International Relations Commons^™

From Neoliberalism To Socialism: Reimagining Socialism In Africa, Kiiru Gichuru

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract. For many scholars, pundits, policy makers, and citizens alike, Africa’s persistent maldevelopment has continued to defy the usual International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and foreign aid prescriptions that are, at times, peddled as silver bullets to the African conundrum. Beginning in the late 1970s, loans from the IMF and World Bank required African governments to implement certain conditions that were supposed to address public sector mismanagement, illiberal trade policies, low foreign investment, and state development. These austerity measures were designed to usher in an era of financial growth that would enable Africa to join the ranks of developed …

Emergent Women's Global Political Leadership: Progress Despite Constraints, Aoife Meehan

Dissertations and Theses

“Emergent Women’s Global Political Leadership: Progress Despite Constraints” seeks to trace why and how female political leaders emerge at the global level. Evidence points to certain cultural factors, often expressed by laws, constraining or supporting women as they seek political advancement. Data shows women leaders are emerging more and more, though slowly, as political leaders around the world. Reviewing women’s participation and representation regionally and nationally in parliaments, as ministers, and as heads of governments and states confirms that women can and do emerge as political leaders. Finally, learning about and examining women leaders themselves, their style and substance, proves …

Political Representation For Indigenous Peoples In The Andes, Jessica Yepez

Dissertations and Theses

For years, there has been a lack of representation for indigenous peoples in communities, and most importantly in parliament. This is a very common trait in the South American Andes, which houses the largest number of indigenous groups in the continent. This thesis focuses on Ecuador and Bolivia due to their indigenous population and their history, or lack thereof, with indigenous people in parliament. For my hypothesis, I argue that parliamentary representation of indigenous peoples, can help ensure that their rights are protected, and their unique interests are heard and translated into relevant policies, while at the same time preventing …

Counterterrorism: The G5 Response Efforts To Combat Terrorism In The Sahel Region, Ndeye Fatou Ndiaye

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

Africa’s Sahel suffers from multidimensional challenges that require robust solutions to address the issues. The regional crisis is aggravated by multiple factors that include climate risks, poverty, unemployment, water shortages, weak governance, lack of rule of law, food security to cite a few. Thus, a combination of factors greatly contribute to the Sahel crisis, resulting in severe security threats. This study attempts to analyze the role of the G5 Sahel states and the international community in counter-terrorism efforts. However, the region has emerged as the new battleground for terrorism along with a growing threat of violent extremism and other …

The Battle For The Battle Of Adwa: Collective Identity And Nation-Building, Joseph A. Steward

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

On March 1^st, 1896, an Ethiopian army lead by Emperor Menelik II dealt a shocking defeat to the invading Italian forces in the Battle of Adwa. In victory, Menelik was able to exert his authority over a vast territory which included both the historical, ancient kingdoms of the northern and central parts of Ethiopia, and also the vast, resource-rich territories in the west and south which he had earlier conquered. The egalitarian nature of the victory united the various peoples of Ethiopia against a common enemy, giving Menelik the opportunity to create a new Ethiopian nation.

The …

Children’S Development And Crisis: Comparing Developmental Best Practices Against Aid Program Curricula, Martha Baker

CMC Senior Theses

Using the monitoring, evaluation and learning for adaptive management model (MEL4AM), this paper examines how international organizations translate productive criteria for early childhood development (ECD) into emergency response programming for children. Early childhood is a crucial developmental time in individual’s lives and adverse experiences undermine, among other things, language development, self-regulatory capabilities, and child-caregiver interactions. International aid organizations are operationalizing the research on ECD best practices into site-level programming. This thesis examines whether the developmental needs of these children in crisis are being met through these efforts and offers two in-depth case studies: Sesame Workshop’s intervention for Syrian refugee children …

The Erosion Of Press Freedom: An Examination Of Hong Kong’S Book Publishing And Journalism Industries Post-Handover, Salonee Goel

CMC Senior Theses

Hong Kong was once touted for the openness of its press and its vibrant independent publishing scene. Now, seemingly reputable news organizations, such as the South China Morning Post, are undergoing editorial shifts and engaging in self-censorship while independent book publishers are being replaced by Chinese state-owned companies. These changes are a result of years of direct and indirect pressure on these industries by the Chinese government, which began even before the 1997 handover. In the past decade, these tactics have become more overt and their effects on the city’s news organizations and book publishers are increasingly visible. Through interviews …

Industrial Policy For Regional Development In Lithuania, Guoda Terleckaite

CMC Senior Theses

Lithuania is internationally recognized as a high-income developed country, but the high standard of living is limited only to a small minority of citizens. While the capital is emerging as a financial center and a hub for information technology, cities in the Western and Central parts of Lithuania are rapidly declining. Formerly industrial regions, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Alytus, Utena, Tauragė, Telšiai and Marijampolė, now suffer from massive emigration, brain drain, high unemployment rates, and an increased risk of poverty and social exclusion among residents. Unlike larger cities, poorer counties have not been magnets for foreign direct investment and have benefited little …

Desperate For Democracy: A Comparison Between Hong Kong’S 2014 Umbrella Movement And 2019 Antielab Protests, Annette Wong

CMC Senior Theses

Within the last five years, the special administrative region of Hong Kong found itself embroiled in two major anti-government protests that brought the entire city to a standstill. While both the 2014 Umbrella Movement and the 2019 AntiELAB Protests were similar in pro-democracy rhetoric and substantive collective action, the 2019 protests devolved into a much more violent and radical movement than that of 2014. This study investigates the factors that contributed to the differing protest cultures of the Umbrella Movement and the AntiELAB Protests. This study first explores the language of the Joint Declaration and Basic Law, and investigates British …

Obama, Trump, And Xi: Three South China Sea Strategies In The U.S.-China Battle For Global Hegemony, Adam Singer

CMC Senior Theses

The South China Sea is one of the world's largest regions of untapped resources and fisheries. Moreover, one-third of all global trade flows through its waters. Due to its rapid ascension to great power status, China has been able to aggressively expand into the region and both build new islands and lay claim to already existing ones. With no other countries capable of or willing to push back against Beijing, the United States stepped in.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the strategies undertaken by the Obama administration and the Trump administration in the face of China’s expansion …

Hong Kong Identity On The Rise: Understanding The Role Of Subnational Identity In The 2019-2020 Hong Kong Protests, Gemma Sykes

CMC Senior Theses

In 2019, Hong Kong erupted in mass protests demonstrating the city’s desire to be recognized as having a distinct peripheral identity with separate political expectations. What began as demonstrations against the proposed Extradition Bill quickly became a mass display of the differences between Hong Kong’s peripheral nationalism and the national Chinese identity. Since 2008, the subnational ‘Hongkonger’ identity has seen a dramatic rise in self-identification polls from only 18 percent in 2008 to 52.9 percent in 2019. Moreover, in 2019, 92.5 percent of 18 to 29 year olds in Hong Kong identified solely with the ‘Hongkonger’ identity. This thesis seeks …

Buying Influence? An Analysis Of The Political And Economic Impacts Of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment In The European Union, Ethan Kable

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the economic and political impacts of the recent influx of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) into the European Union (EU). I consider the ways in which EU perceptions of Chinese OFDI have evolved over the course of the past decade as well as what attempts the EU has made at an institutional level to address challenges posed by Chinese investment. I contend that despite institutional efforts to respond to these perceived challenges – namely losing a technological edge, security concerns, and unreciprocated market access – Chinese OFDI in the EU has had a divisive effect. Not …

Were The French Government’S Brexit-Related Worries Prior To The 2016 Referendum Overstated?, Claudia Michelle Chandra

CMC Senior Theses

The prospect of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union during the 2016 Brexit referendum was deeply troubling to French officials. As a historic leader of the European integration project, the French government and media worried that Brexit would embolden Eurosceptics in France. This threatened to undermine France’s identity as a pro-European nation. Also, due to France’s position as one of the UK’s main trading partners, French citizens and businesses feared that the end of freedom of movement between these countries would create burdensome legal and economic consequences. Nevertheless, more than three years have passed since the Brexit referendum and …

Legal Frameworks For Protecting Cultural Heritage In Conflict Zones, Marcie M. Muscat

Dissertations and Theses

Cultural heritage has always been at risk during times of war. UNESCO first endeavored to address the issue shortly after World War II, in 1954, when it passed the first of three signature conventions to protect against the damage, destruction, and pillage of cultural property in times of armed conflict. Lacunae and other deficiencies in their frameworks, however, rendered these conventions difficult to enforce and largely ineffectual. This study offers an assessment of the strengths and limitations of the UNESCO system of cultural-heritage protection, with a particular focus on the 1954 Hague Convention. It is argued that, by superseding certain …

Integration Of Social Work Practices With Refugees: An Action Research Study, Avril Williams Knox

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States is facing an increasing number of refugees and asylees who resettled and were forced to migrate from their countries of origin. In the United States, social service professionals and social workers of resettlement agencies are responsible for the program enrollment and follow-up with newly arrived refugees. Hence, there is a huge learning curve for these individuals. Although a substantial number of refugees are linked to appropriate resources, many are neglected and are unable to sustain themselves. This action research was based upon family systems theory. Integrative techniques used by social workers were explored. The information was subjective, …

Strategies For Cultural Integration Following Cross-Border Mergers And Acquisitions, Kimihiro Iwao

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) strategies can negatively impact value creation. Global information and communications technology (ICT) company leaders who do not effectively manage M&As risk eventual divestiture of their acquired targets. Guided by Haspeslagh and Jemison’s acquisition integration approach model and Hofstede’s 5 dimensions of national cultural theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that leaders of global ICT companies use to integrate diverse workers following cross-border M&As. The participants were 8 IMs from low context cultures who supervised acquired foreign workers primarily from high context cultures. Data were collected through semistructured …

From Hobbes To Habermas: The Anti-Cultural Turn In Western Political Thought, Ralph Gert Schoellhammer

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

The theme of this dissertation is the anti-cultural turn of Western Political Thought that has emerged out of Enlightenment thinking and was first turned into a comprehensive political idea by Thomas Hobbes.

Beginning with an overview of psychological research into the phenomenon of culture I put forward the argument that human beings are by nature social and individualistic, but that they oscillate between their ability to put group-interests before individual interests and vice versa. Culture is the main mechanism that influences which interest we give priority. This mechanism work through emotional attachments that create intuitions about what is morally right …

Microfinance In Latin America: Poverty Alleviation And The Impact Of Institutional Mimicry, Lindsay Jouben

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Microfinance has become a program of choice in the international development community. The World Bank has promoted microfinance programs under the idea that poverty alleviation can be accomplished by mainly providing credit. [1] As such, these policies are often replicated throughout the developing world. This replication is done through international organizations adopting a standard of best practices for the microfinance field. Best practices consist of a complex set of standard by which all banks must adhere if they receive funding from the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. These best practices, following neoliberal economics, lay out how microfinance should operate …

The State And War On Poverty: British Welfare Development And Its Legacies For Malawi, 1930s-1983, Gift Wasambo Kayira

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation documents the struggles and dilemmas that the Malawian state endured as it attempted to achieve its developmental goals from the 1930s to 1983. It contributes to histories of development by focusing on the interventions both the colonial and postcolonial states made to improve the living standards of African rural communities, the ideas which shaped state programs, and the behavior of the state which such interventions reveal. Scholars typically argue that state policy in Malawi was necessarily destructive and limited the economic progress of the local communities. The state deliberately pursued land, market, and other agricultural policies that constrained …

Role Of Art In International Relations : Analysis Of The Key Operational Patterns On The Example Of French Cultural Cluster, Maria Meshcherskaya

MA Theses

Reflecting on the role of art in the socio-cultural context would be unfair not to notice its unconventional nature of the transformation, definition, and understanding, depending on the time, place, and society, which would start the dispute. Yet, there is still no one answer or guide on how does art work as a singular system, using multiple mediums for translating, spreading, and sharing values from one culture to the another, without destroying origins of the message, but organically adopting it for the new environment. Luckily there is a set of tendencies kept by centuries, analysis of which might bring a …