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The role of a free, open and critical press has always been central to democracy. In this chapter the changing structure of modern media industries are examined – print, broadcast and digital – to see how traditional functions of editing, story selection and reportorial investigation have been short-circuited in a new business environment devoted more to audience engagement than to citizen information. We also explore in detail how Trump in particular mastered the process of making himself newsworthy while simultaneously circumventing critical scrutiny of his actions. The chapter ends with an exploration of the ambiguous nature of new digital and independent social media outlets: susceptible both to conspiratorial alt-right community building and, at the same time, to a viable, critical community of independent investigative journalism. Accepted version Yes, full paper (Peer reviewed?)

This paper is a critical assessment of the political intersections of knowledge and power in the feminist critiques of science conducted by Evelyn Fox Keller, Sandra Harding, and Donna Haraway. In it I argue that feminist theory approaches the practicing discourses of science from political purviews that enable us to better understand and critique the political contexts of science and technology, as well as the cognitive content of scientific research. Some of the questions I address are: How is our scientific knowledge of the world structured by particular social, economic, and political imperatives? What get to be defined as scientific problems according to these imperatives? How do the methodologies employed within the sciences produce and reproduce knowledges about the world under such extremely strict and exclusionary conditions? What are the dangers involved with the uses of such methodologies? How is “scientific authority” to know presented to justify research claims, and how does it reify ontological and epistemological assumptions about the validity of scientific knowledge? These questions emphasize the power-knowledge nexus in scientific theories of knowledge and research practices largely ignored by many contemporary critiques of science. In addition, gender, race, and class critiques of the sciences can help us to deconstruct the epistemological and ontological presuppositions woven throughout the fabric of science. Keller, Harding, and Haraway also offer alternative conceptions of science that are more sensitive to the embeddedness of all scientific research and theoretical formulation. In this thesis I shall examine each theorist’s Critique of modern science and assess whether their alter-science project is able to overcome the problems in science that their critique renders problematic. Master of Arts

Underwater cultural heritage (UCH) sites are unique in how their artifacts and archaeological contexts differ from terrestrial heritage sites, but UNESCO notes that UCH sites in less-actively regulated areas, like international waters, are at a high risk of having their material culture remains destroyed, pillaged, or commercially exploited, especially as technological innovations continue to increase access to the deep sea and its resources. International treaties like UNESCO's 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage demonstrate efforts by the international community to protect UCH, however many maritime states including the U.S. have not signed it out of a concern that the treaty oversteps the international legal framework established by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In order to better understand how UCH is (or is not) protected in international waters around the world, this thesis examines the threats facing UCH in international waters as well as the contemporary legal frameworks designed to protect this cultural heritage. Several solutions aimed at addressing key threats facing UCH in international waters caused by these legal and regulatory systems and which can be taken by the U.S. and international community at large are also proposed. Master of Arts Underwater cultural heritage including shipwrecks, sunken port architecture, and even entire sunken cities provide important information about humanity's history of using the world's oceans and seas. Unfortunately, many of these underwater cultural heritage sites are highly at-risk of being accidentally destroyed or pillaged by people who are more interested in selling antiquities than learning about them. This problem is particularly exasperated in international waters, in which no country has the sole right to make or enforce laws to protect these cultural resources. While there are several international laws and treaties designed to protect underwater cultural heritage sites, some countries, including the U.S., have refused to sign them. To better understand why, this thesis discusses the risks facing underwater cultural heritage sites in international waters and the legal options available to help protect them. Several solutions aimed at addressing primary threats facing underwater cultural heritage sites and which the U.S. could adopt are also proposed.

This thesis argues that the creation of the NHS inadvertently created an institution that is fundamental to current British national identity. The NHS exemplifies the core values of the UK, in a way that previous national institutions – the Church, the monarchy, and the Empire – could not due to the societal makeup of the country. The NHS was created for all citizens, regardless of class, and the democratic nature of the institution embodies the ideals at the heart of the nation. The institution pushed the UK to become faithful to its founding ideals of fraternity, community, democracy, and it allowed Britons to have another world-renowned institution. Furthermore, the NHS's creation coincided with one of the last great eras the UK clings to – World War II – therefore, the NHS continually pulls from that the achievements of that period and connects itself to the national pride after victory. Master of Arts This thesis argues that the creation of the NHS inadvertently created an institution that is fundamental to current British national identity. The NHS exemplifies the core values of the UK, in a way that previous national institutions – the Church, the monarchy, and the Empire – could not due to the societal makeup of the country. The NHS was created for all citizens, regardless of class, and the democratic nature of the institution embodies the ideals at the heart of the nation. The institution pushed the UK to become faithful to its founding ideals of fraternity, community, democracy, and it allowed Britons to have another world-renowned institution. Furthermore, the NHS's creation coincided with one of the last great eras the UK clings to – World War II – therefore, the NHS continually pulls from that the achievements of that period and connects itself to the national pride after victory.

Much attention has been paid to the growing level of polarization at both the party level and within the American public, particularly since the late 1970's. Many scholars will either argue that elite polarization is representative of pre-existing, strongly felt political beliefs in the electorate, or that voters act on the basis of the elite cues they observe in politicians. Scholarship has been lacking, however, a microlevel analysis of the polarization of elite discourse, its motivations, and its effects on the American voter. This study quantifies the divergence in party discourse on particular issues through an analysis of published platforms and presidential candidate convention speeches. By employing Foucauldian theories of micropolitics and biopower, a qualitative case study, critical discourse analyses, and ANES polling data, this study finds that not only have the parties been deploying drastically diverging discourses on issues of biopolitical administration, but this also tends to engender political saliency on issues in which voters were not significantly concerned. There are certainly insidious implications for a representative system of government when parties utilize discourse to manufacture political opinions for their own self-interest. The data herein show that both parties have been guilty of such mobilization tactics within the last forty years. Master of Arts Even the most casual observer of the American political system will note the adversarial and polarized relationship between Republicans and Democrats. Rather than focusing on the general differences between the two parties, this project looks at how the language and dialogue of political elites affects the average American voter. What I found is that, as the two parties discussed certain issues more frequently and in distinct ways, these issues became increasingly important to the American electorate. In other words, politicians tell voters which issues are important to them through their choice of rhetoric. This is quite different than common assumptions of democratic societies where legislators merely represent the interests of their constituents, rather than manufacture them.

This dissertation argues that the just transition policy framework may not vivify labor internationalism or erode support for right-wing populists if just transitions are not part of left-wing populist projects. Labor internationalism, which involves labor unions cooperating across borders to pursue common goals, is increasingly important as unions strive to work with their foreign counterparts to influence the international community's urgent efforts to address climate change. Right-wing populism is a growing threat to organized labor and climate protection efforts. Some labor activists hope that advocacy for the just transition policy framework, a set of guidelines for compensating workers in polluting industries who are laid-off as a result of environmental protections, will unite labor organizations from around the world and improve their approaches to international solidarity. Progressives hope that just transition policies will discourage voters from supporting right-wing populist candidates, who are often climate skeptics, out of fear of the job losses that accompany environmentalist reforms. However, I question the assumption that just transition policies, in and of themselves, can serve as solutions to the challenges posed by right-wing populism or overcome divisions within the global labor movement. It is possible for economic nationalism at the expense of global solidarity to continue and for right-wing populists to maintain support in decarbonizing areas where policy makers have indemnified laid-off fossil fuel workers. Integrating just transition policies into left-wing populist politics could potentially make just transitions more useful for countering the far-right and promoting labor internationalism. This dissertation looks to the political theorist Antonio Gramsci's thoughts regarding the "national popular," which Gramsci's readers often associate with left-wing populism. The national popular entails intellectuals from different fields (such as the academy, journalism, and manufacturing) coming together to modernize patriotism and strip it of chauvinistic nationalism. I point out that the original proposals for just transitions prioritized providing free higher education for the workers laid-off from polluting industries. The just transition framework's stress on higher education has populistic implications. Educators, particularly members of teachers' unions, may practice populism throughout the implementation of a just transition for laid-off coal workers by encouraging the displaced workers to cooperate with knowledge workers to rethink nationalism. If workers displaced from polluting industries rethink nationalism in university settings while maintaining their connections to the labor movement, then these workers may in turn reject far-right politicians and discourage organized labor from supporting trade nationalism. Doctor of Philosophy This dissertation argues that the just transition policy framework may not vivify labor internationalism or erode support for right-wing populists if just transitions are not part of left-wing populist projects. Labor internationalism, which involves labor unions cooperating across borders to pursue common goals, is increasingly important as unions strive to work with their foreign counterparts to influence the international community's urgent efforts to address climate change. Right-wing populism is a growing threat to organized labor and climate protection efforts. Some labor activists hope that advocacy for the just transition policy framework, a set of guidelines for compensating workers in polluting industries who are laid-off as a result of environmental protections, will unite labor organizations from around the world and improve their approaches to international solidarity. Progressives hope that just transition policies will discourage voters from supporting right-wing populist candidates, who are often climate skeptics, out of fear of the job losses that accompany environmentalist reforms. However, I question the assumption that just transition policies, in and of themselves, can serve as solutions to the challenges posed by right-wing populism or overcome divisions within the global labor movement. It is possible for economic nationalism at the expense of global solidarity to continue and for right-wing populists to maintain support in decarbonizing areas where policy makers have indemnified laid-off fossil fuel workers. Integrating just transition policies into left-wing populist politics could potentially make just transitions more useful for countering the far-right and promoting labor internationalism. This dissertation looks to the political theorist Antonio Gramsci's thoughts regarding the "national popular," which Gramsci's readers often associate with left-wing populism. The national popular entails intellectuals from different fields (such as the academy, journalism, and manufacturing) coming together to modernize patriotism and strip it of chauvinistic nationalism. I point out that the original proposals for just transitions prioritized providing free higher education for the workers laid-off from polluting industries. The just transition framework's stress on higher education has populistic implications. Educators, particularly members of teachers' unions, may practice populism throughout the implementation of a just transition for laid-off coal workers by encouraging the displaced workers to cooperate with knowledge workers to rethink nationalism. If workers displaced from polluting industries rethink nationalism in university settings while maintaining their connections to the labor movement, then these workers may in turn reject far-right politicians and discourage organized labor from supporting trade nationalism.

The 11th of November 2018, marked the 100th year anniversary of Poland regaining independence in 1918, following nearly 123 years of partition. To commemorate this centennial anniversary, museums and cultural institutions around the country hosted exhibitions presenting national identity and narratives. In this thesis, I compare two such exhibitions in Warsaw, one hosted by the Warsaw National Museum and the other housed in the Warsaw Modern Art Museum. I argue that the employment of feminine figures as allegorical representations of the nation within the Krzycząc: Polska! Niepodległa 1918 (Shouting: Poland! Independence 1918), exhibition of the Warsaw National Museum, serves as an illustrative example of how women have historically, and continue to be, made physical and symbolic bearers of an exclusivist version of Polish national identity. The Niepodległe (Independent Women) exhibition housed in the Warsaw Modern Art Museum, on the other hand, presents an alternative, and more inclusive, means of national identity formation through acknowledging the heterogenous roles and identities taken up by the actual women of the nation. Master of Arts The 11th of November 2018, marked the 100th year anniversary of Poland regaining independence in 1918, following nearly 123 years of partition. To commemorate this centennial anniversary, museums and cultural institutions around the country hosted exhibitions presenting national identity and narratives. In this thesis, I compare two such exhibitions in Warsaw, one hosted by the Warsaw National Museum and the other housed in the Warsaw Modern Art Museum. I argue that the employment of feminine figures as allegorical representations of the nation within the Krzycząc: Polska! Niepodległa 1918 (Shouting: Poland! Independence 1918), exhibition of the Warsaw National Museum, serves as an illustrative example of how women have historically, and continue to be, made physical and symbolic bearers of an exclusivist version of Polish national identity. The Niepodległe (Independent Women) exhibition housed in the Warsaw Modern Art Museum, on the other hand, presents an alternative, and more inclusive, means of national identity formation through acknowledging the heterogenous roles and identities taken up by the actual women of the nation.

This thesis uses the recent Bayer-Monsanto acquisition in order to examine historical and contemporary power dynamics found throughout industrial agriculture. With the theoretical aid of Karl Polanyi and Michel Foucault, I examine how the Bayer-Monsanto acquisition is a viable site in order to reflect the interconnectedness of political and economic forces that organize societies and markets across the globe. I briefly introduce the merger-turned-acquisition between these two former 'Big 6' firms that dominated international agricultural input markets. Questions are asked such as how has the history of agriculture led to its current organization, how have these particular firms garnered such market power, and what power structures or historical economic incentives have contributed to the acquisition's manifestation? In order to address these questions I engage in an economic-historical analysis of industrial agriculture, particularly focusing on the role of the U.S. state in drafting agrarian legislation, spreading knowledge regarding production processes, and promoting particular food products to be patented, grown, and consumed across the world. Through an examination of the acquisition itself, potential economic, environmental, and political implications are presented to analyze whether historically visible strategies have appeared to evolve to become invisible overtime. Although the result of this acquisition does involve few firms governing almost entire markets, I contend that there is more at stake than simply few firms monopolizing agriculture. The Bayer-Monsanto acquisition has economic, environmental, and political implications on a host of actors, and it forces us to question the legitimacy of democratic governmental institutions across the world and where power is situated within them. Master of Arts Mergers and acquisitions are by no means an emerging trend throughout agricultural markets; however, Bayer’s $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto is a recent development that has garnered attention from politicians, farmers, environmentalists, and public consumers alike. In this thesis I examine how the Bayer-Monsanto acquisition is a viable site in order to show how political and market logics are constantly entangled with one another. I first briefly introduce the mergerturned-acquisition between these two former ‘Big 6’ firms that dominated international agricultural input markets. I then ask how has the history of agriculture led to its current organization, how have these particular firms garnered such market power, and what power structures or historical economic incentives have contributed to the acquisition’s manifestation? After contextualizing the acquisition within a history of legislating land policy, spreading knowledge regarding production processes, and promoting the consumption of particular food products across the world, I present various economic, environmental, and political implications of the acquisition. Although the result of this acquisition does involve few firms with centralized market share, I contend that there is more at stake than simply monopolistic practices. An analysis of the Bayer-Monsanto acquisition reflects why we should question the quality and legitimacy of political institutions across the world, and ask where power lies within them.

This thesis explores the theory and practice of sovereignty. I begin with a conceptual analysis of sovereignty, examining its theological roots in contrast with its later influence in contestations over political authority. Theological debates surrounding God’s sovereignty dealt not with the question of legitimacy, which would become important for political sovereignty, but instead with the limits of his ability. Read as an ontological capacity, sovereignty is coterminous with an existent’s activity in the world. As lived, this capacity is regularly limited by the ways in which space is produced via its representations, its symbols, and its practices. All collective appropriations of space have a nomos that characterizes their practice. Foucault’s account of “biopolitics” provides an account of how contemporary materiality is distributed, an account that can be supplemented by sociological typologies of how city space is typically produced. The collective biopolitical distribution of space expands the range of practices that representationally legibilize activity in the world, thereby expanding the conceptual limits of existents and what it means for them to act up to the borders of their capacity, i.e., to practice sovereignty. The desire for total authorial capacity expresses itself in relations of domination and subordination that never erase the fundamental precarity of subjects, even as these expressions seek to disguise it. I conclude with a close reading of narratives recounting the lives of residents in Chicago’s Englewood, reading their activity as practices of sovereignty which manifest variously as they master and produce space. Master of Arts

Published in 1936, Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind achieved massive literary success before being adapted into a motion picture of the same name in 1939. The novel and film have amassed numerous accolades, inspired frequent reissues, and sustained mass popularity. This dissertation analyzes evidence of audience reception in order to assess the effects of Gone with the Wind's version of Lost Cause collective memory on the construction of the Old South, Civil War, and Lost Cause in the American imagination from 1936 to 2016. By utilizing the concept of prosthetic memory in conjunction with older, still-existing forms of collective cultural memory, Gone with the Wind is framed as a newly theorized mass cultural phenomenon that perpetuates Lost Cause historical narratives by reaching those who not only identify closely with it, but also by informing what nonidentifying consumers seeking historical authenticity think about the Old South and Civil War. In so doing, this dissertation argues that Gone with the Wind is both an artifact of the Lost Cause collective memory that it, more than anything else, legitimized in the twentieth century and a multi-faceted site where memory of the South and Civil War is still created. My research is grounded in the field of memory studies, in particular the work of Pierre Nora, Eric Hobsbawn, Andreas Huyssen, Michael Kammen, and Alison Landsberg. In chapter one, I track the reception of Gone with the Wind among white American audiences and define the phenomenon as rooted in Benedict Anderson's conception of the nation. I further argue that Gone with the Wind's Lost Causism provided white national subjects with a collective memory of slavery and the Civil War that made sense of continuing racial tensions during Jim Crow and justified white resistance to African American equality. Gone with the Wind, in other words, reconciled the lingering ideological divisions between white northerners and southerners who then were more concerned with protecting white supremacy. In chapter two and three, I analyze Gone with the Wind's continuing popularity throughout the twentieth century and its significant influence on other sites of national memory. Chapter four uses contemporary user reviews of Gone with the Wind DVD and Blu-ray collector's editions to reveal that the phenomenon remains popular. Throughout this study I analyze the history of black resistance to the Gone with the Wind phenomenon. For African Americans, Gone with the Wind's Lost Causism has always been understood as justification for racism, imbuing the white national conscious with a mythological history of slavery and black inferiority. As I argue, black protestors to Gone with the Wind were correct, as the phenomenon has always resonated most during moments of increased racial tension such as during the civil rights era and following the Charleston Church Massacre in 2015. Ph. D.

This thesis uses Benedict Anderson's theoretical contributions on the topic of national identity and Michel Foucault's contributions toward discourse analysis to perform a discursive analysis of Donald Trump's campaign speeches in which he exploits pre-existing anti-immigration sentiments among certain voters to gain political power. The research question addressed herein is: How has Donald Trump invoked the issue of national security to single out groups of immigrants as threats to U.S. national security, and what conditions exists so that he is able to do so in a way that enlists the support of a sizeable portion of the American public? First, this thesis works to put into context what drove post-World War II immigration in the U.S. to provide insight into what conditions lead to certain groups being encouraged or discouraged from immigrating. Second, I contrast Anderson's concept of nationalism with that of Samuel Huntington, whose idea of nationalism more closely aligns with Trump's nativist sense of national identity. Third, having put the history of U.S. immigration and the concept of national identity into context, I perform a discursive analysis of three of Trump's campaign speeches and tweets that focus on immigration and make problematic his racist, far-right ideology and its purpose toward the de-politicization and de-historicization of immigration as a national security and economic issue. I conclude by reminding the reader that allowing anti-immigrant discourse to become normalized without the burden of proof can lead to curbed freedoms under an authoritarian regime, a direction toward which Trump appears ready and willing to lead the American electorate. Master of Arts

This thesis considers theoretically the institutional nature of culture and its strength as a determinant of political behavior in Southwest Virginia. Beginning with a description of the geography of Southwest Virginia and the demographics of the region's inhabitants, the thesis proceeds to outline the cultural nuances of the region that make it ripe for misunderstanding by the outside world when attempting to explain the cognitive dissonance between voting behavior and regional needs. Then the thesis explores how the culture of the region serves as its own institution that protects itself from outside forces. This phenomenon is explained through an outline of the man-made institutions which have been forged to ensure long-term political power that itself protects the institution of regional culture. Further evidence is presented through voting and demographic data that solidifies the role of culture in determining political behavior. MA

This thesis focuses on the development of the Iranian nation and state from 1811 to 1941. Both of these developments occurred in response to Iran's encounter with the European powers, specifically Russia and Great Britain. Government-led reforms opened the possibility for the development of Iranian nationalism, as Iranian students were in England and brought back the first printing press with them to Iran in 1815. The introduction of the printing press was significant to the development of the Iranian nation-state, as an increase in journals and periodicals introduced contemporary European political ideas to Iranians. This increased the calls to replicate the customs and norms of European society in Iran, ultimately leading to the Constitutional Revolution of 1906. The Constitutional Revolution established a Parliament in Iran that was politically weak and held little power in the provinces outside of Tehran. Tribal authority increased throughout Iran, and the Russians and British eventually occupied Iran from 1911 to 1917. The establishment of Reza Shah's rule in 1921 introduced a new centralized Iranian state that was legitimated by the nation and established its rule over the tribes. It is also during Reza Shah's rule that the conception of the Iranian nation begins to change. Master of Arts

Politics today is facing a troubling trend towards the empowerment of nationalist movements. With strong historical traditions and a powerful Scottish National Party, Scotland would appear to be a prime candidate for such movements. However, this thesis argues that Scotland represents a nation with a unique civic culture. This thesis seeks to determine which elements of Scottish political and cultural history have led to its modern day civic culture, in the form of a civic nationalism, or patriotism. It asks: why is Scottish nationalism unique, and why does it matter? To answer, I have broken down the thesis into three main chapters that consider the theories of nationalism that are significant to the study of Scottish nationalism, the foundations of Scottish nationalism, and how Scottish nationalism manifests itself in civic contexts. The results reflect that Scottish civic culture deeply permeates the nation's politics. Even when given the opportunity for independence, Scotland chose to remain a part of the United Kingdom in order to maintain its interests with the European Union. And, while political cultures are subject to rapid change, the current state of Scottish culture reflects a civic manifestation. Master of Arts

The Russian Federation has recently implemented a foreign policy strategy aimed at subverting the West’s ability to deter Russia from destabilizing its neighbors. This strategy combines elements of conventional military strategy with “weaponized information” in order to achieve success in the political and military arenas of conflict. “Weaponized Information” goes beyond the “network-centric” warfare envisioned by cyber security experts, focused instead upon the development of “fake news,” disinformation, and encouraging conflicting media narratives. This thesis explores this strategy through Thomas Schelling’s framework of deterrence elucidated in Arms and Influence and uses recent events in Ukraine, Syria, the United States, and Europe to describe the development and implementation of “weaponized information” in 21st Century international conflicts. Master of Arts

In the 21st Century, violent non-state actors continue to pose an asymmetric threat to state actors. Given the increasing proliferation of lethal technologies, growing global social connectivity, and continued occurrences of failed or failing states, the quantity of violent non-state actors posing threats in global hotspots is likely to increase. The United States, already facing strategic overreach due to conflicts in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, will face enormous difficulties in engaging militarily against a multitude of violent non-state actors. Smart power, a selective employment of hard and soft power applications, presents an opportunity to limit and deter violent non-state actors in a resource-constrained environment. Smart power, previously viewed through a largely state-on-state lens must be looked at through the paradigm of containing and engaging violent non-state actors. Master of Arts

Crisis thought is an idea that gives a name to and accounts for some of the problematics of the sign crisis in political, social, cultural, and economic discourse. Specifically, crisis thought is a discursive formation, a concept used loosely here to refer to an assemblage of signs such as anxiety or fear that evoke or invoke similar, but inaccurate connotations as crisis in political and everyday usage. The general question this study grapples with is why political, social, cultural, and economic crises are often recognized and, yet, are seemingly unrecognized, unaddressed, or accepted as a basic part of political and ordinary life. This study focuses on the mobilization of crisis thought by the 24/7 news media and throughout politics in the United States. Working outside of economic and Marxist traditions of crisis studies, this study focuses on the effects of crisis thought by way of a critical, interpretive, and interdisciplinary approach. There are two goals of this project. The first is to offer some of the linkages between crisis thought, security, and liberalism. The second goal is to examine through various examples and vignettes how, where, and why crisis thought manifests itself in US politics and in ordinary life. Some topics addressed in this study include: news media, infrastructure, police militarization, mass shootings, US electoral politics, and the alleged US politics of crisis. In the final analysis, this study suggests that 24/7 news media and political mobilizations of crisis thought paradoxically help secure the ontological security of subjectivities as linked to securing security and the logos of liberalism. This study illuminates a peculiar aspect about liberal capitalist democracies: the (re)production of a myriad of crises and, thus, crisis thought, in order to perpetuate itself. Ph. D.

This thesis adds to the literature surrounding technification in securitizing cyberspace by examining the role of technical experts in constituting threats in cyberspace at the level of the state. Furthermore, this thesis considers the impact of technocratic framing on the public's understanding of cyberspace and the historical conditions under which this framing developed. Master of Arts

This thesis aims to examine the Tea Party movement from the context of Richard Hofstadter's writings on the paranoid style in American politics. The findings in this study suggest that the Tea Party is something of a paranoid movement, and it suggests that factors for individual paranoid political behavior within this movement are a result of Evangelical fundamentalism, the uses of social media and algorithmic targeting, anxiety towards outgroups, and the machinations of the modern media. An exploration of the origins of the Tea Party and its impacts on the American political system is conducted in order to define and observe the movement as a modern political phenomenon. This grassroots movement is to a large degree responsible for the Republican Party's continued move towards the far right, and it has caused infighting amongst Congressional Tea Partiers and moderate Republicans for influence within the party. These findings reinforce observations of Republican retrenchment and further leanings to the far right of the American political spectrum. This theory is of value since it offers an understanding of the political phenomena occurring within the Republican Party in the form of the Tea Party and allows the field of Political Science to examine and apply the effects of new forms of communication. Social media and the algorithms applied to individual online activity has grave impacts with regards to predicting political behavior and factors that contribute to the formation of an individual's political beliefs. Concluding theoretical assumptions depict the new forms of mass media as one key factor responsible for altering the way individuals consume and process information thus resulting in the continued rise of far right conservative ideology within the Tea Party. Master of Arts

This study offers an interpretation of political change in Israel through an examination of amendments to Israel's personal status laws (PSLs) - ""laws governing marriage, divorce, death, inheritance, and adoption. I found that separate ethno-religious groups, including Arab Muslims, non-Western Jews, and non-religious persons (including some secular Jews), do not enjoy equal access to the civil right of marriage and divorce that citizens commonly enjoy within other Western liberal nations. Marriage and divorce within Israel are only accessble through, and sanctioned by, religious institutions. I argue that Israel's PSLs reflect a significant paradox within liberalism, namely the inherent tension between the state's guarantee of religious rights versus the constitutional protection of citizens' civil rights. My research begins within political theory, grounded in theories of liberalism, biopolitics, nationalism, and post-colonial studies. Part one traces the history of Israel from the late Ottoman period through the founding of the State in 1948, with consideration paid both to Israel's founders (and the political Zionisms they espoused) and to political Zionism's critics (including Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Judith Butler). I then turn to a examination of Israel's PSLs, asking what is at stake when a liberal, democratic nation bases its laws governing marriage and divorce upon religious law rather than developing civil laws governing these institutions. Part two considers four legal arrangements caught in a crucial political paradox: laws and programs regulating the lives of women, laws outlawing polygynous marriages, changes in laws surrounding exogamous and cross-border marriages, and the treatment of Ethiopian Jews under the law. Each of these cases demonstrate the ways PSLs are used to address growing concerns over the security and national identity of the Jewish State. Through these four examples, Israel's concerns over national identity, citizenship, and security become manifest, and one important instance of the paradox of liberalism comes into focus. Ultimately, while Israel is unique as the world's only Jewish state, Israel becomes understandable as a liberal state experiencing many of the same anxieties and internal liberal problematics experienced by other states as well. Ph. D.

This study offers a reinterpretation of the so-called Eurozone crisis, arguing that its crisis character is overstated and that it is rather a normal stage in the process of European banking sector integration. Particularly, I maintain that it is neither a sovereign debt crisis caused by profligate peripheral governments, nor a crisis of the Eurozone's common monetary policy. Nor, however, are the Eurozone's low growth, high unemployment, and economic and political instability deliberate policies, whether by German or Greek governments, European institutions, or the European banking circuitry. Rather, I trace the Eurozone's low growth and high unemployment back to what I call transpositions. Transpositions change the possible boundaries of perceiving political and economic situations by altering the syntagmatic structure governing their intelligibility. The shift from 2003-2007 'boom times' to post-2007 'times of crisis' is one such transposition, which occurs behind the backs of human actors and thus forms the horizon of possible behavior of market and political actors. The Eurozone's 'crisis' transposition, results in differentiations within the asset class of Euro-denominated sovereign debt between a 'core,' comprising Germany, Austria, Latvia, and Finland, among others, and a 'periphery,' encompassing Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Cyprus. It follows that the solvency of Eurozone member states is a derivative function of banking sector liquidity, reversing the conventional 'sovereign debt crisis' explanation to what I call the country-fundamental transposition. The second transposition I explore is the austerity transposition. I maintain that the Eurozone's real economy is more interconnected than conventional narratives of European economic unification allow, and that supposedly national European economies – including particularly that of Germany – are integrated subcircuits of Europe's real economy. Constituting them as supposedly national economies is itself a transposition, necessary for the preservation of the European banking circuitry's interconnected balance sheets. Yet, the austerity transposition goes further, beyond a form of political economy oriented towards growth and sustainability, and into a moral economy of condemnation differentiating between morally virtuous and morally pernicious economies in the Eurozone. Its destructive effects are therefore neither irrational nor the result of a German hegemonic agenda, but that of the Eurozone's post-2007 syntagmatic structure. Ph. D.

In general, this thesis sheds light on the complexities associated with formal recognition of statehood within the international community and investigates the application of the articles in the Montevideo Convention relative to obtaining sovereign status as well as Palestine's efforts to meet the requirements set in those articles, in comparison to similar efforts underway by other alleged states. This is most relevant to academia in that it addresses the theoretical application of international law requirements for obtaining statehood and to political/policy circles in providing a synthesized understanding of modern barriers to statehood. Palestine is unable to achieve sovereign status because it lacks international recognition by powerful states, such as the US. Key components of this argument are that the International Court of Justice identifies the articles in the Montevideo Convention as customary law, Palestine meets the Montevideo Convention criteria, even if arguably only in the most basic sense, Palestine currently has bilateral recognition from 135 States and The United States, with support from Israel, continues to threaten its veto powers on any attempt of a bid for full membership by Palestine until a deal can be made between Palestine and Israel at the negotiation tables. Key discoveries made through the comparative analysis are (1) Kosovo, Taiwan and Palestine all meet the criteria outlined in the Montevideo Convention but have yet to receive official membership extended to sovereign states with the United Nations, (2) even in the absence of formal political recognition, diplomatic relationships (whether official or unofficial) still exist; they are typically indicative of economic and business needs rather than political ones and (3) without either unilateral acceptance or abstention of an aspiring state's application for statehood by one of the members of the United Nations Security Council, achieving sovereign status with recognition by the United Nations (and not just some of the sub agencies) is almost impossible. Despite growing momentum in support of a bid for Palestinian statehood, without support from members of the UNSC, progress will be stalled. This thesis explores a topic that is heavily analyzed by taking a step back to look at the basics. Other analyses on the topic of Palestinian statehood are very focused on the complexities of the situation and the mere fact that sovereign status is not achieved; this focuses on the simplicity of the situation and identifying the primary factor that prevents sovereign status. Master of Arts

China and the South China Sea region will play an important role in global and US strategic policy for the foreseeable future. Because China is an upcoming global economic power, the US and other nations must become cognizant of China's motivations in the South China Sea in order to avoid conflict, which seems inevitable. The purpose of this thesis is to examine China's conflicts/tensions in the South China Sea, specifically the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Taiwan, ASEAN, and US Navy. Discussions on the evolution of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) will also provide additional insight to China's actions in the region. Understanding China's history, role, and claims in the region begins to paint a picture that the PLAN are operating under a principle very similar to the Monroe Doctrine, which allowed the US unfettered access to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Lastly, the thesis will demonstrate that the Chinese version of the Monroe Doctrine as well the country's desire to establish dominance in the South China Sea, which she sees as her "lost territory", is derived from the fear of an encirclement strategy implemented by the US and a nascent US-backed collective security regime, ASEAN. Master of Arts

This thesis deploys world-systems theory to analyze two series of mid-twentieth century wildcat strikes in the Appalachian coalfields: the Eastern Kentucky-based Roving Picket Movement of 1962-1963 and a separate set of unauthorized strikes throughout the region that lasted from 1974-1978, with a particular focus on the Gas Strike of 1974, the strikes surrounding the 1974 Kanawha Country book boycott, and the 1977-1978 contract strike. More specifically, I will examine the New Communist Movement's (NCM) role in these strikes, with special emphasis on the Maoist-inspired Progressive Labor (PL)'s participation in the 1962-1963 strikes and the role of the Miner's Right to Strike Committee (MRSC), a project of the Revolutionary Union/Revolutionary Communist Party in the 1970s wildcats. I argue that PL and the MRSC's divergent experiences demonstrate the shift from the first to the second anti-systemic movement. PL's experience working with the strikers was more typical of the first anti-systemic movement; the MRSC's experience was more typical of the second anti-systemic movement. The two sets of NCM organizers' varying levels of success, different approaches to the New Social Movements, and different interactions with structural forces at play in the world-system all point to the shift in anti-systemic movements. Master of Arts

Adorno discerned a modern quality in the classical tradition, and by incorporating this tradition into his writings he implied that there is still contemporary relevance in the classical works of the past. Classical philosophy and literature not only provided source material for his theories, but it will be shown that there is more to learn about the multiple functions of Adorno's writings and his process of writing them. This study seeks to examine and interpret some of Adorno's major writings that incorporated classical ideas and figures in order to locate how this ancient tradition contributed to his formulation of critical social and political theory. There are interesting and relevant implications for politics and political philosophy to be drawn from the entwinement of Adorno's work with classical thought, and it is the goal of this study to illuminate some of these implications. By looking at how classical thought influenced Adorno's deliberative writing process, the purpose of his writings becomes clearer. Ultimately, this study finds that his frequent use of classical literature and philosophy forms a political gesture against the standardization and domination of thought in modernity. Master of Arts

The driving argument of this thesis is that states, particularly the United States, are vulnerable in cyberspace for reasons that go beyond the material vulnerabilities that present studies on state insecurity in cyberspace focus on. This vulnerability in cyberspace is an ontological insecurity. Ontological insecurity reveals itself in the contradictions in official state discourse regarding cyberspace. State security of self—preserving and maintaining the seemingly concrete and consistent nature of what a state is about, how the state is understood in relation to other states, and how the state comes to understand itself through its own conceptions of self-identity—is challenged by cyberspace as a vehicle for massive amounts of information and challenges to state identity in relation to the state's behavior in cyberspace. Therefore, state identity and self-image are challenged in relation to cyberspace in two ways: first, through the vehicle that is cyberspace, and, second, through the practices that the state adopts to secure cyberspace and its broader security aims. The language that states, in this case the United States, use in order to justify surveillance practices and to impose meaning to cyberspace ultimately leads to projections of power that attempt to reinforce state strength and legitimacy vis-à-vis cyberspace, but these attempts fall short; contradictions arise in state discourse, and weaknesses are highlighted through these contradictions. Cyberspace, then, is an ontological as well as physical security threat to states. Master of Arts

In this dissertation, I theorize that the Mediterranean, broadly conceived of as a geo-cultural-political entity and experience, is a locality for the investigation into the processes through which representations of continents and civilizations come into focus. A fundamental argument in this dissertation is that borders (like the Mediterranean) do not represent the limits to territorially fixed entities, but are rather continually ongoing projects that come to be negotiated and reified through political practices that are focused, in this instance, on asserting where the outside of Europe begins. The arguments of this dissertation are twofold. First, the Mediterranean is theorized as a fluid and porous space. Secondly, and more importantly, the Mediterranean is a key site for an investigation into the (re)production of politically and culturally saturated discourses of belonging and otherness. Thus, this project takes into focus three distinct, yet inextricably interrelated, processes of the borderization of the Mediterranean. These processes work to maintain the space as a global axis of sorts, upon which academic and popular discussions and representations of the East versus the West or the North versus the South emerge. It is an underlying argument of this study that links the examples of the Barcelona Process, discussions of a migration crisis, and Turkey's accession to the EU as processes of borderization of the European Union. While they are often analyzed as separate phenomena, all are indicative of these spatial and temporal borders represented by the Mediterranean, seen together they have the capability of highlighting the interconnectedness of the varying threads of Mediterraneanism. To understand how categories like European, Asian, or African come to have such salient political suggestiveness and meaning, one must bring into question how the borders that divide these imagined spaces are complex sites of the convergence of practices and discourses acquire their fortitude and who gets to tell the stories that outline their parameters. Ph. D.

The conditionality agreements of the International Monetary Fund have received a significant amount of criticism from the 1980s and 1990s and into the 2000s. Critics have found little reassurance from the IMF\'s attempts to reform conditionality after 2000. The 1980s marked a time where conditionality on IMF loans required structural adjustment and the imposition of austere fiscal measures. The streamlining initiative in 2000 possessed only slight quantitative modification to lending conditionality. However, recent changes in the Fund\'s lending policy occuring between 2007 and 2012 may finally display the institution\'s ability to listen, learn, and adapt policy toward a conditionality regime utilizing policy outside of the neoliberal framework. This thesis examines these new policies and their implications for neoliberalism where the term represents an approach to economic growth that demands privatization, deregulation, and weakening the role of the public sector. It provides a history of conditionality reforms and positions the most recent reforms in lending policy in the evolving neoliberal context. Master of Arts

In this thesis, I examine how violent substate actors—specifically those labeled as ‘terrorist’— are able to change from a strategy of total liberation to phased liberation. Using discourse analysis, shifts in political identity are examined in the Provisional IRA and Hamas. Each case study shows that the organization is undergoing an identity change from a more religiouslyinfluenced identity to one that emphasizes national elements; this shift to a national political identity enables a move from total liberation to phased liberation. The conclusion is reached that these changes in political identity rest on changing conceptions of temporality; ultimately, it is a change in temporal understanding that drives the transformation from total liberation to phased liberation. Master of Arts

This dissertation argues that European Union membership conditionality operates as a modality of political-economic governance directed at securing the conditions of possibility for a harmoniously functioning political economy of Europe. I argue that conditionality can best be understood not as a series of requirements for EU membership, a set of incentives for rule adoption, or a vehicle for the transmission of European norms to candidate states, but as an ensemble of discursive and material practices – fragile, dispersed circuits of governmental activity directed at a particular strategic ambition. I argue that existing accounts of EU membership conditionality are informed by predominantly rationalist understandings of political economy which work to conceal various cultural, social, and subjective sources of disharmony in political-economic life. Thinking about the political economy of conditionality through rationalist lenses privileges the study of bargaining and negotiation and institutional reform and overlooks the ways that conditionality targets the transformation of problematic socio-cultural and subjective elements of political economy – among them particular habits of culture, patterns of sociality, and subjective qualities and capacities of the person deemed essential to securing order and abundance. Re-reading canonical works in classical and critical traditions of political economy by James Steuart, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx makes clear that political economy as a field of knowledge and practice has long been concerned with understanding the political, legislative-legal, institutional, socio-cultural, and subjective conditions of possibility for securing order and abundance and has long reflected on the potential and limits of governance to secure these conditions in a world of shifting circumstance. I argue that a political economy of EU membership conditionality concerned with disharmony should investigate the ways that particular socio-cultural and subjective features of political-economic life are problematized in the discourse of conditionality and subsequently targeted for transformation through the work of instruments and agents of conditionality operating in a variety of institutional contexts. On this basis, I analyze conditionality as practice – tracing the emergence of instruments of conditionality currently at work in the Republic of Macedonia through official documents produced by the EU and the Republic of Macedonia from 2001-2011. I then examine the ambitions and limits of the Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013 (OP-HRD) – a program tasked with translating the aims of conditionality on paper into concrete activities for implementation in the fields of employment, education and training, and social inclusion. I outline some limits to the program derived from personal interviews with officials of the EU and the Republic of Macedonia who work to implement the OP-HRD "on the ground." In reflecting on these limitations, I return to the political economy of disharmony, concluding that constraints on the operation of conditionality in practice are not merely the product of technical and political impediments but are also derived from inherent limits to the old dream of political-economic harmony to which the ambitions of conditionality are ultimately directed. Ph. D.

Never before have developing nations been able to compete at the international level, both economically and militarily. But, we are currently in an age where developing nations, such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China, are able to develop so rapidly that they are able to excel within the international economy, which allows for an increased investment in military and technological capabilities. Consequently, these rapidly developing nations are able to influence the international system. To see how much of an effect these rapidly developing nations are having within the international system, they will be measured against 5 indicators that correlate with becoming a rising regional hegemon, a feature of a multi-polar system. The multi-polar international system that we see emerging is contrary to Kenneth Waltz's assertion that a multi-polar international system is unstable, and a bi-polar international system is preferred. New global conditions indicate that Waltz's analysis may not stand the test of time. Master of Arts

This thesis explores the effect that nationalism had on the spread of communism to Vietnam and Cuba during the first half of the twentieth century. Using a case studies approach to analyze the revolution of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and Fidel Castro in Cuba, the thesis seeks to determine the extent to which nationalism directed these revolutions and their turn to communism once assuming power. The study examines the conditions that existed in each country that allowed for a nationalist revolution to be successful, and the beliefs and rhetoric of Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro, the primary figures of each revolution. The thesis seeks to add to the research conducted on the power that nationalism had in the Third World from the early 1900s to 1960, and it wishes to contribute to the factors that must be considered by foreign policy makers when pursuing military action or nation-building abroad. The research shows that nationalism played a significant role in bringing communism to Vietnam and Cuba, yet due to the difficulty in measuring a core human feeling like nationalism, other factors cannot be discounted. Master of Arts

The 2008 eurozone financial crisis has only worsened as of summer 2011 raising questions about the economic future of the eurozone and sending shock waves through economies around the world. Greece was the first state to receive a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, surprisingly followed only six months later by Ireland. The goal of this thesis is to analyze the challenges posed to smaller, weaker economies within the eurozone, specifically Greece and Ireland, since the recent eurozone financial crisis. This study is based on the experiences of both Greece and Ireland as very different members of the single currency. How and why did these states meet the criteria for euro convergence? To what extent was there support for the euro in both countries in the past? To what extent is there support today after the near collapse of both economies and the rescue packages brought about by the EU? As a result of the recent financial crisis, Greece and Ireland are facing difficulties with the terms of European economic and monetary union. Since these smaller economies are, among other reasons, unable to devalue the currency in order to regain economic competitiveness as members of the single currency, they are recognizing that the eurozone's economic structure may not adequately address their national economic vulnerabilities during times of crisis. Because of this and the worsening economic conditions in both Greece and Ireland in 2011, I hypothesize that these states are "fraying" the edges of the eurozone, or increasingly degrading the eurozone's specific economic relationships, and demonstrating this through a growing skepticism of the economic benefits to smaller, weaker economies as members of the eurozone. Additionally, citizens of both states are indicating this skepticism by increasingly separating from the parties and policies that support eurozone membership in their states, as demonstrated by the political shifts in each state since the crisis began. In order to study the phenomenon of "fraying" and address the question of the challenges posed to the smaller, weaker economies and their incorporation into the eurozone, I analyze the effects of the debt crisis in Greece and Ireland in terms of the EU/IMF bailouts, the austerity measures each state took in response to the crisis, and the resulting national political changes. I found that neither Greek nor Irish citizens were unequivocally growing skeptical of their membership in the single currency. In fact, citizens in both states still support the idea of the euro. However, there did appear to be a certain element of dislocation of support between these two states and the eurozone in the aversion each has to the terms of their bailouts. The empirical work to study this question includes secondary scholarly reading, national and supranational monetary and political policy analysis, and analysis of national and supranational economic indicators. The three main topics analyzed in this study are the EU/IMF bailouts, the austerity measures taken in each state due to the crisis, and what may be the resulting national political changes. The effects of the three key issue areas discussed in this thesis are studied in both Greece and Ireland. Master of Arts

The Escuela Nueva is a unique non-governmental organization which has collaborated with the Colombian Ministry of Education, the Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers, and corporate partners to improve access to and quality of education. The Escuela Nueva Foundation enacts policies based on the political belief that all children should have the basic right to an education. The most visible way that the Escuela Nueva promotes this belief is through the implementation of multi-grade classrooms, where more advanced students aid those who are younger or further behind in their studies. The Escuela Nueva classroom model was implemented in 1977 as a response to the shortcomings in teacher training and replicability that were the downfall of earlier attempts to implement multi-grade models in rural Colombia. The gradual growth and continual improvements to their model has afforded the Escuela Nueva Foundation a level of immunity from state intervention that few other non-state actors enjoy. Although the Colombian state government has historically been opposed to those non-state actors with overtly political goals, the cost-effective and competitive services provided by the Escuela Nueva programs, like their multi-grade schools and Learning Circles, acted as a strong incentive for allowing this organization's work to continue. Organizations like the Escuela Nueva, particularly those that partner with public and private actors to achieve service-oriented goals, play an important role in Colombia, creating new social forums where individuals can share their political identities and beliefs in a way that affects real change in the communities where they live. Master of Arts

My dissertation explores the relationship between journals and the political. Using the modern examples of The Public Interest and Telos, I analyze how critical journals write politics. As a scholar, I am interested in writing practices and how they shape epistemologies, ontologies, and Weltanschauungen; in essence, how they act as narratives of power. The practice I have undertaken to study in this dissertation is the practice of reviewing. The etymology of the word "review" is "to see again." Tracing the review form to its institutionalization in the early 19th century in Great Britain and bringing it forward to the late 20th century in the United States, I analyze how critical journals "see again," whether they challenge how the state "sees," or whether they conform to the state's view. I argue that by writing about politics and re-viewing the state's writing of politics, critical journals also contribute to the wrighting (or making) of political realities. Ph. D.

The politicization of military forces is not a development of the 21st century. Throughout history, armies have taken on roles traditionally relegated to non-military entities and accepted the notion that the actions of even the most junior members of their force may have substantial political implications. The development of the politicization of the U.S. military in Iraq since 2003 has been particularly ubiquitous. Although the politicization of military forces is not a recent development, little effort has been made to locate the manner in which the politicization has been reflected by the doctrines included in the U.S. Army Counterinsurgency Field Manual (FM 3-24). I hypothesize that the doctrines included in FM 3-24 not only codified many systemic strategic and tactical changes for the U.S. military, but also supported the politicization of the military in the 21st century. I conclude that while not at the level I initially suspected, the doctrines included in the FM 3-24 reflected the politicization of the U.S. military in Iraq following its release in early 2007. Master of Arts

This study concerns the terms liberalism, the political, democracy, and liberal democracy focusing on the application of the terms in the discourse of two distinct political theorists: Carl Schmitt and Sheldon S. Wolin. I address the question of whether similarities exist between Schmitt and Wolin's theories? Specifically, are there similarities in their use of the terms listed above? Although both emphasize different aspects of the terms, I suggest they simultaneously share similar perspectives on them. In particular, I suggest that Schmitt and Wolin share in common attributes in their views on the purported problematic of liberal democracy. Furthermore, I suggest both theorists speak to the general concern that if the political cannot be realized, then democracy cannot be practice. Master of Arts

This thesis uses ideas found in Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish and related works as a theoretic framework for examining daily life in North Korea to understand what type of disciplinary techniques North Korean citizens are subjected to by the North Korean state. This paper will define several disciplinary strategies discussed by Foucault and then show how these strategies are deployed against the North Korean population through multiple examples. Analysis will demonstrate that these disciplinary strategies prevent political instability and suppress ideas dangerous to the North Korean regime, even while the North Korean regime fails to provide basic services for its population. As a result, the reader will have a better understanding of why the North Korean people seem so disciplined and do not rebel against the North Korean regime in the face of state-made disasters and hardships. Master of Arts

The myth of the citizen-soldier resonates strongly in the American imagination and helps (re)construct America the nation. The construction of this myth in the historical context of World War II is especially prominent in contemporary American culture. The myth of the World War II citizen-soldier functions as an individualized discursive formation with specific rules of formation. I contextualize the construction of this individualized discursive formation within the historical era of World War II, and show how it excludes in direct contradiction to the ideals of civic nationalism that shaped the concept of national citizenship of that era. The United States military, which changed to an All Volunteer Force in 1973, functions as a neoliberal state apparatus in modern America. However, the United States Military still largely relies on the rules of formation and the ideals of civic nationalism in order to recruit volunteers for its forces. Traces of the myths of World War II, particularly the myth of the citizen-soldier, can still be found in the United States Army's recruitment material in its current "Army Strong" campaign despite the contradictory ideals of civic nationalism and neoliberalism. I conduct a Critical Discourse Analysis of three recruitment television commercials from the "Army Strong" campaign aired in 2009. I explain how the United States Army uses both the ideals of civic nationalism and the characteristics of neoliberalism in order to encourage potential recruits to join its ranks. Master of Arts

This paper examines the Army Community Covenant, a formal document intended to strengthen the official and unofficial relationships between U.S. Army posts in the United States with their surrounding civilian communities. Critical Discourse Analysis is applied to trace the genealogy of the verbal and visual constructs and semiotics of the document, from the rhetoric of George Washington that acculturated the Continental Army to the present day, and considering the perspectives of nationalism and familial relationships in the deliberate selection of key terminologies. This research concludes with the recognition of the documents' potential effects, both positive and negative, upon its intended participants and audience, and proposes extensions for further research in the areas of the U.S. Army and army families, as well as the perceptions of identity and struggles for representation that exist. Master of Arts

In recent cinematic history, films have often expressed through the experiences of characters an 'existential moment' in which fundamental assumptions about life are questioned and potentially rendered meaningless. The purpose of this project is to follow two accounts of this expressed moment in the 1999 films American Beauty and Fight Club, understanding them as such through particular readings of the philosophical articulations of Albert Camus. I analyze the social climates of liberalism and consumerism that might account for these expressions of discontent and anxiety at the same time I evaluate the validity of existential thought in the contemporary social world. Ultimately, I question what kinds of political qualms absurdity might render, using film experience as a venue to understand and evaluate these questions. Master of Arts

Using Michel Foucault and Edward Said's theoretical contributions regarding discursive formations, this thesis performs a critical discourse analysis of the anti-immigration discourse in America; a flawed rhetoric that uses the power of language to create is own truth. The ultimate research question of this thesis asks what can be learned about the discursive formations of the anti-immigration rhetoric from Foucault and Said's contributions. To begin, varying aspects of discourse are discussed, such as non-critical and critical discourse analysis. The concept of discourse, as will be used in this thesis, is heavily indebted to the scholarly work of Michel Foucault. As such, a review of Foucault's contributions showing how discourse allows some to gain power over others and then to create a self-sustaining truth will be used as a base from which all argument shall be built. Next, this thesis explores Said's discourse theory, which extends Foucault's concept of discourse to claim that those in power often assert a knowledge of others that is not accurate, but serves the purpose of maintaining a dominating status over them. This is followed by a critical discourse analysis of texts produced by key authors in the American anti-immigration discourse such as Samuel Huntington, Tom Tancredo, and Pat Buchanan in order to provide insight into their anti-immigration rhetoric. In conclusion, by unpacking the anti-immigration discourse, the reader will discover a discursive method that clearly parallels that which is so heavily critiqued by Foucault and Said, namely the construction of knowledge through inaccurate and flawed discourses. Master of Arts

This thesis argues that the North Korean model of government is a unique model that is influenced, to varying degrees, by extreme leftist and rightist doctrines, including Marxism-Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, fascism, and Nazism; and shares at least some similarities with all these established models. Rather than being a mere political model, the North Korean model is a political religion that incorporates traits of each of the above-noted models with Korean mythology, Confucianism, extreme militarism, and traditional Korean xenophobia, isolation, and fierce nationalism. The resulting system, identified in this thesis as Kimilsungism, combines with North Korea's unique juche ideology of national self-reliance and self-actualization to absolutely subordinate the needs of the citizenry to the will of the state. It further serves to deify the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, and his son — and current ruler — Kim Jong-il, via a pervasive propaganda apparatus and cult of personality that has successfully created an alternate reality that the regime can exploit and manipulate as it sees fit. Master of Arts

In modern societies foreigners are implicated in the resolution of the problem of state sovereignty. This paper clarifies how foreign groups can be used by the state to reconstitute the nation in such a way that vulnerabilities are mended. Michel Foucault's racism and bio-politics are used as conceptual tools to gain insight on how the perpetually open question of who belongs and who does not belong to the population might be settled. This theoretical problem is illustrated with the help of case studies on two significant "crisis moments" for the Swiss state: the arrival of the Hungarian refugees in the late 1950s and the arrival of the Bosnian refugees in the early to mid 1990s. Master of Arts

The continued commitment to and assertion of the primacy of the sovereign state within international relations theory has resulted in a discourse which theorizes and examines only those issues and conflicts of international politics which can be made to fit neatly within the prism of the neorealist discourse. As such, there exists a void in the examination of such issues as the nature and possibilities of alternative forms of political community, or into the political and economic effects these alternative forms of political community (such as social, economic, religious and environmental) pose to the traditional state and the envisioning of a global society. The aim of this thesis is two-fold: first, to renew interest and inquiry into the discursive limitations of the neorealist discourse of difference and negation; and secondly, to call attention to how the practical and discursive constraints of the neorealist conception of the state as political community effects the ability of international relations theory to address current conflicts and issues on the international stage. The intent of this analysis is to spark a renewed interest in exploring not only the emergence of new forms of political community but the possibility of being able to speak about these new forms within a discourse of international relations. Only through a commitment to the critical examination of its discourse can international relations theory uncover new ways to re-envision such concepts as political community and international politics. Master of Arts

In the Israel-Palestinian conflict, peace conferences and agreements come and go. Public and political discourse about the conflict waxes and wanes. Meanwhile, new and expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank continue to grow unabated. The history of settlements in the West Bank began with the conclusion of the 1967 war during which Israel successfully took over the West Bank Palestinian territory. According to international law, building settlements in the West Bank is illegal. Israel contends that such settlements are not illegal because the West Bank is disputed territory, not occupied territory. The possibility of a Palestinian state is likely preempted because Israeli settlements comprise close to 40% of the landmass in the occupied territory. The occupation of the West Bank (and Gaza) and the continuing growth of settlements are a perversion of classic political realism because these actions create an increased threat to the long-term national security of Israel and to the safety of the global Jewish community. Master of Arts

The dominant ideology within the illegal immigration discourse in the US primarily faults illegal workers for the problem by highlighting the act of illegally entering the US as the origin of the problem. As the dominant ideology goes, illegal immigrants evade law enforcement at the border; they deceive employers to secure work. They disrupt labor markets by lowering wages which displaces lower class US workers. The illegal immigrants and their families abuse social services that they do not pay into at the US taxpayers expense. They form ethnic enclaves, and those who remain in the US resist assimilation into US culture. So the story goes. This thesis challenges this dominant ideology, a subset of the illegal immigration discourse, by documenting decades of immigration law in the US created to serve US employers' demand for labor, and alternately, closing the immigrant worker pipeline when it suited the government's political objectives or the special interests of employers. Loopholes in the immigration laws have tended to insulate employers from prosecution. Meanwhile, undocumented workers have faced lower wages and increased risk. This thesis examines what constitutes the dominant ideology of the illegal immigration discourse. It also includes a discourse analysis of illegal immigration by reviewing national, regional, and local media coverage of the simultaneous raids in December 2006 of six Midwest meat processing plants operated by Swift & Company. The discourse analysis explores media coverage of the raids conducted by the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The raids led to the arrest of 1,282 suspected illegal immigrants, and the analysis will attempt to understand to what extent media coverage supports or challenges the dominant ideology of the illegal immigration discourse. Master of Arts

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran has visibly increased its work towards developing a nuclear program. This is alarming to many because Iran's ambitions for its nuclear program are unclear and whether it is on a quest for nuclear weapons is unknown. The Iranian government is largely anti-West, anti-Israel, and now, with the downfall of Iraq, is in a position to spread its influence throughout the Middle East. This thesis examines the evolution of the Iranian nuclear program, the relationship between the United States and Iran and how this relationship will likely have a significant influence on the ability of Iran to develop a nuclear program. The goal is to assess the current status of the situation and examine the possible policies the United States could implement towards Iran and its nuclear program. Master of Arts

The Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, is the most important festival in China. On every Lunar New Year's Eve since 1983, the state-run China Central TV (CCTV), the only national TV station in China, has held a celebrating gala. This thesis attempts to examine the CCTV Spring Festival Galas as a case study of China's statist nationalism. The research questions of this thesis are: what techniques and technologies have the CCTV Spring Festival Galas used to construct a Chinese national space? How have the CCTV Spring Festival Galas describe the Chinese national space? And what changes have taken place in these techniques and technologies as well as in the descriptions? To answer these questions, this thesis conducts a comparative research, comparing both the commonalities and differences between the galas of 1984-86 and those of 2004-06. Employing an interpretative textual analysis approach, it analyzes the videos of these six years' galas and explores the political meanings of words and programs in the galas. This thesis finds that in order to imagine a united Chinese national space, the galas mainly represent China in terms of classes, ethnic groups and places. With the presence of minorities and people from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, the galas focus on the boundary of the Chinese nation to construct the unity of China. Furthermore, in order to construct the greatness of this united Chinese national space, the galas use heroes and sites to symbolize China. The presence of traditional elements helps create a temporal dimension of the Chinese national space. As a result of, and in response to, the socio-economic changes in the last two decades, the techniques and technologies used by the galas have changed. Besides the great changes in stage settings and technologies, the major changes in the techniques include: in the 2004-06 galas, hosts play a much more important role in interpreting the political meanings of the programs and presenting the state's nationalist narrative to the audience, the Chinese Communist Party occupies a more central place in the galas, and home increasingly means individual family instead of the country of China. Correspondingly, the way the galas treat singers, actors, and hosts from Hong Kong and Taiwan has also changed. Master of Arts

According to Michel Foucault, life has become the focus of an infinite amount of both micro and macro management strategies, the point of which being to optimize health and to prolong life. Foucault labeled such strategies as " bio-power." While bio-power exists on many levels of society, my focus has been on certain medical technologies that have helped to expose the political nature of death by calling into question the time of death and who decides it. As the line between life and death has become more and more indistinct, Giorgio Agamben has argued that bio-politics turns into "thanatopolitics" — a politics of death. As Agamben argues, death is not a biological moment but a political decision. In this study I will focus specifically on reconsidering the relations of power surrounding the decision to stop preserving life in the particular space of the hospital room. I will then attempt to consider how our exposure to death in this space of power might be resisted using both the insights of Foucault and Agamben. Master of Arts