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Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Theses and dissertations published by graduate students in the Graduate Program in International Studies, College of Arts & Letters, Old Dominion University, since Fall 2016 are available in this collection. Backfiles of all dissertations (and some theses) have also been added.

In late Fall 2024, all theses will be digitized and available here. In the meantime, consult the Library Catalog to find older items in print.

Theses/Dissertations from 2024 2024

Thesis: The Years of Embers in Mauritania: Ethnicity and Narratives , Hawa Saidou Barane Ba

Dissertation: Why Does Multilateral Cooperation Vary Across Issue Areas? Trade Versus Foreign Direct Investment , Imran Khan

Dissertation: How has US Foreign Policy Militarization Affected Political Stability in Africa? , Christopher Korkor

Dissertation: States and Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems , Faith N. Masibili

Dissertation: The Place of Nuclear Weapons in Russian Identity: An Ontological Security Analysis , Peter Ernest Yeager

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Thesis: Crisis Narratives in Crisis? A Comparative Investigation into National COVID-19 Narratives , Mouse D. Bennett

Thesis: United States Foreign Policy and the Additions of Sweden and Finland to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , Kara Gwendolyn Broene

Thesis: The Solidarity Manifesto: A New Network for Future Change , Sofia Calicchio

Dissertation: Global Energy Consumption: An Analysis of Variables That Shape Per Capita Usage, or How Pump Price, Urbanization, and Fossil Fuels Imports Impact Fossil Fuels Consumption Per Capita Across OECD Countries , Mila Demchyk Savage

Thesis: U.S.-China Trade War: Phase One Agreement and Self-Enforcing Contracts , Hameedullah Hassani

Dissertation: Complex Dynamics of Contention: Towards a Generative Model of Social Dissent , Travis Holmes

Thesis: The Civil War Conflict Between Anglophones/Francophones in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon , Myriam Jeter

Dissertation: Opportunities and Challenges from Major Disasters Lessons Learned of Long-Term Recovery Group Members , Eduardo E. Landaeta

Dissertation: Can’t Let Go: Anxiety, Ontological Security, and French Foreign Policy Decision-Making During the Hollande Administration , Peter D. Langley

Dissertation: Attitudes of Ethnic Minorities Towards National Defense and Security in the Triadic Nexus: The Case of Russian-Speakers in Estonia , Nikita Lumijoe

Dissertation: Help-Seeking Behavior Among Resettled Refugee , Mahfoudha Sid’Elemine

Thesis: A Leftist Political Surge: How an Authoritarian Past Helped Spawn a Modern Political Movement in Spain and Portugal , Jared Sykes

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Dissertation: Thither the Russian Navy? Putin’s Navalization in a Historical Context , William Emerson Bunn

Dissertation: Securing Russia: Seeking Ontological Security in the Arctic , Brian W. Cole

Dissertation: The Expansion of NOCs: What Strengthening State-Owned Enterprises Means for Global Energy , Alexander L. Fretz

Thesis: The Carrot vs. the Stick: A Comparative Analysis of Secondary Sanctions vs. Positive Inducements in Gaining European Support for a U.S.-Led Sanction Regime , Andy Gomez

Dissertation: Remittance: A New Instrument for Change -- Understanding the Impact of Remittances on Home Countries Development , Alex M. Hamed

Dissertation: Russia, Europe and Central Asia Energy Security and Pipeline Politics , Mehmet Kınacı

Dissertation: The Political Economy of Global Private Currencies , Girish Sreevatsan Nandakumar

Thesis: Nord Stream 2: The Gas Curtain of Europe , Sarah Elizabeth Nelson

Dissertation: Present at the Creation, a Redux: The Need for Strategic Minded Joint Force Officers in a Rapidly Changing and Dynamic International Security Environment , Thomas Joseph Snukis

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Thesis: Mobilizing Discomfort for Water Security as a Human Right: A Newspaper Analysis of Social Conflict in South Africa , Madison Gonzalez

Dissertation: Reinterpreted Europe: An Assessment of EU (In) Ability to Deal with Threats to the Rule of Law , Huso Hasanovic

Dissertation: Connectivism: Adopting Quantum Holism in International Relations , Grant Randal Highland

Dissertation: State Antifragility: An Agent-Based Modeling Approach to Understanding State Behavior , Rebecca Lee Law

Thesis: Institutional Stretching: How Moroccan NGOs Illuminate the Nexus of Climate, Migration, Gender and Development , Shelby Mertens

Dissertation: The Second-Order Impact of Relative Power on Outcomes of Crisis Bargaining: A Theory of Expected Disutility and Resolve , Tatevik Movsisyan

Thesis: Language and Cultural Identity in Post-Soviet Frozen Conflicts , Irina Paquette

Dissertation: Smart Power in the Iraq Surge 2007-2008 , Russell N. Reiling

Dissertation: Re-Spatializing Gangs in the United States: An Analysis of Macro- and Micro-Level Network Structures , Ryan J. Roberts

Dissertation: Norm Contestation and Its Effects on Emergence of a New Norm , Khadijeh Salimi

Dissertation: Cybersecurity Legislation and Ransomware Attacks in the United States, 2015-2019 , Joseph Skertic

Dissertation: Environmentally Related Urbanization and Violence Potential , Christina Bagaglio Slentz

Dissertation: The Politics of Medicine: Power, Actors, and Ideas in the Making of Health , Claire Wulf Winiarek

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Thesis: Shifting Sources of Humanitarian Aid: The Importance of Network Resiliency and Donor Diversification , Mackenzie Marie Clark

Dissertation: Wicked Ideas for Wicked Problems: Marine Debris and the Complexity of Governance , Dawn Helene Driesbach

Thesis: A Comparative Approach to Racial Stereotyping in South Africa and the United States and How It Has Obliterated the Black Image , Maylat Tedla Eyob

Dissertation: Faits Accomplis in the Shadow of Shifting Power , Joshua Adam Hastey

Thesis: Stratified Security Communities: Transatlantic Distrust and Identity Divergence , Afra Maike Herr

Dissertation: The Path to Victory: A Comparative Analysis of Mena Region Countries , Negar Moayed

Dissertation: A Rivalry of Necessity: An Analysis of Mechanisms of Contention Between The Islamic Republic of Iran and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , Aras Syahmanssuri

Thesis: The Study of Motivation for Defection Within the Intelligence Community: Hindering the Government's Ability to Prevent and Detect Defection , William Virgili

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Thesis: Hyperborean Habits and Melting Ice: The Normalization of Arctic Space and Resurgent National Identity , Ian Birdwell

Thesis: From Compassion to Resistance: Lesbos Refugee Crisis , Luz Diaz

Thesis: The G5 Sahel: An Insufficient Organization for a Failed Region? , Beder Dine El Khou

Dissertation: The Messy Nuclear Landscape: Using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping to Explore Plausible Nuclear Disarmament Scenarios , Ryan M. Nixon

Dissertation: The Trojan Horse in Your Head: Cognitive Threats and How to Counter Them , Lora Pitman

Dissertation: At the Hands of Fate: The Political Economy of Islamic Insurance in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan, C. 1980 to the Present , Muhammad S. Rahman

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Dissertation: Measuring Vulnerability Interdependence: To What Extent Do Chinese Investments in Africa Make China Vulnerable? , Nurullah Ayyilmaz

Dissertation: When the Wind Blows: An Evaluation of Key Factors that Enabled the Proliferation of Wind Energy Generation in the United States Through 2016 , Mary Sodini Bell

Thesis: Fem Media Matters: An Inqueery Into Campus Sexual Assault , Andrew Kennedy Garber

Thesis: Contemporary Russia in America's World: Russian Narratives on Post-Soviet Space , Marianna Portniagina

Dissertation: Throw Me a Lifeline: A Comparison of Port Cities with Antithetical Adaptation Strategies to Sea-Level Rise , Claudia Marie Risner

Dissertation: Beyond Carrots and Sticks: An Analysis of U.S. Approaches to Counterterrorism From 2000-2016 , Margaret M. Seymour

Thesis: The “Trump Effect?” Challenges to the United States Hegemony in Higher Education Cross-Cultural Exchange: A Case Study of International Students at Old Dominion University , Raven Alexandra Showalter

Thesis: The Effect of Illicit Drugs Securitization in Indonesia , Yanu Widiyono

Thesis: The Kosovo Moment: The United States and the Post-Cold War Balkans , Visar Xhambazi

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Dissertation: Diffusion of Renewable Energy Policies , Khatera Alizada

Dissertation: New Regionalism in Global Order: Regional Trade Integration and Its Links with Financial Sector , Tulu Balkir

Dissertation: Jointness, Culture, and Inter-Service Prejudice: Assessing the Impact of Resident, Satellite, and Hybrid Joint Professional Military Education II Course Delivery Methods on Military Officer Attitudes , Charles Mark Davis

Dissertation: Endpoints After Empire: Explaining Varying Levels of Democracy in Post-Communist Europe , William John Eger Jr.

Dissertation: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to the Maritime Security Risk of Piracy and Lessons Learned From Agent-Based Modeling , Joanne Marie Fish

Dissertation: The Treatment of Ethnic Minorities in Democratizing Muslim Countries: The Securitization of Kurds in Turkey Versus the Autonomization of Acehnese in Indonesia , Maurizio Geri

Dissertation: A Dirty Dilemma: Determinants of Electronic Waste Importation , Jamila N. Glover

Dissertation: Empty Chair at the Table: Bargaining, Costs and Litigation at the World Trade Organization , Felicia Anneita Grey

Dissertation: Acquiring the Tools of Grand Strategy: The US Navy's LCS as a Case Study , Sean P. Murphy

Dissertation: The Little Lady that Could: Small Latvia Rejoins the Euro-Atlantic Community , Sandis Sraders

Dissertation: The Memorialization of Historical Memories in East Asia , Bo Ram Yi

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Thesis: The Effects of Using Natural Gas in Light-Duty Vehicle Fleet of the United States on Its Energy Dependency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions , Nurullah Ayyilmaz

Dissertation: Assessing the Role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Extraterritorial Activities in Attaining Iran’s Foreign Policy Goals , Hamza Demirel

Dissertation: Culture and Military Effectiveness: How Societal Traits Influence Battle Outcomes , Eric Stephen Fowler

Dissertation: The Franchising Effect on the Al-Qaeda Enterprise and Related Transnational Terror Groups: Patterns of Evolution of Al-Qaeda Affiliates in the 21st Century , Nicholas Benjamin Law

Thesis: Under the Surface of Sex Trafficking: Socio-Economic and Cultural Perpetrators of Gender-Based Violence in India , Karmen Marie Matusek

Dissertation: Visegrad Revival: Where Less is More, in the Prospect of Smaller Numbers , Aaron G. Sander

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Dissertation: Armed Humanitarian Intervention: The Role of Powerful Leaders in Framing and the National Security Decision Making Process , John Marshall Callahan

Dissertation: U.S. Military Aid and the Role of Foreign Armies in Civil Politics , Jennifer Jones Cunningham

Dissertation: Removing the Rust: Comparative Post-Industrial Revitalization in Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh , Scott Nicholas Duryea

Dissertation: 'Home was Congo': Refugees and Durable Displacement in the Borderlands of 1,000 Hills , Erika Frydenlund

Thesis: Shaping American Foreign Policy A Game Theoretic Analysis of the United States'--North Korean Relationship , Kimberly Michelle Ganczak

Dissertation: Energy as a Factor for Turkish - Russian Rapprochement , Saltuk Bugra Karahan

Dissertation: Poverty Within Nation-States: The impact of Corruption, Trade, Income Inequality, Population Growth, Foreign Aid, and Military Expenditure , Mustafa Karapinar

Dissertation: Path Dependence in Intrastate Conflicts: Resources, Regimes, and Interventions , Ivan Medynskyi

Dissertation: Dwelling in Time, Dwelling in Structures: Disintegration in World Politics , Jan Adam Nalaskowski

Dissertation: Wildlife Crime and Other Challenges to Resource System Resilience , Patricia Anne Raxter

Dissertation: In Search of Autonomy: Nepal as a Wedge State Between India and China , Sagar Rijal

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Dissertation: Weak Links in a Dangerously Fractured Region: Fragile State as Global Threats , Tasawar ul-Rahim Baig

Dissertation: The Internet vs. the Nation-State: Prevention and Prosecution Challenges on the Internet in Republic of TürkiyI , Ersin Elibol

Dissertation: Ritualized Rhetoric and Historical Memory in German Foreign and Security Policy , Sara A. Hoff

Dissertation: What Constitutes the Success or Failure of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in Foreign Markets? A Case Study of Chinese and American MNCs , Shiwei Jiang

Dissertation: Tempering the Resource Curse in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Explanatory Analysis of the Variance of the Resource Curse in Nigeria and Botswana , Jody-Ann Suzette Jones

Dissertation: Neglecting the 'Right on Which All Other Rights Depend': Press Freedom in the International Human Rights Discourse , Wiebke Lamer

Dissertation: State-Centric or State-in-Society: National Identity and Collective Memory in the Linkage Politics of Chinese Foreign Relations , Ning Liao

Thesis: Transnational Organized Crime and the Illegal Wildlife Trade Global Ties and Global Crime , Zachariah Edward Long

Thesis: U.S. - ASEAN Organized Crime Cooperation as Part of Washington's Rebalancing Policy Toward the Asia-Pacific , Tuan Anh Luc

Dissertation: Explaining Nuclear Energy Pursuance: A Comparison of the United States, Germany, and Japan , Lauren Emily McKee

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