http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/development Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sat, 18 Apr 2026 08:09:05 -0400 Sat, 18 Apr 2026 08:09:05 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1934/the-politics-of-nation-building-ethnicity-and-democratization-in-ethiopia By Melale G. Hailu - This article explores the political relationship between nation-building, ethnicity, and democracy in the context of Ethiopia. It traces Ethiopia's poltical history, explores the consequential role ethnicity has played in the formation of the modern Ethiopian nation-state, and analyzes the manner in which democracy (or some form of it) has materlaized in the country post 1990. It argues that the politicization of ethnicity, in an already weak and culturally pluralistic state, further reinforces the existence of a repressive state and becomes a considerable impediment to democratic maturation and... Mon, 17 Jan 2022 11:59 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1934/the-politics-of-nation-building-ethnicity-and-democratization-in-ethiopia http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1909/grand-narrative-fragmented-reality-the-belt-and-road-initiative-in-heilongjiang-province By Gabriel Wagner - Most analysts agree that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is set to become a defining feature of the global economy of the 21st century. However, there is wide-ranging debate about how to understand the BRI. Is it a top-down “grand strategy” directed by Xi Jinping, or just an umbrella term for a wide range of fragmented individual projects? This paper examines the “Three Bridges One Island” (三桥一岛) initiative in Heilongjiang province to shed light on this question. The findings suggest that official policy narratives about the BRI are indeed dictated... Tue, 21 Sep 2021 07:21 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1909/grand-narrative-fragmented-reality-the-belt-and-road-initiative-in-heilongjiang-province http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1871/understanding-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-children-a-comprehensive-review By Kailey M. Pate - Post-traumatic stress disorder in children under six years old has been formally recognized since 2013 (Veteran’s Affairs, 2019), yet the body of research is still lacking for this age group. An important step towards helping these youngest sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder is to determine whether symptomology assessments, social supports, and treatments that exist for older children can apply to those who are younger than six suffering from the disorder. This comprehensive literature review compiles the research on post-traumatic stress disorders in children from six to seventeen... Thu, 04 Feb 2021 08:56 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1871/understanding-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-children-a-comprehensive-review http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1808/affective-gender-communication-an-interdisciplinary-analysis-of-toddler-behavior By Suzannah R. Gifford - Conversations about the gender expression of young children are often characterized by confusion, as parents, educators, and even child psychologists have a hard time determining where exactly children’s strong gendered beliefs and behaviors come from. Children as young as two have been observed exhibiting behaviors and expressing beliefs that align with the gender binary, yet there are usually no obvious moments when these messages have been translated to them. In an attempt to illuminate these hidden instances of gendering, I take an interdisciplinary approach to this paper that brings... Fri, 02 Oct 2020 03:20 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1808/affective-gender-communication-an-interdisciplinary-analysis-of-toddler-behavior http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1802/improving-medical-humanitarianism-pitfalls-and-best-practices-for-international-aid By Casey Kozak - The necessity of international relief is unending as new crises continue to emerge across the world. International aid plays a crucial role in shaping how affected communities rebuild after a crisis. However, humanitarian aid often results in a variety of unanticipated consequences and negative outcomes. Inadequate aid leaves behind substantial and foundational problems that the local community or healthcare system is not equipped to handle. There exist a number of hurdles to the success of international medical aid, including those posed by medical pluralism, short-term aid, lack of coordination... Fri, 25 Sep 2020 11:30 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1802/improving-medical-humanitarianism-pitfalls-and-best-practices-for-international-aid http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1794/the-impact-of-economic-complexity-on-productive-structure-and-income-inequality-in-indonesia-and-venezuela By Osama Siddiq - Recent work with the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) has shown that a country’s productive structure constrains its level of economic growth and income inequality. Building on previous research that identified an increasing gap between Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) with that of China and other High Performing East Asian Economies (HPEA), this paper compares how the diverging productive structures of the Venezuelan and Indonesian economies have impacted the generation and distribution of income in each country. I use time-series regression analysis to show the impact of economic complexity... Wed, 09 Sep 2020 12:11 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1794/the-impact-of-economic-complexity-on-productive-structure-and-income-inequality-in-indonesia-and-venezuela http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1739/specific-language-impairment-in-children-with-high-functioning-autism-spectrum-disorder By Pamela Lim - Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are among the most common neurodevelopmental disorders. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), studies in Asia, Europe, and North America have identified individuals with ASD with an average prevalence of about 1% (CDC, 2015). ASDs are typically diagnosed in early childhood, often at or before preschool age. However, there is no specific genetic test or clinical procedure for diagnosis. Diagnosis is based mainly on documented core impairments related to social interaction, communication, as well as restricted and repetitive behavior (... Fri, 25 May 2018 10:16 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1739/specific-language-impairment-in-children-with-high-functioning-autism-spectrum-disorder http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1736/educational-investment-and-sociopsychological-wellbeing-among-rural-chinese-women By Jason Hung - Universal secondary education is vital if rural China is to achieve long-term socioeconomic sustainability, as education offers the pragmatic skills and knowledge base that would allow those living in rural China to adapt to the knowledge-intensive global economy (Rong and Shi, 2001: 108-9; Bush and Haiyan, 2000: 62; Oxfam Report, 1999: 1; Liu, 2004: 5; Bennell and Furlong, 1998). In rural China, each student ostensibly has access to nine years of mandatory education (Liu, 2004: 6). However, local governments are often incapable of subsidizing compulsory schooling, particularly post-primary schooling... Wed, 09 May 2018 12:52 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1736/educational-investment-and-sociopsychological-wellbeing-among-rural-chinese-women http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1717/benefits-of-interactive-music-therapy-on-children-with-autism By Michael Zhitnitsky - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a wide range of severity, encompassing mild to severe levels of social, communicative, cognitive, and behavioral functioning. This social functioning disorder affects every 1 in 68 children born in the U.S., with prevalence rates doubling since 2000. ASD is associated with left hemisphere responsibilities, such as decreased joint attention, inability to comprehend social cues, insufficient linguistic knowledge, and a difficulty forming meaningful relationships. Children with ASD are faced with many problems, including a lack... Tue, 02 Jan 2018 09:11 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1717/benefits-of-interactive-music-therapy-on-children-with-autism http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1638/divinity-in-the-disguise-of-mental-illness-in-william-faulkners-the-sound-and-the-fury By Rebecca Berezin - The character of Benjy Compson from William Faulkner’s 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury is a mythic and Christ-like figure with the divine gift of prophecy rather than the retarded man-child that the other characters in the novel view him to be. To see the world through Benjy’s eyes, you must be part of a very exclusive club with a two prong membership: that of autism and that of synesthesia. Autism is a developmental disorder most often characterized by impairments in forming normal social relationships and impairments in being able to communicate with others. Synesthesia itself... Mon, 01 May 2017 10:02 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1638/divinity-in-the-disguise-of-mental-illness-in-william-faulkners-the-sound-and-the-fury http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1568/the-conceptual-access-network-thesis-theorizing-the-success-of-new-internet-based-products-services-and-technologies By La Shun L. Carroll - The Conceptual Access-Network Thesis proposed suggests that the development or success of any new internet-based product, service, or technology will ultimately be contingent upon how well it satisfies the criterion of providing access to or creating a network of potential users, products, and services. The significance of this thesis is that, as a criterion, the principle not only explicates how internet technology evolves but can explain what underlies a range of technologies beyond that of the internet, which include chemical forms such as Insulin and highways that are based on the tenets of... Mon, 13 Mar 2017 10:29 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1568/the-conceptual-access-network-thesis-theorizing-the-success-of-new-internet-based-products-services-and-technologies http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1538/a-general-theory-of-buzzwords-synergistic-meta-linguistic-paradigm-shifts By Brahm Capoor - Liz Lemon, frazzled executive producer of a struggling sketch comedy show and main character of the NBC comedy 30 Rock is trying to convince her boss, Jack Donaghy, that it makes sense to send the show’s staff to Miami for a week. This is no meager request, and will require a convincing presentation. When this is pointed out to her, she smiles and confidently claims that she can sell this. The camera cuts to her and her assistant standing in Donaghy’s opulent office, in front of his imposing desk, as she confidently recites a string of important sounding, vaguely corporate phrases: &... Thu, 16 Feb 2017 09:07 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1538/a-general-theory-of-buzzwords-synergistic-meta-linguistic-paradigm-shifts http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1525/development-discourse-and-the-conduct-of-conduct-promoting-good-governance-in-tanzania By Samuel W. Singler - Following the failure of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in the 1980s, and the liberal triumphalism caused by the end of the Cold War, development discourse underwent a significant transformation. Key to the new development paradigm was the promotion of “good governance,” stressing the role of governments in providing a sound legal and institutional framework for economic growth and development, and conversely locating the failures of past development programmes in the “poor governance” of aid recipient states (World Bank, 1992: 9). According to the good governance... Wed, 01 Feb 2017 11:53 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1525/development-discourse-and-the-conduct-of-conduct-promoting-good-governance-in-tanzania http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1517/navigating-the-leftist-spectrum-in-argentina-an-economic-classification-of-the-kirchner-era By Matt Finkel - Argentina’s economic policies under Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were hugely impactful in the country’s recovery and general development, yet the Kirchner administrations are often painted with the same broad leftist brush often used to categorize Latin American governments. This kind of blanketed cataloguing obscures the economic nuances of important features of Argentina’s governance like social safety nets, market openness, and property rights. This report will classify Kirchnerism in a more appropriate context, measured against economic policy... Sun, 08 Jan 2017 03:10 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1517/navigating-the-leftist-spectrum-in-argentina-an-economic-classification-of-the-kirchner-era http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1514/bridging-the-gap--towards-a-transatlantic-approach-to-reducing-inequality-a-policy-proposal By Sergio Mukherjee - Part of the problem is that an exclusive focus on growth, defined as the increase in a country's productive capacity by comparing the monetary value of the goods and services produced by a country (GDP) within two successive periods of time, overlooks the potential inequality of distribution and access to important social services, such as adequate schooling and healthcare. While it is true that the nature and extent of poverty and inequality vary across the world, both relative and extreme poverty restrict people to operate at the margins of society. As a result, people not only have limited... Mon, 05 Dec 2016 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1514/bridging-the-gap--towards-a-transatlantic-approach-to-reducing-inequality-a-policy-proposal http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1496/the-role-of-minor-and-ephemeral-characters-in-shakespeares-henry-v By Muhammad Suffian - Henry V is an unusual play in the sense that it is centred on one major personality. Therefore, the play often has to rely on the dramatic effect of its minor and ephemeral characters. These characters are extraordinarily compelling and their importance cannot be exaggerated; they provide critical perspective of the King, and his interactions with them are designed to undercut and comprise the heroic perception of his character. (Erickson, 1979, pg. 14). Thus, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate and critically analyse the salient role minor characters play in deflating the heroic myth of Shakespeare... Tue, 15 Nov 2016 10:17 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1496/the-role-of-minor-and-ephemeral-characters-in-shakespeares-henry-v http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1451/rethinking-microcredit-in-bangladesh-does-grameen-bank-serve-the-neoliberal-agenda By Mehran Shamit - Grameen Bank, translated as "rural bank" in the Bangla language, is a grassroots microcredit organization founded in 1983 by Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus to provide new financial opportunities to the poor. Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their development efforts through microcredit. As of October 2011, Grameen Bank has over 8 million borrowers, 97% of whom are women (Grameen Bank, n.d.). The Bank provides services to more than 97% of villages in Bangladesh with 2,565 branches across the country and is especially well known around... Tue, 20 Sep 2016 09:07 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1451/rethinking-microcredit-in-bangladesh-does-grameen-bank-serve-the-neoliberal-agenda http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1429/assessing-the-impact-of-adverse-childhood-experiences-on-brain-development By Stephen J. D'Orazio - Findings have shown that adolescence marks a period in which the prefrontal cortex (PFC) forms continued connections with limbic areas.10 The PFC exhibits top-down control over limbic regions and governs the regulation of emotions. Thus, exposure to adverse experiences during this period in brain development may elicit problems in emotion regulation. The PFC is the last brain region to complete myelination, and its extended sensitivity to environmental experience is advantageous for tailoring neurobiology to environmental surroundings.10 However, in the absence of an optimal environment or when... Tue, 19 Jul 2016 06:52 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1429/assessing-the-impact-of-adverse-childhood-experiences-on-brain-development http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1425/a-community-approach-to-education-in-the-luang-prabang-region-of-laos By Jennifer C. Langill - Laos ranks quite poorly by most development indicators. Laos is one of 48 countries on the United Nations’ list of Least Developed Countries and ranked 141st out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index (United Nations 2016; United Nations Development Programme 2015). Economic growth has been unevenly distributed, leaving over 20 percent of the country below the international poverty line (CIA World Factbook 2014; Estudillo et al. 2013; Howe and Sims 2011; The World Bank 2016). This percentage has been declining, however improvements have been quite slow. While there are over 100... Thu, 23 Jun 2016 07:10 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1425/a-community-approach-to-education-in-the-luang-prabang-region-of-laos http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1421/life-course-criminology-comparing-the-dual-taxonomy-and-age-graded-theories-of-criminal-behavior By Joana Ferreira - One of the most well established assertions in criminology is that of the relationship between crime and age (e.g. Sampson & Laub, 1992, 1998; McAra & McVie, 2012), in which developmentally orientated researchers attempt to explain how crime unfolds across the life course. From this impetus, the criminal career paradigm was developed, later setting the inspiration for developmental and life-course criminology (DLC). The aim of this framework is to explain offending by individuals through the analysis of the impact of different events at different stages of life as antisocial behaviour... Fri, 10 Jun 2016 11:49 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1421/life-course-criminology-comparing-the-dual-taxonomy-and-age-graded-theories-of-criminal-behavior http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1420/the-rise-of-global-health-how-did-health-become-a-matter-of-global-concern By Samuel W. Singler - Global health governance is often traced back to the mid-nineteenth century, when European states participated in the International Sanitary Conference of 1851 in order to standardize quarantine regulations, constituting one of the earliest multilateral responses to an international health issue (McKee et al., 2001: 7). Technological innovations and the confirmation of germ theory contributed to increased international cooperation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in order to prevent the spread of disease across national borders, leading to the creation of the International... Thu, 09 Jun 2016 11:33 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1420/the-rise-of-global-health-how-did-health-become-a-matter-of-global-concern http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1419/rethinking-the-role-of-cooperatives-in-african-development By Cynthia Kwakyewah - In their search for a new development paradigm, many African governments and international organizations have reverted to cooperatives, a distinct business model that manifest a turbulent history ranging from pre-colonial to colonial and post-independence Africa. Owing to their ethical and democratic features as well as their dual pursuit for social and economic yields, cooperatives have come to be perceived as the solution to the enigma of underdevelopment. But a critical examination indicates that African cooperatives face profound encumbrances deriving from their historical background and the... Tue, 07 Jun 2016 09:18 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1419/rethinking-the-role-of-cooperatives-in-african-development http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1572/thrifty-authoritarians-us-regime-change-1945-present By Daniel J. Savickas - The efficacy of efforts by the United States government to influence regime change in foreign nations has been increasingly called into question. Motivated by these statements of skepticism, the study herein provides a statistical analysis of the impact US intervention has had on both democratic evolutions in target nations for regime change, and for the development of their GDP per capita. An analysis of GDP per capita in target nations for US-sponsored regime change offers observers insight into both how standard of living conditions may have improved in those nations and a brief overview of... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1572/thrifty-authoritarians-us-regime-change-1945-present http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1397/china-and-india-in-africa-implications-of-new-private-sector-actors-on-bribe-paying-incidence By Sankalp Gowda - This paper seeks to address one of the most common critiques of Asian firms doing business in Africa: that low levels of corporate governance and poor managerial practices have undermined anti-corruption efforts throughout the continent. The paper first details and analyzes the managerial practices of Indian and Chinese firms to distinguish what factors might make these firms more likely to pay bribes. Next, it uses data from the 2006-2014 World Bank Enterprise Surveys to empirically test the claim that the presence of Indian and Chinese firms has increased bribe-paying incidence in African countries... Mon, 25 Apr 2016 08:44 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1397/china-and-india-in-africa-implications-of-new-private-sector-actors-on-bribe-paying-incidence http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1391/the-ferris-wheel-the-worlds-columbian-exposition-of-1893-and-the-display-of-american-superiority By Violette H.P. Ho - The appearance of new technology such as electric lights and skyscrapers in urban centers prompted many to see cities as places of excitement and economic advancement. As more people continued to migrate, these American cities begun to suffer from overcrowding. In some areas, such as in New York City, the population reached as high as 334,000 people per square mile. Women made as little as 25 cents a day for working in a sweatshop. Most city dwellers barely earned enough to get by. They live in tenements with dozens of other families, with no access to safe drinking water. People sold food on... Sun, 17 Apr 2016 02:48 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1391/the-ferris-wheel-the-worlds-columbian-exposition-of-1893-and-the-display-of-american-superiority http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1396/the-implausibility-of-the-barter-narrative-and-credit-money-in-ancient-babylon By R. D. Baker - Whereas the standard economics textbook literature motivates the emergence of money by pointing to the inefficiencies of barter economies, there is virtually no historical evidence that this is how money actually came about. Due to the lack of evidence for the existence of barter economies, an attempt is made therefore to hypothesize an origin of money which is more compatible with the organization of early societies. This alternative story is explained with the help of a model of four trading merchants, in which barter is shown to be dominated by credit simply on the basis of bargaining power... Thu, 14 Apr 2016 08:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1396/the-implausibility-of-the-barter-narrative-and-credit-money-in-ancient-babylon http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1382/the-development-agenda-after-the-millenium-development-goals-is-the-post-2015-agenda-truly-transformative By Florence Lee - In 2014, the United Nations called for "a truly transformative agenda to follow the Millennium Development Goals." This study applies a critical qualitative discourse and textual analysis to examine the first priority of the agenda—to end extreme poverty and hunger—set fourth in The Action Agenda for Sustainable Development Report (SDSN) and assesses the extent to which this ‘transformative agenda’ is likely to be achieved. This study found that the report's goal of ‘ending hunger and poverty’ encouraged implementation strategies that were conceptually narrow... Fri, 25 Mar 2016 02:49 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1382/the-development-agenda-after-the-millenium-development-goals-is-the-post-2015-agenda-truly-transformative http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1376/the-resource-curse-in-nigeria-comparing-the-security-of-offshore-and-onshore-oil-production By Mary L. Kleinpeter - Developing states with large natural resource industries have an inclination to become over-reliant on one source of capital, causing other industries to fail, promoting corruption, and stimulating crime. Nigeria is one such case, as their booming oil industry has lead to the creation of new militant groups who target petroleum production sites to either loot oil, kidnap for ransom, or damage infrastructure. In the past decade, major international drilling companies such as Royal Dutch Shell have begun to focus their drilling operations offshore in the Niger Delta in result of the increasing attacks... Wed, 09 Mar 2016 01:20 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1376/the-resource-curse-in-nigeria-comparing-the-security-of-offshore-and-onshore-oil-production http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1374/too-much-tech-harms-reading-retention-in-young-children By Maria E. Yienger - For today's children, technological devices such as iPads, smartphones, and e-readers are quickly replacing more traditional "toys" as sources of learning and entertainment. With their capacity to contain a multitude of activities within a single device, tech devices are the new norm and are being utilized from a young age. Many critics have explored the negative implications that technology has on reading and learning, and while it may seem like iPads and other technological devices are a convenient way to keep young children entertained and distracted, it has also been shown that reading habits... Sun, 06 Mar 2016 06:39 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1374/too-much-tech-harms-reading-retention-in-young-children http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1371/book-review-planet-of-slums-by-mike-davis-2006 By Florence Lee - In essence, Davis blames neoliberalism for these problems. The ‘villains’, or driving forces behind modern slum creation, are the World Bank and the IMF. And Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) – conditions attached to provisional loans that poor countries are subjected to whereby neoliberal market policies (opening up of the market, removing trade barriers and excess state control) are promoted – have been the reason. By encouraging less trade subsidies and privatization, SAPs lead to borrowers having to cut back on public taxation and spending. Davis states that millions... Sat, 27 Feb 2016 02:29 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1371/book-review-planet-of-slums-by-mike-davis-2006