Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Hashim Malallah 
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Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): hm22o@fsu.edu
Position Title: Graduate Student
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FSU College (if applicable): Social Sciences and Public Policy
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: Political Science
Headshot (optional): https://cre.fsu.edu/system/files/webform/urop_project_proposal_portal/9066/hi.jpg

Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: IN SEARCH OF THE SOFT EFFECT: US SOFT POWER AND MENA STATES’ FOREIGN BEHAVIOUR
Project Keywords: US foreign policy, Diplomacy, MENA, Israel, conflict 
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: Yes
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 1
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
open to all majors; political science is recommended. 


Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
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Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: Fully Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: 5
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
Why some Arab states signed normalization agreements with Israel while other Arab states did not? What explains variation in the behavior of Arab states toward Israel? The American role in altering the calculus of MENA regimes toward Israel is well observed and assumed, but rarely measured. In this research, I propose costly signal argument linking US high-level leader visits and in-person diplomacy to the behavior of MENA regimes toward Israel. I argue that more exchanged visits between US and MENA leaders are associated with more moderate behavior of MENA regimes toward Israel. My approach yields a cross-sectional time-series dataset using data on US diplomatic visits and measures of UNGA voting affinity, latent interstate hostility, and bilateral trade across 22 MENA countries from 1950 to 2020. I find considerable empirical support to the theoretical prediction: diplomatic visits correspond to decreasing distance between the UNGA ideal points of MENA states and Israel and increasing volumes of bilateral trade with Israel. I also find no evidence that these associations are conditional on the amount of received aid from the US as a compensatory material benefit. These findings advance new empirical knowledge about the scope and magnitude of American diplomacy in shaping the politics of the MENA region.

Research Tasks:
data collection (mainly)
literature review 

Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
Experience with Excel is recommended. 

Mentoring Philosophy:
Explain research goals and agenda very well so the mentees' feel engaged in the research. Make sure that the research question, theory, and methods are well understood by the mentees' so they take full advantage of the work they are doing. Asking them about their opinion, taking their suggestions, and engage them in the research ideas so they enjoy what they do and feel involved in the process. 

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UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes
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Are you interested in attending in a UROP Research Mentor Workshop Series?: No
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Year: 2023
update url: https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=AxYpydm62Y81sS9IYvdAmMyKHdqUiDOE_iu8j6esprQ