International Relations Commons^™

“I Don’T Want To Hear Your Language!” White Social Imagination And The Demography Of Roman Corinth, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

This article aims to deconstruct the hidden pervasive whiteness in biblical scholarship and to propose another way to reimagine the linguistic dynamic of Roman Corinth from an Asian American perspective. It highlights the legal and historical interconnectedness of whiteness and the dominance of English. English is a critical marker of whiteness in the United States. In this context, immigrants are expected to conform to and assimilate themselves with whiteness by performing English. This particular racialized context has influenced and resulted in a scholarly historical reconstruction of immigrants in Roman Corinth as “Greek speaking im/migrants.” Immigrants can come from many different …

Interview With Mel Gurtov, Mel Gurtov, Jacob Hutchins

Conflict Resolution Oral Histories

Professor Mel Gurtov was interviewed on May 21, 2020, by Jacob Hutchins in Portland, Oregon.

In this interview, Gurtov discusses his career trajectory and history, detailing his involvement with release of the Pentagon Papers and his work studying the Vietnam War for the government. He explains how he came to teach political science and international studies at Portland State University, and his part in building and implementing the Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution program. He gives his views on the nature and value of political science regarding international conflict, and answers questions about his shifting political position during the war …

Interview With Tom Hastings, Tom Hastings, Patricia A. Schechter

Conflict Resolution Oral Histories

Professor Tom Hastings was interviewed by Professor Patricia Schechter on May 8, 2020, in Portland, Oregon.

In this discussion, Dr. Hastings recounts his professional development as a scholar and practitioner of nonviolence. The first half of the story involves his youth, early activism, and college training in Wisconsin. The second half involves his move to Portland, Oregon in 2000 and his growing involvement with Conflict Resolution at PSU.

Thucydides In Pyongyang: Fear, Honor And Interests In The 1968 Pueblo Incident, Benjamin Young

Research & Publications

Purpose: On January 23, 1968, North Korean naval forces captured a U.S spy ship, the USS Pueblo, off the coast of Wonsan. This incident nearly led to a second Korean War and heightened hostilities between the U.S and North Korean governments. This article demystifies the strategic thinking of Kim Il Sung’s regime and clarifies the reasoning behind Pyongyang’s risky undertaking in capturing the Pueblo and its crewmen as a rational and pragmatic action.

Design, Methodology, Approach: While the Pueblo crisis has been examined by a number of historians, this article which is based on former Eastern bloc archival documents and …

When The Lights Went Out: Electricity In North Korea And Dependency On Moscow, Benjamin Young

Research & Publications

The division of the Korean Peninsula has been symbolized by electricity. While South Korea lights up on satellite images, North Korea is dark. Using archival documents from North Korea’s former communist allies and Pyongyang’s state-run media, the author argues that the DPRK’s electricity shortages were not a result of the regime’s Juche ideology but rather an outcome of overreliance on Soviet assistance. This analysis disputes the notion of North Korea’s Juche ideology as a totalizing phenomenon within the DPRK’s political structure. By presenting a multifaceted history of North Korea’s electricity sector, the author highlights the ways in which Pyongyang engaged …

Urban Informality, Environmental Xenophobia, And Infrastructures Of Citizenship: The Political Lives Of Nicaraguan Migrants In The Informal Settlement Of La Carpio, Costa Rica, Nikolai Alexander Alvarado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines urban politics, environmental justice, and infrastructure from the vantage point of South-South migration. It focuses on the work of Nicaraguan migrants living in the informal settlement of La Carpio in San José, Costa Rica, as they negotiate rights in the form of urban services. Nicaraguans in La Carpio have organized politically since 1993 to self-install, demand, and negotiate services such as potable water and electricity. In the process, they successfully compel local authorities to allocate these services and grant them an implicit recognition of their right to remain and live a decent life, regardless of their status. …

U.S. Democratization In Post-Cold War Russia: A Critique, Franklin T. Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

States are path dependent entities that deviate solely in the face of catastrophic failures in the pursuit of axiomatic ends by conventional means. The inertia of bureaucratic institutions, a foreign policy consensus within a self-reproducing elite of experts, the self-interest of political elites and a sense of “national self” or identity lead states to understand themselves in light of a history and a relative level of status on the world stage. Since the end World War II, the U.S. has a certain path that places the spread of democracy and laissez-faire capitalism extremely important if not vital foreign policy goals. …

The African State: An Illusory Vestige Of Colonialism, Muhammad K. Otaru

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a 2006 Interview, prominent Nigerian author, and social commentator, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said; “…Nigeria was set up to fail. The only thing we Nigerians should take responsibility for is the extent of the failure….”1. Such a view about colonialism and the states it arbitrarily created is widely shared by many on the African continent, who have come to understand that the very creation and existence of the African state are largely to blame for the seemingly countless socio-economic and political issues faced on the continent.

1 Kimber, Charlie, Interview: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The Socialist Review. (Online, October …

An Economic Analysis Of Cyber Warfare Governance Models, Kevin M. Kelleher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Allusions to death delivered by bits and bytes have been in vogue since the Reagan administration. Yet, as the internet and its connected devices have since proliferated, cyber violence remains far more fiction than fact. Nevertheless, prominent U.S. officials have all but assured the eventuality of a devastating attack. In anticipation, political, legal, and industry experts are now seeking to codify and inculcate international norms to govern acts of war prosecuted via cyberspace. Two of the most prominent governance models to emerge are the Tallinn Manual and Microsoft’s Digital Geneva Convention. The driving thesis of this research argues that within …

2020 Children's Story Cards, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Arif: "I like being in school again."

Norina: "We laugh a lot but I also worry."

Nooda: "I came on a boat. It was a big boat!"

Madina: "I just want to live in a safe place..."

Shurangez: "Sometimes we didn't feel safe at school."

Alex: "I'm from Nigeria. Coming to Italy was very difficult-very, very difficult, a real struggle."

Danial: "I want to be a useful person and follow my dreams."

Firoz: "I am 13 years old and I am worried about my family."

Ali: "Ali lived in Afghanistan. One day while walking to school a bomb exploded near …

Brexit And The Future Of Scotland, Brigid Stakelum

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Four years after the United Kingdom’s (UK) referendum to leave the European Union (EU), many questions remain, especially about the mechanics of the so-called “Brexit.” However, there is a general lack of media discussion about the effects of the Brexit on Scotland, who voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, and two years prior to the EU referendum, Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom by a small margin. One of the main arguments for remaining in the UK was that there was doubt that Scotland could join the EU after leaving the UK. The research question for this …

A Comparative Analysis Of Institutional Trust, Traditional Social Values, And Partisanship In East And Southeast Asia, Lucas Knight

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

What factors drive an individual to trust, or not trust, their government? Over the past two decades, an extensive literature has developed that seeks to identify the sources and determinants of institutional trust in East and Southeast Asia. While this literature has solidified around several factors, for example, positive evaluations of economic performance or anti-corruption efforts, there is still significant debate on the importance of others. This study seeks to contribute to this ongoing debate by testing the role of traditionalism or traditional social values and partisanship. Utilizing data on 13 countries from Wave 4 of the Asian Barometer Survey …

Trade And Power Transition Wars, Conor Sullivan

Honors Program Theses

This paper examines whether or not international trade can be depended on to prevent power transition wars, with a focus on the current transition between the US and China. The literature on power transitions and on trade’s impact on international wars is reviewed, and a method established for determining whether a neoliberal or neorealist understanding of the impact of trade is more appropriate in the current transition. This method employs a model for predicting states’ trade policies to see whether its predictions are accurate both before and after the rise of complex economic interdependence in the 1970s. If the same …

The Sino-Lankan Relationship: Challenging Liberal Foundations Of Transitional Justice, Thurka Brabaharan

MA Major Research Papers

Sri Lanka continues to demonstrate the challenges of implementing legitimate transitional justice mechanisms in a post-conflict state ruled by its victors. While the island-nation of Sri Lanka has managed to sustain relative peace for over a decade, the government’s outstanding human rights record remains a concern for the country’s minority ethnic groups. While there is substantial evidence against the Sri Lankan Army to validate the human rights abuses and war crimes alleged by Tamil civilians, little has been done to hold these individuals accountable. Within the sphere of liberal international order, a victor’s peace, such as Sri Lanka’s, would likely …

Success And Shortcomings: Disarmament, Demobilization, And Reintegration In Eastern And Central Africa, Grace Marshall

Honors Program Theses

In post-conflict transitions, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration have played a crucial role in the treatment of former combatants and the advancement of peacebuilding. This peacebuilding process, known as DDR, has experienced successes and failures throughout its implementation across the globe. Specifically, as conflict erupted across many nations in Central and Eastern Africa, the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs that were implemented during different nations’ peacebuilding transition towards at the turn of the twenty first century experienced variations among their success at reducing or halting conflict. This investigation analyzes the factors that contribute to the ability for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration …

Samuel Huntington's Clash Of Civilizations And Its Allure For The Past Thirty Years, Michaela Munda

Departmental Honors Projects

Political scientist Samuel P. Huntington wrote, taught, and advised on United States defense and foreign policy for over fifty years. The 1996 book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, is by far the most prominent of Huntington’s works. Though the work pertained to the world order following the collapse of the Soviet Union, his urging to understand factors that would set up the next stages of world conflict seem to hold truth throughout the last thirty years, and even in the present. Huntington argues that culture and identity will be at the forefront of global conflict. …

How Great Power Politics Influences Refugee Policy: Assessing The U.S. Foreign Policy Implications Of Differing Responses To The Venezuelan Migration Crisis In Colombia, Peru, And Brazil, Suhan M. Rosario

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Why are Venezuelan Migrants accepted in neighboring Colombia, but not in other countries in South America? It is true that Colombia and Venezuela are similar in language, culture, and customs, but this is true across the continent. There has been literature published on the size of the crisis, and where they are going. Here, I will assess why the Colombian government is more accepting of Venezuelan migrants, even when this is not popular in Colombia or any other country in South America.

My argument is that US foreign policy has caused Colombia to be more accepting of Venezuelans than neighboring …

Más Que Cubano: Linked Fate, Transnationalism, And Generational Differences Among Cuban Immigrants, Bryan Cruz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Latinos in the United States are a diverse group, and their growing presence and recent elections illustrate the importance of understanding and recognizing their distinct political identities. The political identity of Cuban immigrants has been understood as being an anomaly among Latino groups and is largely referred to as an outlier in research of Latin American immigration. The intent of this thesis is to explore the question of why some Latin American immigrants relate to a greater Latino identity. Linked fate is identified as a relevant concept that addresses the formation of group identity. From the literature, transnational connections and …

Mao With Smart Phones And Internet? A Comparison Of Classic Guerrilla Warfare With Fourth And Fifth Generation Warfare Using An Agent-Based Model For Simulation, Jerry Taylor Sink

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) theory shares many characteristics of classical guerrilla warfare (CGW) theory in security studies literature. Proponents claim that 4GW is a revolution in war that overturns traditional measures of military power, while critics counter that 4GW is simply CGW in an updated context. Another group posits Fifth Generation Warfare (5GW), which adds additional information-age technologies and uses “any and all means,” (military and extra-military) to attack both the enemy’s will and capability to resist. The irregular subset of 5GW strategies appear to be an extension of 4GW with the addition of advanced information-age technologies: mobile phones and …

A Framework Of International Competencies For Systems Engineers, Annlizé L. Marnewick, Holly A.H. Handley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In the course of their career, many systems engineers are likely to interact with engineers of other nationalities as they collaborate on large, complex projects and system of system problems. These partnerships are necessary to support international goals, such as those for sustainable development. System engineers may even work onsite in other countries where they must adapt to different styles of doing business. This requires a set of global skill sets for cooperating and decision making, as well as basic social skills for interacting with the local community. These global skills can be included in a graduate level system engineering …

Countering Violent Extremism: U.S. Foreign Policy And The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership, Jason S. Alexander

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For over two decades, preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) has proven a daunting challenge for foreign assistance policy makers and implementers. The challenges are rooted in its rapid emergence, continuous and uneven development, and lingering skepticism about its future and effectiveness. The purpose of this study is to provide policy makers and practitioners with a deeper understanding of how certain factors have driven the development of P/CVE policy. The research questions focused on the nature of policy alignment at all policy levels and the identification and nature of the factors that have driven rapid P/CVE policy change. The theoretical …

Book Review: Routledge Handbook Of Ngos And International Relations, Edited By Thomas Davies, Maria Savva

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of México’S Transition From Neoliberalism To Populism On Environmental Policy, Christina Marshall

Scripps Senior Theses

This article examines the transformation in Mexican politics from a neoliberal state to a one lead by a left wing populist leader and its impacts on environmental policy in the country. Specifically, looking at the election of AMLO in 2018 and prior neoliberal environmental policies (NAFTA and Pena Nieto's energy reform). This article looks at the motivations and outcomes of these policies to better understand environmental impact.

Institutions-Based Influence: The Vatican's Mediations Of International Conflicts, Mamy Wilson Daniel Randriamanantena

Dissertations

This dissertation examines why the Vatican as a global religious organization and the smallest state in the world is able to successfully mediate some difficult and intractable conflicts while it fails to do so in other cases. Drawing from the New Liberalism theory in International Relations, the mediation theory and the literature on the Vatican as a player in world affairs, it suggests the important role of the Vatican's institutions at both the global and local level, besides its spiritual and moral leverage. The method, which combines a longitudinal analysis, a process tracing procedure and a comparative analysis, is used …

New Balance Or New Front? Egyptian Foreign Policy In Eastern Mediterranean, 2013-2019, Moatamer Amin, Moatamer Amin

Political Science

Since the beginning of the millennium, all the regional energy players in the East Mediterranean had good cooperation with little intra-state rivalry or tensions. The Arab Gas Pipeline was successfully carrying Egyptian natural gas to Jordon, Lebanon, Syria and Israel. Egypt had signed agreements to further connect with the Turkish pipeline network, carrying natural gas to the European markets. However, the Egyptian government was facing an internal challenge concerning the normalization of economic relations with Israel. Public opinion was completely against the deal, yet the rest of the Arab Gas Pipeline destinations represented aspiration for further Arab cooperation.

In 2010, …

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 …

What Happened To Mexico's Burgos Shale?, Matthew Fry, Trey Murphy, Andrew Hilburn, Armando Garcia Chiang

Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center Research

No abstract provided.

Living Rivers, Cosmopolitan Activism, And Environmental Justice In The Bengal Delta, Daniel Adel

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis explores the social movements and civil society activism to protect the rivers that flow through Bangladesh—the cradle and terminal delta floodplain of the transboundary Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna river systems—, as well as ways to build regional cooperation and watershed democracy in South Asia. The research drew on four overarching fields of study: environmental justice, southern environmentalism, ecological nationalism, and environmental governance. These four bodies of scholarship helped address the overarching question: how are civil society organizations analyzing and responding to the water diversions and degradation of Bangladesh’s transboundary rivers? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with civil society organizations …

Rawah, Rawah, Brandi Kilmer

TSOS Interview Gallery

No abstract provided.

Pressure Through Economics: Assessing The Effectiveness Of Us Policy Across Shifting Geopolitical Contexts, Hailey Reed

Honors Theses

While some US policymakers argue that economic sanctions always work and continue to use them as a key foreign policy tool, and while some other scholars argue that sanctions never work, this thesis focuses on when, not if, sanctions work. Contextualizing a discussion of the effectiveness of sanctioning undemocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa around the early 2000s shift away from US hegemony back to multipolarity, I conclude that the rise of Russia, China, and smaller states in the early 2000s affected the process through which the US is able to sanction adversarial regimes. Through an analysis …