In this dissertation, I grapple with the compelling question: Why have women’s mobilizations in Latin America not only increased but also become increasingly confrontational towards the state and other institutions, even amid a longstanding rise in progressive gender-based legislation and policies? This inquiry unfolds against a backdrop of diverse theoretical perspectives on women’s engagement in contentious politics. This introspection has led to the formulation of a theoretical mechanism, which posits that neither the proliferation of gender-progressive policies, windows of opportunity, nor grievances are sole precipitating factors. Instead, the emergence of the ‘legal facade’ – spawned by this structural political opportunity - incites further contentious actions. These are intertwined with the development of a collective conscience, anchored in a sense of shared destiny, amplified by both fear and hope. To elucidate the activists’ experiences, I employ a methodological blend of case-process tracing and narrative analysis. This ‘legal facade’ embodies the systematic failures of the state and informal institutions to effectively address women’s violence and inequalities, resulting in the superficial enactment of numerous policies and laws that have deep flaws in their design, execution, and evaluation.

Why do some local religious organizations, particularly Christian foreign mission groups, send missionaries to culturally and politically risky states where they face personal high risks and political entanglements? I argue that local religious groups’ goals and motivations are driven by their involvement in international religious networks, which is a key factor in dispatching missionaries to high-risk countries. These religious activities are driven by constituted identities and expected behaviors from the international networks. I utilized a qualitative analysis of documented sources from domestic and international religious networks and 37 semistructured interview records with South Korean Protestant missionaries and church leaders to probe international influence on local actors’ motivations of religious activities. I also used quantitative data of the number of Korean missionaries collected from the Korea World Missions Association and the Korea Research Institute for Mission to assess several hypotheses describing the influence of global religious discourse on local actors’ motivations and practices. I built a framework of an interaction pattern of local actors and international religious networks and depicted how the shared idea of reaching high-risk countries among global religious actors influenced national actors. The study findings indicate that motivations of religious actors risking their lives in high-risk countries are connected to the power of discourse of “unreached people groups” shaped among global actors, and such discourse is actively constructed by global, national, and local actors.

Numerous scholars have studied the experiences of women in zones of conflict, often with a focus on women as victims or as the makers of peace. One element that has been largely understudied is leadership—specifically, the gender dynamics of leadership during times of violence. I theorize that gender socializations are emphasized when the state faces conflict, extending gender role perceptions to the political realm. I hypothesize that heightened violence causes fewer women to run for political office while causing equal or greater numbers of men to run. Using a case-study analysis of Afghanistan and Pakistan, I analyze the percent of candidates in each administrative area that are female in relation to the number of overall and civilian deaths in the province. The results show some support for my hypothesis, suggesting that civilian deaths have a negative impact on female candidacy. The results also show that levels of violence do not generally lessen the overall number of candidates, demonstrating that men run at similar or heightened rates during times of conflict. These findings show the need for further research on the relationship between violence and candidacy, specifically as it impacts female candidates. This research has important implications for democratic systems in nations with ongoing violence, as it demonstrates the possible need for additional measures to ensure equal political participation.

In this dissertation i argue that the internet has a positive impact on the likelihood of ethnic riots. To make this argument I put forward three major claims. First, ethnic riots are best understood as performances that aim to clarify ambiguities in the social order. Second, communication technologies structurally constrain the flow of information passing through them. Third, the internet is unique among modern Information Communication Technologies in its capacity for inducing ethnic riots. I provide two types of empirical evidence to support these claims: a cross-national analysis of internet penetration and a case study of India. The former provides evidence for the central claim, finding that the internet has a positive effect on the likelihood of ethnic conflict after a threshold of internet penetration is met. The latter sketches the limits of the proposed theory, finding that internet penetration decreased the likelihood of ethnic riots in India. I argue this is a result of welfare contextualization of the internet.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, faced the unfathomable difficulty of navigating the Eurozone crisis of 2010-2017. The Eurozone crisis was the economic devastation from Greece’s financial depression, which led to the refugee humanitarian crisis (Elliot, 2018). During this time, the Syrian war took place, which contributed to the refugee crisis as people sought asylum from the war. Although the German Chancellor has undergone severe scrutiny for her decisions, she stood by her choices to enact an open-door policy that would allow asylum seekers to gain access to Germany and offer aid during a time of a humanitarian crisis. Not only was she honoring the Spirit of Europe through her open-door policy, she was also acting as a strategic economist by using the influx of refugees to supply skilled labor to the German workforce, growing the nation’s GDP and using Eurobonds as a means of policy coordination (De Grauwe, 2010).
Through studying Angela Merkel’s humanitarian and economic policies during 2010-2017, it is concluded that Angela Merkel did not simply enact the open-door policy because of her moral convictions as a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), but did so as a policy actor within a rational choice framework (Crozier 451; Downs 146). As a policy actor, Merkel established her preference to enact humanitarian policies that fell in line with her legal obligation, as an EU member, to honor the spirit of Europe and then was able to defensively adjust to the Eurozone’s economic crisis by strategically creating economic opportunities from the refugee influx. While neighboring countries and even her own people provided constant criticism and reproof, Merkel never wavered in her policies and convictions.

Impostor syndrome is a psychological experience where an individual doubts their own successes and achievements, even with supporting evidence of their legitimate skill. Although there is plenty of research on impostor syndrome in the workplace and post-graduate programs, there is less information on undergraduate students especially at an inclusive, large, public university. As a student at ASU, I have both experienced and seen others experience a feeling of intellectual phoniness in classes which can lead to insecurity and fear of humiliation. Especially in students who are different than their peers, interacting with faculty and other students can cause unnecessary stress because they see themselves as underqualified.
My research will aim to address what impostor syndrome looks like at ASU and which groups of students are affected by it most. Impostor syndrome can manifest in insecurities and behaviors that make collegiate success more difficult, such as less class participation or a hesitation to attend office hours. Professors can inadvertently add to the issue by creating a classroom culture that caters more towards the traditional, often white male, student in their major, especially in majors where the faculty demographics are not similar to the student demographics. I hope that bringing light to impostor syndrome at ASU can help professors understand why some students may participate less or perform differently. Also, I want to help students who do experience insecurity or feel different understand what impostor syndrome is and that they are not alone in their experiences.
In particular, this study can shine light on areas of study that have less diversity. Many studies have indicated that STEM majors are extremely less diverse than national averages. The National Science Foundation found that woman only made up 30% of engineering and computer science degrees and racial minorities were less than 15% of engineering, math, and physical science degrees in 2013 (NSF, 2014). While pre-college interest may play a part in lower enrollment among traditionally underrepresented students, I believe that STEM professors must also take responsibility for encouraging or discouraging all students to continue studying after taking their classes. The results of my survey may indicate that some demographics feel uncomfortable speaking in class or attending offices hours, which are behaviors professors can go out of their way to make less intimidating.

A growing body of literature has sought to explain the nature and effects of conflict-related sexualized violence. However, a critical problem that persists concerns why wartime rape varies both within and across conflicts. Political science literature mainly addresses these questions of variation in sexualized violence through group-level or structural explanations. Yet, clear patterns of combatant non-participation in conflict-related sexualized violence is apparent, even in cases where sexual violence is severe and pervasive. What allows one combatant to refrain, while another combatant, even within the same combat unit, perpetrates sexualized violence? In this dissertation, I argue that critical differences concerning attitudes, beliefs, and motivations exist between individual combatants. In light of these differences, I reintroduce the individual combatant onto the theoretical map as a critical unit of analysis and I explore the implications of gender inequality as an important and relevant factor related to sexualized violence in political conflict. Drawing on findings from social psychology, political psychology, sociology, and political science, the theory developed argues that combatants differentially internalize important norms related to gender that become particularly activated based on primarily externalized contextual influences. To test the theory, I conduct a mixed-method, sub-national comparative analysis of combatants and attitudes and beliefs associated with gender inequality during the Bosnian War (1992 – 1995). I rely on qualitative data generated from semi-structured, comprehensive interviews with psychologists, victim’s advocates, and legal experts managing sexual violence war crimes cases, and combat veterans directly associated with the Bosnian War (1992 – 1995) to assess differences at the individual-level of analysis. To additionally determine the broader effects of gender inequality, I employ an ordered probit regression analysis to ascertain the relationship between gender inequality related to institutional health and education factors and the severity of wartime rape. The combined results of these analyses demonstrate that individual differences between combatants better predicts the likelihood of a combatant to commit sexualized violence compared to structural or institutional accounts alone.

In spite of numerous legal interventions and a fairly strong legal capacity compared to other neighboring countries, Zimbabwean law enforcement and judiciary have failed to overcome Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). This research examines the role of customary law in the continued prevalence of IPV among Zimbabwean women, particularly, the subtle ways in which customary law legitimates the ideals of patriarchal domination in the communal and legal handling of IPV cases. The study utilized qualitative methodology in the form of structured interviews as well as pre-interview questionnaires. Eighteen women who identified as IPV survivors or victims were recruited using snowball sampling method whereby each person interviewed was asked to suggest additional people who were either present victims or survivors of IPV. Five lawyers from Chinhoyi, ten lawyers from Harare, ten police officers from Chinhoyi and ten police officers from Harare were identified using judgement or purposive sampling where subjects are chosen due to availability. The research established that IPV is a way in which abusers exercise their assumed patriarchal rights over women. Likewise, police officers are also influenced by attitudes and mentalities acquired from customary law in the way they handle IPV cases which resultantly leads to secondary victimization of IPV victims. The research concluded that much work still needs to be done by the judiciary, law enforcement and the community to combat the prevalence of IPV in Zimbabwe.

This study examines the factors that shape the timing of a passage of a piece of controversial gender equality legislation by conducting a case study of the abolition of the family-head system in South Korea. This study draws on the method of process tracing with the data collected from the archives and the interviews. The case study mainly compares the legislative processes for the bills on the abolition of the family-head system in 16th and the 17th National Assemblies, in which the bills resulted to opposite outcomes.

This study argues that the institutions of the legislative process mediate the impact of relevant actors for gender equality policymaking. In the bill initiation stage, only a small number of the elected officials are required to introduce a bill, and women representatives serve a vital role as they are more likely to introduce feminist bills than their male colleagues. This study argues that 1) the background of the women influencing their commitment to feminist agendas, 2) strong women’s movements contributing to issue saliency, and thereby the policy priorities of the issue, and 3) the resources and constraints inside the party for feminist policymaking influenced by party ideology, shape how active women representatives will be in advocating controversial gender equality agendas.

In the later stages of policymaking, the efforts of a small number of women members are offset by that of political parties. Emphasizing the positive agenda control of the majority party and the negative agenda control of the minority parties, this study suggests that party issue positions are critical for the outcome of the bill. To explain the party issue position (re)shape, this study underlines 1) public opinion, 2) the emergence of new voter groups leading to the decline of the cleavage politics, 3) new party entry, and 4) women in the party and the party leadership. The findings highlight that the major parties’ issue positions shift in the 17th National Assembly greatly contributed to amplifying the bargaining power of the key allies and weakening the institutional leverage of the opponents, leading to the successful legislation of the bill.

Over time, our American society has been fixated on trying to achieve demographic representation in political realms among all three branches. The recent excitement of progress in terms of slightly more equal gender representation in the United States Congress, with almost one-quarter of the total body after the 2018 midterm election consisting of women, was an element of motivation for this thesis. Throughout the thesis, the Literature Review and Theory section presents background as to the importance of representation in general provided by well-respected political scientists’ work. It follows with a section on Women’s Impact on the Political Sphere, and discusses quality candidates in regards to common characteristics political scientists, particularly Peverill Squire, claim are crucial to political success. As the interest for the thesis arose from President Trump’s victory in 2016, as public opinion buoyed an outsider into the most prestigious elected office, my ultimate research question deals with the profile of the winning candidate of first-time members to the House of Representatives in the past ten years and whether Trump’s election may be indicative of the changing type and quality of qualified candidates who are winning Congressional seats recently. It is crucial for both the political parties and society to be aware of the type and common qualifications of political candidates running and ultimately winning in recent years. With a coding metric, similar to Squire’s, research was conducted by coding first-time elected House members’ backgrounds provided by CSPAN over the past ten years, 110th-116th Congressional sessions. The intent was hoping to show how the type of quality candidate is evolving over time. This was demonstrated by determining whether political candidates’ highest level of education, occupation before Congress, and highest level of prior political experience was really that crucial to their success or considered by voters as not as important in terms of being a qualified, winnable candidate when measuring against age, gender, and party affiliation. There were many notable results in regards to overall trends and incredible differences between males and females between each variable measured just within the past ten years. While there is a noticeable increase in those winning with zero prior political experience this past midterm election, and although President Trump’s election was not analyzed as a potential cause of the rise in success of those without prior office experience, my hypothesize was correct in that there could be a correlation drawn as to Trump’s influence upon the change in this country’s thoughts towards candidates. Among other noticeable results, this thesis finds that despite extensive preceding political science research on quality candidates, prior office experience may not be considered as relevant anymore to voters in terms of considering a quality candidate, and the prior “on paper” qualifications in order to be successful may be evolving in today’s politics, most especially for first-time members in the House of Representatives.