DPIR MPhil students awarded Department’s latest thesis prize
A host of students have received the Department’s latest MPhil thesis prize for 2023-24 for getting the highest thesis mark in their cohort.
MPhil students Iván Tubio Sanles, Linn Rustad and Arwa Mokdad all received the highest mark in their thesis for their degree programme, while Sophie Cardin, Elliot Johnston and Hugo Till jointly received the same highest mark in their thesis for their Political Theory degree programme.
Further details of the award recipients and their theses are below:
Iván Tubio Sanles – MPhil Politics: Comparative Government; thesis title: ‘The Political Economy of Offshore Wealth How Tax Flight Affects Taxation Preferences’
He said:
“I am deeply honoured to receive this recognition from the Department for my MPhil thesis. I owe special thanks to my supervisor, Professor David Rueda, whose immense support and guidance were invaluable throughout every stage of this project.
I am also deeply grateful to my colleagues and friends at DPIR for their insightful comments and suggestions, and to the Centre for Experimental Social Science (CESS) for funding and revising the survey experiment of my thesis.
My MPhil thesis examined the effect of tax flight information on tax preferences. I argued that tax flight information reduces individuals' willingness to pay taxes and their support for overall tax levels, while increasing their demand for tax progressivity.
By disentangling the influence of tax flight on tax preferences, my research ultimately aims to inform the design of policies to address offshore tax evasion and improve tax compliance.”
Linn Rustad – MPhil Politics: European Politics and Society; thesis title: ‘The Political Economy of Imperfect Labour Market Competition: Monopsony Power, Worker Power, and the Labour Share of Income in Advanced Democracies’
She said:
“I am very grateful for the department's recognition of my research. Over the past two years, I have been fortunate to receive generous support from the fantastic academic community in DPIR.
I especially want to thank my brilliant supervisor, Professor David Rueda, for his invaluable guidance and feedback, as well as Aker Scholarship, for making this research possible.
My thesis explores the relationship between the market failure of imperfect labour market competition and the decoupling of wages from productivity growth over time. My results indicate strong support for the expectation that employers' rising monopsony power and workers' declining countervailing bargaining power is associated with a lower labour share of income in advanced democracies.
I also find indicative support for a link between asymmetrical power relations in labour markets and government partisanship. Overall, my empirical results highlight the importance of examining labour market competition, political drivers, and economic inequality in combination.”
Arwa Mokdad – MPhil International Relations: thesis title: ‘Mechanisms to Win Their Heart: A Comparison of Local, Regional, and International Mediation Efforts in Yemen.’
She said:
“It is an honour to be receiving the MPhil thesis prize in International Relations for my thesis.
Through fieldwork in three countries, I analysed conflict mediation by local, regional, and international actors to better understand factors for success in trust-building.
This entailed elite interviews with 30 mediators in Sanaa, Muscat, and New York. In the thesis, I argue that strategic bias and culture can foster an environment of communication and reconciliation with certain local and regional actors being well-placed to utilize traditional tools and their own interests to bring warring parties into dialogue.
Given tensions across the region, I hope this work contributes to greater scholarship on collaborating with local communities to build sustainable peace.”
Sophie Cardin – MPhil Politics: Political Theory; thesis title: ‘Kalman Zingman’s Edenia: A Utopian Window into the History of Yiddish Political Thought’
She said:
“It means a great deal to me to be recognized by Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations for my MPhil thesis.
It is particularly special to share this honour with Hugo Till and Elliot Johnston, who, in addition to being outstanding scholars and thoughtful students, have become my good friends.
I’m also very grateful to my supervisor, David Leopold, who saw the potential in my topic even before I did. David has been a supportive mentor and devoted teacher, and it’s a privilege to continue working with him on my DPhil.
In my MPhil thesis, I develop and use what I call a ‘function-based’ approach to analysing utopian texts in order to provide an extended study of Kalman Zingman’s Yiddish-language utopian novel, In Der Tsukunft-Shtot Edenia (1918), and to explicate some central ideas in Yiddish political thought.”
Elliot Johnston – MPhil Politics: Political Theory; thesis title: ‘Witnessing Loss and Resistance ACT UP and the Politics of Grief’
He said: “I’m both immensely honoured and grateful to be one of the political theory students receiving this prize for my MPhil research.
My thesis examined theorisations of the relationship between loss and political action through an engagement with the history of AIDS activism.
Writing this thesis was a privilege and a pleasure, and I am incredibly thankful to DPIR and the political theory faculty for providing a supportive intellectual community in which I could explore this topic.
Beyond this, my particular thanks must go to Gideon Elford and Lois McNay for their generous supervision, as well as to my wonderful course mates for providing insight, friendship, and a lot of laughs along the way.”
Hugo Till – MPhil Politics: Political Theory; thesis title: ‘Legitimacy Beyond the State: The Case of Social Media’
He said:
“It is a lovely surprise to be recognised for my thesis work. My thesis drew an analogy between the power that states exercise over their citizens, and the power that social media companies exercise over their users.
I argued that these forms of power are sufficiently similar such that some of the checks and balances which are necessary to legitimate the state's power should be applied to social media companies as well. I look forward to continuing this work as a DPhil student in DPIR.
I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Paul Billingham, for his detailed feedback across very many drafts; Dr Gideon Elford, who nurtured the project in its earliest stages; and my MPhil cohort for their friendship and support.”
