MA Thesis Award Winners

Starting in 2016, the Program in International Relations began the annual Outstanding Master's Thesis Award. The award serves to recognize exceptional work completed by students within the Program in International Relations, and to foster high levels of scholarship among the class. Awardees receive nomination by their thesis readers and are reviewed by a committee composed of the entire full-time faculty of the Program. The committee makes their selection(s) based on the writing and research skills, alongside the overall quality of the topic, demonstrated in the thesis.

Past winners and their winning theses can be found below.

2021 Outstanding Master's Thesis Award

MA THESIS AWARD WINNERS

Veronica Zanetta Brandoni

The Justice Cascade for Wartime Sexual Violence: A Journey to Recognition and Prosecution through Rwanda, Bosnia and Myanmar

MA THESIS AWARD HONORABLE MENTION

Aidan Hoffman

The Determinants of Modern U.S. Climate Policy

Kyoungseo Hong

The Rise of China: Community of Common Destiny or Sino-centric Order: A Comparative Analysis of the Belt and Road Economies

Antoine Vial

The Failure of Assessing Climate Change Risk Management: A Race Against the Clock

 Immigration and Right-Wing Populism in Europe:

Bridging Gaps in the Literature to Better Understand

an Important and Timely Political Phenomenon

 Immigration and Right-Wing Populism in Europe:

Bridging Gaps in the Literature to Better Understand

an Important and Timely Political Phenomenon

2020 Outstanding Master's Thesis Award

MA THESIS AWARD WINNERS

Huimin Li

Human Rights in the Age of Surveillance: China's Expansion of Technological and Normative Power (PDF: 568.2 KB)

MA THESIS AWARD HONORABLE MENTION

Dominik H. Cooreman

Balance of Threat in the South China Sea: Vietnam's Multi-Faceted Approach to Maximizing its South China Sea Interests in the Face of Dominant Chinese Power as a Case Study in Great Power-Middle Power Dispute Dynamics (PDF: 1.4MB)

Ian Kaufman

Immigration and Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Bridging Gaps in the Literature to Better Understand an Important and Timely Phenomenon (PDF: 636.4 KB)

Jasmine C. Lee

Taiwanese Identity and Cross-Strait Conflict Resolution: A Social Constructivist Analysis (PDF: 2MB)

Amalia Ordóñez Vahí

The Backlash Against Human Rights in the Mediterranean: A Case Study of Relations Between Non-State Actors and the Italian State (PDF: 645.5 KB)

 Immigration and Right-Wing Populism in Europe:

Bridging Gaps in the Literature to Better Understand

an Important and Timely Political Phenomenon

 Immigration and Right-Wing Populism in Europe:

Bridging Gaps in the Literature to Better Understand

an Important and Timely Political Phenomenon

2019 Outstanding Master's Thesis Award

MA THESIS AWARD WINNERS

Leonardo Dinic

A Hungarian Example Within a Global Trend: How Populists Abandoned Liberal Democracy & Pivoted Toward Illiberal Government (PDF: 750.1 KB)

Laura Salter

Exclusionary Nationalism: Examining the Conditions of Identity-Based Violence During Political Transition (PDF: 768.6 KB)

MA THESIS AWARD HONORABLE MENTION

Justin Ederheimer

Populist Communication & the Form of Media: A Historical Discourse Analysis (PDF: 2.3 MB)

Brandon T. Olson

Cold War, Cold State (PDF: 1 MB)

Tenzing Wangdak

A Modern Tibetan Story: The Case of the Digital Tibetan Diaspora (PDF: 436.1 KB)

2018 Master's Award for Academic Achievement in the Social Sciences

The Graduate School of Arts and Science Master's Award for Academic Achievement recognizes the most distinguished master's thesis or final project in each division: Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences. The Program in International Relations falls within the division of Social Sciences.

Ivy Jing Yu

America's Reaction to China's Boycott of American Products of 1905 - An Analysis on the Image of Japan and China in the U.S., 1905 - 1908 (PDF: 6.2 MB)

2017 Master's Award for Academic Achievement in the Social Sciences

The Graduate School of Arts and Science Master's Award for Academic Achievement recognizes the most distinguished master's thesis or final project in each division: Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences. The Program in International Relations falls within the division of Social Sciences.

Anastasiia Vlasenko

When War Sets Agenda: The Case of Ukraine (PDF: 915.3 KB)

2017 Outstanding Master's Thesis Award

MA Thesis Award Winners

Amanda Garofalo

Economic Underdevelopment in Southern Italy: The Mafia Effect (PDF: 339 KB)

Tim Robustelli

Argentine National Identity and the War on Terror: Civilization, Barbarism, and Rumors of Islamic Radicalism in the Tri-Border Area (PDF: 552 KB)

Ivy Yu

America's Reaction to China's Boycott of American Products of 1905 - An Analysis on the Image of Japan and China in the U.S., 1905 - 1908 (PDF: 6.2 MB)

MA Thesis Award Honorable Mentions

Harry Brown

English Nationalism and Brexit: Past, Present, and Future (PDF: 806 KB)

Loren Dent

Women and Government Expenditure: Do Gender Quotas Increase a Country's Social Spending? (PDF: 729 KB)

You Lan

Leo Strauss as the Mastermind Behind U.S. Invasion of Iraq? A Study of the Influence of Philosopher Leo Strauss on American Foreign Policy (PDF: 408 KB)

Robert Montano

Mexicans in the United States: A Historical Perspective, 1900 - 1942 (PDF: 344 KB)

Lesley de Sylva

The Reality of New Forms of UN Peacekeeping: High Risk Missions and Fatalities (PDF: 1.8 MB)