International Relations Commons^™

The Second Kashmir (Informational) War Of 1965, Navdip Hans

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Second Kashmir (Informational) War of 1965 considers that Pakistan over-optimistically assessed information prior to the onset of hostilities with India. This thesis posits that information released from significant battlefield events quickly dispelled Pakistan's optimism which led to an accurate updating of beliefs and expectations. This resulted in a downward revision of demands by Pakistan to convergence with India resulting in settlement ending the war.

The Compressed Modernity Of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage In Taiwan: Digital Activism, Human Rights Discourse, And Intertwined Sexual, Political And National Identities, Jyun-Jie Yang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 2019, Taiwan became the first Asian country to officially legalize same-sex marriage. Remarkably, the Taiwanese queer movement achieved the goal of marriage equality in only 30 years, with the first tongzhi (同志) activist group organized in 1990. Compared to Euro-American social movements, Taiwanese tongzhi activism has experienced a “compressed modernity” (Chang, 1999, 2010a, 2010b), which accelerates cultural and social transformations. Although Taiwanese academia has been significantly influenced by queer studies as a form of western knowledge production, local scholars and activists created a new interpretation from “queer” to “tongzhi.” Entangled with complex political identifications in post-martial-law Taiwan, …

Victims To Victors: Women Reclaiming Conflict Management In Sub-Saharan Africa, Joy N. Ballard

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Women in sub-Saharan Africa are often viewed as the victims of the conflict around them. This view discredits the hundreds of women who are serving in legislative and executive branches across the region. This research investigates if women in positions of power make more peaceful decisions in times of conflict than their male counterparts. Using negative binomial regression methods this research examines the percentages of women in legislative and executive branches to number of conflict days in a year and number of peace agreements signed. This study found that as the percentage of women in office rise the number of …

Gender Inequality And Terrorism: The Impacts Of Female Empowerment On Domestic And Transnational Terrorism, Jennifer Dumas

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the post-9/11 years, terrorism has emerged as an urgent issue with important national security and foreign policy ramifications. Within political science, terrorism research has likewise developed as a burgeoning subfield with the potential for significant contributions to policymaking worldwide. However, the literature has until recently generally neglected gender inequality as a structural antecedent to terrorism, despite studies which support a relationship between gender parity and conflict mitigation in other areas as well as increasing calls for the integration of gender measures into counterterrorism agendas and initiatives among scholars and policymakers. To address this gap in the literature, I introduce …

Book Review: Criminalizing Atrocity: The Global Spread Of Criminal Laws Against International Crimes, Verónica Michel

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Book review of the book Criminalizing Atrocity: The Global Spread of Criminal Laws against International Crimes by Mark S. Berlin.

Dossier: Uyghur Women In China’S Genocide, Rukiye Turdush, Magnus Fiskesjö

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In genocide, both women and men suffer. However, their suffering has always been different; with men mostly subjected to torture and killings, and women mostly subjected to torture and mutilation. These differences stem primarily from the perpetrators' ideology and intention to exterminate the targeted people. Many patriarchal societies link men with blood lineage and the group’s continuation, while women embody the group’s reproductivity and dignity. In the ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in East Turkistan, the ideology of Chinese colonialism is a root cause. It motivates the targeting of women as the means through which to …

Authoritarianism And The Rentier State - Venezuela And Nigeria, Victoria Zobeida Castillo

Senior Theses

The oil states scattered throughout the developing world are no more democratic or peaceful than they were at the beginning of the twentieth century's natural resource era. In fact, some countries are worse, tainted by civil unrest, plummeting per capita income, and rising inflation. These socioeconomic ailments are often referred to as the Resource Curse or Dutch Disease. Mineral wealth, however, should not be confused with the dangers of sole oil wealth. The oil states are significantly more likely to be governed by authoritarian leaders. The irony of oil's unusual properties of fluctuating prices and secretive contracts do not solely …

Bridging The Realms Between Cyber And Physical: Approaching Cyberspace With An Interdisciplinary Lens, Lena Andrea Rose

Senior Theses

This project investigates the use of cyber technology as a political tool through the investigation of the following case studies: (1) The Sony Pictures Hack in the United States in 2014, (2) The Qatari News Hack in 2017, and (3) China’s enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law in 2020. These three case studies depict that rapid technological advancement has led to greater cyber warfare between state powers. The Sony Hack examines political coercion, the Qatari Hack examines disinformation, and the Hong Kong National Security Law examines surveillance and suppression of opposition. As a result of an increasingly complicated …

The Role Of International Factors In Electoral Volatility In Latin America: An Examination Of Structural Adjustment, Michelle Kuenzi, Hafthor Erlingsson, John P. Tuman

Political Science Faculty Research

Does structural adjustment increase party system instability in Latin America? We employ the Latin American Presidential and Legislative Elections (LAPALE) database (http://www.lapaledata.com) and our own original data set for structural adjustment to assess the effects of structural adjustment and other economic, social, and political variables on legislative volatility in 18 Latin American countries during the period of 1982 to 2016. The results of our study indicate that structural adjustment results in higher levels of within-system electoral volatility and support a broad version of economic voting theory. Extra-system electoral volatility is driven primarily by institutional and demographic factors. Our findings also …

The Effect Of International Level Covid-19 Stay-At-Home Orders On Death Rates, Valeriia Manchak, Annalisa Stoll, Kyle Conniff

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

In this paper, we document and compare data gathered from more than 50 countries with different demographic characteristics, lockdown policies, health systems, and different varying timelines to combat COVID-19. After discussing the variables and their impact on the mortality numbers, we will make a recommendation concerning the different lockdown policies for future use. The main objective of this paper is to investigate connections between government policies, population age, age density, smoking rate, IQ air pollution, forms of greeting, death rate, obesity/health index, mean age, face coverings, contact tracing, international travel control level, etc. and how these independent variables might affect …

The Role Of Nations-State In Protecting And Supporting Internally Displaced Persons, Daisy Byers

Master's Theses

The rising increase of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has become a global problem. There are over 40 million internally displaced people globally, and 15.9 million are displaced in Africa. These displacements come into place due to war/conflict, corruption, massive human rights violations, natural disasters, urban renewal projects (at the hands of powerful nations such as America, China, France, UK, etc.), and large-scale development projects. According to UNHCR, refugees are people who have international cross-border. In contrast, internally displaced persons must stay within their own country and stay under the protection of their government, even if the government is the reason …

The European Union: Data Protection For Economic Competition And Regional Security, Matthew D. Wurst

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

The collection and use of personal data is being increasingly scrutinized by governments and the European Union (EU) has been attempting to handle the development of data protection based progressive protections to protect its citizens data and right to privacy. With the reemergence of Russia in challenging the state of affairs within Europe, their illegal seizure of the Crimea from Ukraine demonstrated the lengths Russia will go to in order to preserve its sphere of influence. Furthermore, Russia’s use of cyber tactics and hybrid warfare has caused many in Europe to become more concerned for their security. When viewed through …

A Tale Of Two Biennales: How Contemporary Art In Italy Reflects Current European Politics, Hannah Rosabel Capucilli-Shatan

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.

An Inferentially Robust Look At Two Competing Explanations For The Surge In Unauthorized Migration From Central America, Nick Santos

Dissertations

The last 8 years have seen a dramatic increase in the flow of Central American apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol. Explanations for this surge in apprehensions have been split between two leading hypotheses. Most academic scholars, immigrant advocates, progressive media outlets, and human rights organizations identify poverty and violence (the Poverty and Violence Hypothesis) in Central America as the primary triggers responsible. In contrast, while most government officials, conservative think tanks, and the agencies that work in the immigration and border enforcement realm admit poverty and violence may underlie some decisions to migrate, they instead blame lax U.S. immigration …

Refuge Must Be Given: Eleanor Roosevelt, The Jewish Plight, And The Founding Of Israel, John F. Sears

Purdue University Press Books

Refuge Must Be Given details the evolution of Eleanor Roosevelt from someone who harbored negative impressions of Jews to become a leading Gentile champion of Israel in the United States. The book explores, for the first time, Roosevelt’s partnership with the Quaker leader Clarence Pickett in seeking to admit more refugees into the United States, and her relationship with Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, who was sympathetic to the victims of Nazi persecution yet defended a visa process that failed both Jewish and non-Jewish refugees.

After the war, as a member of the American delegation to the United Nations, Eleanor …

The Phenomenon Of Sexual Violence During Armed Conflicts In The Twenty-First Century: Entering The Era Of Survivors As Agents Of Peace, Shayna Kushner

International Relations Honors Papers

Evidence suggests the twenty-first century has witnessed a surge in armed conflicts and ethnic wars targeting marginalized communities, subjecting innocent civilians to violence and destruction. Among the tactics aimed to disrupt family and social ties within the existing communities, some armed groups and government sponsored soldiers have subjected vulnerable individuals to wartime rape and conflict-related sexual violence including physical and mental abuse. While the international community attempts to intervene militarily and judicially to quell the sexual violence, institutions and individual actors fall short of providing justice and accountability to survivors and victims of conflict-related sexual violence. Through the case studies …

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …

This Is America: Comparing The U.S. And Foreign Media Press Coverage Of African American Foreign Policy Officials, Nina Burges

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

There is universal recognition that the foreign policy making talent in the United States is woefully unrepresentative of America’s vibrant minority populations, and more is required to attract minorities to pursue public service careers representing the United States abroad and accurately reflect its diversity. However, little attention is paid towards the international response to America’s diversity as it relates to when people of color represent the United States as diplomats, foreign service officers and White House foreign policy officials, as well as in less official capacities as scholars and humanitarian workers. These concerns assume new relevance against the backdrop of …

Bridging The Gap: Analyzing The History Of U.S.-Russian Relations Throughout History And The Actions That Would Improve Them, Coleman Anderson

Senior Honors Theses

After the onset of communism in Russia, relations between the United States and Russia have been tense up to the modern day. Even the fall of the Soviet Union could not usher in a permanent peace between the two countries, with mistrust pouring over from both parties. Utilizing both primary sources and commentary from subject matter experts, this paper argues that in order to achieve a legitimate and sustainable policy of peace between the United States and Russia, policymakers need to first understand the history and culture of the people they are reaching out to. Using this knowledge, policymakers can …

Minorities And Authoritarianism In The Middle East: A Case Study Of Muslim Alawites In Syria, Maher Al Tayara

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Why are some minorities in the Middle East less inclined to support democratization or political liberalization efforts? Here, I examine if and how minorities differ in their support for democratization from the majority groups in the Middle East. I will analyze why some minorities prefer to support authoritarian regimes over supporting democratization. I examine how the religion of a minority affects its preference for regime type. I will also examine how historical backgrounds and international patronage affects those preferences. I will identify two historical moments in the Middle East that played a role in shaping those preferences: the post-World War …

Addressing Climate Induced Displacement: An Analysis Of Protection Policies For Environmental Migrants, Meredith R. Lawing

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

One of the fastest growing populations of displaced people are those forced to migrate because of climate change, but under current international legal agreements they receive no protections or support. In response to the lack of security and stability provided to climate displaced populations and host countries, supplementary agreements have been proposed at the international level to address the gaps in existing policy. The purpose of this analysis is to identify policy agreements intended to support environmental migrants during times of displacement, evaluate the policies’ effectiveness, and determine what issues they address regarding climate induced displacement. All of the policies …

Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan

University Scholar Projects

The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …

Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan

Honors Scholar Theses

The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …

Australia And The United States: The Role Of Secondary Allies In Burden-Sharing, Rachel Mcvicker

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Modern conflict is rarely fought bilaterally, instead many states share the burden of war. Multilateralism adds legitimacy to, and potentially reduces the cost of, the mission and so the major powers recruit its allies to fight wars with them. Conflict is costly for all states involved. As a result, the decision to join the effort is not simple. The smaller allies that major powers ask to join in must justify the cost of that conflict. Some states always fight alongside its major allies, others have more variability in its commitments. This paper aims to find the reasons why states, specifically …

The Impact Of Culture On Member State Migration Policy In The European Union, Sophia Notter, Jennifer Ramos

Honors Thesis

The European Union (EU) was formed with the belief that further integration among European states would bring sustainable peace. This began with economic integration but continued to include political and social integration as well. This ad hoc method of creating cohesion among sovereign Member States was generally accepted among Member State governments and citizens. However, in 2014, when a flood of refugees began arriving in Europe, fleeing from violence and instability in the Middle East and North Africa, the EU as an institution, and what exactly it means to be European, was challenged. Instead of pulling together and promoting the …

From Ideological Resource To Financial Asset: The Evolving Relationship Between Youth And The State In Putin's Russia, Eleanor Schmid

Honors Theses

This thesis identifies four periods of Russian youth policy, and discusses how President Vladimir Putin's approach to youth and youth issues is markedly different than that of previous heads of state, and that it has evolved even within his tenure. My content coding analysis of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs' 2013-2025 Strategy identifies the main values the Russian government seeks to impart upon youth, and my analysis of public opinion surveys of youth provides evidence that there is a connection between the 2013 Strategiia and youth attitudes and values.

Seeking Asylum In A Modern Society: Global Responses To Latin American Migration, Rebecca Dickinson

Senior Honors Projects

The United States is no stranger to asylum seekers and refugees. The most famous seaport in the country houses a 305-foot-tall statue of a woman bearing a torch with words from the poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus etched at her feet: “‘Give me your tired, your poor, /Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’”^[1] The Statue of Liberty is a symbolic representation of open arms to immigrants from all walks of life. But if everyone is welcome, why do so few actually gain entrance?

US interventionism policies in the 20th century have defined the lives of millions …

Building Relationships As An Expat In China: An Observation On How To Successfully Build And Manage Business Relations In China, Lauren Saunders

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since opening itself to free trade in 1979, China’s economy has doubled in size on average every 8 years. With sustained growth across forty years, China now controls the second-largest economy, just behind the United States by an ever-thinning margin. Seeing opportunity, American businesses moved operations into China immediately. As China’s economy grew, America’s reliance on supply chains across China grew. 2020 U.S. trade value in goods with China surpassed 500 billion USD, with the majority trade value coming from imports to the United States. However, starting in 2018, trade war disputes, geopolitical disruption, and the largest pandemic of the …

Us Military Policy In Poland And The Baltics: To Stay Or Not To Stay, Owen Bates

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Refugee Resettlement In Germany: An Analysis Of Policy Learning And Support Networks, Marianne Perkins

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The resettlement of refugees and asylum seekers in Germany since reunification in 1990 has been challenged by two peaks in asylum seeker applications in 1992 and again in 2016. From the 1992 peak, which was fueled by asylum seekers fleeing the former Yugoslavia, extensive research has already been conducted over the past thirty years. These studies have demonstrated the actual outcomes of these primarily Yugoslavian asylum seekers and refugees with these findings indicating legal and economic uncertainty having a detrimental effect even years after resettlement. Using Germany as a case study, this analysis aims to survey the available information in …