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Executive BoardCo-Editor in Chief

Nimrah Baig

Co-Editor in ChiefEdward Walczak

Executive Editor, URA Liaison, Committee Co-Chair of Business, Marketing and FinanceAlice Lu

URA LiasonAlexander O’Neill

Communications and MarketingCommunications Editor

Colleen Creeden

Layout and Graphic DesignYeseung Jang

Committee ChairsTheology and Philosophy

Emily Baylor

Chemical and Life SciencesCeleste Chen

Heather Zaccaro

Politics and International RelationsAlexandra Chinchilla

Arts, Literature, and LanguagesDrew CunninghamKatarina Starcevic

Jimmy Wolfe

Human and Social SciencesNimrah Baig

Edward Walczak

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Letter from the Editors

Spring 2014

Dear readers,

We on the Mentis Vita staff are extremely excited to be publishing this book of abstracts, fea-turing independent and mentored research from Georgetown undergraduate students in all four schools, all majors, and all disciplines of research. The name “Mentis Vita,” derived from the phrase “mentis vita pro vita mundi” and signifying “the life of the mind for the life of the world,” captures the spirit of research and its importance for human society. An interdisciplinary electronic journal of scholarly research and thought, Mentis Vita seeks to highlight some of the most cutting-edge and innovative research conducted at Georgetown University by undergradu-ate students coming from various departments.

Mentis Vita was re-established in 2012 by students Alex O’Neill and Alice Lu, in hopes of strengthening the culture of undergraduate research at Georgetown. In reviving the journal, we hoped as a community to bring back the element of research in Hoya education, which often comes to define and shape a student’s time on the Hilltop.

We would especially like to thank our editors and graphic designers Colleen Creeden, Yeseung Jang, Heather Zaccaro, Celeste Chen, Drew Cunningham, Jimmy Wolfe, Katarina Starcevic, Alexandra Chinchilla, and Emily Baylor, for their expertise in designing the layout and selecting abstracts. In addition, we would like to acknowledge Sonia Jacobson, our faculty advisor, for her support throughout this process. Lastly, we want to give a special thanks to the authors. Thank you to all the students who submitted their abstracts and have contributed to the text of Mentis Vita. We wish you all the best in your future research endeavors!

Sincerely, Nimrah Baig, College '14Edward Walzac, College '14Alex O'Neill, College '15Alice Lu, MSB '15

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Table of Contents

Theology & Philosophy............................................5

Chemical & Life Sciences.........................................9

Politics & International Relations...........................15

Arts, Literature, & Languages..................................24

Human & Social Sciences.........................................28

Business, Marketing, & Finance...............................32

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Theology &

Philosophy

New Paths to Dialogue: Challenges and Opportunities in

Modern Christian-Jewish Encounter

Ethan Chess

As the Catholic Church has opened itself to the notion of religious pluralism in the second half of this century, a certain rectification of the centuries old conflict between the church and the synagogue is being attempted. Much of this is dialogue transpires under the shadow of the Ho-locaust’s presence as a part of human and theological his-tory. It is both difficult to speak about and problematic to ignore. My fellowship research will center reconciliation processes of the past fifty years. It will explore the theo-logical and political problems that have arisen as a result of this dialogue while drawing on pre-holocaust histori-cal contexts as an explanatory frame for these challenges. Ultimately I hope to be able to uncover potential areas of growth and synergistic dialogue in the church-syna-gogue relationship while also identifying areas where mutual reconciliation may be less likely in near-term.

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Class and Cultural Competence: Insights into Service Learning

Kathryn Witchger

This article examines how class and cultural competence play a role in determining the rela-tionships between mentors and mentees in the After-School Kids Program at Georgetown University. By examining these factors we gain an understanding of the barriers between the groups and how they are overcome. While the existing literature focuses on the knowledge gained by university students, this article attempts to equalize the research on service learning and examine how both groups affect their relationship. The results are based on a compre-hensive survey of the differences in the class and cultural competence of the participants. It challenges the idea that each side can be placed into a neatly defined socio-cultural class “group” and calls for a greater emphasis on cultural competence within service learning. The most important component of the program is the willingness of both groups to explore their similarities and differences to build stronger relationships.

“”

The results are based on a comprehensive survey of the differences in the class and cultural competence of the participants. It challenges the idea that each side can be placed into a neatly defined socio-cultural class “group” and calls for a greater emphasis on cultural competence within service learning.

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Vague or Ambiguous? A Study of the Original Meaning of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment in Primary Documents 1770-1790

Caleb MorellSchool of Foreign Service Class of 2016

The First Amendment states that Congress must balance laws “re-specting an establishment of religion” and laws “prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Unfortunately for the Supreme Court, the First Amendment never explained precisely what qualifies as an “establishment” or “free exercise” of religion. In the 20th century, however, the First Amendment has often been understood through themetaphor of a “wall of separation” between church and state.

Significant debate continues to rage regarding the proper mean-ing of the First Amendment. A considerable amount of legal scholarship has sought to undermine Jefferson’s popular meta-phor for another meaning of the First Amendment. Opposing sides tend to highlight one right over another, the writings of one founder over another, or the injustice of one Supreme Court ruling over another. Considering the ambivalence between the writings of various founding fathers and rulings of various Su-preme Courts, it is unsurprising that so little has been resolved.

In this research paper I examine the uses of the word “estab-lishment” in conjunction with “religion” in official United States Documents between 1770 and 1790 in order to shed light on the original meaning of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause as it would have been understood to its audience at the time of its writing. In total, I found sixty-one references that re-fer to a form of establishment of religion. I then examined the context of each reference, categorizing each based on: (1) Who is establishing? (2) What are they establishing? (3) How are they es-tablishing this? Out of the sixty-one references I examined where there is a clear subject and object, over 80 percent refer to the rec-ognition of a particular religion (most often the Roman Catholic Church, followed by the Church of England) by the national leg-islative body (Congress or Parliament) through law (referring to the U.S. Congress). This research challenges the historiography of previous Supreme Court interpretations of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, such as the majority opinion in Everson v. Board of Education and urges more thoughtful considerations of the “original meaning” of the First Amendment’s religion clauses.

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Public Morality in the Democratic Age: What Tocqueville Would Say to MacIntyre

Jordan RudinskyGeorgetown CollegeClass of 2015 Government

This paper offers a critique, based on Alexis de Tocqueville’s thought as expressed in Democracy in America (1840), of Alasdair Mac-Intyre’s critique of modernity, as expressed in After Virtue (1981). Both Tocqueville and MacIntyre are commonly invoked by thinkers in the contemporary communitarian school of political philosophy. Indeed, both denounce the modern democratic tendency toward in-dividualism, and both call for a renewal of communal life to correct this tendency. But as I argue in this paper, Tocqueville and MacIntyre actually diverge on a crucial point: while MacIntyre’s solution amounts to a radical restructuring of society whereby we no longer think of ourselves as individuals, Tocqueville’s remedy for individualism is ac-tually based in individualism rightly understood, and is thus less radical and therefore more tenable. I proceed as follows: the first section ex-posits MacIntyre’s argument. This argument is densely reasoned, and it does not begin with the same concern as Tocqueville, so I spend some time analyzing the argument to distill the common issue on which these two are both writing. MacIntyre observes that in moder-nity we cannot reason intelligibly about morality, because our morality is a relic of premodern society. The societal shift on which he pins the crux of the issue is what he calls the invention of the individual.

His solution is to effectively “uninvent” the individual by creating new forms of small communities. In the next section I present Tocqueville’s contrasting narrative of the rise of modern individualism, contrasting it with Mac-Intyre’s view with specific reference to their differing views on the causal relationship between philosophy and social life. MacIntyre has a higher view than Tocqueville of the power of philosophy to change social life, which causes him to miss some of the factors that Tocqueville appreciates. In the third section I present Tocqueville’s solutions to individualism, rooted in his doctrine of “self-interest rightly understood.” This paper is a timely contribution to the discussion in some religious circles over how to engage with an increasingly secular society. Following MacIntyre’s suggestion, many are withdrawing, but channeling Tocqueville, I here suggest that there are more nuanced options.

A considerable amount of legal scholarship has sought to undermine Jefferson’s popular metaphor for another mean-ing of the First Amendment...Considering the ambivalence between the writings of various founding fathers and rul-ings of various Supreme Courts, it is unsurprising that so little has been resolved.

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Chemical &

Life Sciences

Serologic Responses to the Plasmodium falciparum Circumsporozoite Protein from Protected and Non-protected Subjects after RTS,S ImmunizationSarah DermodyGeorgetown College Class of 2015Biology

Malaria, caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, is responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 children per year and hundreds of millions of cases of uncomplicat-ed disease. A vaccine which prevents both infection and clinical illness in greater than 80% of immunized persons is urgently needed. The most advanced first generation malaria vaccine, RTS,S, provides approximately 50% ster-ile protection, but the protection is short-lived. Identifi-cation of immunological correlates of protective effica-cy would greatly accelerate the development of second generation malaria vaccines which increase protection to 80%. To date, the only correlate of protection afforded by the RTS,S malaria vaccine is the magnitude of anti-bodies directed against the central repeat region of the circumsporozoite (CS) protein, namely the ASN-ALA-ASN-PRO (NANP) amino acid repeat domain. The se-rological responses against domains other than the amino acid repeat region of the CS protein were analyzed in an attempt to assess whether protection is primarily a con-sequence of the cumulative amount of antibodies against the entire CS protein, or whether the fine specificity of antibody responses directed against discrete regions plays a dominant role in determining protection. Immunoglob-ulin G (IgG) levels were assessed against three different domains of the Plasmodium falciparum circumsporo-zoite protein for correlation to protection: the region be-tween the amino acid repeat and the C-terminal domain, the conformational complex C-terminal, and the region proximal to the GPI anchor. The results from a series of ELISAs from two independent malaria vaccine trials indicated that only the C-terminal domain comprised of conformational discontinuous epitopes are correlated with protection. The T-cell epitopes in the C-terminal domain also contain B-cell epitopes for antibody rec-ognition. Further, the protection from RTS,S vaccine is related to fine specificity of epitopes and not the result of cumulative magnitude of antibody responses. These findings provide the scientific rationale for the develop-ment of improved second generation malaria vaccines.

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ApoE Fragments and Alzheimer’s Disease

Dongeun HeoGeorgetown CollegeBiology

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene has three common polymorphisms, e2, e3, and e4, which results in a single amino acid difference in the apoE protein. Curiously, APOE4 allele is proposed to be linked to higher risk of developing the disease at an earlier age compared to APOE3 allele. To develop viable therapeutics for AD, different groups have proposed different apoE-directed therapeutics. However, there still are discrepancies among scientists as to how to approach AD pathology in terms of different apoE proteins, apoE3 and apoE4.

In this project, we focused on apoE proteolysis to further understand the metabolism of apoE protein. We in-cubated primary hippocampal neurons with recombinant-APOE3 and -APOE4 genes and analyzed apoE full-length protein and fragments levels at different time points by Western immunoblotting technique. The blots revealed increased overall apoE protein level for apoE4 compared to apoE3. Also, we confirmed that apoE proteins undergo degradation as the time progresses. Further quantification showed that apoE4 degrades slower than apoE3 and that apoE4 fragments also degrade slower than apoE3 fragments. These results imply that apoE4 metabolism is slower and that apoE4 fragments are more resistant to proteolysis. To identify the protease in action, we collected conditioned media and applied various protease inhibitors. PMSF, which in-hibits chymotrypsin and other serine proteases, was able to reduce proteolysis of apoE, indicated by a low-er level of apoE fragments. We also confirmed that higher concentration of chymotrypsin-like protease in-creases fragment levels. These data imply that chymotrypsin-like protease is associated with apoE proteolysis.

We specifically focused on understanding the mechanism underlying apoE metabolism, because we believe that further understanding of this field is crucial to develop viable APOE-directed therapeutics. Further re-search is needed to clearly link this difference to AD pathology and to develop successful therapies to cure AD.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative dis-ease, which is neuropathologically characterized by extracellular amyloid plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles. It is the leading cause of elderly dementia and over 30 million people world-wide suffer from the disease. The Rebeck lab specifically focuses on the major genetic risk factor for the disease, the APOE gene.

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We specifically focused on understanding the mechanism underlying apoE metabolism, because we believe that fur-ther understanding of this field is crucial to develop viable APOE-directed therapeutics.

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The Role of SOX12 in Cortical Development

Garrett LeeGeorgetown College

Class of 2015 Biology

The cerebral cortex is a complex, layered structure that underlies behavioral and cognitive function. Cor-tical neurons are developed from progenitor cells that are generated in the ventricular zone. As progeni-tors cease division, postmitotic cells are produced that migrate superficially, taking up residence subjacent to the skull and pia. Upon reaching their final destination, the cells differentiate into either neurons or glia in one of the six layers of the mature cortex. An inside-first-outside-last progression of corticogenesis produc-es the characteristic layered structure, a developmental feat that is orchestrated by complex signaling pathways.

Sox genes encode a group of transcription factors that influence cell fate and differentiation in di-verse developmental processes. Sox genes are highly conserved among mammals and form a fami-ly of twenty, united by a common Sry-like high-mobility-group box DNA-binding domain. Based on their developmental expression patterns, members of the SoxC sub-family—Sox4, Sox11, and Sox12— likely play a role in deter mining the fate of postmitotic neuronal cells in the cortex.

My project focused on determining the role of Sox12 in cortical development. In situ hybridization of Sox12 in sections of mouse brains revealed localized expression throughout the cortex at E11.5 and E14.5. Sox12 was then restricted to the cortical plate at E17.5 and P0, but down regulated by P10. These results confirm a dynamic expression pattern of Sox12 during cerebral cortical development, which suggests that it plays a critical role in the determination of neuronal fates.

We also analyzed the function of Sox12 by adopting a gain-of-function strategy: neurons were electro-porated ex utero with a vector containing the coding sequence under the control of a viral promoter. Trans-fected cells at 3 DIV and 6 DIV were imaged and neuronal characteristics were quantified. Our analy-sis revealed an increase in the percentage of Stage 3 neurons as well as TUJ1 positive cells at 3DIV. At 6DIV, both average axon length and number of neuronal processes were greater in Sox12 transfected cells than the control. These data suggest that Sox12 promotes neuronal differentiation of postmitotic cells.

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The Impact of Vaccination vs. Antiviral Treatment on Influenza Epidemic

Dynamics

Sarah KramerGeorgetown College

Class of 2014Biology of Global Health

Influenza causes annual epidemics, and is responsible for high levels of complications and mortality in very young children and the elderly. Cur-rently, vaccination is the most effective influenza control strategy, but in-fluenza vaccines suffer from several drawbacks. For example, because the influenza virus mutates so rapidly, a new vaccine must be developed ev-ery year. Additionally, since manufacturing influenza vaccines takes several months, experts must predict which strains will be circulating during the next season. If their predictions are inaccurate, the resulting vaccine may be less effective. Treatment with antiviral drugs, which makes infected in-dividuals less likely to transmit influenza to others, may be an attractive al-ternative to vaccination. Unlike vaccines, antivirals drugs are not specific to particular strains of influenza. To evaluate antiviral efficacy on the pop-ulation level, contact network modeling was used to compare the impact of vaccination and antiviral treatment in populations experiencing influen-za epidemics. Specifically, an urban network with age structure was used. Both seasonal (20% attack rate) and pandemic (40% attack rate) influen-za scenarios were modeled. Preliminary results indicate that, when control strategies are implemented randomly with respect to age, treating 20% of infected individuals with antiviral drugs reduces mean seasonal epidemic size by more than does vaccination, and mean pandemic size by the same amount as vaccination. At 40% coverage, antiviral treatment reduces mean pandemic size by more than vaccination. Thus, the idea that antivirals can be used as an alternative to vaccines is so far supported. Further research is being conducted in order to compare vaccination and antiviral treatment in cases where vaccine efficacy differs by age group, and in cases where control strategies are targeted toward particular age groups. It is hypothesized that control strategies that specifically target children will be most effective in reducing both epidemic size and probability, and that, in these scenarios, antiviral treatment will be the more effective control strategy. It is also hy-pothesized that, in populations using antiviral treatment as a control strat-egy, the proportion of individuals infected during an epidemic that experi-ences milder symptoms will be higher than in populations using vaccination.

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Interferon Regulatory Factor-1(IRF-1) And Epidermal Growth

Factor Receptor (EGFR) Signaling In Breast Cancer

Margaret AxelrodGeorgetown College

Class of 2015Biology of Global Health

Each year over 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S. alone. Approximately 70% of these breast tumors are estrogen receptor-α positive (ER+), meaning they express a nuclear receptor which can stim-ulate growth in the presence of estrogen. Many ER+ tumors respond to treatment with an antiestrogen, a class of drugs that block the production or use of estrogen. Although antiestrogen therapy is effective for many breast tumors, one-third of ER+ tumors never respond and many other initially sensitive tumors acquire resistance.

We investigate how breast tumors become resistant to antiestrogens. We have shown that loss of the transcrip-tion factor interferon regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1) reduces sensitivity to antiestrogens in vitro. IRF-1 has a tumor suppressive role in regulating apoptosis and autophagy, a lysosomal degradation pathway that can either enhance cell survival or promote cell death. We have shown an inverse relationship between IRF-1 and several promot-ers of autophagy, such as ATG7 and BECN1. Knockdown of both IRF-1 and ATG7 restores sensitivity to an-tiestrogens, indicating that the regulation of autophagy by IRF-1 is important for endocrine responsiveness.

IRF-1 has also been implicated in signaling with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Constitutive activation of EGFR leads to increased cell growth and is associated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer. However, we have shown that EGFR is necessary for IRF-1 stability, as EGFR knockdown significantly reduces IRF-1 expression. Further, both EGFR and IRF-1 are expressed at higher levels in antiestrogen sensitive, compared to resistant, cell lines. Previously, low levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF), which activates EGFR, had been shown to stimulate cell growth, while higher concentrations had a growth inhibitory effect through IRF-1 up-regulation. We aim to further characterize the relation-ship between IRF-1 and EGFR and investigate the therapeutic potential of treatments involving both EGFR and IRF-1.

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VMY-1-103 is a dansylated analog of Purvalanol B that functions in the induction of the apop-totic, autophagic, and DNA damage pathways in various cancer types. In LNCaP prostate cancer cells, p53 plays a role in VMY induced apoptosis and we hypothesize that p53 also plays a role in the VMY pro-death autophagic pathway. p53 plays a crucial role in the fate of a cell in times of cell stress, and has been shown to promote autophagy and cell death during DNA damage. Au-tophagy is a process during which the cell isolates damaged organelles into acidic compartments to be degraded within the cell. To test this hypothesis, autophagic activity was analyzed using acri-dine orange staining to confirm the presence of acidic compartments after treatment with VMY. Subsequently, using a p53 shRNA, the expression of p53 was knocked down by 50% to investi-gate the role of p53 in the VMY-induced autophagy pathway. Western blots and immunoflu-orescence were used to detect the down-regulation of autophagy-related protein LC3 in the ab-sence of p53. These results indicate the necessity of p53 in the autophagic pathway of VMY.

Many cancer therapeutics induce DNA damage in order to force cells to repair or undergo cell death. We hypothesize that the interactions of p53 in the VMY pathway indicate that VMY may be causing DNA damage as a cell stressor and inducing cell death. To test this hypothesis, me-dulloblastoma cell lines were treated with VMY and then analyzed for the presence of DNA damage proteins using western blotting and immunofluorescence techniques. Analysis has in-dicated that the VMY treated cells contain higher than normal levels of γ-H2AX, indicating that VMY may cause double-stranded DNA breaks to induce a damage response. To test this, ad-ditional double-stranded break related proteins, like ATM, will be investigated in further studies.

Sarah WayeGeorgetown College

Class of 2016Biology

The Cell Damage and Death Pathways of VMY-1-103

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Politics &International Relations

Improving Institutional Organization for Natural Resource Management: Case Study of Hydropower Development in the Greater Mekong Subregion Annalise DragicSchool of Foreign ServiceClass of 2014Science, Technology, and International Affairs

As the longest river in Southeast Asia, the Mekong River serves as a source of water, food, and economic livelihood for more than eighty million people in China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Even with greater attention from the international community, the regional or-ganizations that nominally govern this region remain ineffec-tive at dealing with the issues surrounding natural resource management in the basin. This is due to the complexity of the issues, conflicting interests, and the number of countries involved. This paper focuses specifically on current and fu-ture hydropower development in the Mekong Basin through the regional perspective of the Mekong River Commission and Greater Mekong Subregion division of the Asian Devel-opment Bank. Two theories of organizational development and management, institutional isomorphism and institution-al bricolage, are used to examine these regional bodies. We then identify the major contributing factors to their gover-nance and management ineffectiveness as: (a) the absence of clear codified rules, (b) uncertainty between action and re-sults and (c) decision making shaped by the external political environment. If the organizations are to be more effective, at a minimum they need to clarify development goals, link donor funds to specific programs, restructure meetings, and diversify personnel. Ideally, these organizations should ratify a binding transboundary treaty and include all more stake-holders in the decision making process. All of these changes could potentially result in a positive feedback loop: increasing the persuasion of the regional bodies towards their members and improve the impact of regional organizations on the pro-cess of natural resource management in the Mekong Basin.

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A.Q. Khan, Munir Khan, and the Choice to Proliferate: A First Image

Theory of Nuclear Proliferation

Allie Van DineSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2014International Politics

Allie Van Dine is a senior in the School of Foreign Service majoring in In-ternational Politics concentrated in International Security. Her academic focus is nuclear nonproliferation issues, specifically nuclear terrorism, nuclear security, and counterproliferation policy. She is also an active member of the Mask & Bauble Dramatic Society (now in its 162nd season), which she serves as a show producer and club Publici-ty Director. She first got involved in research at Georgetown through the IPOL Honors Thesis program, from which this abstract (and her senior the-sis) was produced.

Revelations of A.Q. Khan’s international, non-state nuclear sup-ply network shook the world of counterproliferation policy just about a decade ago. The network’s success illustrated the extent to which the choice to proliferate was no longer solely a state prerogative. This thesis develops a first image theory of nu-clear proliferation by examining the case of two scientists who worked on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program: A.Q. Khan, and Munir Khan, head of the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission for almost twenty years. Both men experienced the same enmity toward India, felt the same patriotism for their country, and pos-sessed the same knowledge of and access to Pakistan’s nuclear technology. However, A.Q. Khan chose to proliferate to Libya, Iran, and North Korea, while Munir Khan did not. Why did two similarly placed individuals make such markedly different choices?

The evidence presented in this paper suggests the decision to pro-liferate depends on two factors: whether or not a scientist is in-volved in international institutions and whether or not he or she suffers from egomania. This thesis finds that A.Q. Khan’s lack of institutional involvement exacerbated his egomania; lacking any sort of constraint, he was free to pursue the domestic pow-er and influence he desired through any means necessary. Con-versely, Munir Khan did not proliferate as a result of the institu-tional constraints imposed by his involvement in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and complete lack of egomania.

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"Who Runs the World? Girls." Female Political Leadership in

Post-Conflict States

Audrey AtencioSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2014International Politics

Two types of countries excel at including women in gov-ernment and politics: highly developed (usually Europe-an) countries, and post-conflict developing countries. Some-thing about the period after a widespread civil conflict is, strangely, good for female political power. This thesis will de-termine under what conditions post-conflict countries have higher rates of female political participation in government.

I hypothesize that widespread civil conflict leads to social change that empowers women. Good policies undertaken by post-conflict governments solidify these gains by women, leading to large im-provements in female political leadership in governments. To ex-plore this hypothesis, I will investigate the cases of Rwanda, Angola, and South Africa, where women have been brought into post-con-flict government in large numbers with different governmental pol-icies. In these cases, I will examine the social changes and female political mobilization in the conflict and post-conflict periods that led to female empowerment, and the specific policies used to incor-porate women in the countries’ governments and political parties.

If my hypothesis is correct, it will not only show that cer-tain policies are effective at increasing female political lead-ership, but that they require a certain social condition in or-der to make them fully effective. This will imply that countries seeking to increase meaningful female political leadership will need to not only implement the identified policies, but also make a concerted effort to push female empowerment and fe-male political mobilization throughout society. The policy pre-scriptions suggested in my paper will address both those issues.

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Isaac is pursuing a major in Government and a minor in Economics. Originally from just outside of Boston, he transferred to Georgetown his sophomore year from Colgate University. Isaac has a strong academic background, having researched and written exten-sively on corruption, democra-tization, and issues in political economy. On campus, Isaac is the tight-head prop for the Georgetown Rugby Football Union and is Head of the Baker Recruiting & Marketing Committee. He will join the Investment Banking Division within Goldman Sachs after graduation.

To Ban International Vote Buying? Rethinking Corruption Norms and their

International Applicability

Isaac FreedmanGeorgetown College

Class of 2014Government

This paper explores the understudied norms that characterize the field of international vote buying and asks if the international communi-ty should support a ban of the practice. Three traditional arguments against domestic vote buying – equality, efficiency and inalienability – are analyzed and applied internationally. I find that each is premised on non-transferable assumptions and is not applicable to the interna-tional arena. Using an analogy from the domestic level, this paper pro-ceeds to offer an alternative conception of international vote buying as a legitimate practice akin to the legal vote trades politicians make within domestic governments. Since there is no international public good to which sovereign states are accountable, the international com-munity should not condemn the practice of international vote buying.

Three traditional arguments against domestic vote buying – equality, efficiency and inalienability – are analyzed and applied internationally. I find that each is premised on non-transferable assumptions and is not applicable to the international arena. ”“

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Brian is a senior at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service study-ing international economics and development. While studying economics in school, his research interests lie in political science and include topics such as public opinion, democratic institutions, and government responsiveness. Outside of class, he is an intern at the Hamilton Project of the Brookings Institution, which produces policy recommendations for American economic growth. He has also held a brief internship studying maternal health programs at the Centre for Microfinance in Chennai, India. After graduation, he will be working at the Uni-versity of Chicago for the E2e project, a research project focused on impact evaluations of energy efficiency and the implementation of energy efficiency programs. He enjoys running, cooking, watch-ing soccer, and practicing French speaking.

Democracy on Demand? Local Government Representation and Access to BPL Cards in

India

Brian GogginSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2014International Economics

In this paper, I study whether attendance at local government meet-ings by the poor affects their likelihood of receiving government benefits in India. More specifically, I test whether the attendance of disadvantaged groups--mainly the poor and lower castes--at local Gram Panchayat meetings increases their likelihood of receiving below the poverty line (BPL) cards. Gram Panchayats are local gov-ernment bodies created to address development needs at a local level, and they are responsible for the distribution of many gov-ernment welfare schemes, such as BPL cards. BPL cards are ration cards that allow disadvantaged groups to buy food at a subsidized price. Therefore, attendance at these Gram Panchayat meetings has the potential to reflect citizen preferences as to how to target gov-ernment resources to the neediest groups. I find that while there are no effects of attendance at these local government meetings, personal connections with the government, distance from a police station, and membership in caste associations all significantly in-crease the household likelihood of possessing a BPL card. These results signal that while political participation at the local level may be desirable for promoting civil society or other non-material goals, it is not relevant for the receipt of government benefits when com-pared to the importance of connections with government offi-cials, the quality of government institutions, or group membership.

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Calanthia Mei is a graduating senior in the School of Foreign Service majoring in International Politics. She is also pursuing a Women’s and Gender Studies certificate, and has recently received the Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Feminist Scholarship. Calanthia indulges her inter-ests in women and gender in international security by serving as a student contribu-tor at the Georgetown Institute for Wom-en, Peace and Security and a GUROP researcher for Dr. You-Me Park, Direc-tor of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Beyond Georgetown, Calanthia has conducted research with various think tanks, such as the Wilson Center and the Carter Center, and has accumulated field experience across continents in Asia, Latin America and Africa. She also had the hon-or to present her research at international academic conferences in Los Angeles and Accra, Ghana and various conferences at Georgetown. In her spare time, Calanthia enjoys performing and competing at re-gional and national competitions with the Georgetown University Ballroom Dance Team, where she served as Secretary. She is also a proud member of Kappa Alpha Theta and Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society.

The Virtual Road to Power: A Case Study on the Growth Trajectory of Chinese Online

Opinion Leaders

Calanthia MeiSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2014International Politics

China’s lack of formal channels for political expression and strict censor-ship of traditional press have led to extremely limited public space for grass-roots opinion leaders to emerge and mature. However, with the dramatic expansion of the Internet’s reach and the rapid commercialization of web service providers, online communities and more recently microblogs and social network services have become important and vibrant platforms for Chinese citizens to express political views. Many commentators, who may or may not choose to reveal their real-world identities, have grown to become opinion leaders in the virtual space, shaping online debates over political and social issues, and drawing attention from thousands of “followers.”

This research examines the growth trajectory of opinion leaders on Chi-na’s Internet sphere by proposing a normative model that describes stag-es of an opinion leader’s growth, which are tested through in-depth case studies. It is my assumption that any given individual holds a pre-existing position when first entering into an online discussion. The individual be-gins his/her participation in silence, merely observing and spectating on-going discussions. After the initial period of familiarization, the individual begins to make first attempts at publishing opinions, often with a sense of reservation or uncertainty. Such realization would then lead to a conscious modification of one’s tactics. Throughout this exercise, the individual will begin making acquaintances and attract followers, which encourage the individual to increase the quantity and quality of his/her writings. As-suming consistent intellectual depth, the proliferation of the individual’s opinions will attract an audience network, which eventually turns the in-dividual into an online figure who meets the criteria for an opinion leader.

The research intends to help researchers of political communication and Chinese politics to better explore the merit of the Internet as a tool for political participation, as well as the potential of active netizens to be-come champions in China’s political reform and social transformation.

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Neil Noronha is a senior in the School of Foreign Service, majoring in International Economics (Concentration in Finance and Commerce) with a Latin American Studies Certificate, and a first-year graduate student in the Security Studies Program, concentrat-ing on U.S. National Security Policy. A native of Bowie, Maryland, Neil has grown around Washington D.C. his whole life, attending Gonzaga College High School and George-town University. While Neil's approach to college has been pre-professional, having interned every semester since Summer 2011, his involvement on campus centers around GUSA. As the former Campaign Manager for the Shavonnia&Joe during the 2013 GUSA Executive Election and currently as the senior adviser/Founder of the Multicultural Council for the GUSA President Trevor Trezel, Neil has been passionate about bridging together different cultural groups on campus to create a more unified Georgetown. For research, Neil is a member of the Carroll Fellows Initiative. He is academically interested in the intersec-tion between national security and econom-ics. Through his employment with the U.S. intelligence, diplomatic, and law enforcement communities, he investigates how the U.S. government can use economic tactics to solve national security issues. After graduation, Neil will be working at the Department of Defense as a Schedule C political appointment to the Obama administration. He will be part of the Defense Fellows Program, which includes 3 6-month rotations around the Pentagon as a special assistant to a mid- to senior-level political appointee. He hopes, before the end of the Obama Administration, to be a special assistant on the U.S. National Security Council.

What Threat does Hezbollah’s Influence in Venezuela Pose to the

United States?

Neil NoronhaSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2014 International Economics

Operating globally, Hezbollah is no longer confined to protect-ing its Lebanese homeland from an Israeli invasion. Exploiting the United States’ preoccupation with the Middle East, Hezbol-lah has sprouted in areas worldwide pertaining to U.S. national interests, of which none seem closer to the United States than Latin America. While traditionally associated with its well-docu-mented involvement in the Tri-Border Area of Paraguay, Argen-tina, and Brazil, Hezbollah has, at the same time, taken refuge in Venezuela, where political, economic, cultural, and geograph-ic factors make the country an attractive location for the orga-nization to reside. This paper analyzes the degree that Hezbol-lah’s influence in Venezuela affects the United States and the best course of action the United States could take to reduce the pos-sible threat. While not posing a direct terrorist threat to the U.S. mainland, Hezbollah uses Venezuela as a base to plan and train for its regional operations and to engage in money laundering and drug trafficking, all of which gravely affect U.S. interests in Latin America. Evaluating the most effective way to manage Hezbol-lah’s presence in Venezuela requires a comparative analysis with past, current, and prospective policy options, such as providing counterterrorist training to Venezuelan law enforcement officers, enacting economic sanctions against suspected Venezuelans as-sociated with Hezbollah, and using regional diplomacy to desig-nate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Ultimately, this research seeks to raise concern among U.S. policymakers and intelligence officials about Hezbollah’s influence in Venezuela, and promote feasible, implementable, and cost-effective containment polices .

22

Laurel Zigerelli is a senior in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service majoring in International Politics. She calls Rhode Island home but has lived in seven states and 2 countries. At Georgetown, she has focused her studies on the use of military force and Latin America, combining the two when possible. Outside of the classroom, Laurel is a resident assistant, a Carroll Fellow, a member of the Sanction Re-duction Committee, and former Logistics Director for the Walsh Exchange.

Laurel's interest in MANPADS stemmed from her summer 2013 internship at the U.S. Department of State. Serving in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Laurel was able to speak with policymakers and learn about this weapon that presents a grave potential threat to civil-ian aviation. Laurel previously conducted research with the National Security Archive.

MANPADS Matter: Exploring the Use of Man-Portable Aerial Defense Systems by Non-State Actors in Sub-State Conflict

Laurel ZigerelliSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2014International Politics

Man-portable aerial defense systems (MANPADS) were created in the 1940s as a mobile, anti-aircraft weapon for military use. Since then, non-state actors have co-opted the technology and employed MANPADS against both military and civilian aviation. MANPADS work to level the playing field between non-state actors with fewer resources and the better-equipped states from which they hope to exact political change.

These weapons are: a) highly concealable, b) easy to assemble, and c) can cause devastating damage. There are only four components to most MANPADS - launch tube, grip stock, thermal battery, and warhead – requiring very little training for assembly. With a rangeof up to 20,000 feet and a price tag as lit-tle as $5,000 on the black market, MANPADS are truly

desirable weapons for non-state actors. The RAND Corpora-tion estimated that a single attack against a commercial airlin-er in the U.S. could cost as much as $16 billion in damage. Since1975, there have been 40 MANPADS at-tacks against civilian aircraft, killing more than 800.

With the relative ease of carrying out a MANPADS attack, as well as the staggering potential economic, political, and psychological dam-age associated, why have non-state actors not used MANPADS more widely? To answer this question, I examine use of MANPADS as the dependent variable, with independent variables being: presence (or absence) of conflict, geography, type of actor, and goal of the actor.After an analysis of seven representative cases, this study concludes that non-state actors use MANPADS against civilian aviation in cases where the non-state actor seeks political autonomy from the regime. In these situations, it is crucial that the regime participate in international arms control agree-ments and MANPADS removal efforts. These agreements are both more cost-efficient and ultimately more successful than material countermeasures.Assessing these various means of controlling MANPADS prolif-eration, with the bureaucratic, economic, institutional, legislative, technological, and coordination challenges associated with reduc-ing the threat, sheds light on successes in current MANPADS count-er- proliferation efforts and what progress still needs to be made.

23

The Open Windows: Chinese Public Perceptions of Nixon’s

Trip to China

Yongle XueGeorgetown College

Class of 2014History & Economics

The paper re-examines Nixon’s groundbreaking visit to China in 1972 from the grass-roots perspective and explores how, around 1972, different groups of the Chinese pub-lic learned about America and responded to the drastic changes in the bilateral relationship.

First examining the existing literature on the Sino-U.S. rapprochement, the paper outlines the Chi-nese government’s own motives behind the rapprochement. The paper then uses a wide range of primary materials, including state newspapers circulating among the general public, propaganda pamphlets for local Communist Party cadres, and internal publications available to select intellectuals and party members, to re-construct how the government actually portrayed the event to different groups of the Chinese public so as to reconcile the rapprochement with the anti-Americanism during the Cultural Revolution. Finally, the paper uses non-government sources, primarily underground literature produced around the time of Nixon’s visit, to evaluate the outcome of the propaganda campaign and to explore the genuine public response to the event.

The research project reveals that as a crucial part of the Sino-U.S. rapprochement in the 1970s, Nix-on’s trip to China in 1972 significantly increased the Chinese people’s exposure to both positive and negative accounts of the United States. Although the strict government control over the American image continued to leave the majority of the Chinese people with a biased and stereotypical impression of the United States, China’s relatively moderate foreign policy manifested in the rapprochement and the inevitable surge of infor-mation about America did manage to open the minds of some intellectuals and Communist Party members. They began to view America in a more favorable light and anticipate a bright future of bilateral cooperation.

The research project reveals that as a crucial part of the Sino-U.S. rapprochement in the 1970s, Nixon’s trip to China in 1972 significantly increased the Chinese people’s exposure to both positive and negative accounts of the United States.“ ”

24

Arts, Literature, &

Languages

Directing A Mouthful of Birds: An Exploration of Caryl Churchill and Euripides

Brendan QuinnGeorgetown CollegeClass of 2014Theater & Performance Studies and PsychologyThis project examined the oeuvre of Caryl Churchill as a postmodern feminist playwright, the mythology and na-ture of Ancient Greek society (vis-à-vis its modern day inheritances), and the expression of psychological trau-ma or illness in order to dramatize various methods of self-expression outside conventional social norms. Partly inspired by Euripides' The Bacchae, A Mouthful of Birds is an ensemble theatre/dance piece that experiments with transformations of gender and sexuality through the psychology of violence and ecstatic ritual. The process behind this production took the form of formal written components such as dramaturgical essays, a director’s note, and a conceptual questionnaire, audiovisual re-search in the form of dramaturgical photographs and recordings, and performative research such as the artistic exploration of staging, choreography, acting, and design, being as the play incorporates devised ensemble work and highly physical movement. This research resulted in the full-scale production of A Mouthful of Birds in January of 2014, co-produced between the Theater and Performance Studies Program and the student troupe nomadictheatre, providing audiences with an unconven-tionally narrated and thought-provoking theatrical expe-rience. This work was significant because the play is very rarely produced, usually only done so on the experimen-tal or university theater circuits, simply given how many artistic risks a production of this play must undertake. Nevertheless, nearly everyone has had the experience of being “on edge” or felt stifled in their ability to express themselves, so this play was relatable to audiences and the production team in a profound way. Exploring these psychological concepts through theatrical embodiment allowed for the issues at stake to become more “real” than they would have been on a page.

Brendan Quinn is in the College class of 2014, double majoring in Theater & Performance Studies and Psychology. When not inside a theater for the better part of his day, he enjoys going to farmers markets, cooking, and dream-ing of living in San Francisco.

25

Gay Speech: Exploring Pitch and Assibilation in Different

Environments

Aidan Daniel Dugan Faculty of Languages and Linguistics

Georgetown College Class of 2015

Aidan Dugan is a Linguistics major in the Faculty of Lan-guages and Linguistics in the Georgetown College Class of 2015. He enjoys researching different areas of cross-cul-tural communication, sexual discourse, and gay speech.

This study investigates variation in pitch and assibilation in gay speech in differing environments. Gay speech is described by Rogers and Smyth (2001) and Gaudio (1994) as being of a higher pitch accent, with a greater range of pitch. Smyth, Jacobs and Rogers (2001) assert that assibilation of /s/, /z/, and are also common in gay speech. Existing research theorizes that gay speech changes based on the sexual orientation of the audience. For example, if a gay man is speaking to another gay man, his speech is more likely to have features associated with gay speech than if he were speaking to a non-gay man. Using one college-aged gay male as a subject, this study pairs him with college-aged male gay and non-gay interlocutors in four environments to examine the change in his speech with interlocutors of similar and differing sexual orientations in different environments. Over four hours of naturally occurring conversation were recorded. Then, this study examines the corpus for common words used in the same environments in each interaction. These words (including: /‘ha‘ha/, /la k/, and were analyzed in PRAAT in order to find the minimum and maximum pitch measurements (Borersma 2002). When investigating assibilation, this study looks for words containing /s/, /z/, and in each setting and looked for assibilation in those words (including: /so / and /fr ndz/). Then, the rate of assibilation for each environment was calculated.

This study suggests that the environment of the en-counter plays a role in the speaker’s speech, rather than just the sexual orientation of the audience, which is the discourse in current research. The analysis of pitch for /‘ha‘ha/ supports this notion as there was a significant distinction in minimum pitch values between an infor-mal setting (289.45 Hz), and in a formal setting (131.66 Hz). Furthermore, in the analysis of assibilation, when

/ʃ/

/jɛə/)

looking specifically at the environments in which the subject was speaking to a non-gay interlocutor, there was a clear distinction in the rate of assibilation across environments of interaction, with there being a significantly lower rate of assibilation in the formal setting (.167) compared to assibilation in the informal setting (.778)

ɪ

/ʃ/ʊ

ɛ

26

“Um…what do you mean?”: Examining the Role of the

Discourse Markers Um and Uh in Text Messaging

Alexander PatelGeorgetown College

Class of 2015Linguistics

Katarina StarcevicGeorgetown College

Class of 2015Linguistics

This research aims to examine the role of the discourse mark-ers um and uh in text messaging. If speech is observed as a continuum existing between premeditated written and spon-taneous spoken, the occurrence of spoken speech discourse markers in the written medium of texting becomes particular-ly interesting. The presence of these distinctively spoken and spontaneous discourse markers suggests texting has increas-ingly become a blend of the speech continuum’s two poles. Discourse markers in spoken communication help to re-lay and implicate messages to the interlocutor (e.g. an up-coming delay in word retrieval). We support Clark & Fox Tree’s (2002) study proposing specific functions for the discourse markers um and uh. Considering the logistical limits of texting, we posit that some of the functions um and uh perform in spo-ken speech may no longer be relevant or become improbable (e.g. turn taking and floor maintenance). Accordingly, we propose that by discerning and eliminating these more improbable functions, the remaining functions will assume more prevalent roles in the usage of um and uh in text messaging. Of these, we predict the most common function of um and uh in text messages will be to signal the speaker’s uncertainty of what to say next, perhaps triggered by emotions such as discomfort, sarcasm, or reluctance.

The first phase of the research will consist of compiling a data-set of text messages produced in conversations of university-aged students between 17-24 years of age. We believe this criteria will help remove elements of social distance or formality, leading to a more “spontaneous speech” (i.e. informal register) style text messaging – a more likely environment for discourse markers. In the second phase, we will examine the dataset seeking pat-terns of usage for um and uh. We will then compare our findings to the functions of um and uh proposed by previous literature. This paper looks to examine the similarities and differences be-tween text messages and spoken speech in the hopes of elu-cidating the important and varying roles of discourse mark-ers, which we believe is necessary to a better understanding of communication and discourse analysis.

27

Old Tensions, New Meaning, More Healing

An Analysis of the Seasons of Cambodia, “Cambodian Rattan: The Sculptures

of Sopheap Pich"

Michelle YawGeorgetown College

Class of 2015Art History & Government

In this paper, I argue that Pich’s transnational appeal helped organizers avoid “self-Orientalizing” Cambodia’s image while gaining support from the Cambodian diaspora and American audiences.

“”

Throughout April and May of 2013, ten elegantly latticed rattan sculptures were hung amidst the Metro-politan Museum of Art’s South and Southeast Asian galleries. Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich (b.1971), the centerpiece for the museum’s contribution to the Season of Cambodia: A Living Arts Festival, created these sculptures. The exhibition named “Cambodian Rattan”, aimed to provide a stage for post-conflict Cambodia by showing a thriving cultural society, artistically reviving from its violent past. By mounting a retrospective of rising artist Sopheap Pich, Cambodian Living Arts and the Met worked to challenge conceptions of Cambodian art which were both glorified through the Angkor Empire and destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. In this paper, I argue that Pich’s transnational appeal helped organizers avoid “self-Orientalizing” Cam-bodia’s image while gaining support from the Cambodian diaspora and American audiences. “Cambo-dian Rattan” also represents the museum’s aims to expand its stake in contemporary art and to build re-lations with Cambodia. A closer look at the exhibition, in the context of post-colonial discourse, shows how display strategies deconstructed hierarchies of art history and Western definitions of Asian high art. By encouraging a dialogue between the Met’s South and Southeast Asian collections and Pich’s minimal-ist works, the exhibition questions the state of Cambodian contemporary art. The paper further discusses how the retrospective promoted ideas of “authentic” capacity building by underscoring Pich’s use of rat-tan—and thus,craft—as a form of overcoming trauma. The didactic use of Sopheap Pich’s art in “Cam-bodian Rattan: The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich” was thus a result of intersecting objectives of Cambo-dia Living Arts and the museum as well as the tensions involved in post-conflict cultural reconstruction.

28

Hum

an &

Social Sciences

Microcredit and the Dragon: The Uneven Spread of

Microcredit Companies in China

Thomas ChristiansenSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2015International Political Economy

In 2008, the Peoples’ Bank of China (PBC) expanded its Microcredit Company (MCC) pilot program to all of China. From that time, MCCs have exploded across China, with over 7,000 established to date. According to PBC guidelines, MCCs are privately funded non-financial institutions regulated by provin-cial governments and can issue loans of limited size. MCCs serve two purposes: providing a channel for private investment into financial markets and serving credit-rationed individuals, including small businesses and farmers. Several questions remain, however, re-garding the growth and effectiveness of this industry. Through both interviews with managers and regula-tors as well as through quantitative analysis of newly collected data, this research investigated what factors determine the growth of MCCs and whether MCCs accomplish their social mission to serve the underfi-nanced. Interviews were conducted at MCCs in Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, and Zhejiang, with data analyzed at the national level. Regression analysis revealed that policy regulations are largely ineffective at both stimulating and capping the growth of MCCs within provinces. Instead, other factors such as the amount of available investment capital play a larger role in determining the growth of MCCs. Furthermore, interviews uniformly revealed that MCCs generally fail to serve the underfinanced largely because they have little desire to do so. In order to address these concerns, this research recommends that the PBC relax regulations on capital flows to MCCs, extend significant tax breaks, and provide technical assistance to those MCCs willing to engage in loans to rural and microbusiness clients.

29

Minimum Wages and Subminimum Earnings

Neil ChristyGeorgetown College

Class of 2014Political Economy

Neil Christy is a graduating senior in Georgetown College, a member of the class of 2014. He grew up in the Midwest and, more recently, Florida. Neil studies political economy with an emphasis on the economic impacts of labor policies on low-income workers. He is interested in how policies impact the most vulnerable communities with limited po-litical resources. In previous work, Neil has stud-ied political economy developments in India and lobbying strategies in the United States. Neil hopes to continue doing research after graduation.

This paper analyses the relationship between the real value of the minimum wage and the likelihood that individuals earn an annual income lower than that of a full-time work-er earning minimum wage (the “annualized minimum wage”). Annual wages are used as a proxy for underemployment, to avoid the inconclusive results found in research that studies minimum wage effects on employ-ment status directly. This study uses individ-ual level data from pooled cross-sections of the March Current Population Survey from 1985 to 2013, and employs regression models to determine the effect of the real minimum wage on the likelihood of individuals earning below the annualized minimum wage. An increase of one real dollar in the value of the minimum wage is found to lead to a nearly 8 percent increase in the likelihood of an indi-vidual to earn less than the annualized min-imum wage, suggesting that minimum wage increases have significant underemployment effects.

30

Economic Development and Religiosity

Grace KimSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2017

Brandon KelleySchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2017

Grace is a proud member of the class of 2017 in the School of Foreign Service, planning on majoring in International Political Economy. Born in Seoul, Korea but raised in Las Vegas, Grace developed a passion for research after her freshman year proseminar. She and her partner, Brandon Kelley, studied the effect of religiosity on economic development. Grace has also studied the effect of sex ratio on political outcomes in India with Professor Joshi through GUROP. She hopes to contin-ue pursuing research during her undergraduate career at Georgetown. On campus, Grace is also involved in the International Relations Club, the SFS Academic Council, and the Carroll Round.

Brandon Kelley is researching restrictions on presidential war powers as they relate to contemporary security con-cerns. He is also examining the multifaceted relationship between economic development and religiosity, specifical-ly as it relates to conflict. He is interested in international relations broadly, and hopes to become involved in secu-rity consulting, policy analysis, or policymaking. A mem-ber of the SFS class of 2017, he is a proud resident of Rankin, Texas, and plans to major in International Politics with a concentration in International Security.

Why are some countries more religious than others? The economic factors that determine a country’s religiosity have long been debat-ed by scholars. Under the premise that religion is used as a source of comfort, richer people would- economically speaking- find less util-ity in religion than poorer people. Therefore, in this paper, we argue that richer countries tend to be less religious than poorer countries. Further, we argue that economic growth, or change in economic development, correlates negatively to change in religiosity. To test these arguments, we apply cross sectional and mul-tivariate regression analysis to data from 33 countries in the years 2005 and 2012. We find a negative correlation between economic devel-opment and level of religiosity. Further, we also find a negative correlation between economic growth, or change in economic development, and change in religiosity. Higher income brack-ets tend to produce lower levels of religiosity.

31

Xi Zhongxun’s Role in China’s Post-Mao Economic Reform:

Significant or Negligible?

M. Blair VorsatzGeorgetown College

Class of 2014Chinese & Economics

Blair is a Chinese and Economics dou-ble-major at Georgetown. He has had internships at several large banks and hedge funds, which inspired him to fur-ther study China's financial markets, with a focus on China's credit and debt markets. He has had the privilege of pursuing his economic interest in China with Profes-sor Pietra Rivoli through an independent study, and through his thesis, he has had the opportunity to “put a face” on these more abstract numbers. Next year, he is excited to be continuing on to Harvard's Regional Studies East Asia MA program, ideally as a foundation for later pursuing a PhD in Economics. When he’s not found in the quiet room at LAU, he can be found boxing and playing classical piano.

Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping, has become a subject of increased scholarly attention following his son’s rise to power; China scholars have increasingly posited that his role in contemporary Chinese history is deserv-ing of a revisionist account. Many have suggested that the elder Xi may be one of China’s boldest economic reformers, crediting him with the creation of China’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which are often believed to have fueled China’s post-Mao economic growth and to have led China’s opening up to the world. However, while many argue for ascribing Xi Zhongxun with greater historical importance, these accounts appear to be deeply flawed and superficial. Instead, Xi Zhongxun has arguably had such a negligible impact on China’s post-1978 eco-nomic reform and growth that he is deserving of a small-er role in history. Issues of political bias, limited contex-tual scope, and neglected economic significance seem to permeate many of the revisionist accounts. By revisiting general contemporary historical accounts and utilizing an analytical framework that combines both humanities and economics, a new account appears that questions revi-sionist accounts. Xi’s design for China’s SEZs was neither globally nor domestically groundbreaking, and his con-tribution to China’s SEZs was relatively small compared to other contemporary actors. Lastly, China’s SEZs have made a minimal, and certainly not essential, contribution to China’s post-1978 economic outperformance. Thus, Xi Zhongxun appears to have contributed very little to an initiative that has failed to significantly influence or impact China’s reform trajectory. Historical accounts of Xi Zhongxun appear to have given him much more credit than he deserves.

32

Business, M

arketing, &

Finance

33

Kimberly Boeckmann is a junior at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business majoring in both International Business and Man-agement. She has been working for Professor Michael Czinkota as his research assistant since January 2013. This cultivated her interest in research where she continually assists Pro-fessor Czinkota in his research work in addition to editing his proposals. This past summer she was one of 20 undergraduate business students to receive a research grant where she an-alyzed the internationalization of uni-versities under his mentorship, which is published in this journal. It was a rewarding experience that challenged her patience and further refined her time management and editorial skills.

Internationalization of Universities: A Comprehensive Study Establishing

Degree of Internationalization Comparison

Kimberly BoeckmannMcDonough School of Business

Class of 2015International Business and Management

Under the guidance and mentorship of Professor Michael R. Czinkota, I established a model on how universities internationalize, which includes a sequencing process in addition to an internationalization ranking sys-tem. It was my assumption that universities follow the five steps from Table 1 in sequence and the higher the step they attain, the more in-ternationalized is the university. Below is the breakdown of this theory:

Table 1: The Boeckmann-Czinkota (BC) Model on How Universities Internationalize

Step Method Example(s)

1Internationalize the curriculum

Incorporation of global perspectives, language requirements, international business courses

2 Student mobility

Attract foreign students and study abroad

3Academic mobility

Faculty and researchers teach/learn abroad at other institutions

4 Program mobility

Online courses

5Institution mobility

School partnerships (joint ventures), branch campuses

Looking specifically at U.S. Graduate MBA programs for this study, the sample included 60 universities. In order to capture as close of a random sample as possible of these MBA programs, institutions were chosen based on the following five categories: oldest, richest, best, largest, and smallest. In the end, 12 institutions were recorded for each classification resulting in 60 schools in total, ensuring no duplicates were listed among the categories. Ultimately 10 responded with the information necessary for this study. The 10 schools data was col-lected for include: Harvard University, Moravian College and Theological Institute, Dartmouth College, George-town University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, Duke University, University of Texas – Arlington, and Babson College.

My hypothesis outlined how institutions become international by following five distinctive steps. It highlighted the higher the step of internationalization the institution encompasses, the more internationalized it is. The re-search findings rejected my sequencing process but supported the internationalization ranking system. The data suggests that institutions each embark on internationalization in their own way yet they all seek for institution mobility as their ultimate goal.

34

Distributing Opportunity: Microfinance, Poverty, and Growth

in ASEAN

James FishbackSchool of Foreign Service

Class of 2017

Colombian by blood and American by birth, I was raised in the sub-urbs of Miami, Florida, spending most weekends reading, writing, and rediscovering familiar places. My thesis emerged last summer as I worked at American Express in Hong Kong closely surveying bank-policy in Asia amid regional poverty-alleviation efforts. By exam-ining each state’s subnational forces, I argue that, rather than remain sub-missive to ASEAN’s trans-regional fiscal requirements, member states ought to forge new paths to poverty alleviation, develop a more transpar-ently reciprocal relationship among members, and use the rural-map and GINI coefficient as analytical tools of orientation in effectively crafting long-term regional policy. To me, there seems to be no better way to understand the vastness of economic theory than liberating the discipline from its commonplace pedagogical vacuum and letting the study of economics exist in the greater context of academic re-search.

Most forms of international aid remain concerned with medium-term infrastructure projects and hasty employment initiatives, frequently over-looking the individual needs of rural families and urban constituencies. Developing states, unlike their developed counterparts, are not afforded the same rule of law or financial frameworks that are often taken for granted by the West. In effect, a common path for developing states and their societies rests on the adoption of grassroots financial systems and informal economies, in which agriculture banks, development trusts, and rural cooperatives thrive. Additionally, developing states rely on the ef-forts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many of which are state-sponsored. NGOs that are exogenously directed by foreign enti-ties have established initiatives that transcend state-specific policies and work to serve inclusive, regional ends. Discounting sovereignty and geo-political reach, NGOs frequently serve in one of two fundamental ca-pacities: (1) sustaining current State-led poverty-alleviation efforts, or (2) diverging from state-directed efforts in order to diversify domestic en-deavors and eliminate reconcilable risk and cross-sector interdependence.

In Southeast Asia, 65 percent lack access to a basic savings account, not to mention access to established credit lines or advisory services, in essence, microfinance. As a result, rural, poverty-stricken communities struggle to stitch together a patchwork of informal, precarious arrangements to manage their financial lives. Common as they may be, these arrangements comprise of unpredictable outcomes for ASEAN’s poor, exposing them to the perils of underground economies, predatory lenders, and local crime syndicates. As high overhead costs of loan administration and growing government bureaucracy continue, interest rates and fees associated with microfinance remain steep, hurting communities and economies alike.

This investigation cross-assesses the five distinct economic and political systems of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand, each subject to its own set of central-banking measures, exchange rate re-gimes, and anti-poverty efforts. ASEAN’s success as organization hinges on its inclusivity toward not only its member states but its people; because no organization, including ASEAN, can succeed if its people are left behind.

35

Maximizers and Satisficers: A Look into Consumer Regret and

Dissatisfaction

Tricia CorreiaMcDonough School of Business

Class of 2015Marketing and Management

Tricia Correia is a Junior in the Mc-Donough School of Business majoring in Marketing and an individualized major titled Political Communications. She is a member of the Georgetown Institute for Consumer Research, the Georgetown Philodemic Debate Society, the George-town Business Case Competition Team, and is a recipient of two McDonough School of Business Undergraduate Research Fellowship awards. In the Fall of 2013, Tricia studied abroad at the University College Dublin Quinn School of Business where her team won KPMG Ireland's 2013 e-Business Solutions contest. While at Georgetown, Tricia has worked on three large research projects, all centered around consumer behav-ior. She is fascinated by the behavior of consumers in response to marketing, advertising, and communications efforts and hopes to gain a better understanding of this behavior through her research projects. Research, she believes, is key to truly understanding and developing the most effective marketing methods.

There are two types of people in this world: maximiz-ers and satisficers. Maximizers exert extra time and ef-fort in order to select the option with the highest ex-pected utility. Satisficers select the option that is good enough. For marketers, knowing about maximizers and satisficers is important to designing a customer service model and maintaining a strong brand image. Using an online Qualtrics survey, respondents were asked to answer questions taken from existing maxi-mization, regret, and redress-seeking scales along with basic demographic questions. A total of 218 subjects took part in the study. The results confirmed 1) those who score higher on the Maximization Scale will score higher on the Regret Scale; 2) those who score higher on the Maximization Scale will score higher on the Seeking Redress Propensity; 3) an unpredicted relationship between redress seeking scores and regret scores; 4) age had a significant negative relationship with maximization scores; 5) perceived power in society had a significant relationship with maximi-zation scores. Conclusions drawn from these results include 1) If you are a maximizer, you are more likely to feel regret after every purchase; 2) those who are maximizers are more likely to take steps in returning a product and voicing their dissatisfaction; 3) the younger you are, the more likely you are to be a maxi-mizer; 4) the more power you feel you have in society, the more likely you are to be a maximizer. Marketing managers should be aware of these findings when designing their customer service models.

36

Global Trends in Board-Shareholder Engagement

James KimMcDonough School of Business

Class of 2014Finance, Operations and

Information Management

Corporate governance is becoming increasingly more complex as stakeholders request for responsiveness of board members in areas like chairman independence, executive compensation, fi-nancing strategies, and environmental and social issues. Potential benefits of board-shareholder engagement are identifiable and already being realized by American companies that have prior-itized establishing an effective shareholder engagement process.

The push towards enhanced engagement practices is also a global trend. Investors around the world are asking their board members to be more proactive and transparent than ever before. At the same time, many governmental organizations have started to introduce regulations and guidelines to influence the future of corporate governance. Although engagement programs in the developed markets are many steps ahead of those in the emerging markets, shareholders are still concerned about engagement across borders.

However, there are many challenges about active sharehold-er engagement that cause board directors to be cautious to-wards making any changes. Without clear, successful examples to follow, companies are hesitant to commit their resources and prepare directors and managers who can effectively deal with shareholders’ concerns. Also, setting up special meet-ings with shareholders can risk violating fair disclosure laws.

Recent attempts to improve the engagement process have in-cluded periodic press releases, leveraging investor relations con-tacts, and use of online communication tools such as webcasts, virtual meetings, and board blogs. Fifth Analyst Call is yet an-other method that engages institutional investors specifically on matters concerning corporate governance. Overall, an effective board-shareholder engagement process should be a series of brief meetings with a clear agenda that reports the company’s long-term investment horizon to large institutional investors.

James Kim (B '14) is graduating from Georgetown University with majors in Finance and Operations & Information Management and a minor in Chinese. He worked on a short-term assignment with Professor Schloetzer to brief board members, directors, and researchers in the corporate world about the global trends of shareholder engagement activities in public companies. In October 2013, The Conference Board published the 11-page article. James demonstrated his work ethic and ability to take on large responsibilities by working on this independent project without requiring close oversight. His re-search included information from broad sources and Professor Schloetzer was pleased with the outcome. James is from Port Washington, NY and will work with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries at George-town University after he graduates in May.

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ALICE LU is a junior at Georgetown University studying Finance, Internation-al Business, and Chinese. Alice began her research at Georgetown during her freshman year with Professor Michael Czinkota and Professor Thomas Cooke on the World Trade Organization dispute between the U.S. and Vietnam in 2011. The research paper is published in Pro-fessor Czinkota's newest editions of the textbooks International Marketing and International Business. Alice then contin-ued her research with Professor Cooke with the McDonough School of Busi-ness Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship on breaking international trade barriers with the World Trade Or-ganization. She also conducted extensive research on the most recent WTO cases and international business news during her internship for the International Trade Administration under the Department of Commerce. During her sophomore year, she explored the Organizational Behavior and Business Ethics field with Professor Sunita Sah and was awarded another MSB Undergraduate Summer Research grant to complete a research project with Dr. Sah. She is looking forward to work-ing with Professor Czinkota again this summer on the topic of China’s rising consumer class and its effect on world trade.

Breaking International Trade Barriers with the World Trade Organization

Alice LuMcDonough School of Business

Class of 2015Finance, International Business, and Chinese

Since the development of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, it has played a significant role in the rise of interna-tional trade. It has watched as bilateral and trilateral trade agree-ments were formed, as China’s economy boomed, and as coun-tries around the world have brought their trade disputes to the table. There has no doubt been much change since the Uruguay Round, which instigated the world-changing concept of the WTO. At the onset, when international trade was beginning to act as an important factor in business, individual countries were not so keen in reducing international trade barriers, China was still in its first stages of becoming an intimidating world trade play-er, and the International Trade Organization had just been dis-continued. Now however, the WTO has an overwhelming mem-bership of 155 countries, China’s economy has been increasing at an enormous rate of 7% a year, and the WTO’s Dispute Set-tlement Body has resolved over 400 international trade debates.

Since the formation of the WTO, currency has become more ex-changeable, wage rates are more consistent around the world, and the extent of government control over individual business-es has decreased. Businesses now have more say than could have been imagined fifteen years ago over their production, al-location of their resources, and the price of their products.

In addition, new alliances have been formed after new trading partners from the East came into play. The former novices at in-ternational trade from Asia are now formidable partners in many international trade relationships. Before, countries tended to only form alliances with those physically close to them. Now with the help of the WTO and organizations such as the International Trade Administration that work to make individual markets more accessible to other countries around the world, international trade is now happening across seas and oceans easier, faster, and better.

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Factors Contributing to the Growth and Success of Charlotte Douglas

International Airport

Sarah LongMcDonough School of Business

Class of 2016

Sarah hails from Charlotte, NC and graduated from Groton School in Massachusetts. Her Operations & Information Man-agement (OPIM) major fuels her interests in Big Data, process improvement, and public policy. These interests motivated her research experience as an Analyt-ics Intern in the summer of 2013, when she worked on demonstrat-ing the effectiveness of a commu-nity health clinic in reducing mu-nicipal ER costs, and in the fall of 2013, when she worked on using Google Analytics to determine the best content for the MSB’s new website. At Georgetown, Sarah is a Carroll Fellow and a member of the Intervarsity Christian Fellow-ship. Her summer plans include an Outward Bound adventure, study abroad at Trinity College Oxford, and an internship in strategy, ana-lytics and technology.

As the world’s seventh busiest airport by number of flights, Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) distinguishes itself through its relative importance in the air travel industry compared to its natural market area. Even though Charlotte is only America’s 17th largest city, the airport’s 557,948 flights in 2013 outrank airport traffic levels in vastly more populous cities such as London, Frankfurt, and all three New York City airports. CLT became a dominant U.S. air travel center because of its early hub status, effective leadership, and innova-tive airport design, all of which led to remarkably low price-per-landing costs.

Airline mergers create more options for major and minor hubs. Each transition broadens and changes the network, increases connectivity, and leads airlines to regularly re-evaluate their hub locations. Charlotte began as a major hub for Pied-mont Airlines, a predecessor of US Airways. However, the airport’s strong manage-ment enabled it to retain the primary-hub status though multiple airline mergers.

Extraordinary leadership greatly contributed to the Charlotte Airport’s suc-cess. Former Aviation Director Jerry Orr’s savvy business-style approach propelled CLT forward during his twenty-three years in his role as Avia-tion Director and previous nine as Assistant Aviation director. Orr’s lead-ership encouraged CLT’s third competitive edge: its extensive planning.

CLT’s innovative airport design both responded to increased demand carefully and conservatively and adopted the best strategies to miti-gate delays. High demand in air traffic forced the Charlotte airport into a dynamic, rapid-growth process, which its extraordinary leader-ship handled expertly by well-researched and well-timed expansions.

These factors enabled CLT to offer an exceptionally low price-per-landing, which today makes it extremely competitive in the decision-making process of routing airline connections. According to the June 2013 Oliver Wyman Airport Gover-nance Study, Charlotte’s average cost per boarded passenger is just $2.28, dwarfed by costs at major airports like Newark at $31.85 and JFK at a staggering $50.95.

The Air Transport Research Society ranked CLT the most cost-competitive out of the 30 largest U.S. airports. Moreover, low costs combined with monopoly pricing further widens US Airways’ profit margin, making CLT even more attrac-tive to its primary airline, US Airways. Moving forward, US Airways’ merger with American Airlines opens up even more possibilities for CLT’s growth and success.

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