Thesis Abstracts 2019

Revisiting Collective Memory and Social Inclusion Theory: The Encroachment of Political Memory on ‘Inclusive’ Memorial Museums in Chile and India
Drashti Brahmbhatt
Advisors: Vazira Zamindar (History), Richard Snyder (Political Science)

Collective memory is a site of struggle over power and meaning. Yet, scholars in the late 20th century neglected the intersection of the politicization of collective memory and social inclusion initiatives. This scholarly gap calls upon researchers to ask how collective memory of a traumatic past affects social inclusion of marginalized groups. To examine these relationships on theoretical and empirical levels, I conduct a comparative case study of two memorial museums: The Partition Museum in India and the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos in Chile. I ask how and under what conditions memorial museums, vehicles of collective memory, impact the social inclusion process for marginalized communities in their respective societies. This thesis argues that memorial museums addressing traumatic pasts develop an over-reliance on political memory instead of balancing social and cultural memory, which undermines the cultural dimension and overall process of social inclusion. Ultimately, this thesis offers practical suggestions to museum practitioners and policy makers by uniquely combining three bodies of literature: collective memory, social inclusion, and memory studies. In a period of immense global inequality, it remains vital to revisit the intersection between collective memory and social inclusion to work towards a just future for all.
Keywords: Collective memory, Political memory, Social inclusion, Memorial museums, Partition, Mapuche
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Rethinking New Media and National Identity in the Context of Contemporary Nationalism: The Case of Film Censorship in India
Saanya Jain
Advisors: Claudia Elliott (Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs), Swapnil Rai (Film Studies, Wesleyan University)

Nationalism has resurged globally despite predictions to the contrary, many of which argue that new communication technologies, such as social media, diminish the importance of national identity as an organizing force. I contend that current theoretical approaches ignore how these technologies, which I refer to collectively as new media, reshape existing sites of construction of national identity to enable the assertion of nationalism. Specifically, I argue that new media transform the scope, scale, and mechanisms of negotiations of national identity. To examine the impact of new media, I use textual analysis to compare discursive constructions of national identity in cases of Indian film censorship from 2010 to 2018. I find that new media platforms have four effects: They 1) limit the influence of elite discourses of national identity, 2) normalize extreme visions that were originally outside of the mainstream, 3) hinder the ability to find common ground among competing visions, and 4) directly participate in negotiations of national identity. This conclusion has implications for scholarship on identity formation and media, the regulation and design of new media platforms, and the negotiation of difference in an increasingly polarized world.
Keywords: National identity, Social media, New media, Nationalism, Film, Censorship, India
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Taming Armageddon: Revisiting the Concept of Limited Nuclear War
Grant MacFaddin
Advisors: Nina Tannenwald (Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs & Political Science), Tom Nichols (U.S. Naval War College)

Despite six decades of failure to integrate limited nuclear war into the United States’ nuclear posture, recent US nuclear posture trends, culminating in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, indicate that the country is becoming increasingly well-prepared for limited nuclear wars. Scholars and policymakers characterize this as a shift in the trajectory of post-Cold War US nuclear posture, with a nuclear warfighting ability being reminiscent of the Cold War. This historical similarity provides a case for understanding the current US shift. I conduct a longitudinal analysis of US limited nuclear war planning during and after the Cold War. I then use process tracing to identify how the concept integrated into US nuclear posture during the two periods. I find that, despite responding to fears of the USSR by incorporating limited nuclear war into the US nuclear posture, successive Cold War US administrations lost faith in limiting nuclear war. The current shift in US nuclear posture is not ignorant of this history, rather, like the Cold War integration, it is rooted in an arms-racing mentality. These conclusions have implications for both the study of nuclear posture and analysis of US nuclear investment and strategy for potential conflicts.
Keywords: Nuclear war, Limited war, Deterrence, Cold war, Nuclear posture
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The Tides of Rapprochement: A Social Approach to Examine the Origins of Hydropolitical Coordination
Isabel Paolini
Advisors: Vazira Zamindar (History), Dawn King (Environmental Studies)

Why do states undertake processes of hydropolitical coordination despite conditions of securitization? In contrast to prevailing scholarship, which is largely state-centric, this thesis examines the capacity of non-state actors to influence state-level policymaking in securitized political environments, particularly in initiating inter-state reconciliation. Using a novel theoretical lens—fusing social psychological and social movement theories—I conduct a longitudinal comparative study of the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee’s evolution from 1990 to 2017. I trace the impact of civil societies’ public pressure and hydropolitical disenfranchisement, as well as NGOs’ normative and functional pressure, upon this “hard case” of Israeli and Palestinian coordination. Utilizing government documents, protest data, NGO reports, and polling data, this thesis finds that non-state actors are able to initiate hydropolitical coordination by employing collective action frameworks, political opportunity structures, and resource mobilization. Scholars and policymakers should study beyond the state to consider social movements and non-state actors as viable and valuable channels through which they can galvanize increasingly necessary positive-sum hydropolitical coordination. In this era of global exacerbating water scarcity, civil society can mitigate universally deleterious and otherwise avoidable conflict, taking advantage of the uniquely interdependent qualities of transboundary environmental resources.
Keywords: Hydropolitics, Israel, Palestine, Coordination, Civil Society
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Transnational Linkages of Migration: Re-examining the Determinants of Remittance Flows
Sukanya Roy
Advisors: David Lindstrom (Sociology), Louis Putterman (Economics)

What factors influence remittance-sending behavior? Specifically, how do migrants' destinations influence their decisions about remittance-sending? Existing frameworks for analyzing global remittance flows fail to adequately consider geographic proximity or constraints on mobility. I analyze the cases of Burkina Faso and Senegal, both located within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. These countries exhibit significant variation in migrant destinations, with remittance corridors from both other ECOWAS member states and from countries across the Global North. I use a mixed-methods approach that combines statistical analysis of survey data on remittance senders with a review of migration policy across the two countries. I find that international migrants from both countries tend to remit more frequently and send greater amounts overall than their regional counterparts, and that those who remit through formal rather than informal channels remit more. Decisions about how much to remit are contingent on the decision whether to remit at all for migrants from Senegal, but not for migrants from Burkina Faso. This study has theoretical significance for scholars seeking to understand the implications of migrant selection and practical significance for policymakers seeking to facilitate remittance transfers or leverage remittances for development in receiving countries.
Keywords: Migrant selection, Remittances, ECOWAS, Regionality, Development
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Veins of Influence: Revisiting the Impact of Energy Politics on Inter-State Relations
Katarina Živec
Advisors: Linda Cook (Political Science), Margarita Balmaceda (School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University)

As global consumption of energy grows at a rising pace, national pursuits of secure energy supply will increasingly involve international interactions. The vital importance of energy has rendered energy dependency an issue of national security, and such an approach has permeated mainstream discussion, as well as scholarly discourse by the most influential paradigms of energy politics: geopolitics, geoeconomics, and dependency theory. Focusing on energy security, existing literature fails to provide a comprehensive examination of the relationship between energy politics and international relations that transcends the imperative function of energy in statecraft. To what extent and in what ways does energy politics impact inter-state relations? This thesis introduces an alternative approach to the study of energy politics, the Framework of Spheres of Influence, and argues that influencer states use energy politics as a foreign policy instrument to establish spheres of influence, thus impacting foreign policy orientation of influenced states. This conclusion is based on a comparative case study that uses qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis to evaluate the effects of the South Stream pipeline project and the intervening variable sphere of influence on foreign policy orientation of Serbia and Slovenia as it evolves with the progression of the project (2006-2015).
Keywords: Energy politics, Inter-state relations, Sphere of influence, South Stream pipeline
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