Senior Research Project

Seniors in IECA take a Senior Seminar that culminates in a research project under the mentorship of faculty in relevant disciplines.

Representative projects from recent years have included the following topics:

The Challenges of Globalization, 2006.

  • Globalizing the Chinese
  • Making Coffee Fair: Globalization, fair trade, and their effects on small scale coffee farmers in Mexico
  • Closing the Income Gap: Foreign Direct Investment and Education in Rural China

Rights and Wrongs, 2007-08.

  • Wrong Rites of Passage: International Efforts to Reverse West African Thought about Female Genital Mutilation
  • Closing the Gap: Legislative Efforts  to Achieve Equality for Women in the French Workforce
  • US Perceptions of Dictatorship in Chile 1970 to 1990
  • The Adverse Treatment of Women Workers in Mexico’s Maquiladoras and the Role of United States Companies
  • Violence Against Land Reform Activists in the Brazilian Amazon
  • They Were Born, They Made Tortillas, and They Died” Change for the Indigenous Women of Chiapas
  • Seeking a Passing Grade: The Success and Failures of the State’s Religious Education Programs in Modern Spain
  • Mexican Border Towns: A Haven for Police Corruption and Human Rights Violations
  • Remaining Uneducated: The Inequality of Roma education in the Czech Republic
  • Shedding a Light on Japan’s Shadow: Hikikomori and Their Affect on Japanese Society and the Economy
  • The Vieques Struggle
  • The Unemployment Problem in France

The Challenges and Opportunities of Human Mobility, 2011.

  • Immigration: Japan’s Only Real Solution
  • The Economics and Politics of Spanish Immigration
  • The Bullying of Immigrant Students: The Unfortunate Consequence of a Multicultural Celtic Tiger

Conflict & Reconciliation, 2014-15.

  • Examining the Role of Chinese NGOs, their Impact on Civil Society, and  Democratization
  • Former Female Child Soldiers in Uganda: Crises, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration
  • Bias in The New York Times 1947-1948: Impact of Media in Public Opinion of the Israel- Palestine Conflict

Movement of Peoples: A Theme Broadly Interpreted, 2016-18.

  • Defying the Trends: An Analysis of Center-Right Immigration Policy in Spain
  • CPEC: Reshaping the Geopolitical and Physical Landscape of Pakistan??

Thinking beyond Boundaries, 2019-20.

  • Refugee Admissions and Radical Political Opinions in the United States and Germany: A Comparative Analysis
  • The United States as an Active Creator of Latin American  Emigration
  • The Limits of Loving Our Neighbor:  How Religious Beliefs Affect Immigration Attitudes in France
  • Addressing a Global Humanitarian Crisis: The Vulnerability of Venezuelan Migrants
  • The Perpetuation of Colonial Fertility Practices into Modern, African Family Planning
  • Chile in Retrospect: Attempting to Create a Democratic Future despite Its Volatile Past
  • The Impact of Language on Economic Behavior: A Case Study on China and the United States
  • “Environmental Refugees”: Making the Case for Urgent Reform and the Provision of Their Protection in International Law
  • The State of Nigeria’s Oil Industry, its Humanitarian and Environmental Consequences, and the Necessity for International Action
  • The Controversial Connections between the Olympic Games and Human Rights
  • Mining for Normalcy: Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone
  • Refugee Admissions and Radical Political Opinions in the United States and Germany: A Comparative Analysis