IR Honors Students

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Kar Mun Nicole Wong

Cohort: 2018

The rise of English as the de facto language of the global realm coincides with the integration of compulsory English language curricula around the world. This is true even in former colonies, which had led independence movements that were fundamentally guided by a desire to separate the new state from the influence of the West.  Why did postcolonial countries incorporate English into their education systems?  Does the dominance of English reflect greater inequalities within the international realm which parallel the dynamics of colonialism?  This thesis aims to answer these questions by studying the development of language policies in former colonies prior to and after independence, with particular attention to the cases of Kenya, Rwanda, Singapore and Vietnam.  The thesis details how the colonial system constrained choices in particular ways that encouraged the adoption of English language curricula.  Specifically, the colonial system established the linguistic foundations that resulted in English playing a larger role in the education system, while also setting barriers that prevented local languages from occupying a primary role in society. The global dominance of the English language is thus another important effect of colonization on the national identities and educational policies of postcolonial countries today.

Thesis:

Wong, Kar Mun Nicole (2018). A Decolonization of Our Tongues: Analyzing the Reasons Behind Compulsory English Language Curricula in Postcolonial Countries

Stanford Digital Repository. Available in June 2018.

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Christine Cavallo

Cohort: 2017

While El Nino cycles demonstrate extreme weather events that fall out of the normal weather patterns, they may also serve as an example for environmental norms we will endure in the future. For this reason, the impacts they have on both international and domestic agreements and stability should be cautiously heeded. South Africa is one of the most water scarce nations in the world, and their dependence on external sources of water adds an interesting element to what is already a challenging question. Lesotho has an abundance of "white gold," as many of the regional river heads originate within their borders. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project serves as a massive international economic boost for Lesotho while also developing the infrastructure for 100% dependence on hydroelectric power. South Africa front most of the costs for construction of the dams and tunnels involved, and in return receives a consistent water source to their nearby provinces. But when Lesotho was hit by the 2015 drought, arguably even harder than South Africa was, many of Lesotho's population questioned why 40% of their water was still being diverted away from them. I want to look at how droughts impact international agreements such as the LHWP, and how we might see any relevant tensions or turmoil escalate in the future.

 

Thesis:

Cavallo, Christine (2017). Dam Them All: On the Failure of Dams and Dam Building Frameworks.

Stanford Digital Repository. Available here.

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Karen Lee

Cohort: 2017

Thailand is one of the few countries in the world that has never been colonized by a Western power. It has also experienced more coups that any other country in the last century--eleven successful coups and seven attempted coups since the bloodless coup that ended the absolute monarchy in 1932. One would think that the lack of a colonial history means that Thailand is a unified country, but it has been plagued by ethnic conflict in its southern provinces since the 1950s and violence has intensified in the past decade. My research poses the question, "How has religious and cultural policy towards Thailand’s Deep South differed under elected versus military-led governments?". I plan to engage and analyze existing literature on the relationship between regime type and religious freedom, code Thailand's twenty constitutions from 1932 to the present based on whether or not they have contained clauses restricting the religious and cultural rights of the Muslim minority in the South, and conduct a case study of four civilian and military regimes in 21st century Thailand.

 

Thesis:

Lee, Karen (2017). Constitutional Engineering: Studying Promotions and Revocations of Relgious Freedom in Thailand.

Stanford Digital Repository. Available here.

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Yegina Whang

Cohort: 2017

The question of why states pursue nuclear weapons has been significant topic of study due to the escalation of tensions during the Cold War period and intense fear of proliferation in its aftermath. Most research in this field is extremely difficult to produce due to the small sample size of states with nuclear capabilities as well as a lack of information on countries’ nuclear programs. Academics have offered some possible explanations of the rationale behind leaders’ decisions to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), such as the security model, domestic politics model, and norms model. In my thesis, I will contribute to this existing literature by answering the more narrow question of why some states decide to sign, ratify, and then violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Why have only autocratic states broken the NPT? Does this apply to only the NPT or all international treaties? Through evidence provided by my analysis of large-n data sets and case studies of North Korea, South Korea, and Iran, I hypothesize that international isolation plays a key role in explaining a leader’s decision to cheat on the NPT. 

 

Thesis:

Whang, Yegina (2017). Broken Nuclear Vows: Explaining Why States Cheat on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Stanford Digital Repository. Available here.

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Kirsten Willer

Cohort: 2017

In the current world of nation-states, being is inherently a political action. Nation-states claim to act for the interests of their own people located within their territory, using their citizens as justification for the state's actions. How do states determine who belongs and has rights to the privileges of being citizen? In Africa, however, borders primarily remain in the arbitrary configuration drawn by colonial powers. What is the salience of citizenship when a group of people has somewhat randomly been brought into a state? What happens when states rescind the citizenship rights of ethnic minority groups? Under the direction of Dr. Jeremy Weinstein, My project investigates the outcomes of cases in sub-Saharan Africa where states have encroached upon the rights of ethnic minorities. I argue that these ethnic minority groups will react with violence to the state’s actions if they believe that citizenship is necessary to be a political and economic actor within the community.

I will answer this question through two different approaches. First, I will use a statistical approach to show a relationship between the severity of the state action that contests citizenship and the severity of the group’s response. I plan to code actions taken against ethnic groups that have been bisected by international borders and are minority groups in each country. Second, I will justify my hypothesis through examining the specific situations of the Banyarwanda in Zaire/DRC and Uganda, respectively. The Banyarwanda are an ethnolinguistic group in the Great Lakes region that have historically been regarded as Rwandan immigrants with an illegitimate claim to citizenship in Zaire and Uganda. Over time, both states have rescinded and even expelled the Banyarwanda, but the Banyarwanda do not always respond with violence to these events.

 

Thesis:

Willer, Kirsten (2017). Citizenship Contestation and Reprisal Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Stanford Digital Repository. Available here.

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Rebecca Mehra

Cohort: 2016

In a world burdened by burgeoning populations and faced by declining water resources, water is likely to trigger conflict. Since the partition of British India in 1947, and the creation of modern republics of India and Pakistan, the two South Asian countries have been involved in four wars, including one undeclared war, as well as many border skirmishes and military stand-offs. In fact, during the Kargil War of 1999, the two nations came dangerously close to nuclear war. But for India and Pakistan, some disputes notwithstanding, the Indus water treaty is considered one of the world’s most successful trans-boundary water accords, as it addresses specific water allocation issues and provides unique design requirements for run-of-the-river dams, which ensure the steady flow of water and guarantee hydroelectricity. The agreement also provides a mechanism for consultation and arbitration should questions, disagreements, or disputes arise. So despite India and Pakistan being two of the greatest adversaries in the world, the two nations have had a comprehensive water treaty, the Indus Water Treaty, active for over 50 years. Why have these two countries been steadfast in their efforts to share water in a time in which water issues are likely to trigger conflict? Why do India and Pakistan cooperate on this front? The primary goal of my thesis is to present an accurate theory as to why India and Pakistan cooperate over the issue of water by analyzing various theses on how and why adversaries cooperate, and how water could be a potential outlier.

 

Thesis:

Mehra, Rebecca (2016). Connecting the Drops: The Negotiation of the Indus Water Treaty.
Stanford Digital Repository. Available here.

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Simone Nelsen

Cohort: 2016

The focus of my honors thesis is the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games and a retrospective look at how the Russian government used the Games as a platform upon which to propagate their political, economic and social agenda. In exploring the Russian use of the Sochi Games, I plan to compare it to the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, as these three case studies reflect similar regime types and relationships towards media. I plan to explore the connection between the Olympics and the crucial times, economically and politically, during which these countries bid for and hosted the Games, and the relationship between the Games and the hosts’ deployment of new or existing political, economic and social policies.

 

Thesis:

Nelsen, Simone (2016). Hosting: The Choice of Authoritarian States to Bid for the Olympic Games & the Impact on Their Governments.
Stanford Digital Repository. Available here.

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Hope Sheils

Cohort: 2016

The borders drawn in the Middle East following the First World War have continued to be a source of contention and violence for almost a century. Many argue that the borders drawn do not accurately reflect thousands of years of history and peoples in the region.
In my honors thesis in International Relations, I want to explore these divisions of ethnic identity by state boundaries. Specifically, I want to explore how these boundaries have affected the divided communities, and the communities with which they interact. Studies of the relationship between ethnic diversity and intrastate violence have been done, to be sure, but I believe that an in-depth analysis what these identities mean for both the groups themselves and the states into which they have been placed by history can give us a greater understanding of how, or why, or whether, violence occurs.
I mean to do a case study of occurrences of violence between ethnic groups to evaluate the claim that a different drawing of state lines would make the region more peaceful.

 

Thesis:

Sheils, Hope (2016). The Lines We Draw: Nationalism and Border Creation at Sèvres and Lausanne.
Stanford Digital Repository. Available here.

Megan Donahoe

Megan Donahoe

Cohort: 2015

My project explores ideas of empire in the Soviet Union. I am going through Soviet newspapers and propaganda to see if in times of conflict, specifically in former imperial territories or spheres of influence, whether or not the media references historical boundaries or any allusions to its imperial history in the region. By better understanding how the Soviet Union grappled with its imperial past I hope my research can be important historical context when understanding the current Russian Federation's neo-imperialist actions in Crimea and Ukraine.

 

Thesis:

Donahoe, Megan (2015). The Rhetoric of Suppression: Soviet Media Analysis of Eastern European Interventionism.
Stanford Digital Repository. Available HERE

Sanjana Parikh

Sanjana Parikh

Cohort: 2015

My thesis focuses on how the demographic makeup of a country affects its preferences on international climate change agreements. By examining population factors such as youth, education, urbanization, and vulnerability, I will identify demographic indicators that could predict whether a country is more or less likely to accede to global accords restricting carbon emissions. Global warming represents one of the most serious collective action problems of our time, and I hope to better understand how the size, structure, and distribution of populations leads to the formation of public opinion that influences global policy commitments.

 

Thesis:

Parikh, Sanjana. (2015). Constitutional Promises and Environmental Protection. 
Stanford Digital Repository. Available HERE