Politics and Social Change Commons^™

Exploring The Contribution Of Transformational Leadership In Non-Formal Peace Education Initiatives In Sri Lanka, Janith Prabashwara Perera

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

The transformative power of Peace Education cannot be undermined in the volatile era in which we live. Through cultivating knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values, Peace Education aims to shift the mindsets and behaviours of individuals and groups away from violence toward peace. In recent times, many youth have stepped up to lead Peace Education programmes, particularly targeting youth in their local communities. Their leadership often aligns with the 'Transformational Leadership' model, which fosters change in followers and society.

This research examines youth leaders in Non-Formal Peace Education in Post-War Sri Lanka, focusing on their adoption of the Transformational Leadership Model …

How To Become A Soldier In The Black Liberation Army: Sixteen Tomes, Tony Gaskew

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

From 1970 to 1983, it is estimated that the Black Liberation Army (BLA), by way of armed resistance in the name of revolutionary justice, was responsible for expropriating the lives of dozens of police officers across the United States of America. Yes, as unbelievable, and as extra-terrestrial as it might sound today, there was a very brief period in U.S. history when there were consequences for indiscriminate acts of police violence against the Black community. However, in the fields of conflict resolution and peace studies, the BLA is invisible. As a Black man who was born and raised in the …

The Police State Legacy, Security Sector Governance And Reform (Ssg&R) Within A P/Cve* Framing In Tunisia: Local Ownership At A Critical Juncture, Fatma Jabbari

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Applied Conflict Management: A Living Legacy Text, Landon E. Hancock, Ashley E. Nickels, Molly Merryman, Amanda D. Clark, Camille Tinnin

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

TITLE: Navigating Peace - Transforming Conflict: An Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies

CONVENERS: Landon Hancock, Kent State University; Ashley E. Nickels, Kent State University

ABSTRACT:

The proposed conference panel aims to showcase the development and practical application of the interdisciplinary fields of Peace and Conflict Studies (PCS) and Conflict Resolution (CR) through the lens of our forthcoming textbook, "Navigating Peace - Transforming Conflict: An Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies." This comprehensive textbook, authored by a diverse group of scholars and practitioners, offers an in-depth examination of the historical evolution, theoretical underpinnings, practical methodologies, and contemporary challenges within the …

The Role Of U.S. Leadership In Resolving Indo-Pak Ensuring Rivalry, Abdul Sadiq Khan

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

The partition of British India in 1947 and the subsequent events caused a great deal of mutual mistrust that has persisted in the bilateral ties between Pakistan and India for seven decades. Post-Partition India inherited the state infrastructure of the British. Pakistan, on the other hand, has to build its state apparatus from the ground up. Indian leadership was certain that the nascent state of Pakistan would not survive and eventually reunify with India. The two countries are marked by the history of wars like in 1948, 1965, and 1999 over Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan and India appear to be …

A Study Of The Intra-Government Conflictual Approach In The Management Of The Herdsmen-Farmers Conflict-Induced Internal Displacement In Benue State, Nigeria, Rita Iorbo

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

Abstract

The management of the herdsmen-farmers conflict-induced internal displacement in Benue State, Nigeria was characterized by the conflictual approach of the Benue State government and disagreement over displacement data by humanitarian agencies. The study explored the inter-connected relationship among stakeholders within the humanitarian eco-system and its effects on protection measures and durable solutions for the conflict-induced displacement crisis. The qualitative study was conducted among twenty-three adult females and males comprising internally displaced persons (IDPs), and humanitarian workers in the government and non-governmental humanitarian sectors. The study findings show that though the herdsmen-farmers conflict accounts for mass population displacement, loss of …

The United States Of America V. Darren Seals, Tony Gaskew

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

The United States of America has an insatiable appetite for the corpses of Black men. Although only a silent whisper in the field of conflict resolution, Black men and boys face unprecedented levels of state-sponsored direct, structural, and metaphysical violence. Empirical evidence regarding disparities within the nuanced constructs of police killings, stop-and-frisk searches, educational attainment, unemployment, mortality rates, mass incarceration, and all forms of covert counterinsurgency (COIN) operations shows that Black men are without question, enemies of the state and what Leonard Harris calls the ultimate “necro-being.” You see, on September 6, 2016, 29-year-old Black male anti-police activist Darren Seals …

Suburbanization As A Post-Industrial Essentiality: Revisiting Sweden's Miljonprogrammet, Colin Wood

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Definitively speaking, suburbanization does not equate to post-industrialism in the same limelight as would urbanization and industrialism. However, anomalous cases, such as the one being discussed in this paper, tangentially interlink on a socioeconomic basis. In 1965, Sweden began construction of the Miljonprogrammet (Million Programme), where over the next ten years, over one million domiciles were built in a suburban setting leading to a mass diaspora of ‘slum living’ Swedish industrial workers. The nation’s renowned welfare state, built on a collaborative system between public and private sectors as well as federal and municipal actors, overlooked housing in its social …

From Cypherpunks To Decentralized Finance: How Crypto-Anarchy Is Redefining Legal And Economic Systems, Alesia Zhuk

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This article explores the evolution of crypto-anarchy, tracing its origins from the cypherpunk movement to the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) and its transformative effects on legal and economic systems. Central to crypto-anarchy is the belief in individual empowerment through privacy, financial autonomy, and decentralization, which allows users to bypass traditional intermediaries like banks. While these technologies offer increased freedom and financial inclusion, they also introduce significant risks such as money laundering, tax evasion, and the facilitation of illegal activities, posing challenges to current regulatory frameworks. The article examines the socio-economic implications of decentralization, including both the democratization of finance …

Navigating The Academic Terrain: Examining The Challenges And Success Factors Of Student Veterans In Higher Education Institutions, Katherine Reyes, Corey Idleburg

Education Division Scholarship

This study investigates the academic experiences of student veterans, addressing specific challenges they face in higher education. Using Schlossberg’s adult transition theory, it explores the effects of invisible barriers, enrollment trends, and institutional factors on veteran student success, leveraging the VA’s GI Bill Comparison tool to examine public versus private school support. Findings underscore the need for targeted resources, faculty training, and institutional awareness to foster a supportive and inclusive environment that enhances veteran students' academic success and sense of belonging.

Help-Seeking For Problematic Alcohol Use: Stigma, Shame, & Guilt, Olivia G. Chapell

2025 Honors Symposium

Stigmatization is a prevalent barrier to help-seeking behaviors in problematic alcohol users, especially among college-aged students. By using a cross-sectional electronic survey method, the relationship between personal or immediate family experience with substance-related treatment and perceptions of stigmatization was assessed.

Living Networks: Reimagining Social Capital Beyond Institutions, Meghna Pamula

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the decline of social capital in the United States and explores how community connection can be rebuilt outside of traditional government institutions. Motivated by the question of whether social capital can be rebuilt within bureaucratic structures, the research evaluates the role of alternative, agile models such as local volunteer organizations, mutual aid networks, third spaces, and NGOs. Using a comparative case study approach and qualitative analysis, I examine initiatives across different cultures that foster social trust and connection beyond the limitations of formal systems. The findings illustrate that adaptive models of social capital that are not based …

I Love You, But I’Ve Got To Cancel You: Psychological Determinants And Consequences Of Cancel Culture Participation, Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Daniel H. Spitz

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study explores how individuals react to celebrities who take a political stance that contradicts and threatens their social identity. An online experiment examines these questions in the context of the Israeli war against Hamas in the wake of the October 7 terror attack. Israeli Jewish participants who were led to believe that a beloved celebrity fully embraced the Palestinian’s narrative and condemned Israel experienced more negative and less positive emotions and had a greater intention to cancel the celebrity. However, writing a comment or a social media post (particularly if the comment bashed the celebrity) partially buffered these emotional …

Essays On Public And Nonprofit Financial Management In Times Of Crisis, Junoh Jeon

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This dissertation comprises three essays that examine critical aspects of public and nonprofit financial management, focusing on interorganizational relationships, local government influence, and financial reserve management in times of crisis.

The first essay examines how interorganizational relationships, specifically nonprofit organizations’ board interlocks, relate to their financial distress, depending on the temporal and spatial contexts. Organization-level fixed-effects regression analysis with Kentucky nonprofits from 2018 to 2022 shows that nonprofits with board interlocks in urban areas were less likely to experience financial distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. I suggest that board interlock acts as an adaptive buffering tool that helps manage resource …

The Paradox Of Survival: Gendered Food Insecurity, Labor Inequalities, And Coping Strategies During The 2023/4 Drought In Eastern Ethiopia, Meron E. Lemma

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

In drought-prone regions of Eastern Ethiopia, recurring droughts profoundly reshape everyday life in ways that deepen existing gendered inequalities. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Fedis district, including semi-structured interviews with women, project implementers, and government officials, as well as group discussions with community members, this study explores how women experience, navigate, and resist the gendered impacts of drought. By attending to the sociopolitical dynamics of drought and the development interventions that accompany it, I analyze how these forces restructure labor, land, food systems, and authority in ways that reproduce and exacerbate existing inequalities. Women’s coping strategies, ranging from begging and …

Political Cults On College Campuses: How Universities Designed To Challenge Totalitarian Thinking May Now Enable It, Ellie Lerner

CMC Senior Theses

Cults are typically associated with fringe religious or spiritual movements rather than political causes. Yet as American politics increasingly supplants religion as a central source of identity and belonging, our political culture has taken on more cult-like characteristics. This thesis develops a framework for identifying political cults by synthesizing scholarly work on ideological totalism, psychological manipulation, and group dynamics. It then applies this framework to assess the rise of anti-Israel protests on U.S. college campuses in the wake of the October 7th terrorist attack. While this thesis finds that this movement should not be classified as a political cult outright, …

Scaling Social Impact Bonds In The United States: Barriers, Incentives, And Policy Solutions, Angelique M. Rivanis

CMC Senior Theses

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are a form of outcomes-based financing that fund social programs by shifting financial risk from the government to private investors. While SIBs have gained international traction, their long-term viability in the United States depends on structural reforms. This thesis examines two completed U.S. SIB projects, Rikers Island in New York and the Just-in-Reach project in Los Angeles, through an analysis of their design, implementation, and outcomes. While both projects focus on criminal justice, they provide context about the scalability of SIBs across multiple social policy areas.The three primary constraints are high transaction costs, limited investor interest, …

Transnational Legal Violence: Undocumented Women V. U.S. Immigration Law, Luis A. Mendoza

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how undocumented women, particularly Latinas, experience "transnational legal violence" within the U.S. immigration system. Transnational legal violence extends the framework of legal violence by identifying how immigration policies weaponize absence and distance across national boundaries, forcing women to choose between physical safety and legal recognition. The thesis is guided by a central question: What immigration system are migrant women, specifically Latinas, responding to?

The analysis rooted in the intersections of gender and citizenship reveals how immigration law remains rooted in coverture traditions that historically rendered immigrant women dependent on male U.S. citizens. For these women, deportation presents …

The Black Panther Party: From Militancy To Social Activism, De'andre Brown Jr.

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

This research project examines the ways in which the Black Panther Party (BPP) was negatively portrayed by the media and targeted by the government from the moment of the organization's inception in 1966. The BPP’s shift in rhetoric style from militancy to social activism is emphasized by examining the organization’s “survival” programs, such as the Free Breakfast Programs, Free Health Clinics, and Education Programs, and their impact on black communities around the country. Past scholarly opinions about the BPP were driven by a fear from white America toward the organization’s aggressive style of protest and social activism. The government looked …

Healing Communities With Police Divestment: Seeking Abolition Through Transformative Reform And Community-Government Collaboration, Jessica E. Gillson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Concerns about the efficacy and sustainability of the U.S. carceral system have persisted throughout the country’s history, recently fueling renewed activism and bipartisan calls for reform. However, proposed solutions remain divisive. This thesis first defines the current status of our prison systems, then explores collaborative alternatives to incarceration and policing that support communities and break cycles of incarceration.

Focusing on partnerships among local governments, community organizations, justice-involved individuals, and law enforcement, this study examines holistic approaches to crime prevention, reentry, and reintegration. Using an interdisciplinary framework incorporating restorative justice, community resilience, and systems theory, it investigates how community-based strategies can …

Echo Chambers On The Left, Echo Chambers On The Right: How Socioideological Identity Emotion Shape Social Interaction Behavior On Social Media, Dean Carl Jackson

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation investigates how echo chambers emerge on social media by shifting the lens from aggregate patterns of information exposure to moment-by-moment, individual level interaction decisions between peers. I theorize that selective exposure online is not only about what content people consume or avoid, but also about selective social exposure—accepting, rejecting, or sharing with the sources of that content—guided by sociopolitical identity, ideological distance (ID), and discrete emotions. To test this, I employ two survey experiments using real tweets varying in ideological extremity and measure user’s likelihood to Block, Follow, Retweet, or reply, alongside self-reported emotional reactions and ID between …

The Method Is The Message: Movement Law And The Social Change Commons, Raymond H. Brescia

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Legal scholars have long sought to understand the relationship between social movements and the law. A new group of such scholars has argued that to better understand this relationship, and to advance social change that is effective, sustainable, equitable, and just, they must engage in dialogue with such movements to generate ideas that will catalyze that change. For those interested in generating ideas that can spark meaningful and lasting social change, such developments in legal scholarship represent an exciting evolution in the relationship between legal scholarship, legal scholars, and social movements: a relationship that appears to be growing stronger, deeper, …

The Ascendance Of Influencers: Saints Of Capitalism In The Digital Age, Riley R. Hourihan

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This thesis examines the rise of social media influencers as modern-day saints within the cultural and economic framework of late capitalism. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship from religious studies, media theory, and cultural criticism, it argues that influencer culture does not replace religion but retools its structures—ritual, authority, devotion, and community—for the digital age. Through detailed case studies ranging from Hailey Bieber and Taylor Swift to Ballerina Farm and MrBeast, the paper explores how influencers shape identity, mediate ethics, and mobilize affect through algorithmic rituals and parasocial relationships. Influencers perform a form of digital sanctity that parallels traditional hagiography, guiding followers …

From War To Walls: U.S. Intervention And The Rise Of Carceral Society In El Salvador, Xochitl Granados

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the historical and contemporary impact of US foreign policy on El Salvador’s security landscape. El Salvador’s gang crisis, largely driven by the deportation of gang members from the US in the 1990s, is rooted in a complex history shaped by US intervention during the Salvadoran civil war, which intensified political, social, and economic inequalities. These inequalities, along with the rise of international gangs such as La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street, have contributed to El Salvador’s ongoing security challenges. This thesis demonstrates how US involvement in the Salvadoran civil war indirectly fueled the growth of gang …

Addressing Economic Instability And Workforce Turnover In Early Childhood Education: The Role Of Stipends, Wage Supplements, And Professional Development, Lucinda J. Leffler

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

Child care workers are vital to early childhood education, yet they face persistent economic instability, low wages, and high turnover rates. To address these challenges, states and policymakers have implemented stipends, wage supplements, and professional development programs aimed at improving financial security, job satisfaction, and workforce retention. This literature review examines the effectiveness of these initiatives across the United States, drawing on theoretical frameworks such as Vroom’s Expectancy Theory and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory to contextualize their impact. Research indicates that financial incentives significantly reduce turnover, while professional development fosters job satisfaction and career advancement. However, sustainability concerns remain, particularly with …

A Woman’S World Through The Lens Of Socialized Politics: How Accurate Knowledge Politically And Socially Empowers A Woman’S Autonomy, Claire G. Herzog

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Women have dealt with being perceived as inferior to men, defective, and in need of control. My research draws a connection between the ways societal beliefs, judicial action and political action interact with each other to reinforce and reproduce these limiting beliefs about women. The interaction between these institutions result in underlying policies that target women's rights, silencing their voices and sense of independence, all while aiming to control the female body completely. Despite the perception that modern society has moved away from the sexist beliefs that had been created and ingrained into society centuries ago, we are left with …

Urban Isolation In The Digital Age- Examining The Sociological Impact Of The Digital Divide On Civic Life In U.S. Cities, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

The digital divide remains a persistent barrier to civic participation and social inclusion in urban America, particularly in historically underserved communities. This mixed-methods study investigates how digital lack of access affects civic engagement, social capital, and community cohesion in U.S. cities, with a focus on Chicago’s South Side, Harlem New York, St. Louis, and Orlando. Drawing on quantitative data from recent surveys and qualitative insights from peer-reviewed literature, the research applies four sociological frameworks, Urban Sociology, Social Capital Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Symbolic Interactionism. These were used to examine the structural and interpretive aspects of digital isolation. Findings reveal …

Existing In The Context: A Conjunctural Analysis Of Kamala Harris Memes, Amaya Mcneal

Theses and Dissertations

Political memes have become a common way for people to express their political views online, helping politics reach young adults who weren’t previously interested. Consequently, politicians have begun sharing and creating memes themselves. The memeification of American politics has diminished debate about ideas, ideals, issues, and people’s vital interests, debasing voters by treating them not as citizens but as passive “consumers” and “spectators” of mediated politics. This paper helps make sense of this crisis, focusing on the example of former Vice President Kamala Harris. Vice President Kamala Harris' memeified presidential campaign during the 2024 U.S. election targeted voters through a …

Reply Stop To Stop, Molly A. M. Garrett

Theses and Dissertations

Over the course of 8 years working in progressive political strategy, 2015–2023, I became increasingly critical of the systems, formulas and tools we were using to communicate with voters. Reply STOP to Stop is documentation of my time at graduate school, of wrestling with ideas of political design, language, communication and distribution. I analyzed my past work — all the texts, emails, social media posts, print ads, web banners, videos and other miscellaneous scripted content — and wondered if we would all be better off without it. Would elections be fairer, would there be less fake news, more community building? …

Tate Speech: Radicalizing Rhetoric And Multi-Level Marketing Recruitment Strategies In The Manosphere, Carey J. Priebe

Theses and Dissertations

My study aims to uncover the discursive elements behind the gendered recruitment strategies that influencers in the manosphere use to pipeline men and boys into their multi-level marketing (MLM) companies. In the manosphere, male supremacy is presented as desirable and subversive, and MLMs take advantage of emotional and economic instability. My study examines the Twitter (X) account of the popular manosphere influencer Andrew Tate as I trace his rhetoric along a three-pronged gendered recruitment framework, a framework originally developed around women selling essential oils online and funneling their followers into radical alt-right politics. What are the similarities and differences in …