Comparative Politics Commons^™

Making War And Securing Peace: The Viability Of Peace Enforcement As A Mechanism For Promoting And Securing Civil War Termination, Shawn H. Greene

Political Science Honors Projects

Peace enforcement—the threat or use of military force to compel belligerent adherence to a civil war settlement—has become increasingly salient in the past decade. Using a hazards analysis of all civil wars and associated third party interventions between 1945 and 2013 in addition to three structured, focused case studies, I argue that peace enforcement operations that 1) utilize the appropriate typological spoiler management strategy and 2) maintain legitimacy and impartiality through close cooperation with UN peacekeepers, are the most successful at catalyzing civil war termination and securing durable peace. I also provide a theoretical framework through which to study peace …

A Constructivist Approach To Post-Reunification German Military Interventions: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, And Afghanistan, Nicholas Iaquinto

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Scholars and journalists have periodically referred to Germany and its military, the Bundeswehr, as normalizing. The trend, which is defined here as the increasing frequency and intensity of out-of-area military operations, is contested among international relations scholars, and this debate reaches the core of the three main theories outlining drivers of state behavior. This paper analyzes the underlying causation of normalization from these schools of thought by considering the decision-making process leading to Germany’s participation in multilateral military operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.

Including neorealism, neoliberalism, and constructivism, these theories are first divided into rationalist and constructivist classifications. …

State 194: Assessing The Institutional Capacity Of The Palestinian Authority As The Foundation For An Independent State, Amanda Lynna Claypool

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Mahmoud Abbas’s 2011 attempt to obtain Palestinian statehood through the United Nations challenged the status quo “Middle East peace process” by offering an alternative solution to the system of bilateral negotiations that has otherwise been stagnant for much of the last decade. Since Salam Fayyad became prime minister in 2007, the Palestinian Authority has been actively working towards building institutions that would serve as the foundation for the future State of Palestine. International accolades for Fayyad’s initiative garnered far-reaching support to facilitate the state-building program.

In the six years since then, the Palestinian Authority has developed the institutions that are …

Private Soldiers In Africa: A Look At The Effects Of Private Military Contractors And Mercenaries On The Duration Of Civil Wars In Africa From 1960 To 2003, Seth H. Loven

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines the effect of private soldiers, both Mercenaries and Private Military Contractors (PMC), on the duration of civil wars in Africa from 1960 to 2003. Linear regression is used to determine if private soldiers increase or decrease the duration of civil wars. Ultimately it is found they have little to no statistical impact. This is contrary to the expectations of the theoretical literature on private military contractors, some of which expects private soldiers to profit from war and seek to lengthen duration, and some of which expects the use of additional private soldiers to shorten the duration of …

Suicide Attacks In Afghanistan: Why Now?, Ghulam Farooq Mujaddidi

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Why, contrary to their predecessors, did the Taliban resort to use of suicide attacks in the 2000s in Afghanistan? By drawing from terrorist innovation literature and Michael Horowitz’s adoption capacity theory—a theory of diffusion of military innovation—the author argues that suicide attacks in Afghanistan is better understood as an innovation or emulation of a new technique to retaliate in asymmetric warfare when insurgents face arms embargo, military pressure, and have direct links to external terrorist groups. The findings of my in-depth case study of Afghanistan between 1978 and 2010 support the proposition and show that it was an …

Oil Industry, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of the historical and contemporary development of the American oil industry and how it has impacted U.S. natural resources policies in the American west.

Testing Two Explanations Of The Liberal Peace: The Opportunity Cost And Signaling Arguments, Nam Kyu Kim

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Considerable evidence suggests that economic interdependence and integration reduce the likelihood of militarized conflict. However, scholars have devoted remarkably scant attention to testing different explanations of the liberal peace. This article offers an empirical test that can help adjudicate the two main arguments on the liberal peace: the opportunity cost and signaling arguments. Under the incomplete information assumption, I derive different observable implications of the competing arguments regarding how target states respond when challenged. By estimating selection models comprising dispute initiation and reciprocation, I find that, as challengers are more dependent on bilateral trade, targets are less likely to reciprocate …

The Reaction Of Small States To The Advancement Of The People's Republic Of China In The South China Sea, Michael Miller

Honors Theses

This paper will outline the internal and external factors that have spurred the People's Republic of China (PRC) to issue strong rhetoric and naval expansion in the defense of their claims to territory in the South China Sea (SCS). An analysis of the PRC's posturing will provide the contextual background necessary for answering the following research question central to this paper. What strategies have relatively less capable states engaged in the region as a reaction to the advancing capacity of the PRC? The escalation of tensions between the PRC and other states in the region, namely , the Republic of …

The Role Of The Political Entrepreneur In The Context Of Policy Change And Crisis, John Hogan, Sharon Feeney

Conference papers

This paper seeks to investigate the inner mechanics of policy change. It aims to discover how ideas enter the political arena, and how endogenous forces within the policy making environment transform ideas into new policies. The central hypothesis is that in times of crisis, new ideas emanate from a number of change agents, but in order for any of these ideas to enter the institutional environment, one specific agent of change must be present: the political entrepreneur. Without political entrepreneurs ideational change, and subsequent policy change, would not occur. The paper sets out a framework for identifying and explaining the …

On Sen On Comparative Justice, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Against scepticism from thinkers including John Rawls and Thomas Nagel about the appropriateness of justice as the concept through which global ethical concerns should be approached, Amartya Sen argues that the problem lies not with the idea of justice, but with a particular approach to thinking of justice, namely a transcendental approach. In its stead Sen is determined to offer an alternative systematic theory of justice, namely a comparative approach, as a more promising foundation for a theory of ‘global justice.’ But in the end Sen offers no such thing. He does not develop a theory of justice and this …

Justice Across The Hemispheres: The Effect Of The Pinochet Arrest On Domestic Courts In Chile And Spain, Audrey A. Hansen

Honors Theses and Capstones

This study examines whether the 1998 arrest, by order of a Spanish judge, of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet in London for crimes of genocide and terrorism impacted the attitude of Chilean and Spanish courts toward prosecuting their own country’s human rights violations. It argues that after 1998 Chile’s judiciary increased prosecutions against former regime officials, while the Spanish judiciary upheld Spain’s 1977 Amnesty Law and declined to participate in the national discourse on the country’s past human rights violations. This research includes a comparative case study of Chile and Spain, their recent histories, their judiciaries’ attitudes towards prosecution of …

The Grand Paris Express: An Analysis Of Social And Political Trends Towards Mass Transit Planning In The Île-De-France Region, Charlotte M. Leasia

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the Grand Paris Express project currently underway in the Île-de-France. The basis of this project is a series of new and renovated railway lines to connect and span across the entirety of the region. They are being planned with the hopes to improve urbanization for the outlying suburbs. The Île-de-France is the wealthiest region in France, but it has high economic inequality between its departments. One hard hit area is Seine-St-Denis. This is the area I will be focusing primarily on. Department number 93, its urban landscape holds histories of rioting, unemployment, and large immigrant populations. In …

Governability And Accountability In Brazil: Dilemma Of Coalitional Presidentialism, Taeko Hiroi

Selected Works Temporary Series

This article seeks to answer an important puzzle in Brazilian politics: What explains the legislative struggles and defeats by a president who holds a large congressional base? In the post-democratization period, most Brazilian presidents have amassed large congressional bases of support by forming governing coalitions comprised of various legislative parties. Conventional wisdom would indicate that large legislative bases would facilitate presidents to pursue their legislative agenda. However, successive presidents have faced legislative obstruction, gridlock, and defeats in Congress. This article shows how Brazil’s political institutions engender the perpetual need for presidents to create multiparty coalitions to navigate through the system …

Democratic Governance In Mena Countrieschallenges And Aspirations, Amany Khodair, Mahmoud Khalifa

Political Science

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is often regarded as an area that was mostly dominated by authoritarian regimes. These regimes form authoritarian constraints – especially during elections – hindering political development. This usually leads genuine opposition parties and movements to form alliances, in order to make demands for reforms by these authoritarian regimes. This notion is reinforced by the fact that, in the most recent set of elections held in the region prior to revolutions that took place in countries like Tunisia, Egypt & Libya, political parties perceived to be anti-democratic or state run have achieved important …

Policy Brief: Unscr 1325: The Challenges Of Framing Women’S Rights As A Security Matter, Natalie Florea Hudson

Political Science Faculty Publications

While UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 has certainly increased awareness among international actors about women’s and gender issues in armed conflict, opened new spaces for dialogue and partnerships from global to local levels, and even created opportunities for new resources for women’s rights, successes remain limited and notably inconsistent. To understand some of these shortcomings and think creatively about how to move the women, peace and security agenda forward, it is essential to understand the conceptual assumptions underscoring UNSCR 1325.

The Gatekeepers, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Gatekeepers (2013) directed by Dror Moreh.

Resilience And Change In Federal Institutions: The Case Of The German Federal Council, Kathleen A. Thelen, Sebastian Karcher

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

One of the oldest federalist systems, Germany offers itself as a case study for long-term developments in federalism. Drawing on a burgeoning literature on institutional continuity and change we investigate the development of a key institution of German federalism, the Federal Council (Bundesrat) from the foundation of the German Reich until today. Counter to claims that institutional change occurs mainly during “critical junctures,” the Federal Council has shown remarkable resilience: It persisted through World War I and the 1919 revolution and the writing of the centralist Weimar constitution. Dismantled in 1934, it returned in 1949 after years of dictatorship, war, …

Spectacle, Sacrifice And The State: The Legacy Of European Fascism And The Revival Of Martyrdom In The Modern World, Gerald Robert Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rise of political martyrdom in the contemporary world is not a new phenomenon but can be traced back to at least the early Twentieth Century with the rise of European Fascist movements. Both they, and the fascist-like movements of today, share a cluster of characteristics that allow for fruitful comparisons of the ways in which martyrdom spectacles are used to communicate with constituent populations, facilitate a culture of violence, perpetuate their revolutionary zeal and demonstrate the characteristics of the ideal citizen. Examining four major movements; Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, the Palestinian Hamas and the modern Iran, this dissertation argues …

The Curvilinear Effects Of Economic Development On Domestic Terrorism, Charles Boehmer, Mark Daube

Selected Works Temporary Series

This paper investigates the relationship between economic developmentand domestic terrorism. We argue states at intermediate levels of developmentgo through socioeconomic changes that result when traditional economiesare replaced by modern economic relations, which may lead to grievances andsocial mobilizations conducive to terrorism. The effects of economic developmentshould have a curvilinear effect on domestic terrorism. We test our theory usingthe GTD dataset and find support for our theory. We show that states at intermediatelevels of economic development are more prone to domestic terror attacksthan the poorest and richest states. Terror events would appear more likely wherestates fail to provide, or reduce, an …

Debatendo A Política De Imigração Europeia: Perspectivas Para Liberalização Da Imigração De Terceiros A Ue (Debating European Union Immigration: Policy: Prospects For Third Party Immigration Liberalization), Gaspare Genna

Selected Works Temporary Series

This paper assesses the likelihood of developing an European Union level immigration control policy and the liberalization of third party immigration by using hypotheses developed from social identity theory. Through an analysis of Eurobarometer data collected in 2000, I confirm prior work which indicates that support for an EU level policy is more likely if individuals hold an EUropean identity. However intergroup competition (EU citizens vs. third party immigration) will lower the likelihood, even among European identity holders. Also the belief that an EU level policy would liberalize third party immigration also lowers the likelihood of supporting such a policy. …