This thesis evaluates the effects of compulsory military service in South Korea on the political behavior of men from a public policy standpoint. I take an institutional point of view on conscription, in that conscription forces the military to accept individuals with minimal screening. Given the distinct set of values embodied by the military, I hypothesize that the military would need a powerful, comprehensive, and fast program of indoctrination to re-socialize civilians into military uniform, trustable enough to be entrusted with a gun or a confidential document. Based on the existence of such a program and related academic literature, I go on to look at how a military attitude has political implications, especially for the security-environment of the Korean peninsula. Given the ideological nature of the inter-Korean conflict, the South Korean military was biased against the liberals, as liberals were most likely to generate policies supporting conciliatory and cooperative measures towards North Korea, like the removal of U.S. forces from South Korea and the repeal of the National Security Laws that outlaw discussion of communism. For an empirical evaluation, I pose the hypothesis that this political bias would manifest itself in the male public via the military’s indoctrinative program. With data from the Korean General Social Survey, the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, and the South Korean General Election Panel Study, I have found that males respond acutely to specific security issues in favor or against according to the military’s point of view. However, the evidence for an overall bias on political parties generally was inconclusive. The uncertainty was mainly rooted in the fact that liberal parties have strategically avoided speaking out on specific policy issues during election.

This behavioral study examines the users’ engagement on social networking[ sites (SNS) in electoral races for public office in relation to their act of voting. This study was based on the premise that when certain criteria are met then SNS can be used as a predictive tool. The initial technique used was observations of the tools/functions on SNSs such as the “Like” button, favorable comments, retweets, friends/followers. Another technique used was surveys administered to individuals at political rallies, political debates, and college campuses to further analyze if their online engagement in politics translates to their physical participation. A quantitative case study analysis approach was used to analyze data gathered. Results of the data collected suggest that there is a positive relationship between online engagement and physical participation. The conclusion drawn from the findings suggests that SNS can be used as a predictive tool when examining electoral races for public offices.

Over forty years ago, Hanna Pitkin expressed concern that social scientists were failing to give concepts the attention which they needed (Pitkin 1972, 277). This thesis takes up the same theme, asking how the concept of responsiveness is treated by political scientists. The goal to reveal confusion that surrounds widely used concepts such as responsiveness. The analysis offered in this thesis has significance for the discipline of political science in three ways. First, it highlights confusion surrounding the concept of responsiveness itself. Responsiveness is a widely utilized concept employed throughout the social sciences; however, as this thesis shows, there is wide disagreement in how the concept is understood. This confusion is fueled by the frequent failure of scholars to critically analyze the concept and the assumptions which have been attached to the understanding of responsiveness. Second, by analyzing the related concepts of representation and democracy, this thesis suggests that there is a lack of attention to concepts which are employed for research that extends beyond responsiveness. Many other concepts that are foundational to our discipline warrant increased scrutiny. Third and finally, the thesis highlights the danger of ignoring the ideological commitments of political scientists, commitments that can shape in hidden but consequential ways how we study the world around us.

Government Organized Non-Governmental Organizations (GONGOs), once common during the Soviet-era, are now increasingly resurfacing under the Putin administration. Once completely abolished from Russia, these deceitful organizations are accompanying various new laws signed by President Putin in the Russian Federation. While Russia does not claim to be a liberal democracy with a free civil society and Putin has described his state as a “managed democracy,” the puzzle still remains why the Putin administration is secretly using organizations to fulfill government ploys. This thesis will analyze the types of GONGOs along with new laws and policies signed into effect under the Putin and Medvedev Administration. I conclude this thesis by partially confirming my hypothesis that president Putin is rationally choosing to create these organizations in an effort to consolidate his power and promote Russian culture.

This thesis argues that in order to understand the non-representation of women and BIPOC in the Western musical canon, the analysis of their cultural musical production and reception must start in early modern period, a time heavily influenced by the establishment of capitalism. Intertwining political feminist studies, critical race theory and musicology critique, I argue that the witch hunts and the inhumane colonial practices in Africa and the America (fundamental to establish capitalism as a global system), had an important role in shaping Western musical culture as homogeneous and monolithic. Thus, I first trace the change in female customs in the early modern period and show how poetry and then music reflected the newly imposed norm of chastity presenting as case study “I’ mi son giovinetta.” Here I discuss the importance of il concerto delle dame in Italy, their vital role in conserving women’s musical excellence as well as the restriction imposed on their lives based solely on their gender. Race and gender biases are protagonist of the following chapter, where I present a case study on Die Zauberflöte as mirror of the societal changes happening at the same time in Europe. Intersecting race, gender and class I demonstrate the multiple ways in which this opera reiterates the victory of capitalistic patriarchy over the previous way of organizing life. In the last chapter, I discuss the various conflicting ideas that scholars brought forth regarding the Western canon formation. I argue that the gendered and racist pseudo-scientific ideologies that relegated women and BIPOC to their bodies (in connection to capitalist’s exploitation of “free labor”), were reaffirmed by scholars in the following centuries. These ideologies fed into the elevation of “absolute music” as the manifestation of the (white, male) intellectual genius, and contributed to forging musical institution that today continue to uphold sexists and racist values.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore corruption in Brazil, how it has endured for so such a long period, and the effects it has in the country. Understanding the history of Brazil, how the government was established, and how the branches operate is crucial to comprehend the rooting causes of the Brazilian corruption. The focus is not just about what corruption is and the effects it has on education, economy, and infrastructure, but also on the factors that contributed to its expansion and the circumstances that allowed it to sustain until today. Brazil is a country known for its natural beauty, great food, inviting people, but also for the never-ending problems with corruption. Unfortunately, corruption has been part of Brazil's history since the beginning of its colony, and it has been hard to remove it from its culture since then. The country has been affected by corruption for centuries, especially on economy and development, and it is one of the main reasons Brazil has been stagnated compared to other developing states. Lack of money or natural resources are not a problem preventing the country from being a major power, but rather the extensive practice of corruption in politics and the socially accepted mentality of being corrupt. The cultural factor is a huge problem in Brazil and it is major problem adding to the expansion of corruption. Brazil not only needs a political reform, but also a culture reform to have positive changes in the government, otherwise everything will continue to be the same or even worse.

<p>Evidence briefs are an innovative and promising approach to synthesizing the best available research evidence to support evidence-informed health policymaking in low- and middle-income countries. Unfortunately, despite their increased use, little work has been undertaken to understand how the contexts in which briefs are prepared and the issues that they address influence the ways in which policymakers and stakeholders view them. Furthermore, there have been few efforts to determine whether and how evidence briefs influence the policy processes related to the priority policy issues for which they are prepared. This thesis begins to address these issues through four manuscripts that use a range of methods and approaches to develop a deeper understanding of briefs and their use, as well as the ways in which they can be evaluated in low- and middle-income countries. Taken together the chapters present: 1) the development of a theoretical framework through a systematic review that highlights how factors related to contexts and issues can influence policymakers’ and stakeholders’ views about evidence briefs and their design features; 2) results from a survey conducted across six countries that provide insights into how policymakers, stakeholders and researchers who have read evidence briefs view them and their design features; 3) an approach to operationalizing factors related to contexts and issues as variables for use in quantitative analyses of evidence briefs; and 4) four case studies that explain how evidence briefs prepared for priority policy issues in low- and middle-income countries influenced the policy processes related to these issues. These chapters constitute substantive, methodological and disciplinary contributions to the field of health systems research, and in particular about how to support its use in efforts to strengthen health systems. They also support the continued use and evaluation of evidence briefs in efforts to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

I will argue that a discussion of sovereignty as it relates to internal conflict deepens our understanding of the Colombian conflict, and in turn, the Colombian conflict deepens the ongoing discussion on sovereignty. Internal armed conflict is a tool to free and dominate populations, to save and kill individuals, and to destroy and build institutions. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke set an initial framework for understanding sovereignty. Armed actors use violence to create a sphere of influence that overlaps with the state’s legal jurisdiction: armed actors use violence as a strategy of hegemonic state building. Overlapping territorial claims challenge the integrity of Colombian sovereignty. I will argue in this thesis that the Colombian example demonstrates that a government’s sovereignty can be threatened by an ideological competitor (FARC), outlaws -- whether state created (AUC) or independent of the state (drug cartels) -- and by foreign nations (US). If the collective actions of these actors can effectively contest the state’s legitimacy, comparative advantage in violence, and territorial claims, armed actors can effectively undermine the state’s sovereignty. In this way, the Colombian example is a rich case study in domestic sovereignty.

Since 2009, the European Union has faced the worst economic crisis of its history. Due to the devastating impact of the Eurozone crisis on their economies, European countries realized the need to deepen the integration. Without a fiscal union, the Monetary Union would always be prone to economic crises. However, the efforts to reinforce the Union’s economy have been hampered by the UK due to its obsession with national sovereignty and lack of European ideals. In opposing further integration, the UK officials have started to speak out about the probability of leaving the EU. The purpose of this paper is to present benefits and challenges of Britain’s EU membership and to assess the consequences of leaving the Union both for the UK and for the EU. This study utilizes Power Transition theory to analyze British impact on European integration. With the perspective of this theory, the UK is defined as a dissatisfied partner. By applying the conflict– cooperation model of Brian Efird, Jacek Kugler and Gaspare Genna, the effect of the UK’s dissatisfaction is empirically portrayed. The empirical findings of the conflict– integration model clearly show that Britain’s dissatisfaction has a negative impact on European integration and jeopardizes the future of the Union. Power Transitions analysis indicates that the UK would become an insignificant actor in the international system and lose the opportunity for the Union’s leadership if it leaves the EU. On the other hand, although Britain’s departure would be a significant loss in terms of capability, economic coherence is more important for the EU. Without enough commitment for the Union, increasing the level of integration with the UK would raise the probability of conflict with the integration process in the future.

Conditionality has always been a feature of welfare benefit entitlements in the United Kingdom – however, over time, the extent to which conditionality has been exercised in order to change behaviour has drastically increased through the severity of sanctions. Universal Credit, the most recently enacted welfare programme in the UK, has strengthened conditionality even further through even more ambitious expectations, as well as stricter regulations and punishments. The mission of UC is to tackle worklessness, welfare dependency, and poverty by decreasing unemployment and thus, the number of people on benefits. Although UC may have been successful in addressing the first two issues, it is important to recognise that as a welfare policy and a response to poverty, UC is supposed to protect and benefit the wellbeing of people. My findings contradict this idea – UC has failed to address poverty in many ways, by defining poverty through a narrow and solely quantitative lens, by focusing on incentivising employment amongst benefit claimants as a solution to poverty, and by insufficiently accommodating for the needs of marginalised groups. Even so, conditional welfare policies have become the norm, a tool of many Conservative leaders in the United Kingdom. This is where the social policy focus has shifted. My thesis found that while UC and conditional welfare policies may achieve their stated goals of reducing unemployment and the number of benefit claimants, they do not adequately address the issue of poverty, as they ignore structural causes of poverty and disadvantage amongst marginalised communities.