Honors Students 2017

Naz Akyol

Conditions of European Integration: The Salience of Religious Identity in the Case of Turkey’s EU Candidacy

International cooperation and governance have become increasingly valuable to generating solutions to the most pressing global problems of the last three decades including forced migration disasters and global financial meltdowns. That is why it is important to understand the conditions that determine integration into regional governance organizations. This thesis specifically asks, “What are the determinants of the membership outcomes of countries that are candidates for EU membership?” Research on European Integration suggests that EU membership outcomes are determined by a combination of political, economic, social, and institutional factors, which are officially represented by the Copenhagen Criteria. Moving beyond the perception that these criteria are the only determinants of EU membership outcomes, this thesis extends previous theories by arguing that factors such as religious identity can play an important role in the process of accession and membership. This thesis shows that religious identity is an important determinant of EU membership outcomes by looking at the case of Turkey and using a mixed-methods approach consisting of historical representation, quantitative comparison, and textual analysis. If religious identity affects the EU membership outcome of Turkey, then factors other than those officially stated should be considered when looking at what determines integration.

Key words: integration, European Union, Turkey, religious identity, membership

Dolan Bortner

Compliance in Context: Extralegal Determinants of Extradition in Chile and Japan

What explains variation in extradition outcomes, and what accounts for changes in these decisions over time? Extradition is typically evaluated through single-case studies of laws governing the return of fugitives. A few scholars, in contrast, examine the impact of extralegal factors. This scholarship, derived from compliance theory, analyzes unitary states; understands noncompliance as the opposite of compliance, rather than the result of unique decisions of the actor; and disagrees on whether self-interest or norms better explains legal outcomes. Drawing from social psychology, I develop an Integrated Contextual Model that incorporates both self-interest and norms, treats compliance and noncompliance separately, and emphasizes the individual. Through textual analysis of 1,473 news articles and government texts, I examine 13 variables in the proceedings against former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori in Japan and Chile. Both cases differ in outcome, and Chile’s verdict changed—enabling a comparison of how context influences extradition across time and space. I find that context predicts legal outcomes better than the law; self-interest trumps norms; and extralegal factors impact not only the law, but also one another. These conclusions have implications for extradition and compliance studies as well as the international legal order and human rights justice. 

Keywords: compliance theory, context, extralegal factors, extradition, Fujimori, Japan, Chile

Emily Cunniffe

Humanitarianism As Border: The Governance of Migration and the Reinforcement of Exclusion in Ceuta, Spain

Acts of rescue and care are increasing at the same time border enforcement regimes are strengthening—from rescues in the Mediterranean, to refugee camps in Northern Jordan, to advocacy groups on the US-Mexico border. What explains this humanitarianism in the borderlands, and what impact does it have on the undocumented migrants it targets? This thesis contributes to an emerging literature on the “humanitarian border” and develops a framework of the humanitarian border complex to examine the interactions of humanitarian actors, not only at the border, but into areas that surround borders. I examine the case of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Northern Morocco and one of only two land borders between Africa and Europe. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and policy and legal analysis from 1985 to 2017, I analyze state and non-state responses to migration. I find that, through acts of humanitarianism—premised on protection and inclusion—the state, paradoxically, extends border functions of mobility control into the borderlands. Consequently, these areas become newly articulated spaces of confinement and exclusion for migrants beyond the physical border. Conceiving of humanitarianism as part of an extended and securitized borderland presents implications for understandings of how and for whom humanitarianism is enacted.    

Keywords: borders, humanitarianism, migration, exclusion, Spain

Paula Martinez Gutierrez

Explaining Variations in Violence: Civil Allyship and Drug War Outcomes in China and Mexico

What factors explain cross-national variations in violence during drug wars? Traditional explanations of drug policy outcomes claim structural and behavioral characteristics of criminal organizations and states are driving factors. These studies, however, under-theorize the influence of civil society in drug war campaigns. While community allyship is analyzed by scholars in other policy areas, it has been largely understated in drug war scholarship. I find that drug wars are less violent where enforcement authorities ally with members of the local community to implement their counternarcotic policies, and are more violent where state authorities lack such ties to civil society. Comparing the less violent Chinese drug war (1991-2016) and the more violent Mexican drug war (2006-2016) at both national and subnational levels, I illustrate how policy-synergy—the degree of civil support towards state policies—impacts the implementation of drug war campaigns and helps explain disparate outcomes in violence. I find that civil society’s historical narratives and security interests influence their levels of support toward drug wars and, thus, tip the scale of violence. This conclusion has implications for counter-narcotics theory, drug policy analysis, and for the promotion of more sensible drug policies at a national and international level.

Keywords: drug war, counternarcotics, civil society, policy-synergy, violence, China, Mexico

Sarah Stillman

Reconceptualizing Foreign Aid Determination: The Influence of Migration on German and French Aid Allocation in Morocco

What factors determine aid allocation? To what extent does migration affect aid determination? Traditional explanations for foreign aid allocation fail to account for the nuanced and dynamic nature of aid allocation. Moving beyond existing scholarship, I develop an original dynamic model that offers a multidimensional conceptualization of foreign aid allocation, which accounts for the context of individual cases and the possibility of change over time, combining strategic interests and public opinion. The migrant crisis in Europe has been a pressing issue at a constituent, state, and international level in recent years. Using Germany and France as my case studies, I determine through statistical analysis of aid determinants, analysis of values surveys, and content analysis of newspapers, that migration is a salient determinant of aid in some cases, such as in Germany. That migration can determine aid indicates that policymakers view foreign aid as the new frontier of protection against immigration, and that public opinion has the potential to influence state policies. 

Keywords: foreign aid, public opinion, migration, Morocco, EU