In the process of uniting Europe, European integration has inadvertently strengthened secessionist movements that seek to fracture the very states it has brought together. Through the creation of the European Single Market, the common travel area, the single currency, and the establishment of the four freedoms of movement for goods, capital, services, and people, many of the benefits a region with a potential desire for independence gains from remaining a part of its host state are transferred to the European level. Currently, nearly all academic analysis of European integration and its impact on secessionist movements has been published around the time of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and before the UK’s 2016 European Union membership referendum. The current academic consensus argues that European integration has harmed secessionist movements more than it has helped, but in the years since the UKs decision to leave the EU, this argument has become outdated and no longer holds the strength it once did. I conducted a review and analysis of current academic literature on the topic along with statements from current and former European politicians and separatist political parties to explore and compare the cases of secessionist movements in Scotland, Catalonia, and Flanders. My analysis incorporates the events since the UK’s Brexit referendum currently left out of academic literature published to date. I hypothesize that an updated review of European integration’s effect on secessionist movements will show that integration has helped secessionist movements and their arguments. While these cases were chosen for their strength and their diversity in circumstances, these independence movements are united in being transformed from pipedreams to real possibilities thanks to European integration.

Human relations and local and national governments’ administration have helped shape the international community as politics, law, and economics influence decisions. With increasing awareness of global connectivity, the environment and underrepresented populations have also emerged in discussions at various scales. The study considers literature and dialogues on law, colonialism, environmental justice, and human behavior to investigate the evolution of Hawaii and its people. The state of Hawaii offers a framework for exploring transnational conduct, revealing historical and current uses of the law, the environment, and hierarchical relations connected to overarching topics of colonialism, environmental justice, and recognition. Previous literature reveals that the Pacific Islanders of Hawaii contrast from other Indigenous communities in the United States and the world due to social and legal positionings, including but not limited to the commercialization of Pacific Islander culture and the lack of formal rights. These differences indicate opportunities for the United States government and the Pacific Islanders of Hawaii to modify their interactions and facilitate reform for mutual benefit. Nevertheless, the fundamental relations between the Pacific Islanders of Hawaii and “non-Indigenous” peoples represent global themes of hierarchy, social disparity, and competition. Framing Hawaii alongside prevailing transnational conversations grounds theories of the human experience in a case study of legal, environmental, and racial influences. Relevant literature portrays the development of law throughout the international community with debates regarding the extent and applicability of specific governance regarding colonialism, trade, and the environment. In addition, the environment and racial identifications contribute diverse and complex perceptions, becoming increasingly significant with globalization. Therefore, Hawaii is observed as a product of the international community and a catalyst for understanding different perspectives, priorities, and consequences that can be utilized for effective cohabitation and cooperation moving forward.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement began as a social media hashtag in 2013, in response to the murder of unarmed 17-year old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, a self-proclaimed "community watchman." Zimmerman was ultimately found not guilty of either murder or manslaughter. Since that time, Black Lives Matter has grown beyond a hashtag to become one of the most visible and audible dimensions of the larger Movement for Black Lives; in so doing, it has also become a target of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies, who have proclaimed BLM to be a "terrorist organization.” Complicit in reproducing and broadly disseminating this historically specific, targeted rhetoric are mass media organizations. Unearthing how seemingly harmless statements made by mass media actually reinforce, or further entrench, racist ideologies – ideologies that often remain below the surface and are therefore more difficult to excavate and challenge – allows a critical understanding of how these ideologies not only endure, but actually influence policing and policy making. In this paper, I examine the racist-coded meanings implicit in the words and phrases used to denigrate and undermine the Movement for Black Lives today. I demonstrate that by recycling law-and-order rhetoric used to target and discredit the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 70s, today’s mainstream media outlets, as well as government and law enforcement officials, preserve white supremacist ideology while subverting and distorting BLM’s calls for racial, social, and economic justice.

A plethora of research documents the negative impacts of incarceration and poor nutrition on individual, family, and population health, but little research explores how these seemingly disparate issues may intertwine. Based on the knowledge that children learn to eat and develop lifelong nutritional patterns as part of their families, and that incarceration of a parent breaks family units apart, I investigate the question: How does a parent’s incarceration shape the trajectory of a child’s developmental food environment, including meal structure, staple foods, and changes in routine? Based upon current research on parental incarceration and childhood eating patterns and health outcomes, I predict that parental incarceration will be associated with negative changes in a child’s food environment by disrupting previously held family eating routines and by creating additional barriers to healthfully feeding a family. I conduct semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated parents or co-parents whose partners are currently imprisoned. Interviews were coded in NVivo using two rounds. First, I open coded to identify preliminary themes. Then I coded a second-round to refine the themes found and identify patterns between themes. Preliminary coding of the interviews reveals evidence of family eating pattern disruption and constrained choice that limits food options as a result of incarceration. This implies that parental incarceration may be associated with challenges and barriers to feeding a family and disruption of healthy meal patterns for children. It illuminates how large-scale social phenomena such as mass incarceration can patten eating behaviors and habits, therefore directly impacting health outcomes. The conclusion situates this study in the context of Socially Engaged Nutritional Sciences and explores the implications of these findings for children of incarcerated parents and for racial and socioeconomic inequalities in nutrition and beyond.