Thesis advisor: Lisa Dodson / Thesis advisor: C. Shawn McGuffey / Non-traditional students are quickly becoming a statistical majority of the undergraduate student population. Furthermore, nearly one-quarter of contemporary undergraduates is a student parent. Emergent imperatives shaped by technological changes in the economy, deindustrialization, credential inflation, the continuing feminization of poverty and the diminished safety net for low-income families have created a mandate for postsecondary education for anyone hoping to move from poverty into the middle-class. Yet, welfare reforms of the past 17 years have de-prioritized, discouraged, and disallowed post-secondary education as a meaningful pathway for low-income parents to achieve economic mobility, even despite a large body of research demonstrating the connections between higher education and: income, occupational prestige, access to employer sponsored benefits, positive intergenerational outcomes, community development, and broader societal gains. While previous research has focused on the impact of welfare reform on access to post-secondary education for participants within the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance program, declining overall TANF participation rates indicate that low-income families are largely turning to more diverse strategies to support their families and pursue higher education. Despite both the recent growth of the population of student parents as a significant minority of the undergraduate population, and the rise of governmental initiatives promoting the expansion of post-secondary education and training to traditionally underserved student populations, very little is known about the comprehensive experiences of contemporary low-income mothers as they navigate college while simultaneously working to balance these endeavors with motherhood and family labor, paid employment and public assistance requirements. This dissertation presents the findings of a multi-method institutional ethnographic research process through which the author collected data regarding the experiences of low-income mothers across the country. This process included conducting in-depth interviews with 31 low-income mothers who were currently enrolled in college or who had been enrolled in college within the past year. Additionally, research journals were collected from an additional 20 participants documenting their experiences across an academic term. In total these participants represented 10 states in three regions of the United States: The West Coast, Mid-West, and Northeast. Secondary data were collected through: institutional interviews with student parent program coordinators, collection of primary materials from programs serving student parents throughout the country, and review of primary policy documents regarding higher education and federal and state welfare policies. As a feminist participatory action research project, participatory methods were employed at all stages of the research process and included the use of two interpretive focus groups within campus-based programs serving student parents that both added to the research findings and to the process of analysis and interpretation. The findings of this dissertation begin by painting the picture of the complex lifeworlds of low-income mothers and their simultaneous experience of role strain and material hardship as they work to balance the responsibilities of college enrollment with mothering, work, and the labor involved in researching, applying for and maintaining multiple public assistance benefits. Next, the author argues that conflicts between higher education policies and public assistance policies as experienced by participants shape the strategies through which they attempt to make ends meet and finance their education and ultimately exacerbate their experiences of role strain and material hardship. The author then moves to explore the impact that these policies have on academic outcomes for this sub-set of students. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the broader social context in which this takes place: one in which policies have been structured on meritocracy rather than equal opportunity for higher education. This presents a dual-edge sword scenario however in that the American Dream both drives the motivation of low-income mothers to persevere in college despite tremendous hardship and personal sacrifice, while it also serves to frame the very policies that make their quest for higher education so grueling. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / Currently, there are nearly a million high-achieving, low-income students in the United States. In the nation's most selective institutions of higher education, students from low-income families have been persistently under-represented. Elite colleges, in particular, have only recently begun admitting low-income students in large numbers, a result of full need-based financial aid programs that began in the early 2000s as a way to attract a more socioeconomically diverse student body. This hermeneutic phenomenological study describes the lived experiences of these undergraduates and how they navigated a college environment historically reserved for wealthy students. Although participants initially expected to feel marginalized due to unfounded concerns of elitism, they formed friendships both within and across socioeconomic class divisions and described feeling integrated within the elite college. Participants developed self-protective narratives to compensate for their low-income backgrounds and employed strategies to make up for poor high-school preparation. Participants were grateful for the opportunity to attend an elite college and were proud and relatively forthcoming about their financial aid status because they considered it a reward for their intellectual ability. Three main conclusions derive from the findings of this research: Low-income students' tendency to make a distinction between socioeconomic and financial aid status; the notion of a new cultural capital hierarchy for high-achieving, low-income students within an elite college setting; and, a specific application of Bronfenbrenner's ecological developmental model for this niche population. The results of this study indicate that high-achieving, low-income students are flourishing in full need-based financial aid programs as a result of their own resilience and intellectual capital. Participants' experiences indicate that this population of undergraduates faces unique challenges and requires specific support services to equalize their opportunities vis-à-vis higher-income peers. From these findings, implications for colleges and universities and full need-based financial aid programs are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

In the early 2000s when several Central and East European countries (CEECs) negotiated their accession to the European Union (EU), they introduced foreign aid policy despite most of them being aid recipient countries at the time. This thesis seeks to explain the evolution of foreign aid policy in two Central and Eastern European countries that took divergent paths in adopting the policy, Slovenia and Latvia. While Slovenia evolved into a relatively active donor country among the CEECs, Latvia’s aid policy developed relatively slowly and aid allocations were smaller. The thesis approaches this subject from the perspective of the ‘Europeanisation East’ literature that seeks to explain policy adoption in the CEECs in terms of EU influence. The literature is divided on how to explain the policy adoption processes in the CEECs. Rationalists, on the one hand, stress the role played by external incentives, in particular the conditions the EU imposed on the CEECs for them to be admitted to the EU, known as EU conditionality. Rationalists also note the role of domestic veto players who can delay or even stop adoption of the policy if it incurs high adoption costs upon them. Constructivists, on the other hand, explain policy adoption in terms of identification and social influence, policy resonance, or the presence of influential norm entrepreneurs. In an important study, Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier (2005) concluded that most of the policy adoption processes can be explained by the overwhelming influence of EU conditionality, thus downplaying constructivist explanations. This thesis examines whether their finding can be applied to the adoption of foreign aid policy in the preaccession period (1998-2004). It focuses on the role of EU as well as domestic factors in the policy adoption processes. It then explores what factors account for further developments in the policy adoption processes in the period after the CEECs acceded to the EU (2004-2010). The empirical basis of this study consists of a series of interviews with policy makers and civil society representatives in the two countries. The findings in these interviews have been checked against and triangulated with an encompassing examination of policy documents and archival material. The main findings about the pre-accession period indicate that EU conditionality indeed played an important role in foreign aid policy adoption, but so did identification and social influence. Hence policy adoption costs and the efforts of veto players could not delay policy adoption. In the post-accession period, it is argued here, the further policy adoption processes can largely be explained by identification and social influence. Nevertheless, veto players and adoption costs, as well as policy resonance, did emerge as constraining factors in the policy processes. All in all, the thesis argues that the policy adoption processes can be explained best by a combination of both Constructivist and Rationalist theories and that role of domestic factors should not be neglected in research into EU influence on the new member states.

Harvard University professor Joseph Nye divided a country¡¦s comprehensive national power into hard power and soft power. A country¡¦s national interest ovelap each country and the interaction with countries become more frequent and close under the globalization. A country not only pursueds its own hard power, but develops its soft power. With soft power has become the core value in the international society, the effect of soft power has become the key stratergy to a country¡¦s foreign relations. Moreover, soft power has been China¡¦s foreign relations strategy. This paper analyzes how China uses foreign aid policy and Confucius Institute to achieve the efficacy of soft power. To analyze China¡¦s foreign aid policy and Confucius Institute¡¦s overall arrangement stratergy, and compare the different efficacy of soft power of the role of foreign aid policy and Confucius Institute. China¡¦s economic grows fast since 1978, but how to avoid the other countries fear and misgiving is a big challeange for Chinese government. Chinese government emphasizes peaceful development and develops a country¡¦s soft power to build more advantageous international environment.

After the Swedish government election in 2022 the newly elected right-wing government initiated a reform of Swedish development aid. The government also decided to retract Sweden’s previously declared Feminist Foreign Policy. This study uses poststructural feminist and postdevelopment theories to identify what gender equality policies that become (im)possible in the government’s aid reform to strengthen the coupling between the two foreign policy areas of development aid and foreign trade. Adopting Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to Be approach to discourse analysis, the study finds that the reform concentrates development aid towards economic growth and trade, representing poverty alleviation as a project of export and trade promotion and as a tool to enhance Swedish interests. Interviews with professionals at Swedish state agencies have been conducted to identify the ways in which state agencies negotiate how the problems of development and gender inequality are represented in the reform. The results show that state agencies have constructed spaces that maintain their power to alter practices in alignment with their expertise. The reform shifts attention away from gender equality to women’s and girls’ empowerment and constructs the goals of the two foreign policy areas as mutually beneficial. While gender equality policy has not disappeared, it has been altered, modified and narrowed to align to the interests of the corporate as well as to the goals of export promotion, trade liberalisation and economic growth.

The worrying global trend of shrinking space for democracy and civil society necessitates a critical reevaluation, even within established democracies. While the urgency of the issue may at first appear less pronounced in a Western context, recent trends suggest a worrying similarity within the EU, particularly when it comes to the future of civil society organizations. This research delves into the potential effects and perceptions of recent changes in Swedish aid policy on civil society organizations. It examines how these changes may affect civil society autonomy, ownership, and overall effectiveness of development cooperation. The study considers the perspectives of civil society organizations using discourse analysis to understand their reasoning and concerns. Kingdon’s policy streams approach is used to provide valuable insights into the policy processes and by examining how CSOs experience access to civic space, how coping responses and autonomy evolve within our own political climate, we can discover potential parallels to experiences where the civil society is impeded. Should such parallels exist, especially with regard to a potential, albeit unlikely, similar experience in Sweden, proactive measures could be identified. Despite the complexities surrounding studying an ongoing phenomenon, this study finds (1) that there is a sense of negativity, especially among civil society groups, about the recent changes in development practices, (2) these changes might break established international agreements and make it harder for these groups to function effectively, (3) the uncertainty surrounding these changes is causing a lot of disruption and makes it difficult for civil society to know how to adapt, and (4) this uncertainty could potentially be a sign that civil society will have less freedom to operate in the future, and we need to be watchful to prevent that from happening.

Food insecurity in Africa is a threat to future generations because many countries rely on potentially unsustainable food policies. Eritrea's indigenous food sustainability policy has not been explored or analyzed in a scholarly manner. This qualitative case study analyzed the effectiveness of the current policy of food sustainability without relying on foreign food aid in Eritrea. The main research question addressed relates to how Eritrean irrigation farmers understand and implement the Eritrean government's food sustainability policy. The theoretical framework for this study, Kingdon's policy stream, set the agenda for a policy of sustainable indigenous Eritrean agricultural development without food aid. I have collected data by conducting semistructured interviews with 15 farmers who each have at least 7 years' experience providing food for their own families. Data from the interviews was audio recorded, transcribed, reviewed by the interviewees for increased credibility and reliability, translated in to English, and emergently coded and categorized for theme and pattern analysis. This study`s findings contain important lessons relative to advancing food self-sufficiency in Eritrea. The implications for social change across Africa may include informing practitioners and policymakers of the importance of applying appropriate policies to encourage food self-sufficiency.

國際間的互動頻繁，使得國家間的交往成為國家政策目標之一。因此 身為國際社會成員的我國，自不能孤立於國際社會而存在。我國由於國情 特殊，尤其是面對中共的刻意打壓與封鎖，因此對於參與國際社會，宣示 自己為國際社會的成員，一向是我國外交政策的重點所在。為突破外交孤 立的困境，「務實外交」政策便因應而生了！但是中共不願意我國在外交 與國際交往上有所突破，因此對我國之抨擊、打壓與封殺實乃愈加強烈。 在國際交往工具的選擇上，我國由於此種國際環境使然，因此很難運用一 般在正常情形下所使用的外交政策工具。因此「對外援助」政策便成為我 國拓展對外關係的主要政策工具之一。因為不僅可以運用發展與人道等特 質以避開敏感的政治限制，以達到國際交往的實質目的；再者，由於我國 經濟等方面之發展經驗實為其他開發中國家發展之楷模；亦符合「己立立 人，己達達人」之固有明訓。故正當我國擁有適當的經濟力量以作為推行 對外援助的籌 碼，而國際社會又正逢需求之際，因此便可以以此種較為 積極並較具影響力的方式進行國際交往。再者，它亦是我國參與國際事務 、善盡國際責任、提升國際形象與增加國際影響力的 表現。 我國 的對外援助政策始於民國四十七年七月，應越南政府之邀，組派經濟考察 團至越南考察。隔年，我國駐越技術團成立，為我國農技援外之始。民國 七十七年十月成立的「海外經濟合作發展基金」（ International Economic Cooperation Development Fund,IECDF）並在經濟部下設立基 金管理委員會開展基金業務，展開對外援助事宜。民國八十五年七月一日 ，財團法人「國際合作發展基金會」成立，整合及統籌我國對外援助事宜 。以使我國的對外援助工作能達到透明化、專業化與效率化。並量力而行 ，認清自己的力量。未來的工作方 向則包括雙邊或多邊技術合作、直 接或間接貸款、直接或間接參與投資、投資或貸款之保證與捐款或實物贈 與、以及其它可行方式。而合作對象則是外國政府、國際組織或國際機構 或其指定的機關或團體。以達我國回饋國際社會、善盡國際責任、重返國 際社會等目的。

This thesis investigates the ways in which the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden could influence the Swedish Foreign Aid Policy for NGOs, with particular focus on financial support for their missionary activities. Furthermore, it investigates how the church’s involvement in the emerging Foreign Aid Policy work, and its relationship with the government agency NIB/SIDA during the years 1964-1980, influenced the church’s own policy-making. Using Mahoney, Streeck and Thelen’s concept of gradual change and Bourdieu’s theory of habitus this thesis investigates the influence the relationship had on 1) the Aid policy 2) MCCS: s evangelical mission. The results of this thesis indicate that the government agency’s original demand for a Foreign Aid work neutral from religious or political influence changed into a policy embracing missionary organisations. The results also indicate a change in the priority of the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden’s mission methods with the church prioritising social work over evangelisation. This study aims in general to deepen the knowledge of the NGOs involved in the Swedish Foreign Aid in order to further the understanding of their influence on the Foreign Aid Policy as well as their methods to remain uninfluenced in return.

No description available.