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All Subjects: US Dollar
Creators: Rothenberg, Daniel

US DRONE POLICY AND THE PROJECTION OF FORCE: AN INVESTIGATION OF DEMOCRATIC CONSTRAINTS

Description

This paper examines the development of United States drone policy outside of traditional battle zones. It poses the question of why do states use drones as a projection of force? In particular, the paper examines the expansion of the drone program within a system of democratic checks and balances. It looks at the effect that political and legal influences have had on the expansion of the drone program and hypothesizes that the presence of these constraints should increase drone use outside of traditional battle zones. In order to investigate this hypothesis, the paper looks at data on drone strikes from Yemen and Somalia. The data partially supports the hypothesis as there has not been a clear linear increase in the number of drone strikes in each of these countries. Nevertheless, an examination of the surrounding literature regarding political and legal influences within these countries seems to favorably point to the increase of drone operations. Future research, however, needs to be cognizant of the limitations in gathering specific statistics on drone operations as these operations are covert. It's also important to understand how the covert nature of the drone operations impacts issues regarding political oversight and legality. Lastly, it's important to constantly examine the broader implications drone policy has for US policy.

ContributorsRajan, Rohit Subramaniam (Author) / Wright, Thorin (Thesis director) / Rothenberg, Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)

Created2015-05

Mobilizing Narratives: Comparing Afghan Hazaras in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Bangladeshis in Islamist Groups

Description

While recruitment of middle and upper-class Bangladeshis by Islamic jihadist terror groups and Iranian mobilization of Afghan Hazaras to fight in the Syrian civil war present two extremely different regional challenges, this study shows how these movements are linked in the ways in which state and non-state actors deploy similar narrative strategies to mobilize support. I argue that narratives that capitalize upon the failure of upward social mobility and governance failures are highly useful for recruiting individuals to join either state or non-state organizations when appropriately and specifically linked to the particular historical, cultural, and political environment. I will demonstrate this by comparing and contrasting the use of recruitment narratives playing off of grievances for Iran's IRGC recruitment of poor Afghan Hazaras with low-levels of formal educational achievement and Islamist terrorist groups’ recruitment of middle- and upper-class Bangladeshis. The study argues that while the contexts and life experiences between IRGC Hazara and Bangladeshi terror group recruits are quite distinct, they are similarly motivated by narratives that emphasize the creation of a strong ideological and religious community based on alienation defined by a lack of desired and expected upward social mobility and profound failures of basic governance.

ContributorsMulk, Sumaita (Author) / Kubiak, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Rothenberg, Daniel (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)

Created2020-05

Central Bank Digital Currencies: The United States’ Global Positioning Amid New Technologies and Payment Systems

Description

In recent years, there has been an accelerating demand for new electronic systems of payment including pressures for various forms of digital currency. China has advanced a central bank digital currency (CBDC) which may well play a key role in their global economic ascendancy and thereby provide a substantive advantage in overtaking the United States as the dominant economic and political superpower. However, digital currencies in general, and a U.S. CBDC present a variety of challenges including development, approval, and implementation. Despite these concerns, this study argues that the U.S. should develop a CBDC on an expedited timeline with the help of an executive order. The study proceeds through three stages. First, the study explains what a CBDC is. Second, it identifies the motivations to develop a CBDC and threats that foreign CBDCs pose to the US dollar. Third, it analyzes current progress towards a United States CBDC. The study concludes with remarks on why the United States must elevate its sense of urgency and push more intensely to develop a competitive and strategic CBDC, and recommendations for a potential executive order. Ultimately, the President of the United States must put forth an additional executive order covering CBDCs and work to develop a CBDC on an expedited timeline to combat the rise of foreign digital currencies and protect the dollar.

ContributorsHirai, James (Author) / Rothenberg, Daniel (Thesis director) / Roskind, Herbert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)

Created2022-05