Political Science Commons^™

All But The Death Penalty: Incomplete Protection For Civilian Internee Mothers, Minju Kwon

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

How did unrecognised gender biases impact the codification of international humanitarian law (IHL)? While recent studies on IHL have highlighted historical lawmaking processes, little research has examined gender biases behind the codification of the “Protection of Women” in the Geneva Conventions and additional protocols. This study examines gender biases and state interests reflected in the codification process by focusing on Article 76§3 of the 1977 Protocol Additional I, which incompletely protects civilian women internees who are pregnant or have dependent children by prohibiting execution but leaving room for pronouncement of the death penalty. Referring to the theory of benevolent sexism, …

Pol 51: Intro To Political Theory Syllabus, Jamie Aroosi

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for Intro to Political Theory following revisions in an OER refresher course

The Monopoly Of Violence In Iraq: The Emergence Of The Islamic Resistance Of Iraq, Mobilization Of The Pmf, And The Future Of State Stability, Alexis Thomas

Pepperdine Policy Review

Iraq's fragile state faces threats from multiple factors including Iranian influence within the Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraq's political system, the decentralized nature of the PMF, and potential violence surrounding critical national elections. Formed during the 2014 ISIS war, the PMF is an umbrella organization consisting of various militias broadly aligned with Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Muqtada al-Sadr, or former Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei. Since October 7, 2023, Iranian-backed PMF militias operating under the Islamic Resistance of Iraq have conducted attacks against Israeli and American targets, threatening to drag Iraq into regional conflict. PMF-affiliated parties achieved considerable success in the 2025 …

American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, And The Pursuit Of A More Perfect Union: An Anthology, Jay Nathan

Journal of Global Awareness

No abstract provided.

Let Freedom Read: Exploring Mississippi’S Defiance Of National Book Banning Trends, Olivia S. Hoover

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Why have book bans have surged so dramatically across the United States in recent years, especially as they have become a defining political project for conservative lawmakers? At the center of this uptick in book bans lies a confusing puzzle: while book bans overwhelmingly occur in Republican-dominated states, Mississippi, despite its conservative political landscape, has seen almost none, even as states like Florida have enacted more than a thousand in a single year. Much of the existing scholarship on book bans focuses on national patterns of them or on the lawmakers and advocacy groups driving these bans, leaving a gap …

Justice On Autopilot: Comparing Predictive Litigation And Data Justice In Bay Area Municipal Governments, Darris M. Thomas

Master's Projects and Capstones

This Capstone project examines how Bay Area municipal governments, specifically the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, San Mateo County, and Santa Clara County, are adopting and governing predictive litigation technologies, and what these practices reveal about the possibilities and limitations of data justice in advancing racial equity, transparency, and public accountability. Drawing on a qualitative, comparative case study methodology analyzing procurement contracts, AI governance policies, California Public Records Act (CPRA) disclosures, and semi-structured interviews gathered across fifteen municipal legal institutions, the research applies an interdisciplinary theoretical framework synthesizing John Rawls’s distributive fairness, Nancy Fraser’s recognition justice, Tom …

La Maquiladora De Sueños Is Where The “American Dream” Ends: The Socio-Cultural Impact Of Hai(T)Ijuanenses In The United States-México Borderlands, Pedro Aleman Perfecto

Master's Theses

Historically, Tijuana has been the destination for migrants who have been left out from the United States, Mexico, and the rest of the world. The city is at the epicenter of globalization where many transit, leave, and arrive. Sometimes considered a “third country” due to its binational and bicultural identity with its sister city, San Diego, California. The growing number of Haitian refugees that arrived in Tijuana in the mid 2010s to seek asylum in the United States overwhelmed the city’s infrastructure and left the Haitian community vulnerable, yet it created new opportunities and reshaped new identities in the region. …

A Stadium In Our Backyard: Community Participation In Stadia Redevelopment Projects, Sofia Zazueta

Master's Theses

The Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain and the Chase Center in San Francisco, California are two stadium redevelopment projects that exemplify the stakeholder dynamics that come into play when developers pitch a multipurpose stadium located a few blocks away from people’s backyards. Urban development patterns must be in constant evolution to meet the needs and demands of the current generations. In cities, stadia redevelopment projects have entered the picture to reimagine the role that these structures once played. The stadium once used for the sole purpose of holding matches has become a venue that now hosts different events such as …

Middle Management Diplomacy: An Examination Of Us Foreign Policy Analysis In Middle-Echelon Diplomatic Professionals, Isaac R. Silvino

Master's Theses

This study analyzes the role which managerial level U.S. military Foreign Area Officers and Foreign Service Officers play in shaping and implementing U.S. foreign policy. By analyzing the individual professional at the middle-echelons of an organizational hierarchy, we make an effort in dispelling ourselves from obscured perceptions of IR centered on character and state idealization driven narratives. Doing this may help bridge the foundational gap between academics and practitioners while shifting towards a paradigm of IR analysis focusing on human agency and decisions.

Result

Individual managerial echelon diplomats do not directly make policy, but rather play a crucial role in …

The Effect Of Partisan Group-Based Emotions On Immigration Attitudes, Samantha Michelle Wiener

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

This dissertation utilized a cognitive appraisal theory of emotion perspective to study the role of partisan group-based emotion in immigration attitude formation to better understand partisan immigration attitudes and preferences in the United States. Across one correlational and two experimental studies, this research showed that partisan group-based emotions predicted immigration attitudes significantly distinctly than do individual-level emotions. The first and third papers showed that group-based emotions predicted immigration attitudes. The second highlighted the role that individual-level empathy plays in immigration preferences. Taken together, to more fully understand how Americans form attitudes towards immigrants and immigration, researchers must account for both …

Numb., Anna Rapson

Masters Theses

Social media platforms, from their conception, posed a break in the lived experience of the average human being’s day to day routines. Although access to information has always been shaped by portals into other lived realities—through photojournalism, print legacy media, news broadcasts both on radio and television—social media has posited a novel phenomenological architecture where borders between embodied reality and perception of lived experience are simultaneously blurred and reinforced. This morphed duality of consciousness positions the body and mind in tension, deconstructing pre-social media conceptions of the ontology of lived experience. In a digital world shaped by limitless input by …

Elevating Voices: Exploring The Impacts And Experiences Of Required Workplace Dei Training, Marika Barto

Dissertations

Mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training is a common element institutional DEI initiatives in their response to dismantling racial inequity in government organizations; yet, the lived experiences of racially marginalized participants remain critically underexamined—particularly in government settings, where the bureaucratic structures implementing these trainings are themselves racialized. This research was conducted during one of the most politically hostile environments for DEI work in recent memory. Federal executive actions in 2025, specifically the “Bondi memo,” directed entities subject to federal antidiscrimination laws to cease DEI practices, creating immediate chilling effects that directly impacted this study and reminded us that the …

The Autonomy Plan In Morocco: Legal Foundations, Political Dimensions And Prospects For Resolving The Sahara Conflict, Limam Boussif, Jalila Ait Soudane

Journal of Maya Heritage

Summary: The territorial conflict over the Sahara is one of the most enduring territorial disputes in international relations, involving issues of sovereignty, self-determination, and regional stability. In this context, Morocco’s 2007 Autonomy Plan is presented as a negotiated framework of self-government under Moroccan sovereignty.

This article analyzes the evolution and consolidation of the Autonomy Plan using a conceptual approach based on self-determination, territorial governance, and conflict resolution theories. It shows that the initiative has progressively evolved from a national proposal into an internationally recognized framework, particularly through growing diplomatic support and developments within the United Nations Security Council, including Resolution …

Les Grands Chantiers De La Transition Énergétique Au Maroc: Le Cas De Dakhla-Oued Eddahab Entre Réalisations, Facteurs De Réussite Et Perspectives, Limam Boussif, Jalila Ait Soudane

Journal of Maya Heritage

Résumé: Cet article examine la dynamique de la transition énergétique au Maroc à travers une analyse descriptive et analytique du cas de Dakhla-Oued Eddahab. Dans un contexte marqué par l’accélération des politiques de décarbonation à l’échelle mondiale, le Maroc s’impose comme un acteur stratégique en matière de développement des énergies renouvelables et de l’hydrogène vert. L’étude met en lumière les principaux chantiers structurants engagés dans la région de Dakhla, notamment le développement des énergies éolienne et solaire, les projets de production d’hydrogène vert, le dessalement de l’eau de mer, ainsi que la réalisation du port Dakhla Atlantique. L’analyse montre que …

Flowing Borders: U.S. Border Externalization In Latin America And The Los Angeles Declaration On Migration And Protection, Magdalena Olvera Hernandez

Master's Theses

In recent years, Latin America has emerged as a central transit region for extracontinental migrants originating from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East who seek to reach North America through alternative routes. This thesis examines the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, among other regional migration governance frameworks that have reshaped migratory flows, state responsibilities, and protection outcomes in the Western Hemisphere. Focusing on the Darién Gap as a strategic chokepoint, the study analyzes the effects of coordinated migration policies, border externalization, and differentiated state roles on extracontinental mobility.

Drawing on official migration statistics from Panama, the United States, …

From Agroecology To Democratic Resilience: Community-Based Food Security And Climate Adaptation In West Sumatra, Dina Yulianti, Virtuous Setyaka, Arry Bainus, Deasy Silvya Sari, Akim Akim

Jurnal Wacana Politik

The West Sumatra has a high index of food security and because of its dependence on modern farming systems that are chemical based, farmers are susceptible to environmental degradation and market forces worldwide. Through the Critical International Relations (CIR) approach of Robert W. Cox, this paper analyzes how community-based agroecological practices can be the solution to a transition between climate change adaptation and democratic resilience in West Sumatra. The current study is dedicated to the case of Cheap Staple Rice Fields (Sawah Pokok Murah - SPM) an agroecological farming system, a grassroots movement that helps to break free of the …

Refuting Ruscism: A Critique From Biblical Social Ontology, Paul Miles

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation argues that the ideology of Ruscism is incompatible with biblical Christianity on the basis of God’s design for the individual, the family, and the country. Indeed, the extent of incompatibility between these two worldviews renders any attempt to syncretize them a significant departure from biblical Christianity. God’s design for society is an absolute standard by which political ideologies may be evaluated, and these three societal units will suffice to demonstrate that Christians must reject Ruscism.

This dissertation will describe these three societal units—the individual, the family, and the country—as they are described in biblical Christianity and contrast their …

A Quantitative Study Examining The Impact Of Gender On Covenantal Empowerment And Mental Health Quality Of Life Among 911 Dispatchers, Michael Ryan Udriét

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative correlational study examined factors affecting the mental health quality of life (MHQoL) of 911 dispatchers in Greater Richmond, Virginia. Dispatchers frequently experience psychological strain due to exposure to traumatic calls, demanding workloads, and inconsistent organizational support. Leadership is a crucial factor in shaping well-being, yet the influence of covenantal empowerment (CE)—a model emphasizing mutual support, shared accountability, and relational trust—on dispatcher mental health remains underexplored. This study examined the relationship between CE and MHQoL, explored gender as a moderator, and considered additional demographic and work-related factors including age, years of experience, work shift, length of shift, marital status, …

Extending Galula’S Counterinsurgency Warfare Theory: The Influence Of Political Perception And Planning On Operational Outcomes In Irregular Warfare, Bashir Safi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation project examines the influence of political perceptions and planning on the outcome in Irregular Warfare (IW). This study addressed two research questions: How does the U.S. military’s institutional predilection for prolonged, conventionally oriented approaches influence its ability to achieve desired outcomes in irregular warfare? and how does doctrinal ambiguity within the US military influence operational outcomes in Irregular Warfare.? The structured focused comparison (SFC) approach was utilized to systematically compare three case studies: US military interventions in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021; Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in Iraq, which began in 2003; and Operation Deliberate Force in Bosnia …

Governing Longevity: Biopolitics And Economic Restructuring In East Asian Aging Societies, Sherlyn She

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

How do rapidly aging societies govern longevity when demographic change threatens established welfare arrangements? This thesis examines aging governance in China, Japan, and South Korea to show how states simultaneously manage aging as a public-health problem and build it into an economic sector through what I term life capitalism.

Two interpretations of East Asian aging policy are widely circulated: that it is a peripheral case of Western neoliberalism, or a residue of Confucian familism. I reject both: the neoliberal reading captures marketization but misses the state as its active builder, since these states are expanding rather than retreating; the Confucian …