VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Limits of Permissiveness: International Law, the UN, and the War in Ukraine

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is widely considered to be a gross violation of the Charter of the United Nations and, for some scholars, just another example of a major power undermining the international rule of law, akin to the beginning of the ‘War on Terror’. However, new scholarship on the justificatory power of international law provides a different outlook: While international law is used to serve political interests, there are limits. States must make appeals to law that accomplish a level of ‘plausible legality’ for their actions, or risk contestation and condemnation on the grounds of their betrayal of universal international principles. But, how are these discursive limits imposed by the international community and to what extent do they constrain state behavior?
In this thesis, I analyze the United Nations (UN) debates and resolutions that occurred in response to the war in Ukraine as a potential best case study for exploring how states draw upon international law in opposition, and the extent to which mass legal contestation impacts state behavior. Through a qualitative analysis of the first five resolutions and six meetings of the United Nations 11th Emergency Special Session, I show how legal principles dominate states’ efforts to discredit and delegitimize Russian actions and that states use broadly accepted legal principles to do so, like the UN Charter. Regardless of their position, states seek to portray themselves as supporters of the international rule of law, either by stating directly their disagreement with or indirectly distancing themselves from Russian actions.
Further, I investigate whether, by acting against an ‘illegal’ act, states can establish a discursive notion of “Russian illegality” to justify and empower actual cost-inflicting actions. I find that although states’ efforts to contest Russia’s actions on legal grounds is viewed as fair, there are varying degrees of and a limit to the amount of permissiveness that states can pursue when making legal arguments. Indeed, some states’ extrapolation of legal arguments seem to pass a limit of permissiveness, where their actions no longer clearly follow from the universal legal principles under discussion, leaving the door open to counter-contestation and dissent. In this light, legal contestation can be understood as a self-interested process, in which states attempt to use their questioning of other states' legality to build their own empowered position from which to act. This thesis provides insight into questions about the relevance and effectiveness of international law in foreign policy justifications and the extent to which law can both empower and constrain states’ actions and positions.

Keywords: International law
United Nations
United Nations. Security Council
United Nations. General Assembly
Ukraine Conflict (2014-)
Justification (Law)
International relations
Diplomacy > Language
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Thesis
Advisor: Cohen David
The New NCAA: The Impact of NIL Deals and Alston Benefits on Distributive Justice

The changing compensation rules in the NCAA regarding both NIL and Alston reflect a significant departure from traditional amateurism norms. While these changes aim to address long-standing concerns about fairness and exploitation, they also introduce new challenges and complexities. I attempt to draw a relationship between institutions’ values and objectives, their athletic and academic reputations, and the extent to which they exploit the new opportunities such changes bring. More specifically, I closely examine the different approaches institutions of all demographics have taken concerning the NIL and Alston spaces. Furthermore, using different liberal theories of justice, I seek to better understand the implications of the changed compensation rules for student-athletes on economic welfare. I find that the new regulations had two effects – a “pecuniary” effect (redistribution) and a “real” or “efficiency” effect (causing an increase in aggregate economic welfare). Moreover, I argue that the new rules are improvements as they benefit the least well-off.

Keywords: Student-Athlete Compensation, Cost - Benefit Analysis, Strict Egalitarianism
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Thesis
Advisor: Noll Roger
The Next Step: Reframing the Vulnerability and Difficulties of Undocumented Students Through Higher Education Milestones

Over the last decade, undocumented students have been given access to the American dream of pursuing higher education which opens the doors to economic and social mobility. While undocumented students can pursue higher education, they can only achieve half the dream. The existence of education access policies is not enough for these students to access the benefits of higher education. This project seeks to understand the experiences of undocumented students as they pursue higher education with the existence of the following education access policies: Assembly Bill 540 and the California Dream Act. These two laws open the doors to higher education for undocumented students in California by providing access to in-state tuition and state financial aid, respectively. Through this project, I sought to learn what barriers these policies fail to address and how the experience of undocumented students differs with DACA and no DACA. My thesis will center on three higher education milestones: high school to college, navigating undergrad, and post-college graduation. I structured my interview guide around these three milestones to understand how my participants experienced these transitions. In the 11 interviews I conducted, I found themes of self-advocacy, exclusion from the typical college experience, the necessity of high levels of resilience, and differences in how both groups of students (DACA and no DACA) experience the transition post-college graduation. Undocumented students must achieve high levels of resilience and self-advocacy to persevere through the barriers they face pursuing higher education. I argue that pursuing higher education provides undocumented students without DACA protection from the limitations of their immigration status while DACA students are able to access the benefits of higher education. Lastly, I conclude that the existence of education access policies is not sufficient to support the journey of undocumented students pursuing higher education.

Keywords: DREAMers
Undocumented students
Higher education
AB 540
California Dream Act
Education
College graduation
Post-college graduation
DACA
Undocumented
Immigrants
Student
High School
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Thesis
'The only race fitted for the work': Overseas Chinese, racial capitalism, and the making of British colonial Malaya, c. 1867-1909

Throughout the nineteenth century, British colonial officials in Malaya confronted the problem of having to develop a remote territory that was resource-rich but political factious and capital- and labor-deficient. To achieve their political and economic objectives, British administrators embarked on a developmentalist agenda based on the toleration, if not outright promotion, of large-scale Chinese immigration. Chinese were depicted in contemporary public and private intellectual discourse as a race uniquely suited to labor in the modern capitalist economy, but, having been simultaneously identified as a potential source of social unrest, one that required careful management. Although scholars have argued that Western conceptions of race were in large part the product of British colonial rule, this thesis applies the conceptual framework of racial capitalism to the specific context of empire to show that racialized epistemologies, centered on the overseas Chinese, were also foundational to the expansion of British influence over the Malay Peninsula beginning in 1870s. British Malaya and its overseas Chinese communities thus constituted an important historical site where the intersection of race, capitalism, and imperialism was demonstrated.

Keywords:  Stanford Global Studies
British Empire
Malaya
Overseas Chinese
Imperialism
Race
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Thesis
Advisor: Press Steven
The Poisoning of Fort Ord: Veterans' Perspectives on Institutional Accountability

This honors thesis explores how veterans navigate military-caused pollution and the institutions responsible for poisoning the people and environment. Because there are loopholes in environmental legislation, the military is often exempt from the same regulations other corporations and industries are subject to. Their argument for this is to accomplish the goal of national security. Nevertheless, national security cannot be achieved without a sustainable environment for human welfare benefits. This work aims to understand the history behind military pollution and how veterans who have been personally impacted deal with the consequences. This thesis’ research questions are the following: 1) How do veterans reconcile a reality that was part and parcel of life on a military base that poisoned rather than protected them? 2) How does a veteran navigate military pollution and decipher which institutions should be held responsible for the resulting health consequences? Better understanding a veteran’s identity can help reveal how they still have a deep love for the military even when they have been diagnosed with a life-threatening health concern decades afterward or have lost a loved one. This information shows the ways in which veterans come to terms with what institution is responsible for their ailment. Based on this research, more public awareness around the issue of military pollution and institutional accountability is required for effective legislative action to be enacted.

Keywords: Military base closures > Environmental aspects
United States Army Training Center, Infantry (Fort Ord, Calif.)
Environmental policy
Drinking water > Contamination
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Thesis
Advisor: Wolfe Mikael
McKibben Carol Lynn
The Problem of Pain in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Two Descriptive Vignettesof Biopsychosocial Correlates of Chronic Pain in Varying Health Contexts

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease in which patients frequently experience pain. To improve treatments and advance pain management in SLE, we characterized pain in patients with SLE through a biopsychosocial lens, taking into account demographics, socioeconomic status, comorbidities, chronic overlapping pain conditions (COPCs), mental health, other pain conditions, distribution of pain regions, and other measurements of pain and well-being. We investigated two research questions: 1. What distinguishes patients with SLE who are seen at the pain clinics and are in CHOIR, the Collaborative Health Outcomes Information Registry, from patients with SLE who are not seen at the pain clinics? and 2. What are the biopsychosocial correlates of pain in the patients with SLE seen at the pain clinics (in CHOIR)? Our cross-sectional regression analyses indicated that patients with SLE at CHOIR are more likely to be on public health insurance, to be Black, and have COPCs, mental health conditions, and functional comorbidities compared to patients with SLE who were not in CHOIR. Further, within the cohort of patients with SLE in CHOIR, pain widespreadness was significantly associated with worse PROMIS measures, pain intensity, and pain catastrophizing. In addition, socioeconomic status was significantly associated with average pain intensity. Ultimately, this work will lay the foundation for developing more targeted interventions or informing clinical practice to minimize and treat chronic pain in patients with SLE.

Keywords: Systemic lupus erythematosus
Chronic pain
Epidemiology
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Thesis
Advisor: Simard Julia
Falasinnu Titilola
The Resurgence of the Korean War Blockbuster in Chinese Cinema: How China Uses the Korean War to Promote Nationalism

Korean War films were a popular source of propaganda in Maoist China. The genre declined after Mao’s death, but there has been a recent resurgence of Korean War films under Xi Jinping. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how these new films are upholding and reshaping elements of the Korean War narrative, and what this means for modern Chinese nationalism. To date, there has been no comprehensive study examining the Chinese cinematic Korean War narrative from Mao to the recent blockbusters under Xi. This thesis therefore charts trends in the evolution of film depictions of the Korean War in China by focusing on changing portrayals of the in-group and out-group across three periods: 1) Mao’s leadership; 2) 1980s to 2016; and 3) Xi Jinping’s leadership. Across the Maoist period and the recent resurgence under Xi, the in-group and out-group largely corresponds to the loyal Chinese soldier and the American imperialist adversary. While the virtuous Chinese in-group has remained fairly consistent in its presentation – with the notable exception of whether to include or exclude North Korean characters within this group – the American adversary has evolved from a nondescript menace to a more fully defined character. This reflects the cinematic Korean War narrative’s interaction with the Century of Humiliation narrative, changing Sino-American relations, and the achievements Xi is seeking to claim in advancing China’s modernization and development.

Keywords: China
Nationalism
Korean War (1950-1953)
Feature films
Propaganda films
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Thesis
The Right to be Desired: Combating Racist Gay Beauty Standards on Grindr with Therapeutic Photography

Users on the popular gay networking app, Grindr, have perpetuated and reinforced racialized hierarchies of desirability. These hierarchies continue to have an immense negative impact on queer people of color's self-perception and mental health. To uplift queer people of color, I intervene on Stanford University's campus by offering queer students of color the opportunity to engage with therapeutic photography.

Keywords: Queer people of color
Therapeutic photography
Sexual Racism
Desirability
Mental Health
Grindr
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Capstone
Thesis
Student project report
The Tactics of Community Organizations in the Environmental Justice Movement

Community organizations aim to create positive change surrounding public health and environmental policies, but which tactics are most successful? In my research I used archival and media materials to analyze two court cases brought by an environmental justice organization against a refinery expansion in California. In one court case, the organization created a coalition of like-minded organizations, which both increased their resources and allowed them to better utilize scientific research to articulate a legitimate argument against expansion, leading to a legal victory. In the other case, the organization did not partner with any other nonprofits and had less overall support from the community leading to a decrease in effectiveness and ultimately a settlement agreement. These findings suggest that community organization litigation may be most effective when organizations partner with other nonprofits, especially those with similar long-term goals.

Keywords: Science, Technology and Society
Community organization
Enviromental justice
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Thesis
Advisor: Nation Joe
The War Within: Perceived Legitimacy and Psychological Trauma Among Post-9/11 Veterans

Since the start of the Global War on Terror, over four times as many U.S. soldiers deployed in the conflicts have died by suicide than have been killed in action. Recent studies have established an association between veteran suicide and moral injury (MI), a type of psychological trauma rooted in “perpetrating, failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.” This thesis examines the moral injury element of service member suicide in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, seeking to understand whether veterans’ perception of the legitimacy of war they fought within is related to their sense of moral transgression for participating in that conflict. This study surveyed 54 anonymous U.S. veterans who served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. I find significant correlation between moral injury and suicidality among participants. The analysis also shows that veterans with lower perceptions of the legitimacy of the conflict(s) they served in tend to have higher scores for moral injury. Finally, I find that perceived legitimacy also acts as a negative moderator on the relationship between MI and suicidality, meaning that the relationship between suicidality and moral injury is stronger when the legitimacy score is lower. These findings empirically support the hypothesis that service members’ mental health is related to their perception of war legitimacy. Through analysis of existing research and interviews with U.S. veterans, this thesis also examines emerging evidence of a causal chain underlying this relationship, indicating that when troops’ experiences in war result in a lessened view of the legitimacy of the conflict, they may be at risk of losing some of the sense of purpose that they had formerly associated with their service. Additionally, I find that political events can impact mental health in the military community by altering perceptions of conflict legitimacy even after one’s service has concluded.

Keywords: War
Veterans
Iraq War (2003-2011)
Afghan War (2001-2021)
War on Terrorism (2001-)
Nation-building
Mental health
Suicide
Moral injuries
Soldiers
Military policy
Counterinsurgency
Veterans > Medical care
Just war doctrine
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Thesis
Advisor: Winslow Dean
Theory and algorithms for data-centric machine learning

Machine learning (ML) and AI have achieved remarkable, super-human performance in a wide variety of domains: computer vision, natural language processing, and protein folding, to name but a few. Until recently, most advancements have taken a model-centric approach, focusing primarily on improved neural network architectures (ConvNets, ResNets, transformers, etc.) and optimization procedures for training these models (batch norm, dropout, neural architecture search, etc.). Relatively less attention has been paid to the data used to train these models, in spite of the well-known fact that ML is critically dependent on high-quality data, captured succinctly with the phrase "garbage in, garbage out." As the returns on ever larger and more complicated models diminish (MT-NLG from Nvidia and Microsoft having 530B parameters), researchers have begun to realize the importance of taking a data-centric approach and developing principled methods for studying the fuel for these models: the data itself. Beyond improved task performance, a data-centric perspective also allows us to take socially critical considerations, such as data privacy, into account. In this thesis, we will take a critical look at several points in the ML data pipeline: before, during, and after model training. Before model training, we will explore the problem of data selection: which data should be used to train the model, and on what type of data should we expect our model to work? As we move forward into model training, we will turn our attention to two issues which can result from the interaction of our ML systems with the environment in which they are deployed. The first issue is that of data privacy: how can we prevent our models from leaking sensitive information about their training data? The second issue concerns the dynamic nature of some modeled populations. Especially when our model is used to make socially impactful decisions (e.g., automated loan approval or recommender systems), the model itself may impact the distribution of the data, leading to degraded performance. Lastly, despite following best practices before and during model training, it may be the case that we want to post-process a model to remove the effects of certain data after training. How can this be achieved in a computationally efficient manner? This thesis covers novel solutions for each of the preceding problems, with an emphasis on the provable guarantees for each of the proposed algorithms. By applying mathematical rigor to challenging real-world problems, we can develop algorithms which are both effective and trustworthy

Keywords: Humanities and Sciences.
Mathematics.
Advisor: Ying Lexing
Zou James
Chatterjee Sourav
Therapy without therapists : an ethnographic study of e-mental health in Australia

Recent years have seen profound changes to popular understanding of mental health. New discourses emphasize the need to seek support for one's interior struggles, casting "mental health" as a discrete thing which "everyone has." Concurrent with this less pathological conception of the psyche has been a shift towards computerized therapy programs which blur the line between lifestyle adjustment and medical intervention. I conceive of these new digitally mediated programs, which obscure or altogether replace the human therapist, as "therapy without therapists." This ethnography considers the deployment of these e-mental health programs across a variety of contexts in Australia, where they enjoy public funding as part of a broad government campaign to promote mental wellness at the population level. I show that behind these e-mental health programs are real human beings subject to material social conditions and to the powerful forces which reside in the psyche. This dissertation argues for a new approach to the changing politics of mental health, one which is attentive to both realities

Keywords: Humanities and Sciences.
Anthropology.
Advisor: Fullwiley Duana
Garcia Angela
Schüll Natasha Dow
Thiranagama Sharika
'There Will Be Fire': (Re)imagining Vietnamese American Citizenship through Literature

Informed by the current trend in Asian American studies to question Asian Americans’ and Asian Americanist scholars’ attachments to ‘America,’ this thesis considers how Vietnamese American literature currently contributes to the negotiation and imagination of Vietnamese American citizenship, and the possibilities for this literature to contribute to utopian political projects that imagine a world beyond the U.S. nation-state. In the Introduction, the thesis examines dominant narratives about the Vietnam war to understand Vietnamese American positionality, then analyzes Vietnamese American literature, theorizing that dominant narrative forms (most notably, the ocean-crossing chronotope) have emerged within V.A. literature and problematizing their dominance. The bulk of the thesis is a collection of three original short stories, which are foregrounded with sociopolitical context. The stories explore model minority subject formation and patriarchy, the climate crisis and displacement (and the generic possibility of speculative fiction for Vietnamese American literature), and intergenerational trauma and relationships.

Keywords: American literature > Asian American authors
American literature > Asian American authors > History and criticism
American literature > Vietnamese American authors
Vietnamese Americans in literature
American fiction > Asian American authors > History and criticism
asian american studies
vietnamese american studies
critical refugee studies
Refugees
Vietnamese Americans
southeast asian american studies
vietnamese american literature
Short stories
Short stories, American
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Thesis
Advisor: Dinh Michelle
Kantor Roanne