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  • Publication
    Digital Frontlines: The Emerging Role of Cryptocurrencies in Hybrid Warfare & Geopolitics
    (College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal (CUREJ), 2023-04-30) Stephanie Hwang
    As the digital landscape has evolved over the past several decades, scholars have noted that cyberspace has emerged as a new frontier for conflict, challenging conventional war paradigms and revealing the limitations of existing legal and normative frameworks. Amidst this evolving landscape, cryptocurrencies both present high economic promise and highlight the need for necessary safeguards to ensure that their economic potential is not compromised. This thesis delves into the potential exploitation of cryptocurrencies by the Axis of Autocracy, the subsequent consequences for the global geopolitical landscape, and the wisdom gleaned from the international community's past experiences with geopolitical destabilization. By focusing on Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), namely North Korea's Lazarus Group, this research highlights the innovative and disruptive nature of hybrid warfare within the cryptocurrency realm. It underscores the dual-edged nature of cryptocurrencies: as instruments of significant economic empowerment and innovation, and as tools potentially manipulated in the service of hybrid warfare. The analysis scrutinizes the geopolitical threat posed by APTs’ use of crypto as a means of waging hybrid war against the West, emphasizing the importance of global collaboration and regulatory oversight to harness the full potential of cryptocurrencies while mitigating their vulnerabilities. In an era marked by the continuous blurring of boundaries between peace and conflict, this thesis offers invaluable insights and recommendations for policymakers, finance experts, and academics striving to understand and address the complexities of cybersecurity and international relations in promoting a stable global order.
  • Publication
    Combating McCarthyism: A Comparative Analysis of Truman and Eisenhower’s Approaches
    (2024) Jeremy Ashe
    McCarthyism was a prominent force in early 1950s American politics, spearheaded by Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. Both President Harry S. Truman and President Dwight D. Eisenhower acknowledged the dangers associated with this type of demagoguery and attempted their own unique approach to combating it. Specifically, Truman’s approach directly and publicly confronted McCarthy, while Eisenhower’s approach silently and bureaucratically undermined McCarthy’s influence in Congress and the Republican party. Although there is extensive literature on McCarthyism, Truman’s approach, and Eisenhower’s approach, there is a significant gap in the comparison between the two approaches and in analyzing them in terms of crucial psychological components of McCarthyism, specifically in-group and out-group thinking and anti-intellectualism. This paper seeks to fill that gap by comparing the Truman and Eisenhower approaches and providing additional analysis of their respective effectiveness. This effectiveness is determined by the ability to diminish McCarthy’s appeal among the public and congressional peers and his capacity to shape political landscapes through investigations and agenda-setting. To do so, I examined presidential speeches, press conferences, meeting notes, and political maneuvering in order to investigate each president’s approach. I also applied existing literature on intergroup leadership and misinformation corrections to each approach in conjunction with polling data and shifts in political alliances in order to analyze each approach’s effectiveness. I argue that Truman’s approach failed to stop McCarthy’s political influence in Congress and with the public due to Truman’s lack of ethos and trust among McCarthy supporters and the threatening nature of his attacks. The Eisenhower approach, on the other hand, effectively ended McCarthyism by undermining his support among Republicans, caused largely by Eisenhower’s trust among Republicans and the general public and his savvy political actions that made his agenda more receptive to McCarthy supporters in Congress. Finally, I briefly examine contemporary politics in light of McCarthyism by providing an explanation for Donald Trump’s political prowess through the Truman approach and potential remedies to his power through the Eisenhower approach.
  • Publication
    Utilitarianism and Animal Rights
    (2024-05) Anderson, Dana
    This paper considers two potential methods, both based in utilitarianism, that can be used to grant animals a higher moral status. The first of these methods is an “animal-centric utility” based argument which seeks to decrease harm in non-human animals and increase non-human utility. The second of these methods is an “anthropocentric utility” based argument which seeks to decrease harm in human beings and increase human utility. Though both methods are generally effective at promoting animals receiving a higher moral status, the anthropocentric utility method is ultimately more persuasive for convincing society as a whole. Because of how normalized animal consumption has been throughout history, religious narratives, and human philosophy, the argument to give animals a higher moral status must continue to place homo sapiens at the forefront of the argument; people are more likely to be persuaded to benefit themselves as opposed to benefiting someone - or something – else. This paper analyzes these two methods and provides various avenues for implementing stronger animal rights.
  • Publication
    Welcoming the "Killer Robot": Understanding International Variability in Lethal Autonomous Weapon System Bans
    (2024-05-19) Harrison Montoya, Carmen
    What explains the variability in between nations' choices to ban lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS)? Also known as "killer robots," LAWS are a class of weapons that are able to engage and destroy a target without the need for human intervention. Despite disagreement on their definition and existence, nations and intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations have already begun debating how LAWS could be used or misused, publicly voicing their stances on the possibility of banning LAWS once they emerge. Stark variations have since developed between stances on a possible ban of LAWS, yet explanations and analyses of nations' stances are lacking. What would compel a nation to legalize the development and use of LAWS or generate bans against them? Employing a comparative case study analysis, my research categorizes stances on LAWS through a nation's humanitarian beliefs, democratic status, and ability to develop LAWS in the near future, theorizing and analyzing which factor would contribute the greatest to a nation's decision to develop or ban LAWS. Cases will encompass the United States, Brazil, China, Russia, and Egypt. Through my comparative case study analysis, I uncover that each hypothesis is proven equally true, and more complex conversations must be had regarding decision-making processes to develop or ban LAWS. Employing these findings, I hope to provide a framework for the likely international development of LAWS and contribute a novel perspective of the future of international security policy and military automation to both academics and policymakers alike.
  • Publication
    Denying Democracy: Exploring the Electoral Penalty for Election Denial in the 2022 House Midterms
    (2023-05-01) Leghari, Sarem Ahmed Khan
    It is critical to assess the capacity and willingness of voters to check politicians’ anti-democratic behaviors. The 2022 midterms were the first nationwide opportunity for voters to hold Republican candidates accountable for endorsing President Trump’s “Big Lie,” which severely threatened democracy. 60% of GOP candidates in the 2022 midterms were election deniers. Previous research has either studied which congressmen objected to the electoral college’s certification or assessed the electoral penalty in statewide races in 2022. This analysis employs OLS regression modeling to explore the electoral penalty for election denial across 404 House midterm elections. First, using an OLS regression model, I explore the factors influencing GOP candidates’ election denial. Election deniers were more likely to run in districts that contained voters which were more racially diverse, less educated, and more supportive of Trump in 2020. Second, the politicization of election denial significantly blunts voters’ capacity to electorally penalize election deniers. As a result, these candidates face a limited electoral penalty. I attribute this limited penalty to bipartisan pro-democracy messaging from political elites and persuasion effects among independent voters. This electoral penalty doubled in districts that were either highly competitive or significantly favored Trump in 2020. Third, while election-accepting GOP incumbents do not face more competitive primaries, prominently visible critics of election deniers mostly lost their primaries. These findings indicate that despite this limited electoral penalty, the GOP has strong incentives to continue defending Trump’s “Big Lie.” The primary losses of prominent pro-democracy voices exacerbate the GOP’s turn towards election denial.
  • Publication
    The Puzzling Persistence of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
    (2009-05-13) King, Elizabeth D
  • Publication
    Language Policy and National Unity: The Dilemma of the Kurdish Language in Turkey
    (2009-03-30) Cemiloglu, Dicle
    Linguistic diversity has emerged as a major source of conflict affecting the stability of numerous political entities around the world. Language policy makers often face the question of accommodating the needs of linguistically diverse communities. This paper examines the motivations, aims, and consequences of the Turkish state’s language policies in regards to the Kurdish language. The study also attempts to answer the question of why the status of the Kurdish language recently changed from an officially “prohibited language” to “a free language” in Turkey.
  • Publication
    The Republican Security Logic of NATO Enlargement
    (2009-05-12) Zarin-Rosenfeld, Jack
    This study attempts a theoretical explanation for the United States' leadership on NATO enlargement, under the past three administrations.
  • Publication
  • Publication
    The Chinese Primary Care System: Its Evolution, Challenges and Legal Aspects of Reform
    (2009-04-01) Hou, Thomas
    There has been much interest in China and abroad in the Chinese health care system and its legal system. To date, however, there has not been adequate study tying legal reform and health care reform in China. This paper seeks to bridge those disciplines by studying, for many reasons, the most crucial aspect of the Chinese health care system: the primary care system. The author examines herein recent efforts at reform in primary care, and explores some major legal and policy issues relating to both the national and local governments’ efforts at reform, and also citizens’ efforts using the expanding power of the legal system. For this study, the author looked at other academic and government studies on the Chinese health care system and its legal system. He also attended and reviewed presentations and interviewed professors with direct knowledge of the situation in China. The research shows that the Chinese primary care system, and in fact its entire health care system, is undergoing tremendous change and faces similar problems as the United States. National-local government differences in responsibilities might hamper efforts at reform while changes in administrative law have empowered citizens to a degree, although they still depend on the government to take action. Overall, China would likely need to find a culturally acceptable and practically workable balance between national and local power, and between governmental and citizen responsibility, in achieving health care reform.