International Relations Commons^™

Summary & Discussion On United Nations Preliminary Report On Ai: Benefits And Harms Of Artificial Intelligence For Civil Society, Angie Holzer

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

In July 2026, the United Nations' newly formed Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence released its first Preliminary Report, offering the first global, scientific assessment of AI's capabilities, risks, and impacts. This article examines the report's findings through the lens of civil society, organizing the Panel's evidence around three questions of direct relevance to nonprofit leaders and researchers: how rapidly AI capability is advancing, who controls its development, and where its benefits and harms are concentrated. Drawing on the Panel's data across societal applications, economic implications, human rights and information integrity, cultural flourishing and child safety, and AI governance, …

Academic Summaries - Artificial Intelligence, Angie Holzer

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Through The Arena: A Marxist Strategic-Relational Perspective On East Asian Regional Trade Architecture, John H. Limaldi

Journal of Critical Global Issues

This paper critically assesses the dominant regional trade architecture that impacts East Asia, focusing on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and its U.S.-bastardized version, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Using a strategic-relational approach grounded in Marxist theory, the paper examines how these agreements impact the relationship between the Capitalist State and Capital. It argues that international economic architecture in the neoliberal era produces state effects that weaken national sovereignty to the benefit of capital and the detriment of labor. The paper concludes with recommendations for a new regional trade architecture that prioritizes labor rights, democratic accountability, and …

U.S. Public Opinion During The Rwandan Genocide And The Power Of Executive Detachment, Carly Schmitt, Matthew L. Bergbower

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

We examine U.S. public opinion during the Rwandan genocide in the spring and early summer of 1994. Drawing on more than a dozen public opinion polls fielded during this period, we analyze Americans’ levels of knowledge about the violence in Rwanda, their views on United Nations involvement, support for U.S. military intervention, and evaluations of President Bill Clinton’s handling of the crisis. Longstanding theory recognizes public opinion as an important variable in explaining foreign policy choices during international crises. In the case of U.S. policy toward the Rwandan genocide, our analysis reveals widespread public unfamiliarity with a distant African conflict …

Book Review: The Futures Of Reparations In Latin America: Imagination, Translation, And Belonging, Jakob Leichtman

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Beyond Self-Defense: A Critical Analysis Of The Biden Administration’S Application Of ‘Just War’ Theory In The Israel-Hamas War, Thomas Elias

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Abstract

The Israel-Hamas war has ignited critical questions regarding the justification for violence, particularly the right to self-defense. Harm to Palestinian noncombatants and the conflict’s prolonged duration has contributed to critiques and doubts about Israel’s military operations and the Biden administration’s substantial military aid post-October 7th. The war’s extensive destruction and dehumanization creates a stark tension with the Biden administration’s invocation of just war theory. This paper critically analyzes the Biden administration’s use of just war theory in supporting the Israel-Hamas war, investigating how Christian theological ethics on just war and self-defense have been utilized and misapplied since October 2023. …

From Research To Decision In A Uk Parliamentary Office: How Internal Communication Translates Complex Information Into Workplace Action, Donovan Singh

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This project examines how internal workplace communication translates complex information into guidance that a decision-maker can use. The project uses an anonymised UK parliamentary office as a practice-based case study. The elected representative is referred to as MP A, the placement office as Parliamentary Office A, and the placement supervisor as Supervisor B. Anonymisation is necessary because the project analyses briefing practice and workplace feedback rather than the identity, political position, or internal operations of a specific office.

The research question is: How does internal communication translate complex information into clear, accurate and actionable guidance for workplace decision-makers? The project …

Diplomacy Country Desk Updates, Susan Craig

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students will use the gem/activity through the semester to stay up-to-date on their assigned country desk for a graduate level course on diplomacy.

Civic Activism Of Refugee Community Organizations And Their Effectiveness In Supporting Refugees, Anis Zaman

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

The development and governance architecture of migration policy often lacks migrants' perspectives. Thus, in most cases, migration policies generate conflicts between migrants and host communities. In this regard, refugee-led community organizations (RCOs) offer solutions by promoting collective action among refugees. RCOs play a vital role in fostering collective action by refugee communities to alleviate suffering and assert refugee rights. However, RCO’s operations and interactions in the host country are challenging and are shaped by the nature of migration governance and the host government’s tolerance for refugee activism. The nature of migration governance dictates the spaces for refugee civic activism. This …

The Institutional Production Of Ethical War Across Modern Conflict, Katerina Udov

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

This paper argues that modern warfare operates through an ethical infrastructure that enables, rather than restrains, the use of violence. Contrary to the common assumption that moral frameworks such as Just War Theory function as safeguards against harm, the historical record shows that ethical language, humanitarian rhetoric, and democratic narratives serve as mechanisms to legitimize intervention, manufacture consent, and naturalize civilian suffering. Through case studies including Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, U.S.-backed coups in Latin America, and French intervention in Mali, the paper traces how political leaders, media institutions, and corporate actors frame war as a moral necessity while pursuing strategic and …

The Psychology Of Diplomacy In The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: The Role Of Emotions And Perceptions In Peace Negotiations, Tomy Octavian, Linda Noviyana

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains one of the major challenges in building sustainable peace through diplomacy. This study analyzes the role of emotions and perceptions in Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations through the perspective of diplomacy psychology. Using an integrative literature review and an integrated theory approach that combines psychological theories and international relations theories, this study synthesizes empirical and conceptual findings on the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiation process. The results of the analysis show that negative emotions such as fear, hatred, and anger worsen diplomatic relations and hinder peace deals. Distorted perceptions of the other side's intentions and identities, as well as conflicting …

“Three In A Jeep”: Exploring The Conditions For Successful Peacekeeping Through United Nations Special Political Missions, Audrey Duff

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This thesis examines a specific type of United Nations peacekeeping operation, referred to as Special Political Missions (SPMs) and their progress in transitions from war to peace. While traditional peacekeeping has made advances in separating conflict and human rights development, SPMs provide concentrated specialization in areas, including electoral support, government mediation, and disarmament. Through a structured focus comparison of three unique SPM case studies, this research explores what key dimensions are involved in successful Special Political Missions. By comparing the United Nations Mission in Nepal, United Nations Mission in Colombia, and United Nations Observer Mission in Bougainville, this thesis intends …

The Republican Party And The Creation Of The Bipartisan Foreign Policy, 1945-1953, Alexander Gellos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a historical and structural reexamination of the Republican Party’s role in shaping American foreign policy from 1945 to 1953. Defying the historiography of a frictionless postwar consensus and an executive branch-centered narrative, this historical chronological study demonstrates that the Republican Party’s role in formulating the bipartisan foreign policy was a contingent and debated legislative construction. Far from representing passive submission or a surrender of partisan identity, the GOP’s role was an indispensable exercise in creating it, and due to politics being what it is, straining it. Through historical chronology spanning from 1945 to 1953, the party's center …

Identity-Conditioned Rewards For Gender Quotas In Autocracies: A Cross-National Conjoint Experiment, Zixuan Diana Wang

Quantitative Social Science Undergraduate Senior Theses

Do gender quotas in autocracies increase international public support for providing foreign aid to those regimes, and are such rewards conditioned by identity? A recent study by Bush et al. (2024) finds that quotas increase public support for foreign aid to autocracies among the U.S. public. I replicate their study beyond the U.S. to test the generalizability of their findings. I also extend their study by examining how religious and racial identities condition the reputational benefits associated with quotas, as recent studies show that identity shapes foreign aid preferences and support for democracy. I fielded a harmonized conjoint experiment in …

Women And Wars: Understanding Women’S Political Empowerment Post- Conflict In France, Lebanon, And Sierra Leone, Alaa S. Sayed

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis attempts to discusses how conflict can be a time of change for women and how conflict can be a crucial aspect for change and improvement. Conflict provides a chance for the women to witness and experience the disruption of gender roles, which was a common practice during wartime, as women were placed in roles that were not officially theirs, according to what society adheres to or ascribes as acceptable roles for women. The conflict is presented as a “window” of opportunity. However, the reality of the situation of this “window” is not uniform across all post-conflict societies; the …

Ai, Sacred Violence, And War—The Case Of Gaza. By Chris Hables Gray., Yasin Çağlar Kaya

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Forest Fire Governance And Regional Environmental Politics In Southeast Asia: A Bibliometric Analysis, Agung Wicaksono, Data Wardana, Hendry Andry, Rio Yusri Maulana

Jurnal Wacana Politik

Forest fires remain one of the most persistent environmental governance challenges in Southeast Asia, generating significant ecological, economic, social, and political consequences, including transboundary haze pollution. Despite the growing body of literature on forest fire management, a comprehensive understanding of the intellectual structure and development of forest fire governance research in the region remains limited. This study aims to map and analyze the evolution, thematic structure, collaboration patterns, and intellectual foundations of forest fire governance research in Southeast Asia using a bibliometric approach. Bibliographic data were collected from the Scopus database, resulting in a final dataset of 644 publications after …

International Students As Vectors Of Informal Diplomacy : Does Soft Power Matter More Than Dollars?, Alexis Carriere

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This article examines the evolving rationales underlying government strategies to attract international students, with a particular focus on their role as vectors of informal diplomacy. While existing scholarship has largely analyzed international student mobility through individual motivations or institutional strategies, this study highlights the state-level logics that frame student mobility as a tool of soft power. Drawing on policy documents, political speeches, and scholarly literature, the article analyzes the approaches of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—countries that remain among the world’s top destinations for international students—across three historical periods: 1945–1990s, 1990s–2010s, and 2010s–2025. Findings reveal …

The Evolution Of U.S. Geoeconomic Grand Strategy Toward China And South Korea’S Strategic Space: A Comparative Analysis Of Neomercantilist Types In The Trump And Biden Administrations, Hyungbo Kim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines the evolutionary trajectory of U.S. geoeconomic grand strategy toward China from the inauguration of the first Trump administration in 2017, through the Biden administration, to the second Trump administration launched in 2025, while exploring South Korea’s survival strategies in response. The findings confirm that U.S. foreign economic policy has radicalized into "Expanded Malevolent Neomercantilism," which moves beyond simple protectionism to weaponize global economic networks in the name of national security and exploit even allies.

According to the analysis, the U.S. progressed from the "Malevolent Neomercantilism" of Trump's first term, which focused on trade deficits, to the "Developmental …

Reconfiguring Dependency: China's Belt And Road Initiative And Development In Ethiopia And Nigeria, Alexander Freund

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Africa through the frameworks of dependency theory, postcolonial theory, and neo-colonialism. As China's global economic influence has expanded throughout the twenty-first century, the BRI has emerged as a major source of infrastructure financing and development across the Global South, particularly in Africa. While critics frequently portray the initiative as a form of "debt-trap diplomacy," supporters argue that Chinese investment offers an alternative to the neoliberal conditionality historically associated with Western-led International Financial Institutions (IFIs) such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. This study addresses two central research questions: …

The Struggle Of Indigenous Women From A Critical Feminist Perspective: A Literature Study Of The Indigenous Communities Of Lake Toba, Mudiyati Rahmatunnisa, Cusdiawan Cusdiawan

Jurnal Wacana Politik

This article explores the struggle of indigenous women in the Lake Toba region through a critical feminist perspective. Critical feminism is employed here not only to analyze the complexity of Indigenous women’s experiences in the Lake Toba region, but also as a theoretical framework for envisioning and advancing Indigenous women’s movements. Using a literature study method, this research analyzes various academic works, reports, and secondary data related to indigenous women, capitalism, patriarchy, and corporatist development. This study argues that indigenous women experience various forms of marginalization caused by the intersection of state-supported capitalist expansion, which has led to the loss …

The Impact Of Turkey’S Policy On Refugees (Case Study Of Syrian Refugees), Muhammad Kadhafie, Abdullah Haidar

Jurnal Wacana Politik

In the aftermath of World War II, the international community sought to establish a global order that guarantees the protection of human rights, formally declared through the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Fundamental principles such as the right to life, the right to security, and freedom from torture became central to the international human rights regime. However, contemporary realities demonstrate that human rights violations persist, particularly in situations of armed conflict. The Syrian conflict, which began in 2011, has evolved into one of the largest humanitarian crises of the 21st century, forcing millions of civilians to flee their country …

Jihad As Discourse: The Houthi Movement's Official Rhetoric On The 2023–2024 Red Sea Attacks, Moh. Iqbal Bulgini, Imam Khomaeni Hayatullah

Journal of Terrorism Studies

This study examines how Ansar Allah (the Houthi movement) constructs and legitimises a jihad discourse through official speeches and formal statements issued by military spokesperson Yahya Sarea and the movement's official platforms during the 2023–2024 Red Sea attacks. Employing Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework—integrating textual analysis, discursive practice, and sociocultural context—the study analyses a purposive corpus of 45 verified institutional texts. Three dominant and mutually reinforcing discursive formations are identified: (1) the Humanitarian-Juridical Discourse, which reconstitutes armed attacks as legally and morally obligatory acts of protection; (2) the Anti-Hegemonic Resistance Discourse, which constructs the movement as a …

Digital Communication And The Evolution Of Ideological Narratives In Indonesia: Insights From Social Media Platforms, Tia Mariatul Kibtiah, Muhammad Fikri Fawazi

Journal of Terrorism Studies

This study examines how pro-caliphate and anti-democratic narratives are articulated and normalised within YouTube comment spaces in Indonesia. As the world’s largest Muslim-majority country with high levels of digital engagement, Indonesia provides an important context for analysing how political-religious discourses circulate through everyday digital interaction. The research analyses 1,354 YouTube comments related to the caliphate, governance, and democracy. Data were collected using Google Apps Script, manually filtered for relevance, and examined through qualitative content analysis informed by Social Network Theory (SNT) and the Radicalisation Factor Model (RFM). The findings show that 34.49% of comments endorsed ideological pro-caliphate narratives, while 35.97% …

Pipelines And Power: Governance, Conflict, And Hybrid Political Orders In Nigeria's Niger Delta, Nkasiobu Wodu

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Many conflict-affected states in the Global South can be described as Hybrid Political Orders—governance arrangements where informal authority and formal state institutions coexist, overlap, and contest for power. In Nigeria's Niger Delta, this phenomenon is clearly evident. In this context, the exercise of governmental authority extends beyond the Weberian State. Local and non-state actors such as ethnic-based organizations, former combatants, and traditional authorities routinely perform government-like functions within their spheres of influence.

This study analyzes how extractive corporations, informal authorities, and the Nigerian state co-produce governance and shape patterns of conflict and cooperation in the Niger Delta. Its central …

Trends Towards Political Communication Strategy On Social Media: A Bibliometrics Analysis, Annisa Atha Hanifah, La Mani, Zidane Ahmad Busthomi, Giovanni Sunrise, Matthew A. Kristanto, Indra Prawira

Jurnal Wacana Politik

Social media has become the center of digital political communication, enabling politicians to convey messages, form narratives, and mobilize public support directly and interactively. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok serve not only as campaign tools but also as deliberative spaces where political discourse is formed and debated. This study uses a bibliometric approach to analyze global trends in research on political communication on social media during the period 2020-2024. Data were collected in October 2025 from Scopus database, comprising 608 documents from 253 publication sources and author affiliations in 24 countries. The search was conducted using …

Public Interest As An ‘Empty Signifier’: Discourse Hegemony Strategy Of Pro-Dam Group In The Contestation Of The Development Discourse Of The Bener Dam National Stragic Project., Muhammad Nadhif Achyansyah, Yusa Djuyandi

Jurnal Wacana Politik

This article examines how the discourse of public interest is constructed and mobilized by pro-dam actors to legitimize the construction of the Bener Dam National Strategic Project amid resistance against andesite quarry mining in Wadas Village, Purworejo Regency. Using Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse analysis framework, this study employs qualitative methods to analyze textual and non-textual data drawn from official government documents, policy statements, press conferences, mass media coverage, and public communications by central and local governments as well as pro-dam community actors. The analysis shows that public interest functions as an empty signifier that is articulated as a …

The Monopoly Of Violence In Iraq: The Emergence Of The Islamic Resistance Of Iraq, Mobilization Of The Pmf, And The Future Of State Stability, Alexis Thomas

Pepperdine Policy Review

Iraq's fragile state faces threats from multiple factors including Iranian influence within the Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraq's political system, the decentralized nature of the PMF, and potential violence surrounding critical national elections. Formed during the 2014 ISIS war, the PMF is an umbrella organization consisting of various militias broadly aligned with Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Muqtada al-Sadr, or former Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei. Since October 7, 2023, Iranian-backed PMF militias operating under the Islamic Resistance of Iraq have conducted attacks against Israeli and American targets, threatening to drag Iraq into regional conflict. PMF-affiliated parties achieved considerable success in the 2025 …

A Stadium In Our Backyard: Community Participation In Stadia Redevelopment Projects, Sofia Zazueta

Master's Theses

The Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain and the Chase Center in San Francisco, California are two stadium redevelopment projects that exemplify the stakeholder dynamics that come into play when developers pitch a multipurpose stadium located a few blocks away from people’s backyards. Urban development patterns must be in constant evolution to meet the needs and demands of the current generations. In cities, stadia redevelopment projects have entered the picture to reimagine the role that these structures once played. The stadium once used for the sole purpose of holding matches has become a venue that now hosts different events such as …

La Maquiladora De Sueños Is Where The “American Dream” Ends: The Socio-Cultural Impact Of Hai(T)Ijuanenses In The United States-México Borderlands, Pedro Aleman Perfecto

Master's Theses

Historically, Tijuana has been the destination for migrants who have been left out from the United States, Mexico, and the rest of the world. The city is at the epicenter of globalization where many transit, leave, and arrive. Sometimes considered a “third country” due to its binational and bicultural identity with its sister city, San Diego, California. The growing number of Haitian refugees that arrived in Tijuana in the mid 2010s to seek asylum in the United States overwhelmed the city’s infrastructure and left the Haitian community vulnerable, yet it created new opportunities and reshaped new identities in the region. …