Date of Graduation

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Political Science

Committee Chair

Erik Herron

Committee Co-Chair

Cyanne Loyle

Committee Member

Robert Duval

Committee Member

Jeffrey Worsham

Abstract

This dissertation explores how issue framing within an international advocacy movement influences and is influenced by the framing of the same issue within politically differentiated regimes, and examines this question through an analysis of the international family planning movement. Existing work on both policy diffusion and international advocacy presents strong evidence that the international community has a powerful effect on the framing and development of domestic policy. However, there is room for refinement of the literature in addressing how international actors affect policy trajectories within dissenting regimes---that is, regimes that espouse explicitly anti-Western ideologies, but which are nevertheless active in the international community. To examine this relationship, I employ a comparative case study of the Cuban and Iranian family planning movements, using content analysis of archival data and process tracing methods. While both Cuba and Iran have developed strong family planning programs and have actively sought international support in the process, they have also promoted family planning frames consistent with their own national ideologies. Thus, these movements offer the opportunity to explore the dynamics of dissenting regime policy framing and its interactions with the international arena, and to enhance understanding of the relationship between international activism and domestic policy development.

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