Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 399-414). / A growing literature in international relations theory explores how domestic institutions filter and mediate international signals. The study of intelligence-policy relations fits naturally into this mold, because intelligence agencies are specifically designed to collect and interpret information about the international environment. This study provides a general framework for theorizing about intelligence-policy relations by exploring how leaders respond to new intelligence estimates. In addition to providing a deductive characterization of the intelligence-policy problem, the dissertation presents a model of politicization, defined as the manipulation of estimates to reflect policy preferences. When leaders commit themselves to controversial policies, they have strong domestic political incentives to put pressure on intelligence agencies to publicly support their decisions. Intelligence agencies control secret information and presumably have access to sources that are unavailable elsewhere. For this reason, the use of intelligence for policy advocacy is a uniquely persuasive kind of policy oversell. The dissertation tests the model in a series of pair-wise comparisons. The first pair of cases explains why the Johnson administration first ignored and later politicized intelligence on Vietnam. The second pair explains why, despite their differences, the Nixon and Ford administrations both ended up politicizing intelligence on the Soviet strategic threat. The last pair of cases compares the U.S. and British responses to intelligence before the recent war in Iraq. The results of the study show that domestic variables identified in the oversell model strongly affect the likelihood of politicization. Organizational and individual-level explanations are less satisfying. / by Joshua Rovner. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, leaves 425-454). / by Sung Joon Roh. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2012. / DVD-ROM contains .mp4 video files, PDF and Word doc. files. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / How is a state's military doctrine affected by the presence of radical religious ideology in its military? Using analysis of satellite imagery, recent military exercises, and a series of source interviews, I examine the evolution of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In particular I explore the effect of religious radicalism on Iran's acceptable casualty rates for its naval operations. A successful ideologically based strategy appears to have three necessary components: terrorism as a tool for pursuing political objectives, religious ideology as a generator of potential violence, and a regime which exercises tight control over the military. Combined, these factors allow a military to mobilize a large cadre of troops that are willing to sacrifice themselves in suicide operations. Ideology overcomes conventional acceptable casualty rates for sustained military sorties. Finally, I compare the Iranian case to similar militaries in the Sudan and Yugoslavia to determine how the presence and absence of each factor affects the military's development. / by Patrick Lewis. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-89). / With the passage of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), a flurry of research has been conducted on the impact on political parties. However, there exists a gap in the research regarding the impact of the legislation on the role of Members as fundraisers for their parties. What impact did BCRA have on the size and significance of contributions from Members of Congress to party committees and candidates? Furthermore, are Member contributions significant in determining a Member's likelihood of transferring to a committee and is this effect amplified post-BCRA? This thesis provides historical data on the importance of Member contributions from 1996 to 2004 and then turns to determining what, if any, impact financial prowess has on a Member's likelihood to advance upwards in the committee hierarchy. The principal findings of this research are twofold. First, money matters because BCRA cut soft money, therefore political parties have turned to their Members to serve as vital sources of campaign funds. Second, Member contributions do not significantly impact or influence a Member's probability of transferring to a more prestigious committee. / (cont.) In fact, Member contributions were only significant for the Democratic Party in the era prior to BCRA (105th - 108th Congresses). Member's transfer are shown to be more of a tradeoff between opportunities which exist for moving up the committee hierarchy based on available vacancies and opportunity costs exhibited through a Member's current set of committee assignments. Factors such as a Member's seniority in the chamber and their party loyalty voting scores are also important considerations depending on their party affiliation and seniority on their current committee assignments. / by John R. Velasco. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 419-429). / by Joseph Anthony Arminio. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Eric Brende. / M.S.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. / Believing that an information Revolution of Military Affairs has occurred, the US military is currently transforming to achieve dominance over the full spectrum of deployment scenarios with a lighter, more mobile, and more capable force. Establishing a far-reaching, robust, ubiquitous ISR and telecommunications network, and a network-centered fighting doctrine are keys to this endeavor. Of the many systems needed, satellite communications are especially significant because they are the prime method of transmitting high quantities of information to remote and mobile units. The People's Republic of China too has become aware of the information Revolution of Military Affairs, as well as the vulnerabilities associated with it. Though the People's Republic is still in the process of modernizing its society and military, the doctrines and advantages of Information Warfare have not been lost to it. It seeks to equip itself with the IT and skill sets that are becoming increasingly more available to asymmetrically affect the information usage of a technologically superior adversary. As it stands, the military's use of satellite communications is vulnerable. / (cont.) Though some satellite communications have inherent protective qualities, they are still susceptible to some variants of Electronic Attack and anti-satellite attack. Military-dedicated systems do not offer enough security, and the lack of bandwidth they provide forces the military to use much less secure commercial systems. It appears that the People's Republic presents only a moderate threat to the military's satellite communications. This will not always be the case. The rapid growth of People's Republic and its increasing informationalization, as well as the expanding US military demand for wideband systems and predictions of a continuing shortfall, all place the military's satellite communications in a precarious situation. / by Benjamin M. Brooks. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-76). / The regulatory responses of Governments in different countries to emerging microfinance sectors have varied dramatically and as a result so have the outcomes for these sectors. As two of the fastest growing developing countries in the world over the last two decades, both with vast poor rural populations lacking access to credit, the potential demand for microfinance in India and China is enormous. Yet where the microfinance sector in India has been one of the fastest growing in the world with a diverse range of successful for-profit and non-profit microfinance institutions, the microfinance sector in China has failed to find its feet with microfinance institutions unable to attract commercial funding to expand or to achieve financial self-sufficiency. In this thesis I provide a comparative analysis of the regulatory frameworks for microfinance in China and India in order to demonstrate how the more restrictive and uncertain regulatory environment in China has hindered the development of the sector. In the next section of the thesis I bring the discussion of the regulatory frameworks into the broader political and economic contexts of the countries to answer the question: why have the Governments in India and China regulated the emerging microfinance sectors so differently? I argue that rising inequality and poverty alleviation plans conditioned the goals of the Governments for the microfinance sector and that the broader level of financial sector liberalization conditioned the feasible set of microfinance regulations for the Governments. / by Lachlan Ian Gowrie-Smith. / S.M.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-186). / by Geoge L. Parker. / M.S.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Political Science. Thesis. 1974. Ph.D. / MICROFICHE COPY ALSO AVAILABLE IN DEWEY LIBRARY. / Bibliography: leaves 310-321. / Ph.D.