Political Science Commons^™

Ferguson To Geneva: Bringing An American Movement For Racial Justice To The World, Joel Pruce

Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In December 2014, nearly four months after the shooting of Michael Brown, a delegation that included Brown's parents testified in front of the Committee against Torture in Geneva, Switzerland. While protest continued on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri (USA), this team delivered a report to the Committee that articulated the human rights claims of protestors to the international community. But, why? What did the delegation hope to accomplish that could not be satisfied through domestic channels, especially in a liberal democracy? Drawing on interviews with delegates and primary source research, I will examine rationales that may explain the political ...

Contesting Human Rights Defenders At The Un Human Rights Council, M. Joel Voss

Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Human rights defenders are being increasingly targeted across the globe. The rise of nationalist, populist regimes is of great concern to both human rights defenders and those that advocate for the rights of defenders. The problem is not only of domestic concern. The UN Human Rights Council, the UN’s preeminent human rights institution, is also seeing an increasing number of attacks on defenders, both in formal settings like discussions on resolutions and the Universal Periodic Review process and informally, through threats to participants at the Council.

This paper attempts to better understand and predict which states will both try ...

Analyzing The United States’ Limited Response To The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Carolina Romero

Political Analysis

The Syrian refugee crisis can be described as one of the biggest, if not largest, humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. The crisis is a result of an ongoing civil war between rebel groups and the government forces of the Assad regime. Since the beginning of the war in 2011, over 400,000 have been killed and a combined 11 million have been displaced either internally or externally from their homes (Human Rights Watch, World Report 2018). The United Nations and the international community have openly expressed discontent with the dealings of the Assad regime, and as a result, have ...

Salvation Or Suffering? Analyzing The Impact Of Un Peacekeeping Operations On Health And Safety Of Women In Post-Conflict Environments, Alicia Y. Hariri

CUREJ - College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal

Drawing from the experiences of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), this study examines the impact of UN peacekeeping operations on the health and safety of women and girls in post-conflict environments. By combining findings from the four indicators of access to the provision of health care, state of maternal health, disarmament of women and girls, and the prevalence of sexual exploitation and abuse, this study will illustrate that neither mission led to disproportionately better outcomes for women and girls following mission deployment.

How Two Sunken Ships Caused A War: The Legal And Cultural Battle Between Great Britain, Canada, And The Inuit Over The Franklin Expedition Shipwrecks, Christina Labarge

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evolving Conceptions Of Sovereignty As Applied To Membership In International Organizations, Luke C. Radice

CMC Senior Theses

In the current international climate, both nations and individuals increasingly question both the validity and necessity of international organizations. This paper seeks to answer some of those questions, and to determine why countries choose to surrender significant portions of the national power that they are afforded under traditional perceptions of “Westphalian sovereignty”. This question is answered through an analysis of historical political thought on the concept of Sovereignty, then is applied to two case studies: the United Nations and the European Union, in which the benefits and downsides of surrendering sovereignty are discussed. Ultimately, this thesis concludes that the concept ...

Liability, Responsibility, And Sexual Exploitation And Abuse: The Problematic Implications Of United Nations Discourse For Addressing Sexual Exploitation And Abuse By Un Personnel, Mallory C. Hale

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this paper, I examine how the United Nations (UN) discourse regarding sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by UN personnel constructs the problem of SEA and distances the UN from institutional liability and responsibility. The documents analyzed are from 2002 to 2018.

I make the argument that the UN discourse depicts SEA as being a problem of military personnel as opposed to civilian personnel. This attribution of the problem to military personnel is done through the deployment of racialized, gendered tropes regarding Global South masculinities. The use of tropes is made possible because military personnel are overwhelmingly men from the ...

Counterterrorism And Human Rights Committees’ Influence On Terrorism And Human Rights Atrocities, Janice Marie Gravely

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United Nations Counterterrorism and Human Rights Committees’ current collaborative practices have failed to reduce global terrorists’ activities and human rights abuses associated with counterterrorism activities. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and compare collaborative processes between the committees in combatting terrorism and human rights violations associated with counterterrorism. The researched was centered around two key questions: The similarities and differences with information sharing processes and the impacts of the committees’ collaborative processes on terrorists’ activities and human rights violations. For this study, the pragmatic paradigm theoretical framework was used, focusing on the descriptive exploratory design ...

New Documents Shed Light: Why Did Peacekeepers Withdraw During Rwanda’S 1994 Genocide?, Emily A. Willard

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Why did the international community decide to withdraw United Nations peacekeeping troops from Rwanda during the 1994 genocide? Analysis of newly released documents and results from an international conference with former U.N. and government officials sheds further light on our understanding of what took place leading up to and during the Rwandan genocide. This article focuses on two key moments: 1) the United States’ reluctance to support the peacekeeping mission from before its mandate began and prior to the killing of U.S. troops in Somalia in autumn 1993; and the United States’ central role pushing the United Nations ...

The Mediterranean Refugee Crisis: Heritage, Tourism, And Migration, Marxiano Melotti

New England Journal of Public Policy

The Mediterranean Sea has become a huge cemetery: many thousands of migrants have lost their lives trying to cross it in search of a better future. In 2015, more than a million migrants and refugees reached Europe through irregular means, but almost 4,000 went missing and probably drowned. In 2016, 364,000 arrived in Europe and more than 5,000 were lost en route. The arrivals in Italy by sea were 181,436 in 2016 and 119,369 in 2017. While UN organizations and EU governments seem unable or unwilling to face this epoch-making drama, the culture industry has ...

Migration And Conflict, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

The United Nations is ill-equipped to prevent, much less end, intrastate conflicts. Today’s conflicts and an explosive mix of other interrelated causes—including violence, famine, extreme poverty, climate-related disasters and political oppression—have led to a global migration and population-displacement crisis. This article examines the intersection of conflict and migration. It presents the data on migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and exposes the rise of extreme nationalist tendencies in the West—in particular, Europe, where several measures to stem the flow of refugees have been imposed. The article concludes with a warning about global poverty and marginalization ...

(Dis)Unity In The Un Security Council: Voting Patterns In The Un's Peace And Security Organ, Paul M. Romita

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The conventional wisdom is that the international system in the Cold War was defined by the struggle between East and West. While this was certainly the case, voting patterns in the UN Security Council present a more nuanced picture. Counterintuitively, France, the United Kingdom and the United States—three of the five permanent members of the Security Council (the Permanent 3 or P3) and members of the NATO alliance—voted apart on Council resolutions far more frequently in the Cold War, when they faced the common threat of the Soviet Union, than in the post-Cold War era. This dissertation observes ...

Why The United Nations Underperforms At Preventing Mass Atrocities, Edward C. Luck

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

“Long Past Time”: Cedaw Ratification In The United States, Rangita De Silva De Alwis, Amanda M. Martin

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

More than 70 years after Eleanor Roosevelt pioneered the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the US has not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW or what is known as the global Bill of Rights for Women). The Trump administration is planning measures such as paid parental leave and child care legislation which are supported by the CEDAW. Despite the Trump administration's caution about human rights treaties, we argue that an enlightened self-interest on the part of the administration will draw it towards the CEDAW ratification despite the ratification ...

Book Review: “Channels Of Power: The Un Security Council And U.S. Statecraft In Iraq” Alexander Thompson’S Information Transmission Theory, Tuesday Baumiller

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

This paper is an analysis of Alexander Thompson's book "Channels of Power: The UN Security Council and U.S. Statecraft in Iraq. The author examines Thompson's Information Transmission Theory and discusses its relevance as well as its legitimacy.

Fleeing War, Fighting Xenophobia, Andrea J. Danziger

International ResearchScape Journal

The purpose of this research is to identify the key differences between German and American refugee policies as they relate to the ability of each country’s native population to successfully integrate refugees into their society. This body of work looks specifically at the German and American Refugee Resettlement Programs submitted to the United Nations. As shown in this research, new legal policy that can fight systematic distrust and discrimination becomes achievable by identifying the practices that contribute to in- and out-group dynamics between host country and refugees. Such policies will allow for the building of stronger, more integrated societies ...

How Did They Become Law?: A Jurisprudential Inquiry About The Outcome Principles Of Historic United Nations Environmental Conferences, Woong Kyu Sung

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Fleeing War, Fighting Xenophobia, Andrea Danziger

Honors Projects

The purpose of this research is to identify the key differences between German and American refugee policies as they relate to the ability of each country’s native population to successfully integrate refugees into their society. This body of work looks specifically at the German and American Refugee Resettlement Programs submitted to the United Nations. As shown in this research, new legal policy that can fight systematic distrust and discrimination becomes achievable by identifying the practices that contribute to in- and out-group dynamics between host country and refugees. Such policies will allow for the building of stronger, more integrated societies ...

Legal Status Of Drones Under Loac And International Law, Vivek Sehrawat

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

No abstract provided.

Degree And Patterns Of Formal Ngo Participation Within The United Nations Economic And Social Committee (Ecosoc): An Appraisal Of Ngo Consultative Status Relative To Political Pluralism, Barry D. Mowell

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United Nations (UN) has invested increasing levels of effort in recent decades to cultivate a more effective, diverse and democratic institutional culture via the inclusion of and interaction among international civil society organizations (CSOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to supplement the traditional role of states as the primary transnational actors. The principle vehicle for the UN-civil society dynamic is the consultative status (CS) program within the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), wherein a diverse range of nearly 5,000 transnational organizations ostensibly participate.

This research examined patterns of participation and the nature/level of CSO/NGO involvement within the ...

Policy Dissemination: Public Administration Theory And International Organizations | A Case Study On The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities In The Kingdom Of Morocco, Rachelle Ann Wilson

Capstone Projects – Politics and Government

With the advent of international organizations comes international law. Unprecedented at such a global and influential level, there is no theoretical framework within public administration explicitly focused on administrative structure and strategies for the implementation of international law. Consequently, the current administrative literature and theoretical framework must be looked to and transposed, as much as possible, to the international stage. This paper explores public administration theory and how it would manifest if applied to international policy implementation. By taking a closer look into the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its implementation strategy within the ...

The Challenge Of Adopting Sexual Orientation Resolutions At The Un Human Rights Council, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since the mid-1990s, UN special procedures reports have increasingly addressed human rights violations related to sexual orientation. However, it was not until 2011 that the first UN resolution on human rights and sexual orientation was adopted. After considerable difficulty, a follow-up resolution was adopted in late 2014. This policy and practice note examines the challenges of adopting sexual orientation resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council. The discussion is organized around six challenges: the need for Southern leadership, the strong counter-reaction that sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) issues generate at the UN, finding a strong leader, divisions within civil ...

Increasing Access To Potable Water: A Question Of Economics And Governance In Bo District, Sierra Leone, Alissa M. Heiring

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This paper analyzes existing supply gaps that are impeding rural water access in Bo District, Sierra Leone. On a national and district level, Sierra Leone has failed to meet the target of 70% access to potable water inspired by the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. This paper focuses on Bo District due to its near total inclusion in the Sewa River basin and split urban and rural population. Given the existing political and economic constraints, this paper identifies the most feasible way to sustainably increase access to potable water in Bo. To develop the recommendations, current supply gaps in ...

Международные Отношения: Россия, Латинская Америка И Конфликт В Украине = [International Relations: Russia, Latin America, And The Conflict In Ukraine], Simon Gaetano Ciccarillo

Student Honors Theses By Year

This purpose of this thesis paper, which had originally been written for the Russian Department at Dickinson College, was meant to be both an analytical and informational approach to current developing international relations trends between Russia – a reemerging regional power, and Latin America, a vigorously developing area of the world where more influence is growing. While critical and skeptical of the American foreign policy decisions made since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, the most significant aspect about it is how the March 2014 UN vote on the Crimea Referendum on whether to condone or reject Russia’s annexation of the ...

In God We Trust, Andrew C. Nosti

SURGE

Almost everywhere I turn I can hear someone saying, “America is a Christian nation!” likely yelled or grumbled with impressive, and sometimes concerning, aggression. I can’t go through a week without this phrase popping up, usually closely accompanied by the notion that America’s founding has roots in Christian principles. [excerpt]

The United Nations: The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Zahra R. Syed

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The main objective of this research paper is to analyze the international effects the Syrian Conflict has had to the global community. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has declared this conflict to be the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Millions of Syrians have fled their home country to avoid unjust persecution and are looking to not only neighboring countries, but the European Union for assistance in resettlement.

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011, more than 220,000 people have been massacred, leaving fifty percent of the population in unrest due to home displacement ...

Taking Sides In Peacekeeping: Impartiality And The Future Of The United Nations, Emily Paddon Rhoads

Political Science Faculty Works

United Nations peacekeeping has undergone radical transformation in the new millennium. 'Taking Sides in Peacekeeping' explores this transformation and its implications, in what is the first conceptual and empirical study of impartiality in UN peacekeeping. The book challenges dominant scholarly approaches that conceive of norms as linear and static, conceptualizing impartiality as a 'composite' norm, one that is not free-standing but an aggregate of other principles-each of which can change and is open to contestation. Drawing on a large body of primary evidence, it uses the composite norm to trace the evolution of impartiality, and to illuminate the macro-level politics ...

The Un, Regional Sanctions And Africa, Andrea Charron, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Africa is the continent most targeted by sanctions. During the Cold War, when the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was all but paralysed, the only sanctions regimes that the UN imposed were directed at countries located on the African continent: Southern Rhodesia and South Africa, penalized for their apartheid regimes. In the post-Cold War era, Africa has continued to register the highest frequency of sanctions, applied not only by the UN but by other organizations as well. Africa’s own regional bodies, such as the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), are active in ...

Pursuing The Fruit Within The Promise: Exploring India’S Implementation Of Un Global Goals, Jocelyn Bell

Ex-Patt Magazine

No abstract provided.

Goals Worth Sharing, Erika Simpson

Erika Simpson

No abstract provided.