As commonly understood, and particularly espoused by Kurdish nationalists, the Kurds are by far the largest ethnic group in the world without their own nation-state. An estimated 2 to 2.5 million ethnically Kurdish people inhabit portions of Syria. There are approximately 6.5 million ethnically Kurdish people in Iraq, 7.6 million in Iran, and 16 million in Turkey. Overall, there are about 30 million Kurds in the world. In the broader context of the Kurdish nationalist struggle, this paper suggests that there is a growing bipolar hegemony for power over the control of Kurdish land and politics. Research was predicated around the question of why not all Kurdish groups pursue full independence. Standing in contrast to each other despite relatively similar goals is the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). The KCK movement is the more diverse of the two, with its member organizations being the dominant forces of the Kurdish movement in Turkey, Syria, and Iran. Within Turkey, the KCK is represented politically through the HDP and PKK, along with the armed wing of the PKK (HPG). In Syria, KCK is represented politically through the PYD and its armed wing YPG. In Iran, the KCK is represented by PJAK and in Iraq it is represented by the PÇDK. In Syria and Turkey, KCK affiliated groups are the dominant political and militia force. The only Kurdish inhabited region where this is not the case is in the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq, which is dominated politically, economically, and militarily by the KDP and its affiliates. The two camps differ in a host of ways: the KCK espouses anti-state, anarcho-socialist sentiment while the KDP opts for establishing a traditional nation-state. The KCK has poor relations with Turkey universally, while the KDP and by extension the KRG has warm relations built off of growing economic interests. Most importantly, their end goals for Kurdish society are drastically different: KCK organization call for autonomous communities and do not advocate for a state, in direct contrast to the KDP’s long iii term goal of an independent nation-state for the Kurdish people. Despite the common enemy of Islamic State, tensions between the two camps have only increased as each looks to become the voice for the Kurdish nation.

The United States and Russia are two major superpowers with governments that are run in different manners. Central to a government's and country's defense is their intelligence systems. The intelligence systems of these two countries are run as part of the government and are integral to its functioning. The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how both the governments and intelligence systems are structured and do they coincide with their respective systems. Using a case study on the United States and Russia, their intelligence systems and governments a comparison was drawn. While looking at the history of both governments and communities and what they are like in the present day it was determined that there exist similarities in structures. As the countries grew and modernized so did their intelligence community. The history of how the intelligence community developed in their respective country and interacted with citizens both foreign and domestic showed striking similarities to the governments own workings. Another important find was the rules and restrictions that were involved in the government's evolution was also paralleled in the intelligence communities evolution. In the United States there are regulations against intruding into the lives and properties of citizens and the intelligence community reflects this in executive order 12333 that states intelligence communities cannot collect information on citizens unless it is imperative to the safety and security of the country.

<p>This thesis seeks to explain the way in which assisted housing and health policies evolved in Canada and the United States during four watershed periods: the mid-1940s, the late 1960s, the late 1970s, and the mid-1980s. To achieve this objective, it discusses the concepts of health, the broader determinants of health, disease prevention, and health promotion; it reviews documents which urge that greater attention be paid to the broader determinants of health during policy formulation; and it examines recent studies which stress the value of linking assisted housing and health policies.</p> <p>After an overview of assisted housing and health policy development in Europe, the thesis explores the evolution of these policy fields in Canada and the United States up to the mid-1940s, and investigates the reasons why these nations followed the policy paths they did.</p> <p>Using the neo-institutional approach to explain the complex interplay among the various institutions, actors, and events that affect the public policy process, the thesis discusses eight major institutional and behavioral variables that contribute to the shaping of policy over time. It then studies the influence which these variables had on assisted housing and health policies during the four watershed periods.</p> <p>Examination of postwar Canadian and US policy trends shows that although housing was treated in both countries mainly as an economic issue and only secondarily as a determinant of well-being, Canada dealt with healthcare essentially as a social issue and adopted a public system, while the US treated it as a socioeconomic issue and relied heavily on the private sector. Despite these policy differences, a potential for linking assisted housing and health policy manifested itself in both countries during the mid-1940s and late 1960s, but declined after the late 1970s.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This study is an exploration of why policy outcomes in the sectors of child care and unemployment insurance, between the time period 1972 to 1996, did not meet the policy goals of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) in Canada and the National Women's Council of lreland (NWCI). Specifically, this study sought to explain why successive governments in Canada and Ireland persistently resisted the implementation of policy goals put forth by NAC and NWCI in the sectors of child care and unemployment insurance, or when they did respond, policy outcomes had differential impacts on women. With this in mind, the overall research question of this study was: What happened to the policy goals ofNAC and NWCI once they were articulated to government?</p> <p>In order to answer this question, this study merged the theoretics of historical institutionalism with feminist political economy into a theoretical framework I have termed feminist-institutionalism. This framework was applied to argue that policy institutions (as mediators and containers ofgendered social relations) redefine feminist policy goals articulated by women's groups to government into gendered policy outcomes that often undermine the original intent of those goals. I have called this process of redefinition policy transformation. By employing a framework of analysis three spheres of policy transformation -this study comparatively maps out the processes, institutions and factors within the macro-political policy context which contributed to an overall lack of success on the part of NAC and NWCI in the realization of their child care and unemployment insurance policy goals. One of the conclusions of this study is that NAC and NWCI were equally unsuccessful even given stark differences between macro-political institutional structures and interest representation systems in Canada and Ireland.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis is an examination of the long historical processes that have led to the Israel/Palestine conflict to the contemporary period, focusing mostly on the period before Israeli independence and the 1948 war that created the Jewish state. As Zionism emerged at the turn of the twentieth century to combat the antisemitism of Europe, practical and political facets of the movement sought immigration to Palestine, an area occupied by a large population of Arab natives. The answer to how the Zionists would achieve a Jewish state in that region, largely ignoring the indigenous population, fostered disagreements and a split in the Zionist ideology. The Revisionist Zionist organization was founded by Ze’ev Jabotinsky and favored a more militant orientation. With an “Iron Wall” manifesto, and as time passed and international aid waned, the Revisionists evolved into an anticolonial movement that not only viewed Palestinians as an obstacle to the Jewish state but turned their anticolonial furor toward the British and United Nations threats. That evolution reached a crescendo in 1948 when the Revisionist paramilitary group Lehi assassinated the UN Mediator, Count Bernadotte. That act was a catalyst that began the end of the war and the solidification of a Palestinian refugee crisis that persists to the present. As the Iron Wall Doctrine evolved from the early teachings of Jabotinsky through anticolonial violence and the removal of native Arabs from the new state of Israel, future prime ministers who were former Revisionist terrorists maintained the prescribed perpetual state of war Jabotinsky predicted with the now landless Palestinians. This research concludes that both Jabotinsky and Bernadotte were crucial characters in the narrative that allowed for the Iron Wall Doctrine, and thus the Jewish state, to not only exist but to carry on beyond the 1948 independence into the long standing conflict it has become.

This dissertation looks at how enhanced political participation opportunities can increase individual liberty and improve public-sector reform efforts. It blends political theory with contemporary concerns for individual well-being and government accountability. To do this, several research methodologies are used, including normative, qualitative process-tracing, and quantitative analysis. First, the dissertation draws insights from ancient and modern political philosophy and the political thought and example of Jane Addams in 19th Century Chicago. It begins with Josiah Ober’s work on civic dignity, which he defines as “equal high standing” among citizens, marked by “non-infantilization and non-humiliation.” This definition is a useful starting point but somehow seems thin for a concept of such import. In exploring the wisdom of Tocqueville’s “schools” of democracy and Jane Addams’ notion of fellowship, I expand the definition of civic dignity to include “having a sense of ownership.” In other words, being dignified as a citizen in a self-governing political community should include having a seat at the proverbial table where one can speak and be heard. This means that political participation opportunities would ideally carry low transaction costs while maximizing the substance that can be contributed. Through Addams’ experience at Hull House, the settlement house she co-founded, I highlight how these opportunities for meaningful political participation are indispensable to individual civic dignity, and by extension, individual liberty and well-being. Second, civic dignity is viewed through a different lens, namely the role it can play when incorporated successfully into policy design and implementation. Arguably, a self- governing political community’s greatest asset is the collective knowledge and lived experience of its citizens. But current political participation mechanisms and policy designs do not do a good job leveraging that resource, and many individuals may find themselves unofficially shut out. Using process-tracing methodology, a case study explores resettlement projects targeting the urban poor in Mandaue City, the Philippines. The case study results demonstrate that deepening democracy (by incorporating civic dignity into the policy design and implementation) not only benefits individual liberty, but can also produce better outcomes and contribute to anti-corruption efforts. Taking civic dignity into account during policy design and implementation is not merely a “feel good” option; it is a strategic option that allows the political community to leverage local knowledge by enlisting the participation of those individuals or groups closest to the problem or challenge at hand. While this finding is not entirely novel, it is far from standard practice. Domestically and internationally, the coercive force of government and/or the “tyranny of experts” is too often the default approach for policy design and implementation. Third, the theoretical and practical explorations of civic dignity are used to construct a measure for civic dignity. In a data driven world, reliable and valid measurement is key, and if the concept of civic dignity is going to gain currency, then validating a scale to capture it is essential. Through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), survey items are examined to determine which items map onto the latent factors that comprise civic dignity. A 22-item four-factor solution that maps onto the four components of civic dignity is presented. The newly minted Civic Dignity Scale is then compared against measures from political science and psychology literature that are theoretically related but distinct from civic dignity, such as political efficacy and self-determination, to test for construct validity. Spearman correlations yield reassuring results, showing statistically significant strong positive correlations as hypothesized. Finally, the relationship between the Civic Dignity Scale and political participation is analyzed for further construct validity. A Poisson regression model shows that for every one unit increase in an individual’s civic dignity, the likelihood that one would participate in political activities also increases. While a confirmation factor analysis is needed for further scale validation, the EFA and subsequent analyses do codify and deepen our understanding of civic dignity. In the future, a fully validated Civic Dignity Scale would enable reformers like Addams and those in Mandaue City to legitimize and track their efforts empirically.

Amid increasing trends of market concentration and corporate political activity in the United States, this thesis takes a quantitative approach to evaluating Luigi Zingales’ political theory of the firm. Using data from the Economic Census and from the Center for Responsive Politics, I find that concentration as measured by four and eight largest firms’ share of establishments exhibits a significant positive relationship to corporate lobbying at the intensive margin. On the other hand, concentration as measured by four and eight largest firms’ share of employment exhibits a significant negative relationship on politically active firms’ decision to lobby at the extensive margin. Through drawing upon existing quantitative literature on this subject, I conclude that Zingales’ theory remains sound and its implications on the political economy of the United States are bleak. Further research should look into politically feasible policy solutions to this troubling relationship.

A substantial gap exists between those who are considered experts on mental health (e.g., academics, mental health professionals) and those in charge of constructing mental health policies (e.g., legislators, Senators). This gap is in areas of both knowledge and professional relations. Mental health professionals are not adequately trained to engage in policy advocacy and reform efforts and have little to no policy advocacy training (Smith, Reynolds, & Rovnak, 2009). Policymakers lack necessary knowledge related to mental health for effective mental health policy construction (Corrigan, Druss, & Perlick, 2014; Lee, Smith, & Henry, 2013). As a result of this gap, mental health policies are ineffective, and many mental health professionals lack understanding and experience in the area of policy advocacy (Smith et al., 2009; Tanenbaum, 2005). This qualitative study aimed to contribute to filling this gap by exploring the perspectives of policymakers with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the mental health policy construction and reform process. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives and lived experiences of state-level, practicing policymakers regarding their decision-making processes related to mental health policy construction in efforts to reveal a clearer understanding of how to participate in effective policy reform.A phenomenological qualitative research design and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach was used to explore the lived experiences and perspectives of a total of eight state-level practicing policymakers surrounding the mental health policy construction process. After securing IRB approval, all eight participants participated in face-to-face individual, semi-structured interviews. The interviews were audio recorded and ranged from 45 to 90 minutes. Data was then analyzed using IPA data analysis methods. The final data analysis product included three super ordinate themes and related themes and subthemes.

China has achieved unprecedented economic growth and consequent successes in poverty alleviation over the past three decades of economic liberalization and market-oriented reforms. Yet, in order to continue its progress in poverty reduction, while addressing pressing environmental and sociopolitical concerns, it is crucial for China’s leaders to achieve and sustain green, equitable, and robust economic performance in all parts of China. This thesis argues that a reconceptualized and strengthened rural industrialization program would enable China to maintain economic growth and assist with the transition to a domestically driven consumer economy. Moreover, rural industrialization, coupled with targeted administrative and institutional policy modifications, will enable the Chinese government to provide support to millions of its rural poor, thus avoiding social instability and potentially severe internal conflicts. Such a program would also lessen pollution and its associated costs on China’s densely populated cities, by shifting heavy urban industries to relatively less contaminated areas while adopting cleaner, environmentally sustainable technologies, introduced in a participatory manner in consultation with local communities. This approach would concurrently address regional, rural-to-urban, and intra-communal disparities, provide opportunity for “green growth” initiatives, and better equip rural populations to address growing vulnerabilities as a result of climate change.

This paper seeks to determine under what conditions a U.S. president can implement a grand strategy given the nature of domestic and international opportunities and constraints. It will examine three comparative case studies: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, with the goal of determining what conditions are necessary at the individual, domestic, and systemic levels of analysis for grand strategy implementation. At the individual level, it will apply operational code analysis, as well as an examination of personal characteristics for each case study. At the domestic level, it will apply a five-prong test for examining factors that are key to grand strategy implementation: (1) unity of foreign policy team; (2) strength of presidency; (3) party alignment between Congress and the president; (4) public opinion; and (5) strength of domestic economy. At the systemic level, it will examine significant events faced by each president that tested whether his grand strategy could respond effectively to international imperatives. Ultimately, it will assess the success of each president's attempt at grand strategy implementation based on: (1) how closely U.S. policies aligned with his grand strategy; and (2) whether policies put in place that aligned with his grand strategy improved the global standing of the U.S. Through this analysis, it will assess the larger implications of having a grand strategy on U.S. foreign policy.