Of the plethora of social problems with which government has had to contend in recent history, few have generated more controversy than the non-therapeutic use of drugs. Many of those which are currently in common use did not exist fifty years ago; but the most dramatic growth in non-therapeutic use has been experienced with a drug that man has known for centuries: marijuana.1 Known generically as Cannabis sativa, internationally as Indian hemp, popularly as marijuana, and in American slang as "pot" or "grass," the drug was introduced to the United States as an intoxicant by itinerate Mexican farm workers in the early decades of this century. The acknowledged use of marijuana in the ghettos and communities of ethnic minorities for several decades stimulated no public outcry with the exception of the sensational press campaigns which led to the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.

Chapter I of this study of the Arabian Ba'th Socialist Party discusses the evolution of Arab nationalism and concludes that Ba'th was a natural outcome of this evolution; two intellectuals supporting Arab nationalism were Party co-founders Michael Aflaq and Salah Bitar, Part One of Chapter II summarizes their lives to facilitate understanding of their thought and its impact on Ba'th; Part Two examines the Party's first convention (source of the Ba'th constitution), the reasons for it, and the necessity of establishing Ba'th; and Part Three outlines Ba'th ideology and organization. Chapter III analyzes Ba'th's promotion of Syrian-Egyptian union and that union's resultant adverse effect upon Party cohesiveness, The Conclusion discusses the groups into which Ba'th split after 1961 and their new interpretations of Ba'th ideology.

This investigation is concerned with testing a causal model linking changes in a political system's socio-economic environment with alterations in political characteristics. The specific forces of interest are those relating to urbanization and industrialization, the development of that way of life called urbanism, and the effects of these environmental changes on voter participation and, ultimately, inter-party competition. The test model hypothesizes that the processes of urbanization and industrialization together create urbanism, which then affects party competition both indirectly by means of stimulating participation, and directly as well. To illuminate these processes, this study focuses on the American South of the last 30 years because it is in this region that the kinds of changes implicit in the test model have been observed, and thus the region offers the best arena for examining that model.

This research proposes that monetary policy is more than a technical economic policy. Since it is politically controlled, political variables should affect it. In this analysis, the monetary policies of France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and West Germany are described in detail. Political variables potentially affecting this policy are reviewed. Political variables, such as political party in power, electoral competition, electoral cycles, and political instability, are employed in a time series regression analysis of monetary aggregates. Various economic variables are also included to aid model specification. While cross-national variations occur in monetary policy determination, this research shows that political parties follow ideologies in monetary policy-making. Other political variables are not strongly related to monetary aggregates.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine and evaluate the role of the Organization of African Unity as an international organization in the solution of intra-African conflicts. For the purpose of this paper, eight conflicts from 1963 to 1980 were investigated. Utilizing these cases, the paper (a) examines four assumptions: (1) that regional actions promote settlements by isolating soluble local conflicts from more complex ones; (2) that intrastate conflicts are more difficult to resolve by regional organizations than interstate or border disputes; (3) that most of the boundary disputes in Africa are due to the arbitrary colonial boundary demarcations; and (4) that most of the causes of the ineffectiveness in its conflict resolution is as a result of poor administrative set-up, lack of resources, and failure of its commissions to operate effectively; (b) it answered the following questions: (1) Did the O.A.U. stop, help stop, or fail to stop the fighting; (2) Did the O.A.U. settle, help settle, or fail to settle the conflict; and (3) Was there super power intervention, and if so, to what effect? The methodology used is primarily case study method. Most attention is given to the way the O.A.U. handled the conflicts.

The most important long-term political forces operative in the Japanese political system are the interplay of decentralized community authority and the consolidation of that authority toward the top. The mura kyodotai (village community) concept is representative of both types of authority, neither of which has defined boundaries. An examination of the nature of indigenous community authority may provide the broad context for a valid understanding of Japanese decision making. Under the ideal of this order, Japanese political organization has valued the structure of Shinto: polytheistic local authority, plus conflated authority of church and state. Buddhism and Confucianism have provided direction and moral force to preserve traditional order.

The Tigris and Euphrates are international rivers vital to the four countries through which they flow: Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. The population in the region has more than doubled in less than thirty years, and irrigated agriculture, hydroelectric power generation, industrialization, and urbanization have increased. All of these developments require more water, and the dependence of the riparian nations on the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers has become apparent, as has the need for comprehensive, basin-wide management of water resources. At present the riparians have shown some concern about the management of water in the two rivers, although no consensus exists as to the precise nature of the problem or what should be done to resolve it. This policy-oriented dissertation attempts to help frame the policy issues of managing the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates basin. It also seeks to provide an understanding of the policy process and to meet the intelligence needs of policy-makers with regard to the future management of these international waterways. Finally, it provides strategies for developing and implementing a cooperative water policy for this international basin.

Studies of political parties in Latin America have often been descriptive and not directed to link a theoretical foundation about political parties with qualitative or quantitative empiricism. This was in part because parties in the region were usually perceived as rather unimportant in the political arena. This study attempts to correct this often unjustified proposition by focusing on the development of political parties in five Central American countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The analysis focuses particularly on the relationship between party fragmentation, party polarization, the level of democracy, and socio-economic modernization. The quantitative analysis uses a cross-national longitudinal research design and tries to overcome shortcomings in prior descriptive approaches based on case studies. The overall findings show that party fragmentation and party polarization are positively related to the level of democracy in Central America.

Paper analyzes the factors that contribute to human trafficking worldwide.

Paper examines the effectiveness of advertising techniques used in print magazines that target Mexican American consumers.

Paper discusses constitutional interpretation and focuses on the evolving interpretation of the Eighth Amendment through Supreme Court cases.

Paper discusses the international effects of the policies of a nation in the form of soft power.

Paper examines perceptions of globalism among young Bolivians, aged 18-27, who are living in their home country, and how those opinions impact their perception of the new Bolivian constitution.

Paper examines the effectiveness of post-9/11 counterterrorism policies in Western Europe.

Paper explores the role played by ethnicity in civil war in terms of sparking international disputes.

Paper explores relationship between gender equality and the duration of peace in post civil war societies.

Paper investigates the relationship between levels of globalization and indigenous conflict in Latin America.

Introduction to the proceedings of the University of North Texas Department of Political Science 2010 National Science Foundation Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates, featured in the 2010 edition of The Eagle Feather.

Paper analyzes humanitarian peacekeeping interventions led by regional organizations in the developing world and presents results seeking to shed light on the success of these humanitarian interventions and whether they are the better option versus allowing the conflicts to evolve.

Paper discusses which factors drive nations to contribute to regional peacekeeping operations.

Paper explores the interaction effect of tangible and intangible salience on the management of contentious issues between countries.

Paper explores the relationship between foreign aid and civil war outcome and analyzes the impact these factors have on peace duration in a post-conflict environment.

Paper explores why some countries experience protests in response to global food price shocks while others do not.

Paper investigates the relationship between the granting of indigenous rights and indigenous conflict in Latin America.