Political Science Commons^™

The Political Economy Of Going Global: Understanding The Determinants Of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment In The Middle East And Africa, Majid Shirali

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study seeks to explain the motivating factors behind Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) patterns to the Middle East and Africa through a quantitative framework that utilizes a pooled cross-sectional time-series data set that covers 57 countries from 2003-2010. Prior research on the issue has hypothesized that China attempts to use external FDI to developing areas to promote national interests and help sustain economic growth. However, there has been an almost exclusive focus on economic determinants while generally ignoring political variables. The approach in this project attempts to fill this scholarly void by employing a broad array of independent variables …

Global Mass Media Coverage Of Hdrs - Replication Data For: 'The Critical Role Of Mass Media In International Norm Diffusion: The Case Of Undp Human Development Reports' International Studies Perspectives, Devin K. Joshi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This dataset compares global newspaper media coverage of the "Human Development Reports" Dataset is based on coding of 250 articles (50 randomly selected newspaper articles each year 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012). Newspaper articles were collected from Lexis-Nexis Global Newspaper Archive in 2014 and 2015.

The Visual Turn In Ir: Documentary Filmmaking As A Critical Method, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although the field of international relations (IR) is arguably in the midst of a ‘visual turn’, few scholars have directly discussed research methods for studying visual international politics. This article follows the aesthetic turn’s call to resist the rational methods that frame our understanding of ourselves and the world. Yet it also argues that the visual turn is more than an elaboration of the aesthetic turn. While analyses of visual culture are characteristically suspicious of the power of images, this article argues that making films can provide an innovative method for studying IR. In particular, the visual turn can better …

Shaping American Foreign Policy A Game Theoretic Analysis Of The United States'--North Korean Relationship, Kimberly Michelle Ganczak

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Over the past two decades, international relations researchers have developed increasingly nuanced game theoretic models to analyze interstate interactions. This study is a modem, case-specific Bayesian analysis that aims to make contributions to the scholarly analysis of conflict while offering practical advice to policymakers interested in relations between the United States and North Korea.

This study develops a new model of United States - North Korea relations in order to develop insights useful for understanding and hopefully refining, management of this relationship. This study utilizes the extensive form of a signaling game to model the interactions between both states. This …

Fixing The Failed: An Investigation Of Terrorist Organizations And State Building Capabilities, Joshua Adam Freeman

Master's Theses

This study examines the role of terrorist organizations in failed states. In particular, their ability to perform positive state-building activities that result in stability is investigated. Both terrorism and state failure present unique and serious threats to international security. However, there is very little literature concerning the positive effect terrorist organizations can have in failed states. Presented is not only an investigation of the linkages between state failure and terrorism, but also a new classification of terrorist organizations based upon their ability to state-build in failed states. These organizations are classified by their ability to provide goods and services within …

Beyond The Schoolhouse Door: Educating The Political Animal In Jefferson’S Little Republics, Brian W. Dotts

Democracy & Education

Jefferson believed that citizenship must exhibit republican virtue. While education was necessary in a republican polity, it alone was insufficient in sustaining a revolutionary civic spirit. This paper examines Jefferson's expectations for citizen virtue, specifically related to militia and jury service in his 'little republics.' Citizens required not only knowledge of history and republican principles, but also public spaces where they could personify what they learned. Jefferson often analogized the nation as a ship at sea, and while navigational instruments are necessary in charting an accurate course, i.e., republican theories, they become inconsequential without the decisive action required for their …

Outside Spending In The 2014 Midterm Elections: The Lasting Effects Of Citizens United, Lucas Fortier

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

The purpose of this study was to shed light on the controversial area of independent expenditures in the post-Citizens United world of campaign finance. The study focuses on three questions: who are the main players participating in this area of campaign finance, how are these outside groups being funded, and how do these groups spend their money to influence elections? Some findings of the study were that, while there was a large number of registered SuperPACs and political nonprofits in the 2014 midterm elections, only a relatively small group of 70 major organizations accounted for over 90 percent of total …

Land Reform And The Use Of Violence: Creating A Set Of Conditions Using The Case Of Zimbabwe, Dylan Ciccarelli

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

The purpose of this paper is to develop a set of conditions under which land reform becomes violent, looking specifically at the fast-track land reform policy implemented in Zimbabwe from 1998-2003. The roots and use of violence in the context of land reform is a topic that has not been widely researched in previous land reform literature, however it is important as the issue of land inequality has been, and is, an ongoing issue in many sub-Saharan African countries, including Zimbabwe. This paper will argue that land reform will become violent when certain economic, political, and social conditions are present. …

South African Survivor: The National Party’S Survival In The Context Of The Cold War, John Hartigan

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

Apartheid continued in the Republic of South Africa until 1993, far longer than any other minority dominated government on the continent of Africa. In this paper, I analyze the reasons why Afrikaners were able to perpetuate their grip on political power far longer than any of their white colleagues around the continent. This paper is comparative; I place the South African experience in context with other minority ruled statesKenya and Mozambiquethat experienced the break down of minority rule far sooner than the South Africans. I argue that there are three main factors that ensured the that the National PartySouth Africas …

State-Building And Intrastate Conflict In Africa, Lillian Holland

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

In my poster I will be examining under what conditions does state building measures turn into intrastate violence in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and Kenya.

The Causes Of The Civil Wars In Côte D'Ivoire, Matthew Ayers

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

No abstract provided.

Post-Conflict Child Soldier Networks In Africa, Andrew Currier

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

No abstract provided.

The Vietnam War, The American War And The ‘Bridge Generation’, Nancy K. Napier

International Business Program

One April morning in the 1990s during my commute to work on a project teaching business concepts and practices to professors and managers at the National Economics University in Hanoi, I saw red.

A Double Dispossession: The Crimean Tatars After Russia’S Ukrainian War, Stephen Blank

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Genocide and genocidal political processes have been used by the Russian state for decades—if not centuries—as a technique of self-colonial rule intended to eliminate “dissident” ethnic identities. Within this context, the historical fate of the Crimean Tatars is surely a unique one. Despite Soviet obstructions, the Crimean Tatars eventually returned to their homeland in Crimea after suffering forced deportations and genocide at the hands of the Soviet government. Now, 70 years after their deportation and genocide by Stalin, the Crimean Tatars are still fighting for justice. Defined as an autonomous group in their own land under the Ukrainian government, the …

Finding Meaning In Difference: Girls' Education Initiatives In Kenya From The Un And Ngos, Paige Heather Reese Mckinsey

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Within international affairs academia, an understanding exists; when girls are educated, their families, their communities, their nations, and the world at large benefits. However, the academic work analyzing girls' education initiatives in developing nations has a partial view of the situation, focusing solely on those initiatives which combat logistical barriers. In previous research, it was found that a divide exists between the initiatives taken by NGOs and the United Nations working in Africa in which the former focuses on normative barriers to education while the later focuses on logistical barriers. What has yet to be discussed is the reason for …

Which Side Are We On? The Effect Of Self-Identified Class On Political Elections In Virginia, Benjamin Fredrick Hermerding

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Inequality is rising in the United States. One of the possible ramifications of this trend could be a shift in the political landscape over the next couple decades. In particular, Americans could become more divided politically on class-based lines due to the economic strain put on the working class. Using data from the University of Mary Washington's Center for Leadership and Media Studies' 2014 Survey, this paper strives to explore the current landscape of class-based politics. First, it explores if class-based politics are still salient in Virginia by examining if there is a correlation between an individuals' self-defined class and …

“If It Ain’T Broke, Don’T Fix It”?: Analyzing The Politics Of The Un Security Council And The Viability Of The Group Of Four’S Proposal For Reform, Marissa A. Mcomber

Honors College Theses

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC)’s mandate gives it the unique authority to maintain international peace and security. Made up of ten nonpermanent rotating and five permanent Member States (P5), the UNSC gives this decision making power to less than eight percent of the Member States of the UN at a time, five of whom never change. It has long been argued that the P5 represent a power distribution of the world as it existed in 1945, directly after World War II, and has not kept up with changing membership and power dynamics. This paper analyzes the history of the …

Unequal Democracy: The Political Position Of Croats In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Valentino Grbavac

Political Science Honors Projects

Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been marginalized during the last 15 years. Bosniaks have elected a Croat member of the Presidency and formed a federal government twice without legitimate Croat support, completely ignoring Croat electoral will. Bosnia and Herzegovina is at a crossroads today, choosing between the potential for a prosperous future in the EU and the status quo. Reforms of government structures are necessary in order to solve the Croat issue and allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to ascend to the EU. In this paper I map out the history of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 1990s …

Courtroom To Classroom: Judicial Policymaking And Affirmative Action, Dylan Britton Saul

Political Science Honors Projects

The judicial branch, by exercising judicial review, can replace public policies with ones of their own creation. To test the hypothesis that judicial policymaking is desirable only when courts possess high capacity and necessity, I propose an original model incorporating six variables: generalism, bi-polarity, minimalism, legitimization, structural impediments, and public support. Applying the model to a comparative case study of court-sanctioned affirmative action policies in higher education and K-12 public schools, I find that a lack of structural impediments and bi-polarity limits the desirability of judicial race-based remedies in education. Courts must restrain themselves when engaging in such policymaking.

The Preschool Puzzle: Exploring Variations In Early Childhood Education Teacher Quality Across States, Alice Rockswold

Political Science Honors Projects

There is a growing consensus in the early childhood education community that it is necessary to raise the qualifications of preschool teachers. Yet, little is known about why rigorous degree and training standards have advanced further in some states than others. In this analysis, I explore various political and demographic factors that might account for the uneven support for such standards, with special attention to the role of Head Start as a driver of quality, given its presence and variation in strength across states. Using longitudinal data from the National Institute of Early Childhood Education, I find weak evidence that …