The power balance between France and Germany in the European Union has been one of great discussion and debate. Countless journalists and scholars have argued that Germany’s power has risen gradually against the seemingly perpetually stronger France over the past sixty years, and is now finally set to surpass France; but how true are these claims? How can power within the EU truly be measured? Through an analysis of Franco-German collaboration through unionization, a critique of the contemporary discourse on the relationship, and an examination of changing contributions to the EU budget, my paper argues that the Franco-German power balance has never been truly equal, as Germany has continually been the largest source of economic power in the European Union since its creation.

En 1985 Alemania Occidental, Bélgica, Francia, Luxemburgo, y los Países Bajos, establecieron el Acuerdo de Schengen sobre la cooperación en la abolición de fronteras interiores como respuesta al Acta Única Europea que creó el mercado común en la Unión Europea. Este acuerdo se evolucionaría a la Convención de Dublín en 1990, y los dos se convertirían en la base de la política de asilo en la Unión Europea, estableciendo un enfoque intergubermental en ella. Es la provisión del mercado común sobre la libre circulación de personas que inició estos acuerdos intergubermentales. La libre circulación de personas involucra a todo extranjero también, incluyendo a los refugiados. A lo largo de esta tesis, se explora las razones para el establecimiento de los acuerdos intergubermentales y que efecto tienen en la formación de la política de asilo en la Unión Europea. También explora el efecto para la obligación a los refugiados según la Convención sobre el estatuto de los refugiados de 1951. Con el precedente de los acuerdos intergubermentales como Schengen y Dublín y la desgana de renunciar a la soberanía nacional sobre el asilo, el enfoque intergubermental, o sea, la cooperación en asuntos fronterizos en vez de la armonización de las políticas nacionales, queda aun cuando se incorporaron Schengen y Dublín a la ley comunitaria durante la época del Tratado de Ámsterdam. Sólo con el Tratado de Lisboa entonces podemos ver un cambio en el régimen de asilo fuera del enfoque intergubermental, más hacia la armonización.

Curricula throughout the country, specifically in the School District of Hillsborough County (SDHC), do not encompass diverse subject matter as it relates to Latino/a students. The primary argument posed in this thesis is that consistent engagement to Latino/a writings in the English language arts classroom can be a positive force that contributes to an increased rate of retention of Latino/a youths in high school and a higher percentage of Latino/a high school graduates. This Latino/a literature can be in the form of supplementary reading material that teachers will have access to that will include Latino/a literature from various authors that represent the full spectrum of what the Latino/a experience is and how it is an integral part of the American kaleidoscope of literature. This thesis examines how culture-based education, currently used with American Indians, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiians, directly correlates to Latinos/as in regards to culture, learning methodology and academic achievement. Included is a full unit plan and a literature guide for teachers to use that includes a plethora of Latino/a literature divided by specific country of origin of author(s) as well as genre.

The purpose of this multicase study was to describe and explain the perceptions of three Spanish-English culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) high achievers on their biliteracy journeys to become educators in the United States (U.S.), by answering: What elements constitute the perspectives of three L1-Spanish/L2-English CLD high achievers on the relevance of their biliteracy experience in order to become educators in the U.S.?; What factors do these three L1-Spanish/L2-English CLD high achievers perceive as key to describe their biliteracy experience?; What relevance, if any, do these three L1-Spanish/L2-English CLD high achievers perceive their biliteracy experience had for them to become educators in the U.S.?; From the perspectives of these three L1-Spanish/L2-English CLD high-achiever educators, what impact, if any, did digital technologies have on their biliteracy experience? With a critical-pedagogy approach to multicase-study (Stake, 2006) inquiry, I used online methods to collect data on three high-achieving (GPA > 3.01) L1-Spanish graduates initially identified as limited-English-proficient by the American school system. For data collection, I used a participant-selection questionnaire, individual and group semi-structured interviews via Skype, e-journals for biliteracy autobiographies, artifact e-portfolios, my reflective e-journal, and one face-to-face unstructured interview with one participant only. Concurrently, I engaged in on-going data analysis to build meaning inductively and guide further data collection, analysis, and interpretation, until saturation, in an application of the dialectical method into research (Ollman, 2008). I included the email communications with the participants and their member checks. Two external auditors reviewed all data-collection and analytic procedures. I analyzed each case individually followed by the cross-case analysis. The findings indicated the importance of family and L1-community support, host-culture insiders as mentors, access to information, empowerment by means of conscientization, and the participants' advocacy of others by becoming educators. In this way, the study identified how the participants escaped the statistics of doom, which helps understand how to better serve growing L2-English student populations. The study closed with a discussion from the viewpoint of reviewed literature and critical pedagogy, my interpretation of the findings, and suggestions for future praxis in education and research.

Why has the United States, given its status as the sole remaining superpower following its Cold War victory, been unable to translate its preponderance of power into the outcomes it desires? The system established by the United States over the course of the Cold War does not effectively translate its power into influence in the post-Cold War world. In fact, the way US-Soviet competition shaped global affairs created systemic problems, weak and failing states, terrorism, autocracy and human rights abuse, that cannot be solved by the mechanisms of influence the US relied upon to win the Cold War. However, precisely these issues now dominate the American foreign policy agenda as its strategic objective shifted from defeating communism to maintaining the stability of the liberal world order that resulted from communism’s defeat. The United States, reliant on Cold War era mechanisms of influence, lacks the tools to accomplish these new objectives because these mechanisms were designed to exploit or accept the problems of statehood that now plague the liberal world order. Therefore, for the United States to make effective use of its abundance of power, it must either change its tools or its objectives.

This thesis is a review of U.S. foreign policy in Pakistan through a realist lens. It critiques the current state of U.S. policy and recommends that the United States prioritize national security interests, particularly with regards to counterterrorism, over building Pakistani democracy and running civilian aid programs. It then further recommends ways for the United States government to account for ground level dynamics in Pakistani politics in crafting foreign policy aimed at bringing Pakistan into line with U.S. counterterrorism priorities.

2011 was a seminal year in the history of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Popularly referred to as the Arab Spring, the region has experienced a wave of revolutions and instability. It can be classified in three broad categories within 2011: Uprisings that have resulted in the overthrow of standing regimes, uprisings that have failed to overthrow standing regimes, and states that have not experienced popular revolts. In the first category Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Tunisia have all experienced uprisings resulting in the respective departure of Muamar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali. In contrast Syria and Bahrain have experienced uprisings that have not resulted into the toppling of their regimes thus far. Finally, countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran have experienced none of the instability observed in 2011 within the same time period. In tracking the evolution of selectorates, I identified the rise of actors within the newly developing coalitions whose Islamist preferences are unaccounted for in the standard Selectorate Model. As later explained in detail, Selectorate Theory is driven by the public-private goods argument. The theory states that a leader’s political survival is based on the mix of private payoffs he can provide to his selectorate and public goods provided to the general population. The once secular despots are either gone or are on the way out as evident by the removal of Hosni Mubarak, Zine Abidine Ben-Ali, Saddam Hussein, Muamar Gaddafi, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the currently embattled Bashar Al- Assad. They are being replaced or have already been removed by governments that are led by Islamic Parties. Therefore, newly elected or appointed leaders must take into account the role of religion in their calculus for political survival in a way that they did not before. This begs the question: what about the regimes in my case studies that have not been toppled such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Bahrain? Although these are highly autocratic governments, the leaders of such governments have a legitimacy that is derived from implicit approval of their Islamist allies. This strengthens the argument that religion must be accounted for beyond the standard Selectorate Model rationale for political survival in MENA. In such context I provide a revised Selectorate Model explanation that accounts for the role of religion. I conclude that the standard Selectorate Theory is insufficient for MENA because it is does not account for the role of religion. By testing the coalitional distribution and evolution of selectorates, I developed a revised Selectorate Model that includes the role of religion along with the standard private payoffs – public goods argument. The role of religion is expressed by the presence of religious stakeholders in the agent based model such as clerics, shura councils or Islamic parties present in all selectorates in MENA. I tracked the selectorates through a series of predictions made throughout the course of 2011 using the Senturion agent based model. It serves as a powerful alternative to standard historical analysis and wisdom. I provide an explanation of why certain regimes fell while others remained relatively stable and why some governments experiencing similar instability remain using agent based modeling (ABM) in application to Selectorate Theory.

The purpose of this dissertation is to utilize a historical comparative analysis to examine how capitalism influenced the growth of the nation, its effects on culture, politics and the economy. The study will examine the shift of the economy under varying governments (civilian, presidential and military), as well as the economic effect of an oil economy on the politics and development of the country. This dissertation included an analysis of the historical implications of imperialism as well as the current implications of foreign interference. The research further explored the historical effects of colonialism on a newly independent nation attempting to govern and unite different ethnic groups as one nation as well as the effects the discovery of oil had on the precarious undertaking of establishing and maintaining democracy. This dissertation found that after independence the country shifted its focus in the agriculture sector from production for consumption to export for capital gains. This shift led to infrastructure development such as building roads, railways, and other essential structures for the transportation and exportation of cash crops. The downside in the shift from consumption crops to export crops was the occurrence of food shortages during the seventies. The discovery of oil in 1956 also changed the direction and strength of the economy and eventually led to an unstable and under-developed nation. This dissertation will also examine the initiatives towards development and national unity as the nation struggles to stabilize economically and politically.

Since its inception, Israel has wrestled with attempts by adversaries to keep her politically isolated in the international arena. To garner more friends and expand diplomatic reach, Israeli leaders initiated a strategy of sharing specialized knowledge with other nations. The technologies and knowledge shared were based on the experience gained from Israel’s distinctive security and developmental struggles. The transfer of technology developed into a foreign policy instrument in Israel’s overall international relations. Technical cooperation became part of a broader foreign relations drive that sought to deliver greater diplomatic recognition for Israel. This strategy, which continues to present times, was born mostly out of two major necessities for the young struggling state. The first, to boost Israel’s political stature in international forums. The second, to counterbalance efforts by Israel’s rivals to keep the Jewish State isolated in the Middle East and the rest of the world. In the early years of the initiative, the technology transfers were mostly confined in fields related to agriculture and the military. In more recent years, the rise of Israel’s hi-tech industry has attracted worldwide attention creating new opportunities for Israeli foreign policymakers to widen the scope of technologies to be offered as part of international partnerships. The dissertation examines the interplay of technology/knowledge transfers as a source of soft power for Israel in efforts to advance relationships even with seemingly unlikely partner nations. It explores the usefulness of know-how sharing in the making, growing and maintaining Israel’s relationships with two influential Asian countries. The study considers the multiple factors including the convergence of interests as drivers of Israel’s ties to India and China in both secretive and open relationships. Over the span of five decades, the Jewish State’s international cooperation efforts have grown in scope of expertise in areas like agriculture, defense, anti-terrorist training, and disaster relief. The study explores the weight of Israel’s technology transfers as tools of diplomacy in terms of propping up trade ties, gaining more favorable policies towards Israel in the context of the conflict with Palestinians and boosting bilateral exchanges in the form of official visits and treaties.

This thesis explores globalization’s effects on female migrant domestic workers in Latin America by examining the socioeconomic and political status of Paraguayan and Peruvian domestic workers in Argentina. Through this research, I answer several key questions. First, how does globalization shape neoliberal markets that enforce the exploitative structures of domestic labor? Second, how is gender inequality present in governmental and social discrimination? Third, do the costs of transnational care labor outweigh the benefits? The former two questions are answered by the rising demand for care labor and resulting global care chains that fuel greater cross-border migration and statelessness of female migrants. Additionally, cultural and familial pressures magnify the sexual division of labor and maintain domestic labor’s low social status. Using a gender analysis, I address the last question by concluding that gender inequalities through governmental and social discrimination, plus emotional-familial burdens, outweigh domestic labor’s short-sighted financial prospects and autonomy provided by globalization.