In this dissertation, I argue for a Rousseauvian vision of an ideal society: one in which the people constitute a group agent, unified under a collective will, willing action that constitutes the common good. Most have tended to believe that the contrasts between an individual agent and an entire people are stark, and so accounts of the commonwealth that appeal to group agency at all usually emphasize the differences between them. I will argue, however, that members of a society collectively constitute an agent that resembles an individual agent more closely than is normally supposed. Specifically, I will argue that a society is under normative pressure to engage in projects and activities that are good or worthwhile, that it may permissibly impose burdens on some members as it attempts to realize the common good, and that when properly constituted it possesses a collective will that has authority over its members. I begin in Chapter 1 by giving an account of what it means for a group to engage in action. Then, in Chapter 2, I argue that the people of a region naturally constitute a rational group agent, and that state institutions that function properly help to facilitate collective action that is generally worthwhile or good. In Chapter 3, I argue that an individual has duties to herself similar to those that a commonwealth has to its members. For this reason, I suggest that investigating individual agency has the potential to shed light on what the commonwealth may or may not permissibly do. In Chapter 4, I draw a parallel between an individual agent pursuing her own good while trying to avoid wronging herself, and an entire commonwealth pursuing its overall good while trying to avoid wronging its members. There I conclude that by realizing the common good, the commonwealth compensates members who are burdened in its pursuit. In Chapter 5, I consider how a commonwealth, understood as a group agent, can choose its action, arguing that democratic institutions possess authority over the commonwealth, and thus constitute the society’s General Will. Finally in Chapter 6, I consider whether philosophers in the liberal-republican tradition have given sufficient reason for us to reject the Rousseauvian view that I argue for in the first five chapters. / Philosophy

Scholars have called for a paradigmatic shift away from acculturation models contingent upon oversimplified binaries that associate individuals with their culture of origin or the culture(s) associated with their resettlement community (Berry et. al, 2012; Portes & Zhou, 1993; Rudmin, 2009). Such perspectives do not account for the nuanced ways in which individuals are actively and strategically defining whether and how they will participate in response to socially constructed constraints in multiple or specific contexts. In my dissertation, I study whether and how ethnic identity development is incorporated into this strategic navigational process for refugees who are likely to be racialized as Black in the U.S. Through fourteen interviews and participant observation within five refugee families from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan, I examine how ethnicity, race, and immigration experiences shape individuals perceptions of self, others, opportunities, and challenges. I also investigated the culture, curriculum, and people within a multicultural elementary charter school for refugee, immigrant, and local native-born children to assess the role of schools in these acculturation and identity development processes. Double-consciousness (DuBois, 1903), Black Feminism (Collins, 1990), and Critical Race Feminism (Wing, 2000) provide crucial frameworks for considering how aspects of ethnic identity development manifest in individuals voices, views, and choices, particularly for Sub-Saharan African refugee youth. These theoretical lenses are also valuable for exploring how this developmental process can promote collective action and institutional change. Thus the objectives of this dissertation work are twofold. First, I aim to combine past scholarship with current observations to enhance research on ethnicity in globalizing contexts. Second, I endeavor to inspire practice through an increased awareness of the significance of ethnic identity development, particularly within schools serving broadly diverse and/or international youth.

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Assay methods have been developed which are specific for the analysis of diazepam in the presence of formulation excipients, closely related degradation products and manufacturing impurities. The methods developed used difference ultraviolet spectrophotometry and HPLC. These methods have been applied to the analysis of diazepam in formulations and to investigate the reaction kinetics of the acid hydrolysis of diazepam. From analysis of both fresh and stored samples of formulations, it was seen that solid dosage forms showed no degradation, but degradation products were detected in liquid formulations. Advantages and disadvantages were seen for both techniques and criteria were established for the choice of method. The reaction kinetics of the degradation of diazepam was studied, using HPLC and GC. Previous workers had investigated the acid hydrolysis of diazepam using non-specific analytical methods. An attempt was made to repeat their work using the specific chromatographic methods described. From initial work, it appears that the results obtained are similar to those previously generated. Further work is required to investigate this more fully.

Research suggests that youth civic engagement is beneficial for individuals and democratic societies, and research in this field has proliferated in recent decades. This abundance of research, however, has also come with challenges, including a lack of conceptual clarity around youth civic engagement. The present paper addresses this confusion and suggests useful tools for moving forward. The first paper presents a conceptual analysis of youth civic engagement, proposing a new conceptualization to create definitional boundaries yet still allow contextual responsiveness of this term, specifically around the concepts of community and the greater good. The second paper provides a quantitative exploration of the relationship between context and the manifestation of youth civic engagement through a multilevel latent profile analysis of data from the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study. The results of this study identify profiles of current civic participation and intentions for future protest and political participation that differ across countries and are predicted by family characteristics. The third paper presents a qualitative exploration of civic engagement among students attending recovery high schools. The results suggest that students are actively involved in giving back to their communities, particularly their school and recovery communities, through civic engagement and general prosocial behaviors. Taken together, these three studies highlight the importance of achieving greater conceptual clarity in our understanding of youth civic engagement in addition to the importance of situating this understanding in the context of youths particular communities.

As conflicts surrounding the global Muslim community and other religious divisions continue to capture the attention of the media and public audiences, scholars and community practitioners increasingly extol the benefits of interfaith dialogue and action for developing interfaith peace. Yet very little research has been done to understand and evaluate the successes and challenges of this work. As outlined in the Introduction, much remains to be done to examine the challenges in interfaith work, particularly that it is made all the more difficult by the reality that interfaith participants are comprised of much more than just religious identities. Race, ethnicity, gender, personal social networks these factors and others serve to further complicate the ability of persons to effectively come together in relationship. I examine these challenges in three papers through analyses of interview and survey data collected from interfaith organization participants, as well as interview and focus group data collected from research team members, ourselves an interfaith group. Building from Bronfenbrenners (1979) ecological systems theory, in Chapter II, I examine the ways in which a number of ecological factors influence the practice of research, broadening typically narrow views of researcher subjectivity to be more fully ecological. In Chapter III, I show how attention to a nonreligious identity such as gender may help us to better understand individuals experiences in interfaith spaces. In Chapter IV, I examine the mesosystemic factors impinging on the interfaith organizations that serve to both support and hinder the individual persons participation in interfaith work. In the concluding chapter, I propose some future directions and recommendations for interfaith work. These analyses make important contributions to the extant interfaith and socialpsychological literatures as well as to the work of interfaith practitioners and organizations seeking to make their work more adaptive and responsive to the needs of the particular persons and local contexts they serve.

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