Often we see examples of what makes a great leader, yet overlook examples of dark leaders. This thesis explores how dark leaders don’t necessarily draw in blind followers, but rather abuse their power in order to build their vision. In my study of Jonestown I show that followers were genuine in their feelings about Jones as a person and the Peoples Temple’s mission. They should not be dismissed just because they “drank the Kool-Aid.” This thesis explores and evaluates various religious studies theories and their interpretation of the events, popular perceptions, and personal statements from the deceased or surviving members. I conclude that Jones was a revolutionary leader during his time. He tried to achieve equality in the U.S. on multiple platforms, but was ultimately too attracted by power and control. In the end, this matters because given the state of the world today and the rise of dark leaders both through political offices, terrorist groups and other places, we need to have a way to not only protect ourselves from joining them, but also preventing them.

This thesis will address the impact of political and economic forces on the equitable access to fresh water in Ecuador. Demographic factors such as the rural-to-urban migration and the political and economic forces have strongly influenced the debate over the privatization of the provision of potable water and sanitation services. Within the context of Ecuador, two different approaches by the largest cities, Quito and Guayaquil, are analyzed; in Guayaquil, the services were privatized, while in Quito, the public utility was corporatized, remaining under public control. It concludes arguing that in the face of political instability and a lack of regulatory enforcement, neither public nor private provision adequately supplies marginalized communities with water and sanitation services. Watershed management is therefore crucial to maintaining a sound city water-management plan. Its flexibility and openness to innovative alliances between various stakeholders creates great potential for this approach.

If a man could somehow snap a picture of the world today, a viewer one hundred years hence would certainly notice its many revolutionary characteristics. Perhaps the most important of these relates to the growth of non-Western nationalism and modernization, the "revolution of rising expectations," which has resulted in the formation of many new nations within the last twenty years, led by Western-trained intellectuals in many cases. These new leaders have been faced with the problem that their fellow countrymen do not necessarily share their beliefs in or understanding of nationalism. The leaders, many of them young, have had to become nation-builders in order to construct political units within the geographic boundaries of their new states. It often appears that the masses within these new nations have first loyalties to their tribes, religious units, racial or linguistic groups, or particular regions. Confronted with these facts, the leadership of many new countries has used native military forces to help build a national consensus. An army has unique characteristics which may aid or detract from the formation of a sense of national consensus and a devotion to national symbols. Within an army the officer corps is its mind and its heart. An understanding of this select group can provide useful insights into the ideological roots of any army. In this study the author will describe the role of the military in underdeveloped countries. The essay will then examine several Indonesian background factors which contributed to the condition of its military during the period 1950-1958. Geographical and general ethnic, cultural and psychological elements have left a very definite mark on the TNI (Tentara Nasional Indonesia - Indonesian National Army). Any effort to understand Indonesia must also include an analysis of the impact of the Netherlands. The Japanese occupation produced certain very discernible traits which can be found in the army officer corps during the period analyzed. Indonesia's unique war for independence formulated the major ideological foundations upon which the army was built. An examination of that critical period cannot be omitted. The actual role played by the Indonesian military during the 1950-1958 period is then examined in comparison and contrast to preceding portions of this study. The final chapter contains some conclusions which resulted from the study.

Congress has become infamous for its lack of understanding of technology, particularly with the Facebook and Google hearings in 2018. To improve this understanding, this thesis argues for the return of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), a congressional support agency created in 1972 that provided science and technology expertise to Congress until its termination in 1995. It also considers potential changes that might be made to the old OTA model and the political environment in which a new OTA would need to survive.

This dissertation analyzes the relevance and importance of small buffer states for contemporary International Relations. It argues that sub-systemic interactions reinvigorate the role of buffer states in regional security. Using the case study of the triadic relationship among India, Nepal, and China, this study explains the evolving role of buffer states. The technological innovations in weapons systems, transportation, and communication have extended the reach of potential adversaries, rendering intermediate territorial space less significant than in the past. Thus, it is hypothesized in this dissertation that increased sub-systemic rivalry reinvigorates differently the relevance and significance of buffer states. The role of such states has evolved from an overwhelmingly geographic concept based on spatial discontinuity between larger rival powers to that of a fluid political space in which Great/Middle Power rivalry and competition play out. The research utilizes a mixed research design, specifically called the convergent parallel design. Data was collected based on specific critical junctures between 1990-2017. For quantitative analysis, data on trade, foreign direct investment, and foreign aid were collected; for the qualitative data analysis, foreign policy statements, press releases, and media briefs were used. Incorporating the Kruskal-Wallis Test and content analysis, both the results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses were collectively interpreted. Results demonstrate that during critical historical junctures, material and rhetorical engagements of both China and India invigorate within the buffer state of Nepal. In periods that India increases its material and rhetorical engagements, China concomitantly decreases its material engagement all the while increasing its rhetorical engagement. In essence, buffer states maintain relevance through the externalization of interactions between larger powers in the form of dynamic rhetorical and material engagements. In this case, Nepal maintains its relevance as a dynamic political space for interactions between its neighbors, India and China.

Social scientists agree that public confidence in social institutions is a crucial element in building democratic society. This is especially true for transitional societies including post-communist countries, because the lack of public confidence in newly emerged democratic institutions can interfere with democratic development. Although different theories explaining public confidence in social institutions were developed, these theories ignored the role that mass media play in building public confidence. The goal of this study is to examine the connection between mass media coverage of social institutions and public confidence in these institutions by conducting content analysis of Belarusian newspapers, reviewing the results of the public opinion polls from Belarus, and exploring the links between coverage of social institutions and trust in them. Four institutions were chosen for this examination: two institutions with high level of confidence representing the state (the President, the military) and two institutions with low level of confidence representing civil society (independent labor unions, opposition political parties). Results showed that there is a noticeable connection between media coverage and public confidence in social institutions. Content analysis demonstrated that the state-run newspapers publish a great number of articles about Belarus President Lukashenko, covering him within the scope of explicitly positive themes. As results of public opinion polls demonstrate, the President enjoys an high level of confidence amongst people who trust state-run Media. On the other hand, independent newspapers present President Lukashenko in a negative different light: he is being depicted as a dictator and an ineffective leader. According to public opinion polls, people who trust the independent media are less confident in the President: more than 42% do have confidence in him. Given that state-run newspapers present the President almost exclusively within positive themes and independent newspapers seldom speak of the President’s achievements, concentrating mostly on his failures and shortcomings, we can see a strong connection between media coverage of the President and levels of public confidence in him. Examining media coverage and public opinion about other social institutions provided similar results, confirming the connection between media coverage and public confidence in this study.

As China’s economic and military power develops and expands, it has been focusing recent efforts on upgrading its soft power in order to quell concerns and apprehensions about its rise. As the two most powerful nations in the world, China and the United States have both attached great importance to Sino-U.S. relations, recognizing that the structure of the future global community will be largely dependent upon these two countries effectively collaborating in shaping the global structure and improving global issues. Facing an American public that views China as a threat and competitor, as well as Western media that consistently paints China in a negative light, the Chinese Communist Party has realized the need to reach out to the American populace and facilitate people-to-people ties, increasing its soft power in the country and thus facilitating a stronger bilateral relationship. This thesis reviews three areas of China’s soft power push in the United States: cultural diplomacy, which includes creating more educational opportunities, building Confucius Institutes, organizing cultural events, and increasing diplomatic outreach; media campaigning and propaganda through news, television, radio, and the internet; and congressional lobbying.

This work explores how authors employ literary modes to persuade readers towards one side or another of the environmental debate and whether the works promote constructive discourse on environmental issues. It uses two seminal works from each side of the environmental discourse, Silent Spring and The Population Bomb and The Ultimate Resource and The Skeptical Environmentalist, to analyze stylistic differences and similarities, to compare public reception, and to explain the increasing polarization of environmental discourse.

This analysis seeks to understand the power of social media to create sustainable social movements. The 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle were one of the first internet-supported acts of protest and illustrate the power of the Internet and social media to bring together diverse coalitions of actors and maintain decentralized power structures. Next, the analysis studies the non-profit advocacy organization Invisible Children and the recent media explosion of their Kony 2012 campaign to make sense of how uses of the Internet have expanded since 1999. The Kony 2012 case illustrates the power of committed networks in disseminating information but also alludes to some of the new challenges social media presents. Ultimately, this analysis concludes that social media has simultaneously empowered and crippled social media, calling for an intentioned use of the Internet applications, strong leadership, and cultural framing to sustain mobilization.

This thesis examines the ways in which popular media forms explore ideas of national identity, citizenship, and the politics of representation with regards to queer Xicana women, especially those residing in Los Angeles. Specifically, through an analysis of the television show The L Word, Cherrie Moraga’s play The Hungry Woman and Aurora Guerrero’s film Mosquita y Mari, this thesis argues that the queer Xicana experience is best represented in popular culture by queer Xicanas themselves.