Croft Theses
One of the requirements for graduating with a major in International Studies is completion of the senior thesis during the final year in a student's program. The senior thesis is a substantial work of original research and analysis in the student's regional and/or thematic concentration.
Prizes for the best theses in each region, the best interregional thesis, and the best overall thesis are recognized each year at the Croft graduation ceremony.
Theses/Dissertations from 2011
Conflicting Interests in the Swiss Alps: A Comparative Study of International Environmental Governance, Shelley Clark
Papy Boom and Public Pensions: Achieving Fiscal Sustainability and Intergenerational Solidarity within the French Public Pension System, Emilie Anne Dayan
The Recent Trend of Mass Killing: What Causes Civil Wars to Escalate to Using Genocide, Brenna Danielle Depies
The Urbanization fo Chinese Citizenship: A Case Study of Shanghai and Suzhou, Ryan James Parsons
Fundamental Humanitarian Principles in Aid Organizations: Impartiality and Neutrality in the Great Lakes Refugee Crisis, Maggie Elizabeth Savely
Bridge over the River Kawaii: Examining the Consumption of Anime and Manga in the United States, Luke Daniel Schwalm
The Effects of Economic Integration on Poverty Reduction: The Case of MERCOSUR, Sarah Emily Shaw
Does a Rising Tide Lift All Boats? An Analysis of China's Increasing Gini Coefficient from 1980-2006, Erin Singleton
De Mal en Peor: The Framing of Felipe Calderón’s “War on Drugs” in the United States and Mexican Print Media, Peyton Britt Smith
Confucianism and the Modern East Asian, Paul Jennings Treutel
Water, water everywhere: An Analysis of the Effectiveness of World Bank's and UNICEF's Efforts to Provide Access to Clean Water in Nigeria, Jessica-Phillips Tyson
Conflict or Compromise: China’s Perceptions and Intentions Regarding Us Defense Policy Towards Taiwan, Gabriel Amadeus Weiss
Swing into Action: The Political and Aesthetic Role of Jazz in Nazi Germany and Occupied France, Marie Elizabeth Wicks
Chinese Popular Opinion Towards the One Child Policy, Alyssa W. Yuen
Theses/Dissertations from 2010
Challenging EU Solidarity? : German-Russian Relations, Jessica Ann Beck
Moving through Europe: An Assessment of the Magnitude and Economic Effects of Intra-European Union Labor Migration Following the 2004 Enlargement, Tyler Daniel Craft
The Use of Torture as a Tool of Anti-terrorism: Deriving Lessons for the Future through a Comparison of Argentina’s Dirty War to the United States’ Global War on Terror, Kent Douglas Ford
The Dilemma of the Small State: Written Rules vs. Traditional Power in Mercosur, Amy Laura Goodwin
“¡Que se vayan todos!” :Opportunity Structures, Social Movement Mobilization, and the Argentine Piquetero Movement, Daniel Palmer Hester
From Degenerate Monsters to Revenge of the Big Mac: A Study of French Anti-americanism, Jill Peets
The Mobilization of China’s Legal System and Religious Bureaucracy as a Means of Combating the Threat of the Falun Gong, Cooper Reves
The Kirchner Administration’s Soybean Export Tax Policy in Argentina as an Analytical Tool for Determining Political and Economic Shifts in Latin America since the Neoliberal Era, Patrick Joseph Woodyard
Theses/Dissertations from 2009
Turkey and the European Union: Why Europe Doesn't Want a Taste of Turkey, Ann Kirkpatrick Jacobs
The Motivational Forces Behind China's Foreign Policy in Africa: A Historical Comparison Between the 1960s and Today, Tatiana Claire Sarasin
China's Role in the Darfur Crisis: An Inquiry into Global Ethics, Katie Malone Swain
Capturing the Banner of Batlissmo: The Frente Amplio and the End of Uruguay's Two-Party System, Kelly Ann Usher
The Olympics as a Catalyst for Chinese Environmental Regulation: A Theory with Three Case Studies from Beijing, Alecia Anne Waite
Change in the European Court of Human Rights: Accession of Eastern and Central European Member States, Rachel Morgan West
Power Play: How Grassroots Democracy has Affected Rural Chinese and the Chinese Communist Party, McDaniel Drake Wicker
Theses/Dissertations from 2008
Institutionalized Islam: A Study of the Union des organisations islamiques de France, Andrus Gareth Ashoo
Russians at Work: Past and Present of the Russian Mentality toward Work, Dustin Cody Bankston
Left against Left in Brazil: Party Rivalry, National Politics, and Ideological Change, Marcos de Moraes Cerdeira
Pink Wave or Red Threat? Bolivia's and Venezuela's Hydrocarbons Policies in Perspective, Patrick Hunter Dogan
The Euro Effect: Is the Euro the Cause of Italy's Woes and Spain's Successes?, Robert Charlton Duke
Military Reforms with Chinese Characteristics: Informal Decentralization in the Chinese Government and Its Effect on Party-Military Relations, Daniel John Hedglin
Historical Memory and Muslim Identity in Andalusia, Sarah Lynn Karp
Finding Space for Autonomy: Chiapas, the EZLN, and the Dynamics of the Indigenous Communities, Thomas Joseph Koger
Going Places: The Shift of the Textile Industry to China, Vaughan Abbay Leatherman
The Hartz Commission vs. the Alliance for Jobs: A Study in German Labor Market Reform, Robert Russell Lynch
Sustainable Development in the Atacama Desert? Community and the Copper Mining Industry in Northern Chile, Livia Christina Macias
The Perils of Privatizing Water: The Case of Buenos Aires in Comparative Perspective, Joshua Lee Norris
The Politics of Memory: A Study of the Formation and Influence of Public Memory of the Military Regime in Argentina, Alexandra Azema Rodriguez
At the Roots of Faith: A Comparative Analysis of the History and Appeal of Buddhism and Christianity in Comtemporary China, Megan Christine Rogers
The Use of Presidential Decrees in New Democracies: A Study of Argentina and Chile, Lindsey Michelle Stringer
A Study of Race Policy in Fidel Castro's Cuba, Lee Andrew Taggart
Theses/Dissertations from 2007
The Limits of Laïcité: Islam and the Headscarf Issue in France, Lindsay Blaire Beeman
Elusive Peace: A Comparative Analysis of Civil Wars and Conflict Resolution in El Salvador and Colombia, Jessica Bryant
The Post-Cold War Security Dialogue, Melanie Collins
An Initial Evaluation of Select Social Welfare Programs Instated by Hugo Chavez, Maria Catarina Gutierrez
To Vote or Not to Vote: The New Challenge to Mexican Democracy, Elizabeth Thea Harrington
Bipartisan Efforts to Deter Human Rights Violations on the U.S.-Mexico Border, James Scott Jimenez
Stopping the Flood of Denglish: The Difficult Dilemma Faced by German Language Organizations in Modern-Day Germany, Julianne Kay Lofton
A Comparative Analysis of Institutions, Policies, and Vehicle Emissions between the United States and the European Union, William Lee Ramsey III
Theses/Dissertations from 2006
Questioning the Banana Republic: A Comparative Case Study of the Implications for Local Workers of the United Fruit Companies' Operations in Ecuador and Colombia, Ryan Kenneth Bullock
The French Non: The Socialist Party, Relocations, Economic Concerns, Christine Erin Day
Advice’s Effect: The Role of Western Advisors on Russian Privatization Policy, Nicholas James Greene
The Cost of Wealth: The Saudi Struggle for Sustainable Development., Benjamin Laird Hammond
An Examination of the Gender Relations and Causes of Gender Inequality in the Latin American Workforce., Kimberly Lane Kilpatrick
Fragmentation Within the Modern Basque Nationalist Movement and Its Implications for Basque Cultural Identity, Kathryn Zoe Merrell
What's Behind Genocide?: The Social Construction of Ethnicity and Mass Killing, Brianna Marie Phillips
China's Growing Unemployment Problems: Past, Present, and Future, Andrew Piletz
Ils en ont parle, Mary Elizabeth Roe
Women in Informal Work: An Examination of the Position of Workers in the Latin American Informal Sector, Caroline Elizabeth Wicker
Theses/Dissertations from 2005
Ecotourism in Costa Rica: A Study of the Viabilities and Impacts of Three Ecotourism Models, Corey Harmon Rogers
Theses/Dissertations from 2004
European Lingua Franca? Germany's Relationship with English in the late Twentieth Century, Anna Elise Fleming
Networking Is not Everything: The Factors that Led to the Eventual Decline of the Brigate Rosse, Courtney Janos Geraci
The Emergence of a Middle Class among Turks in Germany: A Move toward Cultural Pluralism, Eden Blythe Hegwood
Institutionalized Hypocrisy: Divorce and Politics in Chile, 1884-2004, Amanda Faye Mitchell
Battling from the Bottom Up: The Alleviation of Violence Against Women by the Non-Governmental Sector in South Africa, Shane Julia Richardson
Theses/Dissertations from 2003
Assimilation versus Autonomy: Indigenous Education in Mexico, Gordon Lee Gent
Transitions: Decentralization and Senegalese Political Parties, Megan Earline Norris