The Thesis
The IR honors thesis is not simply a long term paper. Unlike a term paper written as a course assignment, the thesis is the product of an effort equivalent to two courses taken over two semesters on a global issue of your choosing. The thesis also differs from a term paper in its depth and breadth. It is an original work of research and writing that is conceptualized within, and makes some contribution to, scholarly and policy debates in international relations. As such, the thesis deals with more complex ideas or problems, asks more probing questions, presents more detailed evidence, and generates more insightful conclusions than a typical term paper. Students must demonstrate mastery of a comprehensive body of academic literature, formulate a significant research problem, use research methods in an appropriate manner, analyze evidence, and produce original conclusions.
For most students, the thesis is the first real attempt at scholarly research and writing. The length of the thesis varies depending on the topic and approach, but the average is 130 double-spaced pages using standard font (12 point) and margins.
The IR Honors Program is interdisciplinary, enabling students to conduct research on a wide variety of topics and from many perspectives including historical and comparative work. IR Honors students have written theses on topics such as:
| femicide humanitarian intervention democratic transitions regional integration international aid ethnic conflict energy security statehood migration |
human security international trade human rights international governance media extradition environmental issues democracy promotion |
international political economy international education border violence refugees terrorism emerging markets human smuggling soft power |
Note: An honors thesis done in IR may not be used as a senior thesis in another department or program, nor may a senior thesis written for another concentration be submitted as an IR thesis.
IR Thesis Abstracts and Presentations
Access to theses and presentation slides limited to members of the Brown community. Hard copies are available at the IR Program Office.
2020 |
Abstracts | ||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept. |
|
Tess Geri |
Pipeline Politics: Natural Gas Reflecting the Political Will of States |
Meltem Toksöz | CMES |
|
Isabel Guarnieri |
Feminist Mobilization in the Post-Dictatorship Generation: Rethinking Collective Memory and Collective Identity-Building in the 2018-2019 Chilean Student-Feminist Movement |
Nadje Al-Ali | CMES/ANTH/ WIIS |
|
Olivia Hinch |
Transnational Feminism in Revolutionary Contexts: Fault Lines in the Tunisian Women’s Movement Post-2011 |
Nadje Al-Ali | CMES/ANTH/ WIIS |
|
Anna Kramer |
Re-Defining the Online Relationship: Cooperation in “Cyberspace”: An Interdisciplinary Approach |
Timothy Edgar | WIIS |
|
Allison Meakem |
Recentering Diaspora Enfranchisement: Erdoğan’s AKP and the Political Recognition of Turkish Nationals in Germany |
Meltem Toksöz | CMES |
|
Tathyana Mello Amaral |
Shared Value-Creation: Redefining the Private Sector’s Identity: A Multi-Method Analysis of Measurement, Management, and Reporting Practices of Multinational Companies in Brazil |
Cary Krosinksy | IBES |
|
Olivia Orr Nash |
Rethinking the Governance of Unclaimed Territories: The Effects of Climate Change on Arctic Geopolitics |
Rose McDermott | POLS |
|
Paula Pacheco Soto |
Words of Governance: A Discursive Approach to Mexico’s Humanitarian Migration Policy |
David Lindstrom | SOC |
|
Camila Plesinger |
Rethinking Justice: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of State Responses to Gender-Based Violence |
Rose McDermott | POLS |
|
Jamie Smith |
Re-Evaluating the Relationship between State and Civil Society: Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Jordan and Egypt |
Meltem Toksöz | CMES |
|
Kelsey Turner |
The Cultural Ideology Factor: Policy Effectiveness, VAW, and Mapuche Women in Chile, 2006-2019 |
Claudia Elliott | IR/WIIS |
2019 |
Abstracts and Presentations Watch the video of the 2019 Thesis Conference |
||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept. |
| Drashti Brahmbhatt | Revisiting Collective Memory and Social Inclusion Theory: How Memorial Museums Remain Linked to Political History |
Vazira Zamindar | HIST |
| Saanya Jain | Technology, Mass Media, and National Identity: The Case of Film Censorship in India | Claudia Elliott | IR/WIIS |
| Grant MacFaddin | Small Nuclear Wars: Revisiting the Evolution of Limited Nuclear War Theory | Nina Tannenwald | POLS/WIIS |
| Isabel Paolini | The Tides of Rapprochement: Integrating a Social Approach to Examine the Origins of Hydropolitical Cooperation | Vazira Zamindar | HIST |
| Sukanya Roy | Transnational Linkages of Belonging: Migrant Destinations and Remittances in Burkina Faso and Senegal | David Lindstrom | SOC |
| Katarina Živec | Veins of Influence: Revisiting the Impact of Energy Politics on Inter-State Relations |
Linda Cook | POLS |
2018 |
Abstracts and Presentations Watch the video of the 2018 Thesis Conference [Thursday | Friday] |
||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept. |
| Ginevra Maria Sole Bruno | The Effects of Terrorism on State Governance: Armed Struggle in Italy, 1968-1988 | David Kertzer | ANTH |
| Vaughn Campbell | Diplomatic Approaches to International Watercourses: Analyzing Chinese Policy on the Mekong and Brahmaputra Rivers, 1997-2018 | Nina Tannenwald | POLS/WIIS |
| Margot Cohen | The Language of Violence: Gender, Murder, and the Patriarchal State--A Feminist Case Study of Femicide in Chile, 2007-2017 | Nina Tannenwald | POLS/WIIS |
| Helen Gerstenfeld Abreu | Shifting from an Extractive Growth Model to an Innovative Growth Model: A Comparison of Israel and Chile | Mark Blyth | POLS/WIIS |
| Arundhati Ponnapa | Violent Conflict, Nation-Building, and Language Policy Formation: A Comparative Study of India and Indonesia | Prerna Singh | POLS |
| Tamara Upfal | The Influence of Societal Dynamics on Impeachment: The Interrelated Forces of the Brazilian Upper-Middle Class on the Removal of Dilma Rousseff | James Green | HIST |
2017 |
Abstracts and Presentations Watch the video of the 2017 Honors Conference |
||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept. |
| Naz Akyol | Relationship Status Complicated: Turkey’s EU Membership Prospects | Nina Tannenwald | POLS/WIIS |
| Dolan Bortner | Legacy of the Last Samurai: Alberto Fujimori and the Conditions Under Which Liberal Democracies Extradite | Claudia Elliott | INTL/WIIS |
| Emily Cunniffe | (Dis)placing Humanitarianism: Interactions at the European Borders of Ceuta, Spain | Anila Daulatzai | ANTH |
| Julia Ladics | FDI and Development: A Comparison of Local Outcomes and Responses Under Chinese FDI vs Under Western FDI | Rob Blair | POLS/WIIS |
| Ryan Lee | Haiti’s Future: Neoliberal Development, Political Liberation, or Both? | Paget Henry | AFRI & SOC |
| Paula Martinez Gutierrez | Ongoing Drug Wars in China and Mexico: Causes for Militarized Strategies | Rahul Mediratta | WIIS |
| Sarah Stillman | Beyond (Physical) Borders: A Study of EU Involvement in Moroccan Nonprofits | David Lindstrom | SOC |
2016 |
Abstracts and Presentations Watch the video of the 2016 Honors Conference |
||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept |
| Kevin Dhali | Rethinking Security Policies: Determining Aggressiveness through Economic Preponderance and Strategic Partnerships—the Case of China | Lyle Goldstein | Naval War College |
| James Janison | Examining the International Political Economy of the Firm: The Dynamics of State Aggression in Georgian-Russian Trade 1996-2014 | John Friedman | ECON |
| Aida Palma | Chinese “Paisanos” in Guadalajara, Mexico: Rethinking South-South Migration Flows | Matt Gutmann | ANTH |
2015 |
Abstracts and Presentations Watch the video of the 2015 Honors Conference |
||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept |
| Yelena M. Bidé | Social Movements and Processes of Political Change: The Political Outcomes of the Chilean Student Movement, 2011-2015 | Arnulf Becker-Lorca | INTL |
| Shelby L. Centofanti | The Importance of Domestic Buy-In in Globalizing Social Policy: Origins Analysis of Conditional Cash Transfers in Latin America | Claudia Elliott | INTL/WIIS |
| Samuel A. Davidoff-Gore | Compliance without Obligation: Examining State Responses to the Syrian Refugee Crisis | Nina Tannenwald | POLS/WIIS |
| Guo Jin Daryl Eng | International Institutions and State Leverage: IMF Program Design and Implementation in Argentina, 1991-2002 | Jonathan Eaton | ECON |
| Tomonobu Kumahira | Modeling Internet-based Citizen Activism and Foreign Policy: The Islands Dispute between China and Japan | Jordan Branch | POLS |
| Sona Mkrttchian | Macroeconomic Growth in the Aftermath of Sovereign Debt Default: Neoliberal Financial Infrastructure and Emerging Market Investment in Russia, 1999-2005 | Jonathan Eaton | ECON |
| Esmé M. Ricciardi | Islamic Immigration, Sex Trafficking, and the Media:The Implications of Racialized and Gendered Trafficking Discourses in the Netherlands | Elena Shih | WIIS |
| Emma L. Strother | Political Economy and Global Arts for Social Change: A Comparative Analysis of Youth Orchestras in Venezuela and Chile |
Claudia Elliott | INTL/WIIS |
2014 |
Abstracts and Presentations Watch the video of the 2014 Conference |
||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept |
| Hannah H. Braun | A Critical Approach to Energy Security: The Field of National Practice in Poland and Germany | Michael Kennedy | SOC |
| Han Sheng Chia | Colonialism, Self-Rule, and the Asian Tigers: Tracing the Drivers Behind 50 Years of Economic Success | Ashutosh Varshney | POLS |
| Justin Crist Lee | Challenging the Relationship between Institutions and Economic Integration: The Path to Cross-Strait Commerce | Ed Steinfeld | POLS |
| Galen Hunt | The People Business: Revisiting the Function of Networks in the Practice of Human Smuggling | David Lindstrom | SOC |
| Youbin Kang | Manual Intervention: A Path-dependency Analysis of the Influence of Values in Three Private Voluntary Initiatives | Rick Locke | POLS/WIIS |
| Hannah Koenig | Negotiating Fortress Europe: A Discursive Approach to Italian Migration Policy and European Solidarity | Nina Tannenwald | POLS/WIIS |
| Takeru Nagayoshi | Mediating Response: The Conceptualization of Victimhood, Media, and Humanitarian Responses to Disasters in Haiti and Japan | Carrie Spearin | SOC |
| Matthew Ryklin | Trending Towards Democracy: What Explains Holdouts to Democracy Promotion? | Linda Cook | POLS |
2013 |
Abstracts and Presentations Watch the video of the 2013 Honors Conference |
||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept |
| Ana Carolina Barry Laso | Explaining Social Inclusion Policies: Emergence Theory and the Case of Brazil (1988-2013) |
Bhrigupati Singh | ANTH |
| Vanes Ibric | The Selectivity and Inconsistency of Security Council-Authorized Humanitarian Intervention: Explaining Syria in Light of Libya | Nukhet Sandal | WIIS |
| Jorge Tamames | A Crisis of Consensus:Legacies of the Spanish Transition, 1975-2013 | Claudia Elliott | INTL/WIIS |
2012 |
Abstracts and Presentations | ||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept |
| Julia Sheehy Chan | Government Strategy Behind Religious Conflict: Explaining Violence Against Christians in Egypt and Jordan | Melani Cammett | POLS |
| Sarah Wilbanks | Cherry-Picked Humanitarian Interventions: A Complexity Approach to Explaining Libya 2011 |
Catherine Lutz | ANTH |
2011 |
Abstracts and Presentations | ||
| Student | Thesis Title | Advisor | Dept |
| Samura Atallah | Education, Critical Thinking, and Terrorism: The Reproduction of Global Salafi Jihad in Contemporary Egypt | Pauline Luong | POLS |
| Huong Dang | Determinants of Postcolonial Migrants’ Transnational Participation in Countries of Origin: Vietnam and Algeria in France | David Lindstrom | SOC |
| Jacob Friedman | Counternarratives in the War on Terror: Jihadi and Western Media in the 21st Century | James Der Derian | WIIS |
| Julien Philipp Sebastian Gaertner | Modeling Energy Regimes: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study of Energy Choice Across Countries | Sriniketh Nagavarapu | ECON |
| Evan Rolfe | Statehood for Whom? A Great Powers Model for Changes in Statehood Criteria | Nina Tannenwald | POLS/WIIS |
| Ambika S. Roos | Privatization and Protest: Water Activism Across Urban India | J. Timmons Roberts, Caroline Karp | SOC, ENVS |
| Shanoor Servai | Explaining the Persistence and Decline of Separatist Movements: The Case of India | Ashutosh Varshney | POLS |
| Jenna Stark | Shifting Biases, Shifting Decisions: US Media Coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 2005-2010 | James Der Derian | WIIS |
| Katerina Wright | Eyeing Prestige, Eluding Risk: Explaining European Union Security Missions and Operations | Ulrich Krotz | POLS |
2010
Sancho Accorsi: The Weaponization of the Civilian: Network-Centric Warfare, The Human Terrain System, and Postmodernist Critique of the 'Civilian' · View the abstract
Jae Wan Ahn: From Developmental State to Welfare State? Defining the Political and Economic Transformations and Consequent Social Conflicts in South Korea · View the abstract
Chantal Elizabeth Raff Berman (2010.5): Between Structure, Policy, and Human Security: Explaining Syrian and Lebanese Policy Responses Towards Iraqi Refugees · View the abstract
Sasha David: Closing the Global Gender Gap: Explaining the Rise of Female Executives in Latin America · View the abstract
Victoria Haddad-Salah: Defining the Borders of the Nation: Refugee Policy, Regime Security, and the Formation of National Identity in Jordan · View the abstract
Chihiro Ikegami: Interstate Reconciliation: Memory and Apology in Germany and Japan · View the abstract
Nandini Jayakrishna: A Critical Convergence: Gender Development Theory and the Practice of Women's Empowerment in the Indian Informal Sector · View the abstract
Harrison Wittman Kreisberg: Of Bullets and Ballots: Reforming Radical Islamists Through Political Inclusion · View the abstract
Andrew P. Nelson: The Constitutional Imperative: Establishing Domestic Legal Frameworks as the Foundation of International Law · View the abstract
Erika Nyborg-Burch: Representing 'Deportable' Subjects: Constructions of Immigrant Identities in the Discourse on Removal in the United States · View the abstract
Amelia Plant: Rape: A Crime Against Humanity. A Case Study of International Norm Formation · View the abstract
Alexander H. T. Rothman: Japan as a Non-Nuclear State: Capability, Contradictions, and the Nuclear Taboo · View the abstract
Claire Vergerio: The Enforcement Gap: Understanding Persisting Discrimination Against French and British Muslims in Employment · View the abstract
2009
Rebecca Binder: The Impact of Regional Blocs on Domestic Conflict: Re-Framing Catalonia’s ‘Autonomy Dialogue’ ·View the abstract
Hannah Brennan: Patently Dependent: Pharmaceutical Patents, Pricing, and Industrialization in Brazil and Mexico ·View the abstract
Alicia Bliss Gilbert: Mixed Messages from the West: Turkey’s Contrasting Relations with N.A.T.O. and the E.U. · View the abstract
Camilla Hawthorne: Controlling the Border with Humanitarianism: Using Human Trafficking Policies and their Implementation to Regulate Migration in Italy · View the abstract
Jonathan Hillman: U.S. Intentions, Russian Perceptions: NATO Enlargement and the Deterioration of U.S.-Russian Security Relations Since the Cold War · View the abstract
Michael Jacobs: Decision-Making Strategies in a Globalized System: The Cases of Iraqi-Syrian Bilateral Relations 1982-2009 · View the abstract
Noor Najeeb: In Search of Palestinian Statehood: How Shifting Meanings of Sovereignty Contribute to the Failed Establishment of a Palestinian State · View the abstract
Claudia Schwartz: Warlords and Businessmen: Reconsidering Explanations for the Success and Failure of Violent Entrepreneurs in Liberia and Somalia · View the abstract
Eliza Sweren-Becker: Socializing Human Rights Norms: How an International Organization Improved Human Rights in Argentina · View the abstract
2008
Daniel Altman: The Threat of Nuclear Terrorism and the Modern Form of Preventive War · View the abstract
Steven Butschi: Rejecting Europe? The 2005 French Referendum on the European Constitution · View the abstract
Katherine Campo: Taming the Dragon: The Evolution of Chinese Nonproliferation Policies · View the abstract
Amy Chang: Know Thy Enemy, Know Thyself: An Argument for the Importance of Regime Type in Counterterrorism · View the abstract
Kelly Dreher: Environment as 'High Politics'? Explaining Divergence in the United States and European Union's Hazardous Waste Export Policies · View the abstract
Kyle Evans: Regional Identities in Norm Formation: The Case of the Responsibility to Protect · View the abstract
Adrienne Healey: Migrants on the Margin: Chile's Narrow Media Representation of its Female Peruvian Population · View the abstract
Ann Kidder: Mobile Mobilization: A Study of Mobile Phone Activism and City Culture · View the abstract
Johnny Lin: Do Good, Do Well, and Do Good Well: Delineating Best Practices for Business Involvements in Peacebuilding · View the abstract
Jessica Majno: In Pursuit of a Durable Peace: Peacebuilding and the Development of Civil Society in Bosnia-Herzegovina · View the abstract
Patrick Molitoris: Approaching South Atlantic Resolution? The Principle of Self-Determination in the Falkland Islands · View the abstract
Nevena Radoynovska: Faces of Invisibility: Discursive Opportunity Structures, Protest, and Media Frames in Paris and Buenos Aires · View the abstract
Alyson Richards: 'No Cambio.' The European Union's Weak Influence on the Foreign Policies of its Member States · View the abstract
Kayleigh Scalzo: Made in the USA, Past and Present: Perceptions of Assimilation and Assimilability of Immigrants in the United States · View the abstract
Phoebe Sloane: Balancing the Global and the Local: Sesame Street and Foreign Aid in Egypt · View the abstract
Jane Smith: Choosing to Fail? A Comparative Study of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan · View the abstract
Jonah Stuart Brundage: A Culture of Modernity: The Everyday Practices of Diplomats and the Early Modern European States-System · View the abstract
Shyam Sundaram: The Weak as the Strong: Coalitions of Developing Countries in Multilateral Trade Negotiations · View the abstract
Dorothy Tegeler: Dismantling the Migrant-Refugee Dichotomy: The Case of Colombian Migration to Ecuador · View the abstract
Mark Tumiski: Wielding the 'Front Line Experience' as Securitizing Authority: The Japanese Self Defense Forces in Iraq 2004-2006 · View the abstract
2007
Mirza Refai Arefin: The Economics and Politics of Japanese Monetary Leadership in East Asia · View the abstract
Kate E. Brandt: Political Memory, Economic Interdependence, and Rivalry: Sino-Japanese Relations — Past, Present, and Future · View the abstract
Dan Fombonne: A New Form of Statecraft? EU Influence on Social Policy in Estonia, Poland, and the Czech Republic · View the abstract
Bethany Gerstein: Reconsidering Theories of Democratization and Ethnic Conflict: The Case of Rwanda · View the abstract
Shepherd Laughlin: Global China, Local Chinas: Modernization and Ethnic Identity in the People’s Republic · View the abstract
Owen McDougall: River Rivals: The Impact of Development Organizations on Ethnic Conflict over Water in the Senegal River and Aral Sea Basins · View the abstract
Zaineb Mohammed: Rendering Refugee Status:Factors Influencing Citizenship Policies in Jordan and Lebanon · View the abstract
Joanne Ji-eun Park: The Viability of Defensive States in the Post-Cold War: The US-Japan Alliance and Japan’s Approach to Military Normalization · View the abstract
Mia Psorn: Closing the Gender Gap? International Humanitarian Law and Sexual Violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina · View the abstract
Lydia Sizer: Implications of Blogging for Highly Divided, Developing Countries: More Clashes or Increased Understanding on an Individual Level? · View the abstract
Ben Veater-Fuchs: Cops and Cartels: The Relationship between Policing and Drug-Related Violence in Mexico · View the abstract