Placement Candidates
Matthew Ellis
Fields of Study: International Security, Territory, Irregular Warfare, GIS
Dissertation Title: Short-of-War Strategies in the Context of Territorial Conquest
Committee: Keith Shimko (Chair), Swati Srivastava, Kyle Haynes
Summary: What is the role of short-of-war strategies in territorial conquest between states? In 2014, Russia invaded and, within days, annexed the Crimean Peninsula without starting a larger conflict with Ukraine and NATO members. The event led to a puzzling concern by policymakers and international security personnel: How was Russia so successful in carrying out its conquest against Ukraine? Researchers have since identified Russia’s use of short-of-war strategies as the most influential reason for their successful acquisition. That said, the role of short-of-war strategies in territorial conquests requires further analysis.
This dissertation is motivated by the renewed concern for great power territorial conquests in the 21st Century. I focus on “repeat offenders,” those states that have continually and repeatedly pursued territorial conquest since World War One. I focus on conquests with great power disparities between the aggressor state and the target state. My cases include Germany’s seizing of Austria and Czechoslovakia (1930-1940), Argentina’s territorial expansion efforts under the el Proceso military junta (1976-1982), and the People’s Republic of China’s continual incursion into Philippine territory (1995-2020). My analysis makes three significant contributions to the international relations field. 1) I create a new typology for short-of-war strategies for salient examination 2) I develop a conflict matrix to identify the risks and plausible deniability of strategic decisions missing from the International Relations field 3) Using the historical-comparative method, I lay the theoretical foundations for understanding how states take territory in the modern-day.
Kaleigh Karageorge
CV |
Fields of Study: Public policy, environmental politics and policy, social movement studies
Dissertation Title: Coalitions, Autonomy, and Justice: Preserving Self-Determination in the United States Environmental Justice Movement
Committee: Leigh Raymond (co-chair), Rosalee Clawson (co-chair), Rachel Einwohner, Tara Grillos
Summary: My dissertation explores local autonomy in partnerships between grassroots environmental justice (EJ) groups and large environmental NGOs (ENGOs) in the United States EJ Movement. Using community-engaged and mixed-methods approaches, I present a theoretical model of the mechanisms driving local autonomy loss and maintenance in these partnerships, and then empirically test it. By using original survey data and process tracing two partnerships, I identify the critical role of trust and mutual respect between partners in preserving local autonomy, but also discover their limitations in fully safeguarding it. Situated at the intersection of public policy and social movement studies, these findings contribute to understanding how grassroots voices can best be amplified as EJ rises to the forefront of several policy initiatives.
Kaitlin Kelly-Thompson
Fields of Study: Public Policy
Dissertation Title: There is Power in a Plaza: Social Movements, Democracy and Spatial Politics
Committee: S. Laurel Weldon (Chair), Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, Rachel Einwohner, and Molly Scudder
Summary: My dissertation uses a mixed-methods approach to interrogate the relationship between the city, as a built and lived environment, and the inclusion of marginalized groups within social movements. Using the Gezi Park protests in Turkey in 2013 and the Women’s Marches in Boston, San. Antonio, and Pittsburgh in 2017, I develop a theoretical explanation for why the built environment can encourage inclusion of diverse groups within movements and the potential effects this can have on local democracy. I then test my expectations through a series of statistical analyses of the 2017 Women’s Marches, using an original dataset. Through this project, I find that the space of the city effects movements ability to develop inclusion, not only when activists are making direct claims to space, as in the Gezi case, but also when activists come together for more abstract goals, as in the case of the Women’s Marches.
Jieyeon Kim
CV |
Fields of Study: International Relations
Dissertation Title: Understanding the Participation of Middle Powers in United Nations Peacekeeping: Case Studies of Canada and the Republic of Korea
Committee: Ann Marie Clark (Chair), James A. McCann, Mark Tilton, Kyle Haynes
Summary: This dissertation investigates the involvement of middle powers in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKOs), specifically focusing on Canada and the Republic of Korea. The primary objective of this research is to comprehend the motives and behaviors of middle powers when engaging in peacekeeping efforts and to identify the key factors that influence their decisions. To achieve this goal, a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and documentary analyses, is employed. The analysis draws data from government documents, reports, academic articles, and United Nations databases.
The political, security, economic, institutional, and normative rationales identified by Bellamy and Williams (2013) have a substantial influence on the involvement of middle powers in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKOs). Although some rationales might hold greater prominence, the study recognizes that each rationale affects the choices made by middle powers to participate in UNPKOs. The research presents five hypotheses aimed at elucidating middle powers' engagement in UNPKOs and investigates the factors influencing countries' decisions to take part in these operations, particularly focusing on middle powers. The case studies of Canada and the Republic of Korea provide valuable insights into the diverse factors influencing middle powers' engagement in UNPKOs.
The study's findings hold implications for policymakers and practitioners in the field of middle powers and peacekeeping operations. Comprehending the factors influencing middle powers and their motivations can guide the development of effective strategies for engaging these actors and leveraging their unique capabilities in achieving peace and security objectives.
Sky Kunkel
CV Personal Website
Fields of study: International Relations, Political Methodology
Dissertation Title: The Local Effects of UN Peacekeeping
Committee: Kyle Haynes (Chair), Liana Eustacia Reyes, Giancarlo Visconti, Michael Greig
Summary What are the effects of UN Peacekeepers? Existing research concludes that more peacekeepers lead to less violence. However, primarily conducted at the cross-national level, whether these findings transfer to the subnational or local level remains to be determined. Applying a novel theoretical framework, I emphasize local features of peacekeepers that may impact their effectiveness at decreasing violence, specifically temporal, geospatial, and gender. Using quantitative methods, they find that women peacekeepers are vital in decreasing violence, but timing and location condition this relationship. My research adds nuance to the peacekeeping effectiveness literature. It has implications for how, when, and where to move peacekeepers and their demographic composition.
Catalina Vega Mendez
Field of study: Migration Policy, Comparative Political Behavior, and Latin American Politics.
Dissertation title: Migration-Driven Demographic Changes and Political Attitudes: Understanding Populist Shifts in the Global South.
Committee: James McCann (Co-Chair), Giancarlo Visconti (Co-Chair), Ann Marie Clark, Natasha T. Duncan.
Summary: This dissertation investigates the impact of migration-induced demographic shifts on preexisting latent factors, such as economic and cultural grievances, among South American voters. The study seeks to uncover the mechanisms driving these differential effects, which subsequently influence voters' leanings toward supporting left-wing or right-wing populist candidates. To explore the ramifications of a significant influx of Venezuelan migrants on the concerns of host citizens regarding public goods and national identity in the Global South, this research employs a combination of both administrative and survey data. Data is gathered from ten primary host countries in Latin America: Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Mexico. Additionally, I conduct in-depth case studies in Colombia and Chile. The research methodology employs a difference-in-differences design to assess the impact of exposure to the migration crisis before and after the substantial immigration influx in 2017 on latent economic and cultural grievances.
Hanna Sistek
Fields of study: Comparative Politics, International Relations, Research Methods
Dissertation Title: Structural Incentives for Politicians to Manipulate Domestic Opinion
Dissertation Committee: Cherie Maestas (Chair), Andy Baker, Mollie Cohen, Marcus Mann
Summary: My dissertation is motivated by the global rise of far-right parties and the dismantling of democratic institutions. I seek to understand current norm shifts in acceptability of false and misleading information from political leaders. I offer a novel “reputational cost theory of disinformation,” suggesting that reputational cost for using disinformation have been lowered by societal changes like affective polarization and media fractionalization. Polarization increases acceptability of undemocratic behavior by co-partisans, especially in two-party systems where the distance to the voting alternative is large. A media landscape where news is reported differently across outlets lowers the common factual baseline in society. Parties that already have a low reputation have less to lose from lying. I also find that far-right parties have benefited disproportionately from the digitization of the public sphere and from external shocks like financial- and refugee crises, but also from their status as underdogs and exploitation of existing grievances. I use mixed methods, with large N analysis of all democracies, interview case studies of Sweden, Czechia and Germany and a survey experiment in the U.S. My research adds to our understanding of how far-right leaders gain power and manage to dismantle democracies.
Sharonda Woodford
Fields of Study: American Politics; Identity Politics; and Public Policy
Dissertation Title: Responsibility for Housing Matters: News Media Frames of Housing Crises During Hurricane Katrina, The Great Recession, and COVID-19
Committee: Rosalee Clawson (Chair), Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, Patricia Boling, and Jennifer Freeman-Marshall
Summary: Housing is an issue that affects all individuals in society. People have firsthand experiences with housing on a daily basis. Housing is also a macro issue that is affected by and has implications for the nation’s economy and public policy. Despite the centrality of housing for individuals and society, few scholars have examined media coverage of housing issues and housing policy. This gap is especially problematic when considering the critical role the housing market has during times of national crisis and the potential the media have to shape perceptions of housing policy and the economy. In this project, I examine media framing of housing and housing policies between 2005 and 2020 in the New York Times. I investigate whether housing is framed in episodic or thematic ways and how housing media frames change in response to crises. In addition, I pay particular attention to whether housing media frames are racialized.