Month: June 2022

PIs: Keith A. Preble, Independent Scholar; Charmaine N. Willis, PhD Candidate, SUNY Albany

Grant Amount: $2,500

Project Abstract: The United Nations 1718 Sanctions Committee has published biannual reports on the compliance of U

N sanctions against North Korea (DPRK). These detailed reports underscore the difficulty faced by the UN member states in promoting and supporting compliance of economic sanctions. Our project will code and catalog North Korea’s sanctions evasion efforts detailed in these reports (and news media). We hope to ultimately create a data set of North Korea’s sanctions evasion and illicit activity, ranging from arms deals to countries in Africa to operating restaurants and art studios in Southeast Asia, which we will make available publicly at the conclusion of our project. These activities are important for understanding how North Korea continues to develop weapons of mass destruction despite major economic sanctions levied against it. The goal of our work is to map out North Korea’s network of illicit activities and compare how it compares to North Korea’s network of licit trade and foreign aid. 

Keith A. Preble, Independent Scholar

Charmaine N. Willis, PhD Candidate, SUNY Albany

PI: Gregory A. Petrow, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at El Paso

Grant Amount: $2,500

Project Abstract: Scholars study the rise of so-called “outrage discourse,” finding that expressions of anger are becoming more commonplace in American politics. Additionally, political candidates from increasingly diverse backgrounds are running for elected office. The effects on voters of this diversity, however, are poorly understood, particularly as they relate to how political candidates express emotions. With this funding we will hire Anglo research participants to test to see how the effects of politicians expressing anger may vary according to how their gender and race cross with one another. It may well be the case that due to negative racial stereotypes and conceptions of traditional gender norms, political candidates who reflect greater diversity may be judged more harshly for expressing anger. The design experimentally manipulates if a politician is presented as a man or woman; as white, black or Latino; and, as expressing anger or not. The central hypothesis to be tested is that the white electorate penalizes politicians more for expressing anger when they are not white males

PI: Dilan Okcuoglu, Postdoctoral Fellow, American University, School of International Service

Grant Amount: $2,500

Project Abstract: Following the civil war in Syria, Turkey has taken clear measures to maintain the border security with its neighboring countries: in 2018, the construction of a 764-kilometer wall along the borders between Turkey and Syria was completed. This new border wall project was also supported with high-tech surveillance systems. Despite that, the Turkish-Syrian borders were prone to violence. In the last decade, the Turkish state has also built several military bases and dams along the Kurdish-populated borders of Turkey, Iraq and Iran. The literature suggests that such increased state presence should help to curb political violence (Atzili 2010; Fearon and Laitin 2003; Kaldor 2013). Yet, armed conflict between the Kurdish rebels and the Turkish state is still ongoing, notwithstanding a few ceasefires. Why does increasing state presence fuel violence and conflict in some cases but not in others? Under what conditions does increased state capacity exacerbate ethnic conflict? By using interview data and archival research, I argue that forms of territorial control, which include nationalizing the landscape, securitization, border control, administrative and demographic control and expulsion shape people’s everyday experiences. These state practices engender minority grievances and perpetuate rebel violence by militarizing everyday life, fragmenting the group, violating democratic rights, facilitating the appropriation of cultural heritage and loss of property.