Individuals who have experienced armed conflict at some time in their life span up to the millions. Whether its domestic violence, PTSD or war. A small body of research has been conducted to understand self-image and the well-being of survivors of armed conflict. However little is known about the effects of armed conflict on social behaviors and the perception of social relationships. This research is based on interviews and ethnographic data from forty South Sudanese refugees living in Rhino camp, Uganda. Using interviews and qualitative methods this research addresses how armed conflict affects trust of others and social relationships. Key insights from this research will allow us to understand how armed conflict experiences impact one’s perception of social relations and how different genders view this same idea. This research addresses social behaviors and perceptions of social relationship which is an important aspect of health, well-being and survival.

Article 32 of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) represents a major innovation in international law by recognizing the human rights of persons with disabilities (PWD) to participate in international development on an equal basis with others. Implementation of Article 32 in policy and practice, however, lag far behind, despite widespread adoption of the CRPD. This report evaluates the dissemination of the inclusive development norm across international development organizations and nonprofits by assessing knowledge of Article 32, understanding of its obligations, and integration of inclusive development practices into organizational policy, priorities, and program implementation. We argue that the obligations of Article 32 have not disseminated, thus excluding millions of PWD from development aid and programs. This failure makes the field of international development exclusive and ultimately discriminatory towards PWD. To test our hypothesis, our research team surveyed international development nonprofits in a major West Coast city to identify the baseline of inclusive development knowledge that most agencies operate with. Our findings are gleaned from a case study of 22+ members organizations of a local membership association of international development organizations headquartered in a major city on the West Coast. We compile our report’s data from a variety of sources: (1) review of international development aid agencies’ published policies, (2) review of organizations’ published education materials and grant proposals, (3) a survey circulated to the 200+ member organizations of a local membership association of international development organizations and (4) in-person interviews with CEOs of several of the member organizations.

Following the events of the 2016 United States Presidential election, evidence emerged of a Russian-led effort to influence the American people via social media. Through a Kremlin-backed organization known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA), computational propaganda was conducted against the American people on a variety of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. As part of the ongoing Mueller Investigation and in the name of political transparency, Twitter released a data archive of Tweets and user information for bot and troll accounts linked to the IRA. Prior research completed by data scientists at the University of Washington has revealed that IRA accounts infiltrated the Black Lives Matter discourse community on Twitter. Building off of this work and using the publicly available Twitter dataset, I have analyzed the messaging tactics used by the IRA over time in relation to the Black Lives Matter discourse community on Twitter. I will randomly sample Tweets relating to Black Lives Matter, police brutality, and other related topics beginning in 2009 and ending in 2018, which is when the dataset ends. I use RStudio, Tableau, and other data analytic systems to identify trends, patterns, and messaging themes used by the IRA while they were infiltrating this online discourse community. As an area studies scholar, I provide a more comprehensive understanding of Russian tactics in addition to the data analysis. By examining the methods used by foreign agents when impersonating Americans on social media, I expand the knowledge base about this online effort and highlight themes or trends that could be used by similar groups in the future.

Memes have emerged in the last decade as tools for political commentary, and in some cases, a force for political mobilization. The purpose of this research is to add empirical and methodological data to the emerging field of memetic study by comparing and contrasting two case studies: (1) Britain leaving the European Union (i.e., Brexit) and, (2) the recent 2018-2019 US government shutdown. I collected memes from the social media blogging platform Tumblr from January to early April 2019. I then analyzed the stance and tone conveyed through the template, text, and visuals of the memes to yield insight into how memes impact internet communities that spread them. More importantly, I examine how the internet environment surrounding memes influence them. I expect the analysis of the data to show that memes have responded similarly in both case studies but their dissemination networks and spreading patterns are different. The implications of this study concern how people use online forums to react to perceived threats towards democratic institutions and the democratic process. The research also provides insight to how we consume and produce objects on the internet and how we might act as citizens as the borders separating the online-offline world erodes.

Myanmar has been enveloped in seemingly endless civil strife since their independence from British colonization in 1949. The country is comprised of a wide array of ethnic minorities, each with their respective language and culture. Myanmar’s government may publicly announce its pride at the country’s diversity, but within, human rights violations committed by the military abound. The peace process towards a federalist state is long and hard, and has seen many cycles of ceasefires and armed conflict. My time in Thailand during CHID’s Gender, Peacekeeping and Human Rights program addressed this conflict from a myriad of perspectives. As a result, I have learned about the silent heroes of Myanmar’s peacekeeping process: the community based organizations that are actively changing the power landscape of rural areas within the ethnic minority states. There are several community-based organizations operating from the Thailand-Myanmar border that are addressing and spreading awareness of the human rights violations inside ethnic states. Most importantly, they are addressing maternal and child health in high risk areas where maternal mortality rates are some of the highest in the world. Through meetings and interviews with various community-based organizations, I am exploring the relationship between family planning and maternal health programs on the ground and women’s participation in the peace process in the country overall. I am also using content analysis of reports done by the organizations, who have obtained valuable, on the ground data from remote areas within Myanmar. I am interested in whether investing in these programs and supporting this communtiy-based approach could be one possible solution to creating multilateral agreements that last in Myanmar because of the additional involvement of women in politics and leadership.

Bitnation is a non-governmental organization which uses blockchain smart contract—an algorithm-based digital contract through a decentralized database—to provide Jurisdiction as a Service (JaaS) to its participants, or Citizens. This means that Bitnation Citizens enter contracts such as birth certificates, marriages, wills, company registrations, and passport through Bitnation’s own virtual scope of jurisdiction. Bitnation’s implementation of decentralized self-governance through blockchain and its promise to “outcompete” the nation-state model has attracted over 10,000 Citizens. In this research, I ask why such a big wave of people collectively decides to relegate nation-state citizenship—an institution which has been established and legitimized for centuries—and incline towards a stateless identity system. What could be the roles of the modern citizen perception of their rights and their access to emerging technologies, for example blockchain smart contract, in this deviation? My hypothesis is that one’s choice to opt in for Bitnation’s virtual jurisdiction, despite the standing establishment of the nation-states, is a product of modern identity politics and technological development. The increasing political and social interconnectedness worldwide have intensified importance and manifestation of identities. In addition, new technologies, particularly blockchain and smart contract, ensure anonymity in communications and contracting practices among Citizens worldwide, and attract those whose identities placed them in socio-economic and political disadvantages in their societies. To test this hypothesis, I conduct literature review on topics of the nation-state model, stateless virtual citizenship, and emerging technologies. Further, I conduct ethnography, surveys, and interviews on Bitnation’s online platform to find the correlation between the Citizen identities and interests in Bitnation and how the platform satisfies them. Through his study I hope to shine a light on the changing expectations in the state-citizen relationship as a contract and the role of technology in the evolution of governance model from centralized to decentralized.

Information warfare is not a new Russian Federation tactic, or its predecessor state the USSR, but the digital age has allowed for a severe increase in the ease and ability to carry out operations. Information war, an overarching term that includes cyberwar, influencing policy outcomes with ill-gotten information, and propaganda campaigns. Russia’s operations are expanding and increasing in number with Russian state affiliated hackers, troll armies, and bots influencing the globe. In spite of the prevalence of this action, there is a lack of databases that track all Russia’s entire information campaign in its entirety. I am building a dataset using open source methods, including research in English, Russian, and French. The dataset currently contains 78 incidents spanning 30 countries. My initial findings indicate that Russian policymakers have three overarching objectives; (1) re-establishing Russian dominance in the post-communist/Russian sphere of influence, (2) undermining western economic, political, and cultural influence globally, and (3) expanding Russia’s political, economic, and military hegemony to all corners of the globe. I have found that although Russia's overall global strategy may seem somewhat straightforward, how that plays out in each region and country differs. The ways which Russia’s goals are customized on the basis of political landscape, historical background, culture, and religion. Often times, Russian actors will choose a simple disinformation campaign through the local media, but in other circumstances more intensive measures are used by way of hacker groups.