This paper was submitted for “Political Science 20: World Politics” with Professor Richard Anderson in Spring 2009.

In the international system, there are various lenses or perspectives to view war and conflict and the intentions or rationale behind it. There are three dominant perspectives that exist: the realist, liberal and identity perspectives. I will focus on the realist and liberal perspectives only. In War and Peace in Zaire/Congo: Analyzing and Evaluating Intervention 1996-1997 , the analysis of United States and French intervention or lack thereof is explained through a mix of the realist and liberal perspectives, noting both the power struggle in Central Africa and the economic interests and failed negotiations.

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This paper was submitted for “Global Studies 100A: Globalization – Concepts and History” with Professor Russell Burgos, Professor David Rigby, Professor Dominic Thomas and Aron Ballard in Winter 2009.

Globalization will strengthen the United States absolutely and not only at the expense of other actors. In the past and currently, the US has benefited economically and politically, however unfairly, from smaller and weaker economies. In the long run, the US – as the nation-state becomes more relevant again – will remain a leading world power, but in a different context. In analyzing the changing role of the nation-state and the economic logic of governance, I believe that the US will be expected to participate and more importantly, lead, in a plurilaterialist system, as proposed by Philip Cerny, alongside potential super powers even if it requires learning the limits of its hegemony.

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This collection of analyses was submitted for “History 2B: Social Knowledge and Social Power” with Professor Sharon Traweek in Winter 2009.

Heinze, From Scarcity to Abundance, 1990
Heinze’s topic focused on immigrants as consumers, but emphasized Jewish immigrants in particular. Heinze set out to explore why there was such a disparity between the consumption patterns of Jewish people who have immigrated to the United States versus those who have not. His hypothesis involves how Jewish immigrants interpret the values of the United States, link that to their religious past to view “America as a haven” (196) and assimilate accordingly. Thus, as Heinze concludes, Jewish immigrants are more absorbed in wanting to adopt US values, particularly consumerism, to more quickly adopt to their new home. Heinze mainly uses statistics and observations, whether his own or those noted in cultural histories.

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This paper was submitted for “Global Studies 1: Introduction to Global Studies” with Professor Russell Burgos and Aron Ballard in Fall 2008.

When the United Nations was created, it was seen as a forum for international relations—a place for nations to come together and strive towards a common goal, a “potential nucleus of a world state” . This aim, however, comes at the price of each nation forfeiting some of its sovereignty. But, by no means does this make the nation-state irrelevant in our globalizing world, as Kenichi Ohmae and Susan Strange have argued, albeit for different reasons. The United Nations, as an international organization and as a society of nation-states, pronounces the relevant, but changing role of the nation-state in a globalizing world.

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This paper was submitted for “Honors Collegium 30: The Vietnam War and American Culture” with Professor James Goodwin in Spring 2008.

I have set the parameters for my analysis from the Vietnam War in 1965 to 1968, also the time of Labor Party Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson’s term, and the Iraq War from 2003 to 2007, also the time of Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair and George W. Bush’ term. In both the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, a United States president pressed a Labor Party Prime Minister to commit forces to a war that was highly unpopular in the United Kingdom. Why then, did Wilson refuse President Johnson’s repeated pleas while Blair sent troops unquestionably? Undoubtedly, there are a bevy of circumstantial reasons to the divergent outcomes, but those reasons are heavily hinged on alliance dynamics, domestic politics, and the personality of the respective leaders.

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