Doctoral Dissertation Research: Regionally-Led Processes and the Building of Civil Society

区域机构在建设和维护民间社会方面发挥什么作用？这个项目训练研究生严谨、实证的数据收集和分析方法，探索国家和地区之间政治归属感的概念是如何形成和维持的。特别是，它将探索超越国界的政治归属和治理的新形式，询问可以从超国家的区域动态、进程和想象力中学到什么，这些动态、进程和想象力在当代全球政治中正变得越来越重要。在从欧洲联盟到北美自由贸易协定等区域联盟和战略日益成为激烈辩论主题的时代，更广泛地建立区域的重要性将加强我们对区域机构的比较地缘政治及其在预防和解决冲突方面的作用的理解。此外，该项目还将通过向致力于制定建立民间社会的有效做法的组织广泛传播其研究结果来促进科学理解。这项研究将由加州大学洛杉矶分校的博士生Zachary Mondesire在汉娜·阿佩尔博士的监督下进行。通过对在喀土穆和内罗毕生活和工作的南苏丹政治和知识分子进行为期12个月的多地点人种学研究，该项目将仔细检查个人理解他们所属的政治、种族和地理社区的复杂方式。为了更好地了解地区归属感是如何形成的，他将调查南苏丹加入东非共同体(EAC)的决定，东非共同体是一个政府间组织，成员包括肯尼亚、坦桑尼亚、乌干达、布隆迪和卢旺达。他还将追踪南苏丹与苏丹持续不断的关系如何继续影响当地政治中的冲突解决和调解。这项研究的参与者将包括南苏丹记者、学生、教授和政治人物。将通过采访、参与者观察、媒体内容分析和对南苏丹政治领导人回忆录的分析来收集数据。这项研究的结果将导致对地区主导的进程的政治、经济和文化层面的更强有力的理解。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

What role do regional bodies have in the building and maintenance of civil society? This project, which trains a graduate student in methods of rigorous, empirical data collection and analysis, explores how notions of political belonging are formed and sustained between nation and region. In particular, it will explore new forms of political belonging and governance that exceed national borders, asking what can be learned from supra-national regional dynamics, processes, and imaginations that are becoming increasingly significant in contemporary global politics. In an era when regional alliances and strategies, from the European Union to the North American Free Trade Agreement, are increasingly the subject of intense debate, the significance of region-building more broadly will enhance our understanding of the comparative geopolitics of regional bodies and their role in conflict prevention and resolution. In addition, the project would promote scientific understanding by broadly disseminating its findings to organizations invested in formulating effective practices for the building of civil society.The research will be carried out by University of California, Los Angeles doctoral student, Zachary Mondesire, under the supervision of Dr. Hannah Appel. Through a 12-month multi-sited ethnographic study with South Sudanese political and intellectual figures living and working in Khartoum and Nairobi, the project will closely examine the complex ways that individuals understand the political, racial, and geographic communities of which they are a part. To better understand how regional ideas of belonging take shape, he will investigate South Sudan's decision to join the East African Community (EAC), an intergovernmental organization that includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda. He will also trace the ways the South Sudan's ongoing relationship with Sudan continues to shape conflict resolution and mediation in local politics. The participants of this study will include South Sudanese journalists, students, professors, and political figures. Data will be collected through interviews, participant observation, media content analysis, and the analysis of memoirs of South Sudanese political leaders. The findings of this study will lead to more robust understandings of the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of regionally-led processes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.