Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

To Vote Or Not To Vote: Youth Political Agency In Post-Revolutionary Tunisia, Sarah Dickson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the wake of the Tunisian Revolution, young people in Tunisia have become very interested in politics. For some young people, this excitement has resulted in positive feelings about voting. For others, voting is not seen as an effective way to express political agency. This paper will analyze field research conducted by the author with young Tunisians in order to better understand Tunisian youth attitudes towards voting, and explore various interpretations of political agency. This paper will ask the fundamental questions: why didn’t revolutionary activism translate to voting for more young Tunisians, especially as they continue to express interest in …

Jordan’S Energy Security: Impact Of Dependency On Unstable Foreign Sources On Social Stability And Policy Alternatives, Allan Martinez Venegas

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Jordan is one the world's most dependent countries in foreign sources for energy production in the world. 96% percent of its energy comes from imports from neighboring countries, while exploitation of domestic resources is practically insignificant. Of the primary imports, crude oil and products are by far the most important resource, with natural gas in second place. This dependency is very problematic for both the Jordanian regime and the society it governs in two main ways. Firstly, the source-countries of these resources are highly unstable, especially in the current context of the “Arab spring.” Their outflow of energy sources is …

The Institutional And Social Integration Of Child Asylum-Seekers In The Schools And Society Of The Canton Of Vaud, Switzerland, Sonja C. Brinker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As an increasing number of asylum-seekers cross the border into Switzerland in search of protection, Switzerland faces the challenge of accommodating and integrating asylum populations into society while protecting all basic human rights. This study looks at the reception of child asylum-seekers in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland in terms of their integration in the education system and society. A series of interviews and a literature review were used to identify what services are available to child asylumseekers both at school and within the canton that may facilitate integration. The findings of this study indicate that child asylum-seekers are receiving …

Bridge Across The Divide: Rewriting A New Historical Narrative In Derry~Londonderry, Elena Bilodeau

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report is the outcome of a month-long study on the Peace Bridge in Derry~Londonderry. It is an investigation of the importance history plays in the peace process of Northern Ireland. The goal of this study was to assess the success of the Peace Bridge in helping the city to overcome an inherited historical memory. Data was obtained through formal interviews, surveys of users on the bridge, various forms of literature, and participant observation. Through these methods, it can be concluded that the Peace Bridge has successfully increased cross-community interaction in the city. This has been achieved through the creation …

Transitional Justice And Its Role In Development In Post-Conflict Northern Uganda, Jessica Chirichetti

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study was completed during a 6-week period in Gulu District, Northern Uganda. The main objective of this study was to understand and analyze the various transitional justice mechanisms currently being used in post-conflict Northern Uganda. The researcher set out to hear the population’s general attitudes on justice and understand the challenges that hinder the justice process through the perspective of government officials (including opposition party members), NGO workers, lawyers, academics, and religious leaders. A specific focus was point on the compensation aspect of transitional justice since the region is suffering from severe under-development and poverty issues. This led to …

Lara Ngom Ii Acoli: Identifying Root Causes And The Impact Of Cultural Cataclysm On Land Conflict Resolution In Nwoya District, Northern Uganda, Madison Stevens

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Endemic land insecurity is a critical aspect of the negative peace presently felt by the Acoli sub-region in the wake of two decades of conflict,2 as well over two thousand instances of land disputes have been recorded in the region since the cessation of hostilities in 2006.3 This study examines the dynamics of land conflicts in Nwoya district, Northern Uganda. The research was conducted over four weeks of independent research in Nwoya district, and incorporates the perspectives of various actors involved in land conflicts and the dispute resolution process. Findings incorporate field-based information gathered primarily from interviews with key stakeholders, …

Gaging The Education Abroad Perception: A Survey Of Personnel At The University Of Wisconsin-Platteville, Jennifer R. Krahn

Capstone Collection

As higher education institutions nationwide are striving to increase the number of U.S. students having international experiences, it is important that international programs professionals are not the only advocates for education abroad on campus. Administration, faculty, and staff buy-in is invaluable as the policy makers and leaders across campus, and their personal experiences, opinions, and endorsements are powerful. The University of Wisconsin system has a system-wide goal for each campus to have 25 percent of their students study abroad, and therefore, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UW-Platteville) is looking to administration, faculty, and staff for support in increasing education abroad participation. …

Sharing What Works Through South-South Cooperation: The Case Of The Risk Reduction Management Centre Replication Project, Rachel M. Cohn

Capstone Collection

The Risk Reduction Management Centre (RRMC) Replication Project, an initiative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), aims to take a Cuban best practice in disaster risk reduction and adapt it to the local context of five other Caribbean countries. This project differs from most development projects in that the individuals and institutions providing the assistance (in this case technical training and know-how) are themselves from a developing country (Cuba). This model, wherein developing countries provide resources, information, and training to other developing countries, is known as South-South Cooperation (SSC).

This capstone uses the case of the RRMC Replication Project …

Dialogue Between Israelis And Palestinians: Obsolete Approach Or Still Viable Technique In The Middle East Conflict Transformation Toolkit?, Laurie Millman

Capstone Collection

During the last thirty years of the 20^th century, there was a proliferation of dialogues between Palestinians and Israelis. Participants in early unofficial dialogues sometimes became negotiators for official dialogues, or articulated positions which were later presented in public Track II negotiations such as the Geneva Accords. Nevertheless, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has not been transformed, and seems more intractable now than in many years. Given the optimism, effort, and analysis which have been invested in dialogue, this paper considers the question of whether dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians represents an obsolete approach or a still valuable technique in the …

Changing The Status Quo Of Waste Management: Case Study Of A Rural Costa Rican Town, Anna Katherine Rodenborg Baker

Capstone Collection

Costa Rica is a country famous for its efforts in environmental protection. Despite its numerous innovative steps toward the protection of its natural biodiversity and resources, the country has still not yet provided basic environmental services, such as local trash collection, to its entire population. This paper examines the processes of organizing the campaign to petition the Municipality to organize trash collection in Costa Rica. It provides a case study of policy advocacy in sustainable rural development. It is informed by my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Rural Community Development program, during which time the Municipality was …

How Is The Most Segregated City In The Country Addressing Disproportionate Minority Contact With A Juvenile Burglary Restorative Justice Program And What Implications Exist For Community Based Restorative Circles? : Conflict Analysis And Recommendations, Lauren Thrift

Capstone Collection

Milwaukee, Wisconsin is considered the most segregated city in the country and has the most disproportionate rate of minorities in Wisconsin’s juvenile justice system. The State of Wisconsin recognizes disproportionate minority contact (DMC) is a product of both differential offending by minorities and the racist differential processing by the juvenile justice system. Milwaukee’s residents are locked in a conflict about the role of racism in the high rates of minority crime and whether to address DMC with more stringent punishment or increasing alternatives to incarceration. The entrenched segregation between African American and Caucasian neighborhoods and social groups reinforces polarization, increasing …

Decommissioning Orleans Parish Prison: A Campaign To Build A Safer New Orleans / One Local Policy Step To Dismantle The Prison Industrial Complex, Tara M. Echo

Capstone Collection

Today, nearly two and a half million people in the U.S. are living in cages, with New Orleans holding the highest per capita rate of incarceration. While we have consistently seen that building cages does not bring us any closer to actualizing safety, the sheriff and other city officials of New Orleans justify a financially profitable plan to create more cages-to warehouse more of the city's people-in the name of safety.

Using an abolitionist framework, this paper examines safety by differentiating between contributing factors of being secure and factors which create harm in our communities. By tracing these factors to …

Los Beneficios De La Educación Cultural Para La Rehabilitación, Samantha Thoma

Spain: Language, Community, and Social Change

In Fall of 2012, during my participation in the Spain: Language, Community and Social Change program, I volunteered at El Centro de Inserción Social “Matilde Canto Fernandez”, a center for inmates in the advanced stages of their reintegration. It is located in the center of urban Granada in order to make the reintegration into the social life of Granada easier. The center plays a residential role and offers intervention and treatment of activities, and social work.

The initial idea for my service was to conduct a “Cine-fórum” in which I would show a movie and lead a discussion where …

La Educacion Chilena: ¿Derecho Humano O Bien De Consumo?, Simone Nicole Henry

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El tema de este proyecto es el sistema educativo chileno, en términos de los Derechos Humanos y, particularmente, el derecho a la educación del niño. Se busca información sobre el sistema educativo chileno por su historia, su evolución, sus métodos actuales, sus fortaleces y sus debilidades para encontrar el origen de la desigualdad profunda que el sistema sufre y también perpetua. Para obtener esa información, se usaron fuentes primarias y secundarias además de entrevistas de varias personas que participan, directamente o indirectamente, en la educación chilena primaria. Aunque la educación superior en Chile es también un desafío actual, como un …

Tsunamis: Desprevenidos Por La Realidad De La Geología Un Estudio De La Posibilidad Y Precauciones Por Un Tsunami En Puerto López, Manabí, Ecuador, Abigail Eurich

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean about once every 1.5 years (Berninghausen, 1962). Forty-nine Tsunamis are recorded to have hit the western coast of South America since 1562, though only 3 hit the coast of Ecuador specifically (Berninghausen, 1962). However, it is still important to recognize the possibility of having a tsunami in Ecuador and plan accordingly. On a very complex junction of the Nazca and South American plate, with the Nazca and Carnegie Ridges as well as the Galapagos hotspot, this part of the world is apt to many earthquakes, submarine landslides, and volcanic activity which all have the …

Accessing Justice, Evaluating Agency: How 12 Women In Cape Town Perceive Their Local Police Services With Respect To Their Race, Class, Gender, And Geographic Location, Ellen Moore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Policing in South Africa has a long, twisted history that is still evident in some current police practices and especially in the public’s perceptions of the police. In addition to historical factors such as colonial rule and apartheid, people’s perceptions of the police are also affected by their race, class, gender, and geographic location. Although these factors’ can be considered to have an individual effect on perceptions, it is through a complex understanding of how they relate to one another that a true understanding of a person’s perception can be reached. The inspiration for this study stemmed from these concepts …

From Recyclers To Risk-Takers: The Social, Economic And Political Challenges Of Selling Second-Hand Clothes In Kenya, Hailey Chalhoub

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Informal sectors across the world are gaining popularity for their prominent roles in development. They provide employment for those who have been excluded from mainstream economies and they make everyday goods and services accessible and affordable for all people. In Kenya the second-hand clothing trade has become an increasingly important industry within the informal sector as it provides affordable clothes to Kenyans of all socio-economic classes. Kenya has become East Africa’s hub for importing second-hand clothes, commonly referred to as mitumba and this trade depends on second-hand clothes that are donated in Western countries and collected and packaged by textile …

Death Squads And Diplomacy: An Investigation Of British Attitudes Towards Sectarian Assassinations In The 1970’S, Hannah Nelson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I conducted my research for this paper during a three-­‐week internship at the Pat Finucane Center in Derry. I gathered evidence from a series of declassified British government documents provided to me by the center. I focus my study on the British government’s attitude towards sectarian assassinations, particularly committed by loyalist paramilitaries, in the first part of the 1970’s. I examine the issues of responding to international pressure, framing the problem, evaluating security force effectiveness, and screening strategies. I find that in the public sphere, the British government hid information to downplay the severity of loyalist-­‐led murder campaigns and instigated …

Investigating The Fight Against The Crime Of Human Trafficking In Argentina: The Ratt And Its Capacities As An Ngo Network - Indagando En La Lucha Contra El Delito De La Trata De Personas En La Argentina: La Ratt Y Sus Capacidades Como Una Red De Ongs, Avery Corinne Kelly

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this independent study project, I take a look at the Argentine social movement against human trafficking, analyzing one particular organization, the RATT Argentina (National Network Against Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents[1]) I analyze the structural and logistical characteristics of the RATT as a social actor using research on its functionality as a network. The RATT is an organization comprised of different regional nodes, partner NGOs, affiliate government branches, and individual members; thus, my project relates the organizational structure of the RATT to its agenda and capacities, looking at how its actions are …

A Necessary Effort: The Construction Of A Binational Immigration Policy For Nicaraguan Immigrants In Costa Rica, Irma Castañeda

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although the experiences of Nicaraguan immigrants to Costa Rica have been well-studied, the investigation of this topic through the lens of the construction of public policies is missing. Through the testimonies of Nicaraguans that emigrated or still live and work in Costa Rica, I learned that immigrants, especially those that are undocumented, are vulnerable to the violation of their rights, for example, through the lack of access to public services or mistreatment by their bosses. Because of these violations, it is necessary to examine the topic of the immigration policies of both countries because they influence the treatment and integration …

“Yo Apoyo Al Tipnis ¡Y Qué!”: El Surgimiento De Apoyo Urbano Para La Viii Marcha Indígena En Defensa Del Tipnis, Jeanne Stuart

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Después de la autorización por el Presidente Evo Morales de la construcción de una carretera que atravesaría el Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro-Sécure (TIPNIS), la VIII Marcha Indígena en Defensa del Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro-Sécure (TIPNIS) por la Vida, Dignidad, y los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas caminó 600 kilómetros por sesenta y seis días en oposición a la construcción de la carretera y a la falta de una consulta previa con las comunidades que viven allí. La Octava Marcha inspiró un apoyo urbano y una movilización social sin precedentes, a través de una amplia variedad de …

Actores Secundarios En El Movimiento Estudiantil Chileno En 2011 Y 2012: Un Análisis Comparativo De La Asamblea Coordinadora De Estudiantes Secundarios Y La Coordinadora Nacional De Estudiantes Secundarios., Carly Brook

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Chilean student movement, intermittently present in Chile since the beginning of the 20th Through the conduction of personal interviews, utilization of student proposals for a new system of education, occupation of the concepts of social movements of Alain Touraine and concepts of student movements of Manuel Garretón, revision of current news sources, and participant observation, this investigation concludes the dynamic between the ACES and the CONES to be an antagonistic one characteristic of two social actors in competition over control of the definition of the same social resource, a new education system for Chile. It then identifies this antagonism …

Drug Sentencing Policy Discourse Of Fortaleza, Nick Sundback

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Drug sentencing is a pressing issue in Brazil. With the context of high and increasing rates of crime and drug use, overcrowded prisons, and high rates of recidivism both in terms of prison and drug addiction, attitudes of individuals towards drug sentencing policy are worthy of observation and examination.

The objective of this monograph is to examine discourse by informants, five individuals who interact with sections of society most affected by drug sentencing, namely drug users. This monograph will consider pluralistic observations on, and evaluations of, drug sentencing practices, implementation of drug sentencing, an overview of the broader debate over …

Changing Paradigms: Community Policing In Calabar, Isael Gonzalez Goodman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

On April 27, 2011 the first community base of Salavador was installed in the neighborhood of Calabar representing a new model of policing focusing more on prevention rather than repression. Before the arrival of the base, Calabar was a community where many feared to enter. Constant shootings between rival gangs and sporadic police invasions made it a dangerous places to live in. Since the implantation of the base a new era for the community has begun and people can now walk up and down the streets of their neighborhood freely without fear of being struck by stray bullets. Additionally, the …

The Management Of Residential Solid Waste In Mombasa, Kenya, Yen Joe Tan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Residential solid waste management refers to the managing of unwanted materials discarded by households so that these materials are either properly disposed of or reprocessed to reenter the production material stream. This issue is usually the responsibility of the municipal council; however in Kenya just like many other developing countries, this critical issue is often mismanaged, causing environmental pollution and exposing residents to health risks. Through one month of full-time archival research and field work, this study presents the current state of residential solid waste management in Mombasa, examines the roles played by various stakeholders involved in this area through …

La Opinión Pública De La Leche Del Programa Nacional De Alimentación Complementaria En Chile, Jennifer Rosenthal

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Research question: What is the public opinion of the free milk distributed by the Chilean Supplementary Feeding Program?

Objectives: The general objective is to reveal the public opinion of the milk distribution program in order to propose improvements. The specific objectives are to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the program, to become familiar with the perceptions of the milk according to various socioeconomic groups, and to investigate the level of awareness in order to propose strategies for development and education if necessary. Ultimately, this investigation identifies improvements to the program to satisfy the various needs of health …

Transcending Boundaries: Moroccan Political Thought As A Transnational Platform, And Communities In The Realm Of Activism, Leah Siegel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research concerns how individual protestors of the February 20th Movement relate to the rest of the Arab Spring and their own society. I conducted several interviews during November 2012 with participants of the movement currently living in Rabat, each one lasting between 30 minutes to two hours. I initially intended this study to focus on the movement’s relations to the rest of the Arab Spring, but found in my interviews that this question is much more tangential than the question of how participants of the movement relate to their own society. What I discovered was that while the events …

The Israeli Defense Forces In The 21st Century: Humanitarian Complier Or Human Rights Violators? An Assessment Of Ihl Compliance In The Second Lebanon War And Operation Cast Lead, Skyler Scoggan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My reasons behind writing this paper are very personal and its conclusion will have a direct impact on my future. I am Jewish by blood and have always have had a strong connection with the tradition even though I do not consider myself religious. I have respected more so the traditions and culture that have come from the faith of my mother. The fact that my grandfather, great grandfather, and the dozen more before him, carried on these same rituals that I carry out on Shabbat or on the high holidays, is beyond the realm of being special. Many cannot …

Assessment Of Migrant Health And Health Disparities Between Immigrants And Swiss Nationals Living In Switzerland, Gabriela Mujica-Martorell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Switzerland is one of the most diverse nations within the OECD and boasts one of the highest net migration rates; it also has one of the highest rated health care systems in the world. Nevertheless, it has been shown that health disparities exist between the Swiss migrant and Swiss national populations: migrants are especially more prone to overweight/obesity, dental health problems, various forms of physical pain, and psychological distress. The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate to what extent certain health conditions are a problem to the immigrant and Swiss national populations. The study also will explore some of …

"The Need For Nature: Exploring Youth Leadership Development Through Outdoor Activities", Margaret A. Dudley

Capstone Collection

Youth are increasingly spending more time indoors. A young person spends hours in front of different screens, tuned out to their natural surroundings. When numerous studies have linked spending time outdoors to physical, mental, and emotional health, this increase in indoor time is disturbing. Youth living in apartment complexes in the Western Suburbs of Minneapolis do not have a lot of natural outdoor space close to their homes or transportation to parks, to enrich creativity and promote independence. This paper explores what has been called, the nature-deficit disorder, among youth today, and how one organization, the CONECT (Community Organizations Networking …