International Relations Commons^™

Ping Pong Diplomacy: Us - China Supply Chain Relations Today, Camille Wagner

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

“The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.” The masterpiece that is The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien holds many timeless words of wisdom, the one quoted above being a good summary of this paper. This business thesis will tell the story of ping pong diplomacy, globalization, and how this diplomacy can be revived in a modern world where U.S. – China contentions continue to threaten supply chain stability.

Nord Stream 2: The Gas Curtain Of Europe, Sarah Elizabeth Nelson

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The debate over the 1,200 kilometer Nord Stream 2 pipeline, capable of delivering 110 billion cubic meters of liquified natural gas (LNG) under the Baltic Sea directly from Russia to Germany, has received global attention since its declaration of intent in 2015. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is not only significant for the contestation it has created within the European Union but for the divisions it has deepened in the U.S.-German transatlantic alliance. Specifically, many European countries, with an emphasis on Ukraine, and the United States view the pipeline as a Kremlin-instigated operation to exploit Europe’s vulnerability to energy demand …

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 …

Climate Shocks And Violent Conflict Incentives: Evidence From The Indian Sub-Continent, Thomas Campbell

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

How much do climate shocks impact different societal actors’ incentives to commit direct acts of violence? This thesis argues that different climate shocks and their effects introduce incentives for different societal actors to increase and reduce their likelihood of committing direct acts of violence, which is in line with Brzoska’s (2018) claim. The results of this thesis’ analysis support that different climate shocks can lead different societal actors to commit acts of violence.

The International Perception Of The Irish Republican Army And Chechen Insurgency, Henry Forteith

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

This purpose of this project is to examine how the labels used to describe the Irish Republican Army and Chechen insurgency changed after certain acts of violence. This paper begins by describing the history of imperial subjugation of Ireland and Chechnya, as well as examining the similarities between the actions and motivations of the IRA and Chechen insurgency. Then, to study the change in language to describe these groups, two searches were conducted into the New York Times and International Newsstream databases. The first search examined articles about the IRA and Chechen insurgency published between 1998 and 2009, while the …

Why Renegotiation?: Renewal Of The South Korea-Chile Bilateral Free Trade Agreement, Montserrat Bugueno

International Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis project explores the motivations behind the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) renegotiation between Chile and South Korea. Existing studies have examined the reasons and outcomes of creating the initial Chile-South Korea FTA, but they have not focused on renegotiations between the two countries. A few investigations on renegotiations have focused on diversifying their exports and expanding their markets in each other's regions. However, most research lacks further exploration of both countries' market security concerns. By analyzing official government documents and conducting three semi-structured interviews with government officials and experts in the field, I argue that the current protectionist …

Ukraine: Experience Of War, Natalia Ishchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The May issue of OPREE is being published during the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the massive invasion of Putin’s Russian army. The unjust war of aggression launched by Russia in 2014 has been going on for more than eight years. But three months ago, the destructive leader of our neighboring state to the east wished a great victory over Ukraine. This prompted a major slaughter between the two nations."

An Epidemic Of Skepticism: Examining Right-Wing Populist Responses To The Covid-19 Crisis In Germany, Rachel Moline

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role of far-right populist groups in the framing of global health crises. To understand the impact far-right populism has had on the response to health crises, I will be analyzing the case of the Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), or Alternative for Germany, and their response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. I evaluate three distinct time periods in the AfD’s history and determine how the AfD has framed and reframed its crisis narrative in response to the coronavirus compared to previous crises, such as the refugee crisis of 2015. I hypothesize that new crises will lead far-right …

The Carrot Vs. The Stick: A Comparative Analysis Of Secondary Sanctions Vs. Positive Inducements In Gaining European Support For A U.S.-Led Sanction Regime, Andy Gomez

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The United States has a history of imposing its will on other countries via aggressive sanction regimes. In many of those regimes, U.S. policymakers note that support from European partner states is paramount to the regime's success. Over the past 20 years, the U.S. and its European partner state's interests have had relatively aligned, fostering cooperation and implementation of like-minded policies against target states. The end of paralleled interests left policymakers with a conundrum, which stemmed the research question of this study. What circumstances determine whether secondary sanctions or positive inducements are more effective in gaining European support for a …

The Expansion Of Nocs: What Strengthening State-Owned Enterprises Means For Global Energy, Alexander L. Fretz

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The rise of National Oil Companies (NOCs) in the 20th century has been well documented. However, little work has been done with respect to how these entities have evolved in the 21st century. This study aims to measure the changing strength of contemporary NOCs by comparing them to their privatized counterparts. Using this comparative analysis, the study will explain the changing global energy landscape and the potential internecine effects on the international system.

Russia, Europe And Central Asia Energy Security And Pipeline Politics, Mehmet Kınacı

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Energy Security will continue to remain as one of the top security concerns for Europe. Depleting reserves and growing energy demand have increased European dependence on external energy resources. Today, Russia is by far the largest supplier of oil, coal and the natural gas to Europe. Oil and natural gas revenues have played a vital role to rebound the Russian economy and have supported Putin’s ambitions to reestablish Russia as a great power, increasing its influence over the former Soviet space. This complex energy relationship has increasingly been a cause of concern.

The main question this study seeks to answer …

Five Public Concerns Represented By Environmental Groups In The Development Of Regional Free Trade Agreements: A Case Study Of The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (Usmca), Julian Rodriguez

International Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis explores how the public discourse surrounding the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiations affected the formulation of the free trade agreement (FTA). More specifically, the project set out to determine if North American environmental groups successfully had public concerns addressed and codified in the Environment chapter of the USMCA. By analyzing official statements made in press releases by seventeen prominent Environmental groups operating in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the thesis provides an account of the concerns related to liberalized regional trade prior to the USMCA’s ratification in 2020. The analysis of organization statements regarding public health, climate …

The Economic Impact Of U.S. Drone Strikes On Pakistan, Cavika Prashad

Honors College Theses

Drone strikes have a detrimental impact on the region of a nation, especially when the contact is not the targeted threat. When drone strikes are sent out, they result in consequences such as death, infrastructure damage, and consequently, unemployment increases. While proponents of drone strikes say they are precise weapons with little disruption to civilian life, this paper shows that in Pakistan, U.S. drone strikes have had an economic impact, particularly by increasing unemployment. Using an OLS model, the drone data from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and individual survey data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics were used to …

Contextualizing The 2019 “Chile Despertó” Movement: The Impact Of Historical Relational Processes On Mobilization And Repression, Tanya Leon

International Studies (MA) Theses

To expand our theoretical and empirical understanding of mobilization and repression in Latin America, this thesis asks three critical questions. Are economic indicators sufficient predictors of social movement emergence in Latin America? What other factors contribute to large-scale mobilization in Latin America? How do government’s respond to large-scale Latin American social movements? Specifically, when, and why do democratic governments choose to employ repression against social movements? Accordingly, I construct a quantitative model to test the correlation between rise in protest and worsened economic conditions. I apply it to a comprehensive dataset of political events in multiple South American countries throughout …

Enter The Battleverse: China's Metaverse War, Josh Baughman

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.

Barriers To Public Health In Latino American Indigenous Communities, Wilzave Quiles Guzman

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

This paper focuses on barriers to public health in Latino American Indigenous communities. Indigenous people throughout the world are at a public health disadvantage due to a lack of clearly defined practices within the decision-making processes to plan, evaluate, and control finances from governmental and non-governmental entities in charge of managing health services. I argue that political, social, and institutional changes are still needed to achieve health equity in Indigenous communities and that these changes should go beyond implementing a universal health care program. I must recognize improvements made by many Latino American countries like Brazil, which prepared a plan …

Humanitarian Intervention And American Public Opinion: An Analysis To Intervene, Alexia Inge

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

N/A

Economic Predictors Of Democratic Backsliding: A Comparison Of Populist And Non-Populist Leaders, Jacob Winter

Honors Theses

The initial motivation of this research was to develop a better understanding of the primary causes of democratic backsliding, and by extension, how pro-democratic governments, NGOs, and other institutions can most effectively combat democratic backsliding. Previous research has examined the effects of economic conditions (Waldner and Lust 2018) as well as populism (Kyle and Mounk 2018) on a country’s democracy, but to my knowledge, no study has examined whether the effect of economic conditions on a country’s democracy differs between populist and non-populist countries. My research attempts to provide an answer to this question by examining how personal wealth, price …

The Effects Of The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine On Exports To Italy, Stephen Johnson, Ryder Hankins, Nathan Carter

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Italy imported 122,000 tons of soft wheat from Ukraine and 72,000 from Russia. During the current events international food and feed prices have increased by 8 to 22% causing mass shortages around the world. On top of the ethical and moral dilemmas of continuing business with Russia, insurance premiums have jumped 400% for doing business with the invading country.

U.S./Russia Export Relationship, Adam Nishino, Mohammad Saad Bin Shahzad, Yonathan Assefa, Trel Lakindanum

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Russia and the United States have a long history of trading as early as 1913. Over the years, Russia has become a notable player in US imports. By using the United States Census database and the Office of the United States Trade Representative database. In short, our research will discuss the trade relationship between Russia and the United States over the last century, through history and data analytics, and its effects on trade and politics to the rest of the world.