Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Steady hammer: origins of American counterterrorism in the dime novel world of William J. Flynn(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Roberts, Brent Sidney; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert RydellThis dissertation traces the life and times of William J. Flynn (1867-1928) as a means of understanding popular attitudes toward anarchism and terrorism, as well as expectations for protection from these forces, at the dawn of the twentieth century. Flynn was constantly at the nexus of law enforcement, serving as jailkeeper in the New York County correctional system; as agent, regional director, and national director of the U.S. Secret Service; and as director of the Bureau of Investigation. He also led a creative literary life, penning memoirs of his cases as novels and newspaper serials, and writing stories and editing a detective fiction magazine after his retirement from government service. Drawing on theories of popular culture of Russel Nye, as well as concepts of power and discourse of Michel Foucault, this study examined Flynn's literary works, historical documents from the Secret Service, Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Railroad Administration, and popular dime novels to capture public perception of anarchists and expectations for protection from the terrorist threat. Anarchists were portrayed generally as unclean and often of foreign origin, while counter-anarchists appeared as capable, sharp-witted, affluent men and women. Temporality forms an important aspect of the study, demonstrating that Flynn's counterterrorist approach, as well as expectations for protection from terrorist violence, were rooted in elements of time. In a period when most detective work was financed by private individuals, Flynn built an identity for himself as a competent public official, and more importantly through his work and writings established the federal government as the primary entity capable of meeting the demands of protecting American citizens in the early twentieth century. Following retirement, Flynn continued his literary endeavors, always blurring the line between fact and fiction, generally cloaking his own adventures, all worthy of dime novels themselves, with a veneer of fiction.Item Exposure to terrorism and birthweight outcomes in Nigeria(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2018) Matonte, James Philip; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Brock SmithUsing readily available vitality and GPS data from the Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey, in conjunction with terrorism data from the open sourced Global Terrorism Database, I estimate the effect of in-utero exposure to terrorism within three kilometers of individuals in Nigeria on the likelihood of an infant to be born low-birthweight. Previous economic studies have explored the similar impacts to birthweight from arguably exogenous violent shocks to fetuses in-utero, however, no previous study has yet performed such an analysis of in-utero violence exposure within such a defined geographic area. I claim that previous studies' inability to perform their analysis on a smaller geographic scale has likely underestimated the effects of in-utero violence exposure. Additionally, I exploit detailed information on each terrorism event to address varying degrees of violence severity. I find that exposure to a Boko Haram civilian targeted terrorism related fatality, anywhere within Nigeria and within three kilometers of an individual, as well as within the first trimester of pregnancy, is associated with an approximate 3.2 percentage point increase in the likelihood that a child is born less than or equal to 2500 grams. There is also evidence to suggest that exposure to terrorist events greater than three kilometers away and outside of the first trimester increase the likelihood of an infant being born low birthweight as well.Item Dead-set against it? : thoughts of death can promote resistance to attitude change(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) Dood, Tiffany Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ian M. HandleyTerror Management Theory (TMT) argues that people experience an underlying sense of 'terror' when presented with their own mortality, causing them to more strongly defend their ideals (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 2000). Although much support exists for this idea, prior research has not specifically investigated whether mortality reminders will enhance individuals' resistance to persuasive attempts that are counter to their existing attitudes. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine how reminders of individuals' mortality affect participants' attitudes towards persuasive messages that were pro- or counter-attitudinal. In the presented study, participants' mortality was or was not made salient. Next, participants read a pro- or counter-attitudinal essay regarding a tuition plan that was supported by strong or weak arguments, after which message attitudes were assessed. Results indicated that participants formed more favorable attitudes after reading pro-attitudinal essays and less favorable attitudes after reading counter-attitudinal essays. This effect was particularly pronounced in the mortality salience condition. These results are consistent with TMT in that reminders of mortality lead individuals to resist (i.e., form more unfavorable attitudes) counter-attitudinal persuasive appeals.