dissertation com mär 2011 (4 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This thesis examines the reception of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War in US foreign policy debates since the end of the Cold War. It begins with a background survey of Thucydides' use in foreign policy debates up to and during the Cold War, primarily by the realist school of international relations, and the comparisons which were drawn between the Cold War and the Peloponnesian War. After the Cold War, these comparisons became less relevant to current debates, and critics of realism began to use Thucydides to support their own theories. The emphasis is on how the three key movements since the Cold War, realism, liberal internationalism and neoconservatism, have each seen aspects in Thucydides' writing to admire and utilise for their theories, at the same time building competing interpretations of key sections from Thucydides' History. At the same time, as well as drawing abstract theories from Thucydides, analysts have also drawn historical parallels between the present and the Peloponnesian War in a creative process which results in modern states playing different ancient roles depending upon the context. I show that Thucydides' text lends itself particularly well to such recycling due to the author's tendency to highlight complex tensions without providing explicit authorial 'answers'.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - United States Air Force Officers are not often given the choice of career fields when they enter active duty. This may have some impact on performance on an academic measure in the assigned field. In addition to choice, levels of two causality orientations were assessed using Deci and Ryan's 1985 General Causality Orientation Scale, 12-Vignette version. Causality orientations are posited to exist in varying degrees in every individual and, for the purposes of this study, are tested to determine their association with academic achievement in a situation of limited choice. The overall aim of this study is to determine whether choice and/or causality orientation predict academic achievement in missileers, and if a moderation model represents the relationship between the predictors and academic achievement. Missileers at Minot Air Force Base, the 91st Missile Wing, were surveyed and data regarding choice, a single month's aggregate academic scores and causality orientation were collected. Neither choice nor causality orientation alone predicted monthly test scores. Causality orientation moderated the relationship between choice and monthly test scores. Those respondents who reported that they had received their assignment of choice had higher monthly test scores when they also had high levels of autonomy relative to controlled orientation. In the group which reported they had not received their assignment of choice, there were no associations between choice, causality orientation and monthly test scores.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The majority of the people who make up the United States' seasonal agricultural workforce are nonimmigrant Mexican citizens. Immigration policies such as the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and the H-2A agricultural guest worker program were meant to encourage growers to employ legal labor workforces. A study of the laws and practices that eventually resulted in the H-2A program shows how and why the demographics are predominantly Mexican. In addition, such study is revealing as to why the US enacted the H-2A program-including definitional details of the program itself. However, does this program really work This question has radically different answers. In theory, the program seems to be well designed; but, in practice, it does not function as intended because of its many shortcomings, loopholes, open-ended issues, and poor enforcement. I will analyze and demonstrate how these inadequacies perpetuate illegal immigration and exploitation of both legal and illegal seasonal agricultural farm workers. Lastly, I will offer a composite of recommendations for legislative reform of the H-2A program; as well as provide pertinent, resourceful questions for further research.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This study examines the results of multiple evaluations of the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Grant Program (CTSP), a state-funded voucher program, by exploring extant evaluations and literature. Attention will be given to the following research question: Does participation in the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Grant Program have the hypothesized positive effect on traditional public school students' academic achievement Cleveland's voucher program provides an ideal contextualized setting for ascertaining the extent to which school choice programs afford poor families the same educational options available to affluent families. This study concludes that overall there are no statistically significant gains in voucher students' academic achievement. In fact, it appears that some voucher students performed slightly worse in math. The program does, however, afford low-income students the opportunity to attend private secular or religious schools in accordance with the program's initial design and intent.