Political Science

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    Neocolonialism in New York City: Urban Planning Through Critical Theory
    (Wheaton College (MA), 2021) Dionne, Emily
    Most land use proposals in New York City must be approved through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). Within this process, the Department of City Planning, the City Planning Commission, the City Council and the Mayor each hold binding positions in relation to those in the community. This disproportionate power distribution results in a pattern where community voices are continually and systematically marginalized. In response, neighborhoods have formed coalitions, associations and grassroots organizations across the city in order to advocate for themselves and resist unjust planning measures. Through interviews with individuals involved with neighborhood housing movements, this study listens and learns from local narratives about how they have been impacted by city planning initiatives. These conversations reflect how individuals are reclaiming their power on personal and communal levels in order to create more equitable cities for themselves and for future generations. Additionally, these interviews are directly juxtaposed with the dominant narratives of city government officials gathered from media sources and government publications. Motivated by emancipatory and hermeneutic pre-knowledge interests, this study utilizes the Frankfurt School’s Critical Theory and Michel Foucault’s methodology of “insurrection of subjugated voices,” in order to recognize the systems of inequality that are perpetuated by the institution of urban planning in New York City. Within this theoretical framework, the findings of this research emphasize that the current legal arrangements of urban planning structurally sideline community voices by valuing a neoliberal approach to constructing the city. By continually prioritizing quantitative factors and profit over real human costs, the institution of urban planning in New York City reveals its neocolonial characteristics.
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    Great Powers Manipulating Norms: US, Chinese and Russian Approaches to the Responsibility to Protect.
    (Wheaton College (MA)., 2021-05-16) Parent, Lauryn
    The Responsibility to Protect is a set of principles that commit countries to protect civilian populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. This thesis sets out to explore the extent to which powerful states' narrow political and economic interests override the call to protect civilian populations by looking at how three permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, China, and Russia - have responded to various crises where the R2P could be invoked. Through a comparative case study analysis of five humanitarian crises qualifying for the invocation of the R2P, I determined that intervention was only permissible when these three countries did not stand to lose a critical security interest throughout the process. I ultimately conclude that these three countries invoke the R2P only when it concurs with their narrow security or economic interests, rather than on the basis of a threat to civilian populations
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    Fighting the war on drugs: how presidential administrations produce distinct policing regimes
    (Wheaton College. (Norton, Mass.), 2020-05-10) Murray, Samuel
    This paper seeks to explain the war on drugs through a creation of a policing regime typology. This typology is constructed by examining the distinctions between legislation, presidential rhetoric, and administrative goals. It is applied to the case administrations of Nixon, Reagan, Obama and Trump to formulate an explanatory model of the different leadership styles of drug policies since 1969. It includes an examination of the Southern slave patrol as the originating model of modern policing, and how the structures that perpetuate a system social control of African Americans and ethnic minorities have evolved since slavery. In defining policing regimes, a content analysis is performed to analyze administrative rhetoric in the targeted legislation. The paper concludes with the construction of the ideal policing regime to end the war on drugs, with four major policy recommendations to aid in its construction.
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    Applying international relations theory to contemporary policy : understanding Russia's behaviors and goals in Syria.
    (Wheaton College (Norton, Mass.), 2016) Fitzgerald, Ethan.;
    My research includes an investigation of the causative factors of Russia's involvement in the Syrian War and Russia's current interests in global politics. In this project, I have employed a synthetic approach that draws from the analytical toolkits of Realist, Liberal and Constructivist international relations theories. My focus is characterizing Russia's intersubjective and normative perceptions, the effects of global institutions and interdependence on Russia's behaviors, and Russia's material capacities with respect to the Middle East and the Syrian conflict. My goal is not simply to apply theory, but to integrate theory analysis into policy recommendations, particularly with regard to US foreign policy relating to Russia.