises, where key elements of Chinese strategic culture and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) instrumentalization of Confucianism as a moral veil are instruments of domestic legitimacy and external strategic narrative. The United States must recognize that …

Missionary Body Politics: Physical Education In West China, 1905-1950, Cory Willmott

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Republican Era China saw a radical transformation in Chinese physical culture as it aimed to compete in the global geopolitics of nation-states. Employing an historical ethnographic approach, this paper outlines how the unique conditions of Sichuanese warlordism and secret societies affected missionary relations with the Guomindang (GMD) as they implemented increasingly militarized physical education programs. Before the 1928 GMD consolidation of power, missionaries and GMD educators aligned with the YM/ WCA in physical education programs. After the GMD moved their headquarters to Chongqing in 1938, relations soured between the GMD and the Sichuan missionaries. Although the latter had been the …

The Response Of Diaspora And Religious Institutions On The Refugee Crisis: Case Study Of The Republic Of Croatia, Galyna Sagan Dr., Tetiana Kostiuk Dr.

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article is dedicated to the multifaceted support that Ukrainian diaspora and Catholic organizations in the Republic of Croatia have been providing to Ukrainian refugees since the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. The study details the systemic response of such key religious institutions as the Diocese of Križevci, Caritas and the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). Particular attention is paid to integration initiatives, like educational programs developed by the Catholic University of Croatia (HKS), and the provision of spiritual and pastoral care, which remains the unique prerogative of the Church. The study emphasizes coordination between ecclesiastical and state …

China's Spy Network In America: A People's War Against An Open House: America Needs To Confront The Reality Of The New Cold War, Shaomin Li

Management Faculty Publications

The article discusses China's extensive espionage activities in the United States, framing it as part of a broader "people's war" strategy employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It highlights historical cases of espionage, such as those involving Qian Xuesen and Bo Jiang, to illustrate the ongoing threat posed by Chinese intelligence efforts, which leverage both state-sponsored and civilian participation. The article contrasts the CCP's ruthless approach to espionage with the U.S. legal system's more restrained response, emphasizing the asymmetry in their respective strategies. It concludes by urging the U.S. to recognize and confront the realities of this new Cold …

Driving Social Revolutions In 20th Century Latin America, Oliver Orellana

Student Scholar Symposium

This paper explores various definitions of social revolutions to create one cohesive and operationalized definition that measures success through a numerical rating scale. Once establishing what revolutions were successful or fall into different typological sortings, this research employs qualitative content analysis as well as quantitative methods still being refined, in order to investigate the potential drivers of social revolutionary success in Latin America throughout the 20th century. The findings have implications for whether the masses and political movements should pursue this endeavor and when their efforts will have the highest potential and likelihood of success. On the other hand, these …

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Security Implications Of The China-Russia-North Korea Triangle, Brian G. Carlson

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article analyzes the evolving strategic dynamics within the China-Russia-North Korea triangle and their implications for global security. It argues that while the strengthened Russia–North Korea relationship poses risks for China’s global strategy and its major economic partnerships, for now, China also derives some benefits from these close ties and considers the risks to be manageable. Drawing on recent diplomatic developments, military cooperation, and regional responses, the article offers a nuanced assessment of how this alignment affects European and Indo-Pacific theaters. The analysis provides US policymakers with insight into the risks of opportunistic aggression and the strategic calculations driving these …

Drones And The Changing Character Of War, Erik A. Davis

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Cheap drones have transformed the character of war by creating a “mass effect” that challenges traditional principles of force concentration. Unlike commentary focused on offense-defense debates or ethics, this article explains how Jevons’s Paradox, the Red Queen Effect, and models like Lanchester’s Laws and Hughes’s Salvo Equations underpin this shift. Drawing on lessons from Ukraine, historical theory, and production trends, it explains why the production of cheap “precision mass” is expected to accelerate. For military and policy practitioners, the analysis offers urgent guidance for adapting tactics, procurement, and doctrine to a battlefield dominated by ubiquitous, low-cost drones—before adversaries exploit this …

Parameters Winter 2025-26, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Winter 2025–26 issue of Parameters. We open with an In Focus commentary: “Responsibly Pursuing Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for the War Fighter” by A. Blair Wilcox and C. Anthony Pfaff. The issue also features two forums (Indo-Pacific Deterrence and Considerations for Modern Warfare) and the inaugural Strategic Competition Corner.

Recurring Coups In The Sahel Region Likely To Strain U.S. Resources, Autumn Tewksbury, Anthony Zampino, Shay Dauphinais, Andrew Britland

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

This client report examines recurring military coups in the Sahel region of Africa and the probability of implications for U.S. interests. We incorporated analysis of terrorist organizations, adversarial involvement in the region, and projected socioeconomic factors in the next three to five years. Our analysis indicates these factors could pose a direct threat to U.S. national security interests. Current U.S. policy prohibits aid distribution to coup governments, increasing the likelihood that Sahelian countries will turn to U.S. adversaries for economic support. An additional aspect to consider is the Sahel’s natural resources and economic opportunities. Our project utilizes in-depth research, geospatial …

Table Of Contents, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Notes From The Editor, Rory J. Conces Prof.

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Works Of Love From Russia, Alisa Gorshenina

International Dialogue

This reflective artist’s statement by Alisa Gorshenina (Alice Hualice) intertwines autobiographical narrative with the creative context of four works produced during and after her politically forced displacement from Russia. Gorshenina recounts a lifelong pattern of resisting external pressures—from expectations to relocate for education and career advancement to demands that she flee Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. She frames her continued desire to live in her hometown of Nizhny Tagil as an act of personal agency and a “new language of resistance,” grounded not in state loyalty but in an authentic, non-nationalistic love of place. Increasing censorship, denunciations, canceled …

Introduction And Letter To Firas And Ali, Joanna Zabielska

International Dialogue

In this deeply personal and politically charged epistolary essay, Joanna Zabielska reflects on the intersecting forms of erasure occurring within European cultural institutions and at the continent’s militarized borders. Framed as a letter to two men—Firas and Ali—whom the author met during the humanitarian crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border, the piece recounts their experiences of pushbacks, violence, detention, and survival, contextualizing their stories within a broader critique of European migration regimes. Zabielska juxtaposes this with her account of institutional censorship in Austria, where the names of the two men were removed from her VR installation Über das Neue at Belvedere …

Fragments, Najlaa Attaallah

International Dialogue

In Fragments (شظايا), Najlaa Attaallah offers a poetic, intimate, and devastating meditation on exile, trauma, and the unrelenting violence endured by Palestinians in Gaza. Written from Reykjavík yet emotionally tethered to her homeland, Attaallah narrates the psychic rupture caused by witnessing war from afar—the guilt of safety, the suffocating pull of memory, and the sense of existing as “a body without certainty.” Across lyrical vignettes, she explores the collapse of ordinary life under the weight of collective horror: sleeplessness, paralysis, obsessive monitoring of news, and the disintegration of routine maternal roles. The text moves between present anguish and childhood …