Since the transitions to democracy in Latin America, women in the region have undergone major changes in their roles in society. From traditionally only present in the home to participating in collective action efforts, and finally participating at increasing numbers in governments, women have made incredible strides in the Latin American region. Latin American countries have successfully advocated for the inclusion of women in government, but few studies in academia focus on determining whether their inclusion has made a difference in government processes or in society. Borrowing from the literature positing that women are behaviorally different from men as well as their identification with motherhood and as wives in their collective action efforts in Latin America, I argue that women have different concerns from men both outside and inside of the public sphere and therefore make a difference in government with regards to policy priorities and government budget allocations. Studying 18 Latin American countries, I find that there is a gender gap in public opinion, which demonstrates that women are more concerned with social welfare matters than men. I also find that female concerns are carried into their behavior once in government as observed by female legislators’ heightened support for social welfare policies. Furthermore, I find that women in legislatures affect government behavior differently from their male counterparts as observed with female legislators’ positive effects on the allocation of the budget towards social welfare areas.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair described the UK’s response to the Rwandan genocide as “We knew. We failed to act. We were responsible”; this thesis sets out to explore these three claims. The thesis, which draws on newspaper archives, oral history interviews and government documents obtained by the author under the Freedom of Information Act, as well as British and US official documents already made public, begins by exploring Britain’s knowledge and understanding of events in Rwanda in the build-up to, and during the first few weeks of, the genocide. It then moves on to review how the government responded and, by drawing on various theories of bystander intervention, to build up a multi-factor assessment of what influenced that response. The thesis finishes by addressing the question whether the British government, or indeed any other British foreign policy actor, bears responsibility for the crisis. It therefore looks at the Rwandan crisis from the perspective of various influences on foreign policy: the media, public opinion, Parliament and NGOs, as well as exploring the response of John Major’s government. The thesis concludes that media coverage of the genocide led to a significant misunderstanding of the crisis; this misunderstanding influenced the public response and shaped discussion within Parliament and government. In terms of official response, whilst it has to be acknowledged that the government initially failed to correctly identify the events in Rwanda as genocide and consequently delayed their response until the majority of killings had ended, the thesis shows that rather than failing to act the British government was in fact a leading aid donor to Rwanda and a leading provider of troops to the UN peacekeeping mission serving in Rwanda. This aid did come too late to prevent or halt the genocide, but did save many thousands of lives in the immediate aftermath.

This thesis is in partial fulfillment of a Master of Arts by Coursework and Research Report in International Relations and has been approved by the University of the Witwatersrand. / This research project looks at the relationship between democracy and development according to policies of aid conditionality in Africa. This involves an analysis of major donors, mainly international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank as well as bilateral donors, and the evolution of aid conditionality through the theoretical framework of liberal internationalism. This research focuses on both economic and political conditionality but reveals that economic interests are at the heart of conditionality and are always prioritized over political development. This has important implications for democracy and development because development discourse has identified key correlations between the principles of good governance promoted by a democratic system and development. Through an examination of two African case studies, this research shows that aid conditionality, with its emphasis on neoliberal, free-market economic adjustment, has not fostered adequate development with many recipients of such aid qualifying for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative that provides debt relief in the interest of poverty reduction. Looking forward, sustainable development can only be achieved with equal dedication to all its spheres; political, economic, and social, thereby providing an adequate foundation for increased international cooperation.

M.A., Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, 1991

Thesis advisor: Celeste Wells / This thesis examines the ways in which millennial women are prone to gender bias in their evaluations of female presidential candidates and the factors that contribute to millennial women’s gendered expectations for female presidential candidates. In order to respond to these areas of inquiry, the researcher applied social role theory and system- justification theory to survey and interview data collected from a population of Boston College undergraduate women. Ultimately, it was found that millennial women are prone to gender bias when evaluating female presidential candidates and that the gender beliefs that prompt this bias are so deeply ingrained that they appear almost inevitable. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Communication.

Thesis advisor: Robert C. Bartlett / Thesis advisor: Nasser Behnegar / This dissertation presents the different accounts of the origin of law in Plato’s Laws and I seek to show how the question of the law’s origin relates to Plato’s political philosophy as a whole. For the early modern political philosophers, the concept of a pre-political “state of nature” plays a central role in their attempt to describe the sources and limits of legitimate political authority. The question of the origin and development of the city is given much less emphasis by the ancient philosophers and it is not clear how their opinions about this question relate to their understanding of politics. In Plato’s Laws, however, the question of whether law has a divine, natural, or conventional origin is at the center of the Athenian Stranger’s inquiry. I begin by arguing that the conventionalist view of law, religion, and morality as it is presented in Book X depends on a materialist natural science that the Athenian knows to be deficient. At the same time, the Athenian also knows that he does not possess demonstrative knowledge of the existence of providential gods. Because of his knowledge of his ignorance about these matters, he is compelled to consider the claim that certain laws have a divine origin. In order to evaluate these claims he turns the conversation toward the question of the purpose of law and shows that a divine law must be understood to perfect human beings by making them virtuous. I argue that the core of the Athenian’s confrontation with the claim that law has a divine origin is a dialectical inquiry into virtue and happiness. Although the Athenian does not carry out this inquiry in the conversation in the Laws itself, I argue that the results of such an inquiry are shown by his new beginning in Book III, which begins with the question of the origin of the regime. In Book III he breaks with the traditional claims about law’s divine origin and he offers his own account of the human origin of the city and its laws. Although the Athenian’s account is in some respects similar to that of the conventionalists, I argue that he departs from them in important respects due to his deeper understanding of the roots of our ignorance about the human good. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

Thesis advisor: William Gamson / If anyone in the media were to openly claim that a political rally is "a rally is a rally," they would no doubt befall a windstorm of strong reactions from those who feel their contributions to politics and to the cause for which they are rallying uniquely important. Today, it is not only those on the left that would make this claim but also conservatives who have been defending their right to rally and forging their own brand of "grassroots". It is safe to say that no one would overtly make this claim, however the media's actions in this case are stronger than their words. Through the use of stale framing packages, the mainstream media is displaying that the "Restoring Honor Rally," the "One Nation Working Together March" and the "Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear" are essentially the same due to their nearly identical forms. Analysis of samples from the coverage of the three mega-rallies reveal what these media packages are and what issues go unnoticed as a result of such systematic reporting. Therefore, this paper goes about identifying those stale media frames, displaying the way in which the media relied upon the form of the events to dictate the nature of the reporting consequently hindering a deeper understanding of the functions. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

The aim of this thesis is to challenge the common assumption that politics alone, as conventionally understood, are what governs societies. To put it differently, the goal is to argue that the cultural arena can also be political. The idea here is to look at how under certain political contexts, cinema becomes political, so obviously so that there is a “need” to censor it. Under such a constraining environment, cinema finds itself in need of finding its own language in order to counter this censorship. This marks the beginning of the creative process. Ultimately, this project makes the rather bold statement that cinema is not a simple entertainment, or else a propaganda tool, but can also be appropriated by the people, as a tool for resistance and opposition, through which dissident demands can be expressed in the face of hegemonic dominant powers using creativity and symbolism as the main processes.

The study seeks to understand the nature and development of the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) in peacekeeping using the case of the peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) between 2003 and 2008. The EU deployment in 2003 of an Interim Emergency Multinational Force (IEMF) in DR Congo represented an important shift in the role of regional organisations, as it was deployed outside its geographical setting for peacekeeping reasons. Furthermore, the co-deployment of EU and UN forces highlighted the changing pattern in peacekeeping, as regional organisations were starting to play an important role in burden sharing with the UN, thereby enhancing the notion of effective multilateralism. However the seemingly positive rhetoric emanating from the EU and UN about the partnership did not necessarily reflect the reality of the relationship. Fundamental to the study are issues concerning the involvement of regional actors outside their geographical spheres. Key questions are raised regarding the motives of regional organisations and the UN. Such questions concern, for instance, the motives behind the UN calling for EU involvement in DR Congo (at the expense of the African Union and nations) and factors that persuaded the EU to answer the call. The dynamics of the EU-UN cooperation are analysed from a political and operational dimension. Key components of the operational cooperation are essentially command and control, logistics and communication. The political cooperation components include the course taken by actors while using the structures set up to aid the partnership and the already existing departments within both organisations that facilitated the initial interaction. Further questions arise concerning cooperation between the UN and EU from the political and operational level. These include questions concerning the informal and formal mechanisms put into place to resolve the divergences between the missions. In addition, perceptions of the recipient people and the neighbouring states are examined in order to assess if this partnership is working or not. The results of the research which entailed a number of interviews and an analysis of primary and secondary data show that the motives of the EU and UN, plus the dynamics of their cooperation can be analysed in a multi-layered paradigm involving the following levels of interaction: i) Operational level — MONUC and EUFOR RD Congo, IEMF, EUPOL and EUSEC ii) Political level — local and national actors iii) Political level — regional and international actors. For instance, from an operational perspective the UN considered EU deployment as suitable especially for the provision of resources. The EU on the other hand viewed the deployment in DR Congo as an opportunity to become a global actor especially in the aftermath of the fallout from the US and its allies’ invasion of Iraq. The local, national and regional viewed the motivation for the involvement of the EU alongside the UN with suspicion. This was mainly based on the fact that key players like Belgium and France had vested interests in the DR Congo. There was dissatisfaction regarding the marginal military role given to the regional and continental powers yet the conflict was in their backyard. The nature of the path of the cooperation, especially from an operational perspective, was not smooth. This can be attributed to the different organisational cultures and motivations between the organisations. The internal dynamics of individual organisations played a role in determining the level of cooperation between the two organisations. In light of the above, the research came to several conclusions which included the fact that, due to the complex motives and differing aims of the actors, cooperation at the political level does not necessarily dovetail with cooperation at the operational level. Although the organisations have set up a system of collaboration through the declarations of 2003 and 2007, it has not been fully utilized. National and organisational interests and organisational culture among others can hinder cooperation. Nevertheless, despite a divide between the political and operational aspects of the missions, actors in the field have found ways of addressing operational problems, though significant issues remain concerning the viability of the methods used to address them in the long run.

Several indicators highlight that the EU suffers from a democratic legitimacy deficit that threatens not only the effectiveness of its policies, but also its integration project. This deficit has become very prominent since the 1990s and derives from the EU's multilevel governance political system. This political system combines elements both of a nation state and an international organisation, and, thus, transforms traditional politics and government and redefines the concepts of democracy and legitimacy both at European and national levels. This thesis investigates the EU's democratic legitimacy issue and also demonstrates how New Modes of Governance (NMG) can contribute towards the democratic legitimation of the EU's political system. NMG, due to their non-hierarchical, more inclusive and co-operative governance approaches, can theoretically enhance participation and improve the quality of policies and policy-making. Against this background, this thesis examines the employment of NMG in the EU's regional policy and especially in four case studies (Austria, Denmark, Italy and Poland). Through this comparative investigation, it offers an assessment of NMG influence on the EU's democratic legitimacy. Nevertheless, NMG have certain limitations too which constrain their employment on the EU's regional policy and limit their contribution to the EU's democratic legitimation of the EU, but they have to be better connected with the processess of representative democracy. They also depend on the progress of the EU's political integration. However, they constitute an innovative method of governance and further inquiry is necessary.