Thesiss

Democracy's promises of political equality, communal peace, and economic prosperity were forsaken when Nigeria's fourth attempt at democratic governance in 1999 led to four years of acute religious, ethnic, and regional bloodshed. To disclose the discursive dynamics underlying t…

Presidents play a critical role in the formulation of United States foreign policy, however the presidential studies literature and foreign policy analysis literature arrive at very different conclusion regarding how presidents influence the policy process and both are often ina…

The United States seized upon the opportunity presented with the end of the Cold War to engage in a high-yield, low-cost strategy to limit potential future threats from Russia. To accomplish this, the U.S. expanded its sphere of influence into areas hitherto controlled by Russia…

Presidential transitions mark the starting point of any regime change in the US federal executive. During this period newly elected Presidents structure their Whitehouse, fill thousands of political appointments and select their policy priorities. Using Carl Brauer's observation…

Military force is one tool available to political leaders in the conduct of foreign policy. Traditional military theorists acknowledge that military objectives must serve political aims and that the political should maintain primacy over the military. A challenge in the use of m…

This dissertation examines the Clinton Administration's attempts to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction through the Counterproliferation Policy Initiative. This study of policy innovation and public leadership includes an analytical framework with eleme…

In this dissertation I propose a reconceptualization of the political decisionmaker and the policymaking process. I argue that traditional political science approaches do not accurately capture the way in which political decisions are actually or the essence of what decisions ar…