The research in this thesis will look at the lives of a very specific group of Chinese immigrant workers in the restaurant industry, particularly those in the metropolitan city of Los Angeles. While unskilled Chinese workers are popular in the Chinese restaurant business because of the lack of skills required, they are quite mobile between the manufacturing and construction sectors as well. Working conditions are less than ideal for these immigrants, who find that life in America may not be what they expected prior to arrival. Though there are many organizations that seek to improve the lives of immigrants already residing in the United States, better efforts towards coordination could be put forth to ensure the availability and knowledge of these resources. Though Asian immigrants and their children have a reputation as a high-achieving model minority, there still remains a class of people who struggle with the same issues of relocation and assimilation as other immigrants. This research hopes to analyze the patterns of immigration for workers like these, to evaluate whether it is still feasible to achieve the American dream, and, if necessary, re-think U.S. immigration policy by looking to our Northern neighbors Canada and providing some policy recommendations.

For decades, institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, WTO, OECD, US Congress, and EU have encouraged developing countries to adopt trade liberalization to improve their people's welfare and eventually achieve developed country status. In a comparative analysis to examine trade liberalization's impact on labor, this study found that while Chile and Mexico pursued very similar trade liberalization policies, their outcomes were extraordinarily different. Chile now holds the title as the world's model liberalizer while Mexico continues to struggle to liberalize. Chile's effective use of government intervention to absorb adjustment costs determined its success. This study challenges trade theory's dogma against government intervention and concludes with explicit strategies for hoe developing countries can enact targeted social programs and measures to absorb trade liberalization's painful adjustment costs. Trade liberalization can bring prosperity and opportunities for a country, as long as it is paired with effective government intervention to absorb a degree of adjustment costs.

En mars 2011, la communauté internationale s'est réunie pour soutenir les ambitions démocratiques des manifestants libyens et pour s'opposer vigoureusement à la violence perpétrée par Kadhafi contre son peuple. Nicolas Sarkzoy, président de la République française, a joué un rôle clé dans les négociations qui ont entraîné la mise en place d'une zone d'exclusion aérienne et le lancement d'une opération militaire pour protéger les populations civiles en Libye. Cette thèse examine les ambitions de Sarkozy et le leadership diplomatique qu'il a démontré entre le déclenchement des révoltes en Libye et le prise en charge de l'opération militaire par l'Otan. Elle analyse d'abord les grands thèmes qui influencent la politique étrangère française traditionnelle puis la politique étrangère menée par Sarkozy depuis le début de sa présidence pour mieux comprendre la vision que la France a de sa place dans le système international. Après avoir identifié les objectifs de la politique étrangère française en général et de la politique étrangère de Sarkozy, cette thèse explique les objectifs que Sarkozy voulait réaliser à travers ses actions diplomatiques vis-à-vis du conflit libyen ainsi que les moyens dont il s'est servi pour les réaliser. Elle trouve que les actions de Sarkozy représentent une tentative de réaffirmer la réputation de la France en tant que grande puissance diplomatique.

Une modification de la politique contre-terroriste française est nécessaire pour combattre le phénomène nouveau des Français qui quittent leur pays pour rejoindre l’État Islamique en Irak et en Syrie. Malheureusement, les idées fausses omniprésentes fonctionnent comme des barrières contre la capacité de formuler une politique progressive. Il faut déboulonner les mythes qui entourent le terrorisme pour qu’on puisse ouvrir la porte à une discussion plus éclairée du problème des Français qui participent à l’État Islamique. C’est essentiellement le but de cette thèse. Le premier chapitre fournit un résumé de l’histoire du terrorisme en France, une histoire qui montre que le terrorisme n’est ni un phénomène nouveau ni lié intrinsèquement à l’islamisme. Le deuxième chapitre présente une série de cinq études de cas de terroristes français et examine leurs parcours vers la radicalisation et l’action terroriste. À travers ces cinq histoires, cette thèse démystifie le mythe du loup solitaire et on arrive à voir les terroristes comme des individus, comme des êtres humains. Grâce à cela, on arrive à mieux comprendre le processus de radicalisation. Finalement, le dernier chapitre présente la situation actuelle, évalue les mesures du gouvernement français pour affronter la situation actuelle et propose de nouvelles pistes pour une politique contre-terroriste française plus efficace.

The purpose of this policy report is to elucidate the current Arctic strategies and capabilities of the major Arctic nations – Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States – with the aim of identifying American shortcomings in the region and potential policy suggestions to correct these failings. The report first illuminates the potential for resource gain in the Arctic, specifically with respect to oil and natural gas and the potential for commercial growth represented by new Arctic shipping routes. The report also discusses the difficulties associated with reaping the rewards of the Arctic, specifically the lack of maritime infrastructure, the additional costs and risks associated with operating in the Arctic, and the speed with which the Arctic is melting. In general, the report finds that Arctic nations other than the United States are moving aggressively to protect their current and future commercial gains in the Arctic operating space. All countries are doing so by adhering to international legal standards such as the UN Convention on the Laws of the Seas and creating Arctic-specific domestic policies. The much vaunted military expansion in the Arctic is nothing more than countries attempting to protect and police their economic gains in the region. The United States has fallen far behind in all of these regards, and stands to lose out in the Arctic if it does not correct this situation immediately. The report presents the following suggestions for the United States: Create an “American Arctic Policy” document at the Executive level Accede to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea Approve or facilitate funding for a new heavy icebreaker, while solving the question of the Polar Sea Adjudicate an appropriate compromise on the Beaufort Wedge dispute with Canada Improve bilateral capabilities and create agreements with Russia in the Bering Strait and Canada in the Beaufort Sea Strengthen international Arctic cooperation through strong Arctic Council leadership

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the importance of transformational leadership in the social sector. Transformational leadership is a theory of behaviors and attributes focused on the relationship between leaders and followers of a group or organization (Avolio, 1999; Bass & Avolio, 1990a). It involves four factors: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. In order to gain more insight into leadership in some of the most high-impact and innovative social sector organizations, the research consists of interviews and case studies on five of the ten recipients of the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership. Having been internationally recognized for bold, visionary leadership, the recipients of the Kravis Prize in Leadership demonstrate the skills and practices deemed integral to the individual, team, and organizational success. The research focused on the behaviors, quotes, and publications that alluded to the inherent factors of transformational leadership within the organizations and their leaders from Landesa, INJAZ, Right To Play, Escuela Nueva, and mothers2mothers. The findings revealed a great deal of transformational leadership weaved throughout the behaviors and principles of the organization’s leaders and followers alike. Organizations like INJAZ and its Executive Director, Soraya Salti, personified transformational leadership, displaying numerous examples of behaviors from each of the four components (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation). Each individual studied personified several, if not all components of transformational leadership. In conclusion of the research and case studies of some of the worlds most high impact organizations, it can be summarized that transformational leadership is an effective strategy to employ in the social sector and is one of the most prevalent common threads amongst high impact nonprofit organizations.

HIV/AIDS is one of the largest health problems the world is currently facing. Even with anti-retroviral therapies (ART), many resource-constrained countries are unable to meet the treatment needs of their infected populations. ART-distribution methods need to be created that prevent the largest number of future HIV infections. We have developed a compartment model that tracks the spread of HIV in multiple two-sex populations over time in the presence of limited treatment. The model has been fit to represent the HIV epidemic in rural and urban areas in Uganda. With the model we examine the spread of HIV among urban and rural regions and observe the effects of preferential treatment to rural areas on the spread of HIV in the country as a whole. We also investigate the effects of preferentially treating women on the spread of HIV. We find that preferentially treating urban women produces the most dramatic effect in reducing the number of infected male and females in rural and urban areas.

Female labor force participation varies widely across regions and cultures, typically with more working women in developed than developing countries. Because there are significant differences between developed and developing countries that go beyond GDP, this paper examines the effects of certain development indicators on female workforce participation across these countries. Using models from past literature, I include indicators that cover personal and labor market characteristics. In this analysis, I find that education and unemployment rates continue to be significant determinants of female labor force participation in both developed and developing countries, with several key differences in the effect of various types of unemployment. Furthermore, my study supports the existence of an initial tradeoff between female labor force participation and development as the economic sectors within a country shift. These results provide valuable insights on these general trends across national borders and therefore are important for policy makers.

Much of the academic discussion on the topic of radicalization and terrorism in the Balkans has been centered on the conditions and the processes by which individuals become radicalized and indoctrinated, even to a point of engaging in violence. Comparatively speaking, this ethnographic research addressed the factors that prompt Kosovo's Muslim extremists, a small number of them engaged in the conflict, to disengage from terrorist groups fighting in the Syrian and the Iraq conflict. Data were collected from 12 government officials with direct knowledge on the issue of disengagement from terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Cognitive dissonance theory served as the theoretical framework for this ethnographic study, while the conceptual framework was built around social, psychological, and physical factors associated with disengagement from terrorism. Interviews served as primary methods of data collection. The content analysis technique was applied to identify emergent themes. The findings highlighted the crucial role of psychological and social factors in individuals' decision to abandon terrorist organizations engaged in the Iraq and the Syrian conflict. The findings also suggested that affecting ideological values of extremists or terrorist groups may not be sufficient. Recommendations include incorporating a combination of â??softâ?? and â??hardâ?? power measures in addressing the issue of disengagement from terrorist groups. The findings generated from this study may inform the development of more efficient counter-radicalization and counterterrorism policies in Kosovo and the Balkans in general. The findings may also add value to the global literature on disengagement from terrorism.

Low-carbon development (LCD) in China and India is crucial to global sustainability. As representatives of the emerging world, China and India have to tackle the LCD challenge at the same time as they address rapid urbanization, industrialization and globalization, making this process an unprecedented problem in policy and practice. My dissertation uses a comparative perspective to examine the unique institutional change processes of China and India's LCD during the period of late 1970s to the present day - through the lens of energy efficiency (EE). I argue that despite the manifold differences in political, economic and social contexts in contemporary China and India, the process of institutional development and change in EE reveals some similar mechanisms. I investigate the common mechanisms through a five-phase framework, and find: First, in both countries, EE was initially triggered by complicated interactions between international and domestic crises. Second, through processes of political negotiation led by various policy groups, EE was conceived and planned by each state to embody not one single objective but multiple political, economic and social development goals. Third, in order to realize EE, an organizational complex formed within an existing governance structure. Fourth, detailed policy processes (which both shape and are shaped by their institutional settings) emerged from the previous stages. Finally, EE institutions are stabilized jointly through legalization and the establishment of specialist technical subfields. I argue that the key mechanism of the five-phase process of institutional change is the bundling structure between EE organizations and the host governance structure. While in China the latter is the structure of economic governance, in India it is that of energy governance. These bundling structures imprinted multiple path-dependencies from the host governance structure to the newly developed EE regime, which in turn determine the long-term impact of EE on LCD in China and India. My original contributions are threefold. First, this project is one of the first scholarly attempts to systematically make sense of LCD in large and complex countries with fast economic growth by using the perspective of institutional change. Second, drawing on broad theoretical resources and through an interdisciplinary exploration, the thesis tries to construct a cause-effect, systemic, and political-economic theory of LCD in contemporary China and India. Finally, my comparative framework adds a systemic and nuanced methodological viewpoint to the emerging field of multidisciplinary China-India comparative scholarship.