Current Search:   Ash, Konstantin (x)

View All Items

  • CSV Spreadsheet
(1 - 4 of 4)
How Political Violence Helps Explain Organized Crime: A Case Study of Mexico's "War on Drugs"
Title
How Political Violence Helps Explain Organized Crime: A Case Study of Mexico's "War on Drugs".
Creator
Fulk, Alanna, Ash, Konstantin, Wilson, Bruce, Mirilovic, Nikola, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis examines research from the disciplines of political science and criminal justice to develop a theory that explains geographic variation in violence related to organized crime. Large-scale organized crime violence exhibits characteristics of both ordinary crime violence and political violence, but these subjects are generally analyzed separately. However, as large-scale organized crime has become more prevalent and violent in recent years, most notably in Latin America, studies,...
Show moreThis thesis examines research from the disciplines of political science and criminal justice to develop a theory that explains geographic variation in violence related to organized crime. Large-scale organized crime violence exhibits characteristics of both ordinary crime violence and political violence, but these subjects are generally analyzed separately. However, as large-scale organized crime has become more prevalent and violent in recent years, most notably in Latin America, studies, including this one, have attempted to cross disciplinary boundaries in order to better explain trends in organized crime onset, termination and violence. This thesis argues that although the overall goal of organized crime groups is not to take control of a country, both organized crime groups and insurgent groups confront the state's monopoly on violence, leading to evident similarities in the way they use violence to attain their goals. They both use violence to maintain control over resources, take control from other groups and retaliate against the government. Previous literature has demonstrated that control is directly linked to geographic variation in political violence and through case studies of organized crime violence in Honduras and Brazil, as well as negative binomial regression analysis of organized crime violence in Mexico, this thesis finds that control is also directly linked to geographic variation in organized crime violence.
Show less
Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007457, ucf:52688
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007457
Why is Democracy in Decline: Democratic Backsliding in Venezuela and Turkey
Title
Why is Democracy in Decline: Democratic Backsliding in Venezuela and Turkey.
Creator
Bayraktar, Fatih, Ash, Konstantin, Wilson, Bruce, Dolan, Thomas, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
It has long been argued that the end of the 20th century marked the triumph of liberal democracy. The third wave of democracy has increased the number of democracies in the world unprecedentedly and gave hope to many that democratic revolution is underway. However, in the last decade, this democratization process seems to have halted; there has been decline both in the number and quality of democracies. This thesis proposes an agent-based theory of democratic backsliding. More specifically,...
Show moreIt has long been argued that the end of the 20th century marked the triumph of liberal democracy. The third wave of democracy has increased the number of democracies in the world unprecedentedly and gave hope to many that democratic revolution is underway. However, in the last decade, this democratization process seems to have halted; there has been decline both in the number and quality of democracies. This thesis proposes an agent-based theory of democratic backsliding. More specifically, it is argued that leaders with undemocratic normative preferences and their ability to mobilize previously persecuted segments of society are the driving factors behind the present-day authoritarian resurgence. While the leader's fight with the oppressors of the marginalized group can bring a short-term of democratization, we argue that the unconditional support given by the marginalized group to the leader can allow the leader to undermine democracy by removing the checks on his power. The paper attempts to investigate similarities in the process of democratic derogation in a comparative case study of Venezuela and Turkey. The study shows that the support given to Erdogan and Chavez by the previously persecuted groups in their respective countries, religious/conservatives in Turkey and poor in Venezuela, allowed both leaders to undermine democracy in a subtle and incremental way.
Show less
Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0007155, ucf:52302
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007155
A Theory of Cultural Tolerance: Evidence from Former Soviet States
Title
A Theory of Cultural Tolerance: Evidence from Former Soviet States.
Creator
Boulibekova, Ajara, Ash, Konstantin, Powell, Jonathan, Hamann, Kerstin, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The prevention of ethnic conflict has been examined and debated upon within the Political Science community; studies involving economic standing, government structure, and historical background have been credited with reducing or preventing ethnic conflict. In the years leading up to the demise of the Soviet Union ethnic conflict was felt heavily throughout the Socialist Republics. After the fall of the U.S.S.R. scholars were certain that ethnic conflict would arise in Kazakhstan but alas it...
Show moreThe prevention of ethnic conflict has been examined and debated upon within the Political Science community; studies involving economic standing, government structure, and historical background have been credited with reducing or preventing ethnic conflict. In the years leading up to the demise of the Soviet Union ethnic conflict was felt heavily throughout the Socialist Republics. After the fall of the U.S.S.R. scholars were certain that ethnic conflict would arise in Kazakhstan but alas it did not, while other post-Soviet states, such as Moldova and Russia, had experienced ethnic conflict. What prevents ethnic conflict from occurring in one state but not the other? This thesis proposes that state efforts to promote cultural tolerance reduce the likelihood of ethnic conflict occurrence. State efforts to promote cultural tolerance include: language recognition, parliamentary reserved seats, constitutional protection, and inclusive citizenship laws. This theory is tested via a large-N regression time series cross sectional model including all of the former Soviet states, examining state-minority group dyads. Relevant factors such as oil, and group level economic inequality are also controlled for. The results reveal that inclusive citizenship laws have a positive significant effect on ethnic conflict, while language recognition seems to have a negative significant effect on ethnic conflict.
Show less
Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0006978, ucf:51657
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006978
Exogenous Shocks and Political Unrest
Title
Exogenous Shocks and Political Unrest.
Creator
Nurmanova, Didara, Tezcur, Gunes Murat, Ash, Konstantin, Wilson, Bruce, Alpanda, Sami, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This dissertation explores the role of exogenous shocks such as economic shocks and natural disasters in producing political unrest in the form of anti-government protests and ethnic riots. It is integrated by three articles, each covering a different topic. The first article argues that economic shocks play a crucial role in protest mobilization in rentier states conditional on weaker repressive capacity or higher taxation. Empirically, it conducts a cross-national study of high-resource...
Show moreThis dissertation explores the role of exogenous shocks such as economic shocks and natural disasters in producing political unrest in the form of anti-government protests and ethnic riots. It is integrated by three articles, each covering a different topic. The first article argues that economic shocks play a crucial role in protest mobilization in rentier states conditional on weaker repressive capacity or higher taxation. Empirically, it conducts a cross-national study of high-resource dependent states in the period of 1995-2014. The second article contends that there is a variation in a degree to which a country's regions are exposed to economic shocks. A higher regional exposure to economic shocks is argued to increase the likelihood of regional anti-government protest at in competitive autocracies. The argument is tested in a subnational analysis of Russia using original dataset of regional anti-government protest and regional economic data in the period of 2007-2015. The third article develops a theory of natural disasters and ethnic riots. It argues that climate-induced meteorological disasters increase chances of ethnic riots because of declined state capacity that creates uncertainty about enforcement of existing ethnic contracts, and feelings of uncertainty result in strong group categorization, stereotyping and polarization. The argument is tested in a subnational study of Hindu-Muslim riots in Indian states in the period of 1951-2015. The results of the studies in this dissertation offer three key findings: (1) higher resource rents lower protest likelihood in autocratic rentier states with higher repressive capacity; (2) regional unemployment is a strong predictor of anti-government protest; (3) natural disasters in the form of precipitation and temperature anomalies increase chances of ethnic riots. The findings suggest a conclusion that exogenous shocks are important predictors of anti-government protest and ethnic riots.
Show less
Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007510, ucf:52644
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007510