International Relations Commons^™

Biden’S Options: Policy Recommendations On The Us-China Trade War, Marley Taylor Belanger

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

As talks of unprecedented inflation and the long-term impact of the pandemic are on the rise in the United States, it is critical to understand how the foreign policy choices of the US Government ultimately impact its economy. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of the economic tensions between the US and China as a result of the ongoing US-China Trade War. To examine the viability of proposed options, a cost-benefit analysis of Biden’s policy options is implemented based on a framework of escalation, de-escalation, or modification of the current US-China economic policy initiative. The analysis of these proposals …

Nation Branding: The Case For Marketing Strategy In International Relations, Brooke Boan

Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to address the concept of nation branding and how states can use marketing strategies for international relations gains. Using a literature review of relevant concepts and trends in international relations, including soft power, public diplomacy, and cultural diffusion, the connection between marketing strategies and foreign policy trends become clear. An analysis of nation branding, its origins, applications, and challenges, provides insight into an up-and-coming area of international relations. Specific country case studies were chosen to examine the real-world results of nation branding including the shortcomings and future opportunities. The case of Japan shows how a country can …

All Infrastructure Projects Lead To Beijing : How The Belt And Road Initiative Has Influenced China's Regional Policy, Katherine Grof

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

What are Beijing’s intentions behind the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? China’s foreign policy efforts between 2010 and 2017 are analyzed by comparing five indicators to BRI project spending to understand the goals driving the initiative. Five indicators are used to compare how China’s interest between Belt participants and Road participants: image building, economic volatility, public opinion, energy resources, and geostrategic location. These indicators are applied to four case study BRI participants to rate China’s interest and then compare that to overall BRI project spending. The four case studies are Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan from the Belt portion of BRI and …

Introduction To International Studies Course Syllabus, Stephen Ferst

Open Educational Resources

This course examines the impact and implications of today’s dynamic international context for nations and their citizens. To operate in this global context, citizens, corporations, and governments must know other cultures and political-economic systems and how global forces influence domestic activities, both public and private. Analyzing the social, cultural, economic, and current political characteristics of the international environment, students will learn how these characteristics may affect their lives and choices.

This course serves as an introduction to the interdisciplinary studies of global issues and to CSI’s International Studies program. Its curriculum draws on literary, cultural, and social scientific and historical …

The Intersection Of Decentralized Security And Decentralized Governance: The Offloading Of State Responsibility In Northern Mali, Max Ober

Pomona Senior Theses

Since democratization in the 1990s, Mali has pursued governmental decentralization policies, ranging from administrative deconcentration to fiscal devolution. In many cases, governmental decentralization is seen as a post-conflict tool aimed at promoting various goals such as development or greater autonomy for some groups and regions. In Mali, several Tuareg rebellions in the northern regions of the country have been a major impetus for decentralization debates. To date, however, governmental decentralization has failed to bring peace and sustained development to the region. Under former Presidents Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT) and Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK), the central government has used decentralization as …

What Makes States Comply With Their Environmental Treaty Commitments : A Comparative Case Analysis Of Australia And Canada During The Kyoto Protocol, Brandon Enric Weeber

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Climate change, or global warming at the time, made a significant public outcry in the 1970s. Two major international treaties, the Montreal Protocol of 1987 and the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, were created from the spark of international demand for action. Why is it that after such a movement, the global community still fails to cooperate on climate change action? What makes a state comply with its international environmental treaty commitments, like the Kyoto Protocol? This thesis' research findings indicate that neither public opinion, elite framing of climate change as a threat, nor a state's capacity impact a state's compliance …

The Balance Of Convertibility: Manipulating External Support In Civil War, Kimberly L. Wolfe

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Despite the pervasive trend in civil war of multiple sponsors backing rebels or the government, there is surprisingly minimal analysis on how the balance of support influences conflict duration. Building on the research of Sawyer et al. (2017), who find that the “fungibility” of external support leads to longer civil war, this thesis contributes a new scoring method for analyzing the balance of “fungible” (hereafter “convertible”) support among combatants (rebels versus government), discovering that a balance of convertibility contributes to shorter conflict. Convertible resources are those that combatants manipulate to enhance their warfighting capacity, such as funding, while troops or …

The Gulf Cooperation Council's Policies Towards Iran, Mohammed Ahmed Al Sayed

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

As the world moves forward in its efforts towards maintaining global security and peace, we witness that many nations face challenges while forming alliances as they encounter threats from neighboring states. The study of alliance formation in the field of international relations is mostly centered around the concept of security, however this thesis will highlight the importance of considering other factors that influence alliance formation such as religion and economy. The thesis will discuss the case of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council in dealing with the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran which is considered a threat to …

The Formation Of Proxy Force And External State Relationships: Prospect Theory And Proxy Force Decision Making, Brandon Temple

Dissertations

Proxy war is a common tactic employed by great powers as a safer alternative to direct conflict, especially in the era of nuclear weapons. While proxy war is common, there is a lack of research on the formation of proxy-external state relationships. Previous research has typically examined the phenomena of proxy war through the perspective of the external state power, leaving a gap in the literature. This dissertation fills that gap by assessing the conditions under which armed groups enter into proxy relationships with external states. Using prospect theory as a framework for understanding more clearly armed group decision making …

America And The World Health Organization: Through Covid-19 And Beyond, David M. Goad

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

As the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, in today’s interconnected, globalized world, the state of global health has profound implications for the national security and economic interests of the United States (U.S.) and thus the overall well-being of American citizens. Almost a year after COVID-19 first surfaced in Wuhan, China, the international community continues to reel from the myriad medical, economic, and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the U.S., the pandemic has brought the country’s relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO) into serious question, concerning both America’s financial support of the WHO and its membership in the Organization. …

Cold Turkey: Will The Recent Freeze In Turkish Nato Relations Spiral Into A Bigger Problem?, Ashlyn Cowell, Reagan Nelson, Paul Prentice, Brent Schuliger, Nathan Waite

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Situated in a strategic location bridging the gap between Europe and Asia, Turkey has been a valuable member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for decades. However, recent events have inflamed underlying tensions between Turkey and other NATO member states. This research seeks to determine if the escalation will cause Turkey to withdraw from the alliance within the next five years. In order to accomplish this, our team conducted both quantitative and qualitative research on current and historical economic, political, and cultural conditions driving the conflict. Following this research, our team synthesized the data using structured analytic techniques (SATs) …

Connectivism: Adopting Quantum Holism In International Relations, Grant Randal Highland

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The current scientific context of both quantum science and an ever-increasingly connected global citizenry has set the conditions for a new perspective whereby the social sciences are on the cusp of adopting a quantum approach of probability and potentiality versus the clockwork mechanistic determinism of cause-and-effect Newtonian mechanics. While a scientific realist approach toward the application of quantum science to the social sciences is germane, there is a valid reason international relations should also consider and adopt the philosophical worldviews outside the genealogical canon of our early western forbears, as well as the philosophical explorations of consciousness and humanism which …

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 …

Limits And Possibilities Of The United States Military In Post-Conflict Reconstruction And Stabilization, Alcir Florentino Dos Santos Neto

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

This study probes the limits and possibilities of U.S. military efforts to facilitate the transition from warfighting to nation-building. Most comparative studies conceive the complexity of this transition along a spectrum from conflict to humanitarian assistance to post-conflict stabilization. While the last two stages have often been interpreted as a coordinated act of civil-military ‘nation-building’, the spectrum, in fact, represents an ideal type simplification. At one level, outcomes depend on the players involved, including sovereign nations, national militaries, international and regional institutions, U.N. peacekeepers, private security contractors, and non-governmental humanitarian providers, among others. On the other hand, because …

Offensive Cyber Operations: An Examination Of Their Revolutionary Capabilities, Madelyn Wardle

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Since the cyber realm has become a prevalent area in society, states have been developing ways to use this realm to their advantage. Popular literature asserts that cyber attacks are equalizing, frequently-occurring events that make them “revolutionary” tools of warfare; however, this study hypothesizes that cyber operations are not as revolutionary as the literature asserts. This study examines the revolutionary capabilities of offensive cyber operations by studying documented cases of state-sponsored offensive cyber operations from 2005-2019. By utilizing statistical methods, first the paper examines the documented cases and analyzes which states conduct most of these operations. Then, the paper will …

Levels-Of-Analysis In International Relations, Anat Niv-Solomon

Open Educational Resources

The objective of this assignment is for students to be able to apply the concept of Levels-of-Analysis to real-world events. The students are required to explain an international event with accounts and narratives that fit in the three different levels of analysis - individual, state, and system.

This assignment can be used in introductory classes to international relations and international politics, as well as in classes about foreign policy analysis or national and international security.

Clinging To Power: Authoritarian Leaders And Coercive Effectiveness, Christian J. Wolfe

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This study identifies three tactics authoritarian leaders use to attempt to effectively coerce their citizens without losing power: 1) performance legitimacy, 2) nationalist legitimacy, and 3) institutional legitimacy. To demonstrate these tactics of what I call “coercive effectiveness,” the author employs a most-different-systems analysis on the regimes of Xi Jinping (2012 2015) and Bashar al-Assad (2000-2004). The author finds that coercion is more likely to be effective under the following conditions: 1) when leaders use economic performance and institutionalist strategies rather than nationalist tactics, 2) when an authoritarian leader climbs the ladder to power rather than inheriting leadership and 3) …

A Model Of Regime Change: The Impact Of Arab Spring Throughout The Middle East And North Africa, Omar Khalfan Bizuru

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the catalysts for social movements around the globe; specifically, why and how the Arab Spring uprisings led to regime change in Tunisia, why they transformed into civil war in some countries of the Middle East and North Africa (Syria), and why they did not lead to significant change at all in other places (Bahrain). The overall results of the study confirmed that political and socio-economic grievances caused the Arab uprisings in Tunisia, Bahrain, and Syria. Tunisian protesters succeeded in regime change because of a united and structured social movement leading to an effective transitional democracy in the …

Who Governs The Sea? An Analysis Of The Regime Complex In International Shipping, Brent Landon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In many respects, international shipping represents the physical embodiment of globalization. It ties states together via the exchange of raw materials and finished goods in ways that inspire important questions about power distributions, trade, growth, global governance, jurisdiction, policy coordination, sovereignty, and regimes. Although shipping is a space that can be used to illustrate many International Relations ideas, it has been understudied in International Relations. This thesis argues that the international shipping regime complex produces suboptimal outcomes because it has inefficient and peculiar design features. Specifically, it locates the responsibility to enforce rules in states that lack the ability to …

Social Contract Theory And Transitional Justice: A Philosophical Approach To A Problem Of Global Importance, Brendan Moriarty

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this thesis, I seek to bring together two areas of scholarly work to see how each can inform the other: social contract theory and transitional justice. The social contract, as it exists and as it was theorized about by Rousseau, was born from the world-historic forces that spread capitalism across the globe, stirring up nationalism everywhere it went. In its wake, there was vast inequality and new legal regimes which protected the hoarded wealth of the capitalist class by enshrining the right of private property along with life and liberty. To examine the intricacies of transitional justice and its …

Chinese Nationalism And The South China Sea, Jordan M. Sandy

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

What role do domestic audiences play in authoritarian policy making? This study examines the relationship between newspapers and assertive foreign policy. Specifically, this study conducts content analyses of state-published newspapers during periods of unprecedented assertiveness in the South China Sea. Borrowing from Galtung’s theory of peace journalism, this study analyzes valence patterns used in 99 separate articles published in Xinhua, China Daily, People’s Daily, and Global Times. Additionally, this study examines the visibility of these articles, to better understand their prominence in national coverage. This study discusses nationalism in the case of China, as well as the overwhelming control that …

Game Of Survival: External Actors' Support For Separatists, Joshua C. Underwood

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This research develops a novel model for external actors’ support for separatists.Three variables measuring external actors’ support are identified through two case studies, Kosovo Liberation Army and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with an emphasis on Military Aid’s impact. The variables are then applied to a quantitative analysis of external actors’ support in a dataset of 75 observations during the years 1991-2020, utilizing the Uppsala Conflict Data Program External Support Dataset. The findings for this research show that Military Aid and Moral Support improve the probability of survival for a separatist group. A deeper analysis reveals that military aid among …

Targeting The Minority: A New Theory Of Diversionary Violence, Nathaniel M. Arnold

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This research develops a novel theory for domestic diversionary violence, contending that the main drivers for this type of conflict are the specific characteristics of state-targeted domestic minority groups. Seven new variables measuring minority group characteristics are identified through a case study of the Kurdish minority in the Turkish Republic, then applied to a quantitative analysis of domestic diversionary violence in a dataset of 284 observations across 117 countries during the years 2004-2005, utilizing data from the University of Maryland’s Minorities at Risk Project, the University of Illinois Cline Center SPEED Database, and World Bank. A proportional odds logistic regression …

Human Rights? What A Good Idea! From Universal Jurisdiction To Crime Prevention, Daniel Feierstein

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Over the last decades, Genocide Studies has entered in a “comfort zone.” With fellowships and support from governments or NGOs, we have developed a very comfortable environment in which the knowledge we produce about genocide prevention is neither critical nor useful. We have become trapped by assumptions we have never checked against reality and many of us have chosen to work inside the circle of those assumptions: genocide and mass violence are horrible acts committed by horrible people; we cannot stand by and do nothing; we have the responsibility to protect civilian populations and that responsibility takes the form, as …

Cooperation Or Conflict: Using Alliance Theory To Explain The Current Gulf Cooperation Council Crisis, Pierre Aguirre

Honors Scholar Theses

What caused the current diplomatic crisis between countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council? I analyze this question through the lens of alliance politics. In the past, scholars have used these different theories to explain the formation and sustainability of certain alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Specifically, I test Walt's theory of the Balance of Threat against others to see which can best explain the Council's downfall. Using a case study research design, I disaggregate the alliance into three notable periods: formation, sustained cooperation, and discord. My findings reveal that Walt’s theory lacks certain …

Predicting Leader Survival: Evidence From Covert Action Case Study Analysis, Joy S. Patton

Dissertations

This research explores the unique relationship between covert action and leader survivability, in particular, how leadership styles and personality traits influence this relationship. The life of a ruler is ephemeral. For those who are lucky, their exit from office is through retirement or old age. For most, their tenure is short, often ending through violent means. The overthrow of rulers by their rivals is a common theme throughout world history, and the strategy remains a popular choice in contemporary warfare. However, despite the frequency of regime change, very little is discussed in international relations about covert regime change and its …

A Roundtable For Victoria M. Grieve, Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood In The 1950s, Thomas Field Jr., Julia L. Mickenberg, Lori Clune, Mary Brennan, Donna Alvah, Victoria M. Grieve

Publications

Dr. Thomas Field introduces a roundtable discussion of Victoria M. Grieve's Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood in the 1950s, providing a synopsis of reviewer critiques before the reviewers expand on their views and the author responds.

Games, Movies, And Zombies: Making Ir Fun For Everyone, Shawna M. Brandle

Publications and Research

Throwing as much fun and pop culture into an international relations class as possible, with the goal of improving student learning (and the likelihood of the course running again). Games proved most effective, while movies were less useful in increasing student learning on international relations.

An Analysis Of Obstacles To Peace Between Iran And Israel, Emily M. Aspinwall

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The history of confrontation and cooperation between Iran and Israel is a volatile sequence. With the transformative impact of the 1979 Iranian Revolution on Iranian leadership and ideology, as well as Israel’s metamorphosis from a newly independent state to a regional rival, there is much to unpack in this relationship. From regime changes to nationalistic awakenings, Iran and Israel’s conflict is comprised of infinite layers brimming with historical and political implications. For the past 70 years, Iran and Israel’s diplomatic relationship has encountered numerous shifts, thus forming an axis of hostility, regional contention, and damaging rhetoric. This research analyzes the …