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Lauren Domenick |
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Home SitesJessica Horwitz |
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Faith Ploener |
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Richard Pruett |
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Richard Scott |
Lindsey Giffin
Faculty Mentor: Dr. David B. Mustard
University of Georgia
Economic freedom measures the ability to conduct commerce in a free market environment under the protection of secure property rights and with minimal government interference. An abundance of research has shown that economic freedom increases economic growth. These studies have two primary limitations. First, they provide little information about how economic freedom affects a broader array of standard-of-living measures. Second, most studies examine only the static differences across countries with varying degrees of economic freedom. This study contributes to the literature by addressing each of these concerns. This paper analyzes the effects of changes in economic freedom, as measured by the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World Report, on a variety of standard of living variables, as measured by the World Bank's World Development Indicator. To identify these effects I use multivariate regression analysis that controls for other factors that could influence my outcome variables. The data include a repeated cross section of nations between 1980 and 2001, a 21-year period when many nations were undergoing fundamental changes in the extent to which they permitted economic freedom. Findings indicate that, in general, countries that increased economic freedom also experienced an increased standard of living. As globalization has enhanced the potential for development in many nations, economically free institutions are essential for taking advantage of this opportunity to improve the lives of citizens of developing countries.
The history of international affairs has been punctuated by
wars and treaties hammered out by rulers sitting across from each other at prestigious
tables such as those at the Hague and Versailles - until the last few decades.
Now, the world has more democracies than ever before, and every statesmen must
consider his counterpart’s electorate as much as his own. Robert D. Putnam compares
today’s international politics to a two-tiered chess game where politicians
can no longer make international decisions without facing consequences from
their domestic constituencies (Evans 1993). Diplomacy has left the mahogany
tables and secret bargaining rooms and ventured into the many harsh arenas of
public opinion.
Public diplomacy is the name given to public relations (PR) with the goal of
influencing a country's foreign policy by influencing that country’s publics.
While many researchers have delved into more short term uses of media such as
brokering negotiations and raising awareness of a crisis situation, little has
been discovered about the effects of long-term image management via traditional
media and non-media public relations tactics such as press kits, special events,
and foreign exchange programs (Gilboa 2001).
This study researches the public relations campaign recently undertaken by the
Hungarian government to support its diplomatic efforts in joining the European
Union (EU). Hungary, the client, accomplished its ultimate goal when it joined
the EU on May 1, 2005, along with nine other countries concluding a ten-year
accession process. Unlike the case of Kuwait hiring an American public relations
firm in the late ‘80s to influence American foreign policy, the Hungarian campaign
originated in one country and manifested itself on multiple fronts in multiple
languages and domestic contexts. This study produces some practical ideas
about what works or does not work today in national image cultivation, especially
in Europe. Currently, the United States is fighting in an image battle in Europe.
Bush flew to Brussels February 2005 very publicly to ease relations between
the United States and EU member states that his Iraq policy strained (Bumiller
2005). This case study, therefore, has immediate applications for Europe, for
the United States, and for any country vying for membership in multilateral
organizations.
Since its introduction in 1993, the HOPE (Helping Outstanding
Pupils Educationally) Scholarship has become he largest and most prominent college
merit-aid program ever. It was not always so well-liked, however. In fact, the
1992 referendum to create the Georgia Lottery—which funds HOPE and other educational
programs—barely squeaked out a victory. Since that time, the HOPE Scholarship
has helped to pay for the in-state college expenses of thousands of students.
This project’s pertinent question is: what high school factors are most strongly
associated with students who successfully qualify for HOPE? What explains retention
of the award in college? These questions are based on the hypothesis that success
at earning and maintaining HOPE is highly correlated with educational success
and learning in general. If we discover policy changes that help students to
better earn and maintain the HOPE Scholarship, then these policy changes will
also increase overall learning and educational attainment.
The requirements of the HOPE Scholarship are clear-cut. To qualify, Georgia
high school students must earn a GPA of at least 3.0 in their core classes (classes
like PE and Art do not count towards the HOPE GPA). If they graduate with a
GPA that meets this minimum requirement, the scholarship program will pay their
in-state tuition and fees to any public Georgia college or university. If they
attend an in-state private college or university, students are given $3000 per
year to help defray tuition expenses. In its initial 1993 conception, the program
had a family income cap of $66,000, which was quickly increased to $100,000.
In 1995 the income cap was lifted entirely, and since that time any student
who meets the minimum GPA requirement has been eligible to receive HOPE.
Stipulations for maintaining HOPE eligibility are similar to the requirements
for qualification. HOPE recipients must earn at least a 3.0 GPA in college to
continue receiving the lottery funds. Student GPAs are checked after 30, 60,
and 90 hours of semester credit to make sure that recipients continue to qualify.
Most students (about two thirds) lose the scholarship at the 30 hour check-up.
Because many students who knew they were going to lose HOPE took less than 30
hours in their freshman year (so as to qualify for an additional semester of
HOPE eligibility), the program has recently made some changes. Specifically,
the GPAs of HOPE recipients are now checked at the end of every academic year
(regardless of earned credit hours). This new rule prevents students who initially
qualify for HOPE but do very poorly in college from maintaining the award for
an entire extra semester simply by not taking 30 credit hours.
Conrhonda Baker
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kecia Thomas
University of Georgia
The increasing globalization of the American economy creates an increased need for citizens to obtain greater education and take advantage of advanced training opportunities, especially as it relates to diversity. Yet barriers to these opportunities exist for some segments of the population, such as new immigrants and members of the working class. Enhancing access to educational opportunities for immigrants and linguistic minorities, lower and middle economic class members, and those from different regions may afford all students with advanced education as well as the opportunity to gain greater cross-cultural experience and competence. This paper begins with an analysis of the impact of Affirmative Action on higher education policies and the lack of attention to linguistic, geographic, and socio-economic diversity. Institutional discrimination and social distancing, that is the exclusion and avoidance of the powerless by the powerful, are the lenses through which this analysis is made. Next the paper will argue for increased attention to these important dimensions of diversity for academic environments. Finally, recommendations are offered to enhance linguistic, geographic, and socio-economic diversity for institutions of higher education.
Christopher P. Holland
University of Georgia
Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Akbar (r. 1560-1605) was a Muslim ruler who sought to create the first lasting Muslim dynasty in Hindustan. Akbar was not solely driven to do this by his own personal desire to centralize all power directly under his authority, but rather sought to use his position as sultan to employ political tools which would allow all of Hindustan to prosper. He understood that he, for his dynasty to long survive him, must first legitimize his rule, as well as establish Mughal military superiority, in the eyes of all of his subjects, including the majority Hindu population. Indeed, his re-imagining of court practices, his revision of the land revenue system, and the introduction of a variety of administrative reforms should be viewed as tools serving the larger objective of legitimizing the new Mughal sovereign in the eyes of the majority of his subjects, the Hindus, and in the eyes of possible Mughal opponents. This paper will demonstrate how Akbar legitimized his rule through the creation of a new ideology for the ruler of Hindustan, which was to be sustained by such legitimizing steps as the use of unchanging court ritual to solidify his personal relationship with his officials, and the creation of an efficient land revenue system and imperial administration. Akbar's legitimizing actions ultimately provided the Indian subcontinent with a more efficient form of government than it had enjoyed under earlier Muslim dynasties.
David Smith
University of Georgia
Any discussion of Samuel Beckett inevitably imperils the integrity
of his work. As Vivian Mercier has noted, Beckett’s texts are like Rorschach
tests: each interpretation says more about the reader than about the text (Beckett/Beckett
vii). Thus, interpretations of Beckett often begin with the cautious proviso
that his texts resist interpretative frameworks. And yet the amount of scholarship
devoted to explicating his work is voluminous and shows no signs of diminishing.
It seems as though we need models for understanding Beckett, while the personae
who inscribe his texts actively shun any outside models of meaning. A dilemma
thus arises from the writer’s need to express freely and the reader’s need to
impose interpretative structures. The author and his audience, as Beckett demonstrates,
cannot simply co-exist; where other writers offer models of cooperation with
their readers, Beckett only offers conflict based on the particular needs of
both sides.
[View
Paper]
The Fine Arts events at the 2005 CURO Symposium were some of the most diverse to date. The Symposium highlighted the in-depth and varied nature of current undergraduate fine arts research, with students presenting work in the visual arts, music, dance, and creative writing. From Janel Long's rediscovery of a Classical-era piece of chamber music, to the poignant photography of Faith Ploener and its touches on personal, natural, and historical themes, to Matthew Boyd’s vanguard microfiction, the presentations demonstrated how today’s young artist-scholars are melding the new and the old as they negotiate production in their respective artistic disciplines.
The first session of Fine Arts presentations was an evening gallery talk in which the visual artists showed their work. Some of the art and artists’ statements are presented here.
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Lauren Domenick |
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Home SitesJessica Horwitz |
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Faith Ploener |
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Richard Pruett |
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Richard Scott |
The second session of Fine Arts presentations at CURO featured music, dance, and creative writing. This session is featured in streaming video here.
Undertaking work in both historical musicology and horn performance, Janel Long found and arranged an unpublished Partita for eight winds by Classical-ear composer Franz Krommer. She examined various extant versions of the manuscript and investigated Classical-era musical conventions as she re-edited the music. She also undertook research in natural horn, a precursor to the modern horn, and used this instrument in her performance of the work.
Janel Long is an undergraduate (2006) in Music Theory at UGA.
Hariqbal Basi has explored the evolution of dance styles in South Asia. His performance spans the traditional North Indian dances that demonstrate the region’s historical contact with the Arab world to the Bollywood dancing of today that is firmly connected with global popular music.
Hariqbal Basi (2007) is an undergraduate in Public Relations, Political Science, and Psychology at the University of Georgia.
Allison Scott's is both a visual artist and a writer, and her poetry accordingly links art with life experience. Her work uses material and linguistic elements of art to describe memories, emotions, and relationships. Imagery like “coat-you-all-over fixative spray” and “smear, smudge, slip, torn edge, rip” gives her work the immediacy of an artist’s studio.
Allison Scott (2005) earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Studio Art at the University of Georgia.
Matthew Boyd's work in microfiction, or very short works of prose, has become the focus of his creative writing. He serves as an Editor of an Athens, Georgia-based literary magazine Staccato. The short story and pieces of microfiction he presented at the Symposium explored such topics as childhood perspectives, family dynamics, and the ambivalence of the quotidian during times of international war.
Matthew Boyd (2005) earned a Bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Georgia.