Digital Commons Network^™

Civilizational Trauma And Value Nihilism In Boccaccio's "Decameron", David J. Rosner

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Barry Cunliffe, Europe Between The Oceans: 9000 Bc To Ad 1000, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

John Keegan, The First World War, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Andrew Targowski, The Deadly Effect Of Informatics On The Holocaust, Peter Hecht

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Compulsory Voting In Latin America: Good Or Bad For Democracy?, Ian Hansen, Dr. Darren Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Using survey data from across Latin America, I sought to determine whether compulsory voting laws have negative effects on constituents’ views toward democracy. I expected to find that such laws influence voters to have lower appraisals of democracy in their country.

The analysis yielded results that lend significant support to my theory. Controlling for individual demographic variables and the country-level indicators of GDP per capita and GINI Index (which measures economic inequality), it appears that compulsory voting laws do, in fact, have a statistically significant effect on support for and satisfaction with democracy. Further, although the substantive effects are small, …

Voter Turnout: How Femininity And Competence Affect Attitudes Toward Female Political Candidates, Holly Henrich, Dr. Chris Karpowitz

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Currently, the United States ranks as the 86th country in women’s representation in government,with 18.2 percent of seats in the House of Representatives and 20 percent representation in the Senate (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2014). With a nation that is half comprised of women, questions are raised as to why women have historically been underrepresented in government. More coverage on the physical appearances and fashion choices of female political candidates has far exceeded the coverage given to their male counterparts (Rosholm, 2009). How female political candidates are initially perceived based on their physical attributes may be a contributing factor as to why …

Opportunism In Ugandan Ngos: A Randomized Field Experiment, Eric Reuben Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Corruption undermines the effectiveness of international development. The financial integrity of non-governmental organizations (NGO) can be improved by donor-to-organization contact, but foreign donors rarely travel to countries such as Uganda. This project involved a randomized design to compare the size of project bids by NGO management when approached by potential donors (foreigners) or donor representatives (Ugandan citizens). Local donor representatives were more likely to be denied information during an in-person visit than the foreigners visiting NGOs. Otherwise, foreign potential donors were provided with information that was the same as local representatives, except in 6 instances in which bids were substantially …

Religion’S Role In Parent To Child Political Socialization, Madison Dayton Daines, Quin Monson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I believe that the religion a person was socialized in has lingering affects on his or her political values. Parents play the most prominent role in the political direction of their children both early in life and up through young adulthood (Niemi and Jennings 1991). This is because parents transmit political values to their children through socialization, the everyday conversations and interactions about the political world as well as broader norms and values that occur within the family, thus influencing their political attitudes and behavior. Religious ties also greatly contribute to individuals’ political attitudes and behaviors (Wald and Calhoun-Brown 2010). …

Reducing The Gender Gap Through Religious Socialization, Kalifa Smith, Dr. Jessica Preece

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Women are greatly underrepresented in politics. Researchers have studied many potential explanations for this such as the competitive nature of politics, gender role socialization, institutional structures, etc. Yet there is little research on the role of religious socialization on women’s political ambition. In this study I hypothesize that religious leaders are powerful socializers and can increase their church members’ level of political efficacy, thus leading to increased political participation. Through an experimental survey, I examine whether the topics that the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon) chooses to focus on affect their church members’ …

Political Knowledge And Extra-Governmental Activism In Peru, Lucas Brook, Darren Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Downtown Lima, Peru is as metropolitan a place as one can find. Buses and cars blare their horns as they jostle for position on crowded streets. People brush shoulders as they weave their way though the crowds that fill streets dedicated entirely to pedestrian traffic. Suddenly, the air is filled with shouts and the sting of tear gas. Police emerge from every direction as piles of trash are ignited in the street. Protesters hurl bricks as they flee the clouds of gas and advancing officials. What changed? What drove these seemingly peaceful people to such seemingly extreme actions? And why …

Implicit Association Of Gender And Politics, Bryonna Bowen, Jessica Preece

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The gender gap in participation, capability, and interest in politics has been widely researched. However, in this project we examined whether or not people implicitly identify men more strongly than women with politics. Furthermore, I was interested to determine to what extent everyday media exposure, particularly focusing on a specific gender, could influence an individual’s implicit biases. Mock newspaper articles, with either male or female political subjects, were used to further determine the effect of media content on people’s gender biases. While self-reported prejudices may be inconsistent and untrustworthy, I used the implicit association test (IAT) to assess the patterns …

Mary Elise Sarotte, The Collapse: The Accidental Opening Of The Berlin Wall, Basic Books, 2014. Barry Rubin And Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, Nazis, Islamists, And The Making Of The Modern Middle East, Yale University Press, 2014., Laina Farhat–Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Constitution: Who Knows, Who Cares?, Luke Bell, Jeremy Pope

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In recent years, significant attention has been directed toward the role and relevance of the Constitution in contemporary politics. Conservative and Tea Party voters, for example, tout their dedication to the “founding principles” in the Constitution. Despite the prevalence of Constitutionally-charged rhetoric among political activists, national surveys have repeatedly found that most Americans are, at best, poorly informed about the nation’s founding document.

Context Matters: Exploring Methods Of Dissonance Reduction In Conflict Resolution, James L. Martherus

Student Works

One of the first steps in intergroup conflict resolution is to humanize the "enemy" or outgroup. Unfortunately, this humanization often fails. My goal in this paper is to answer the following question: Why does positive information about a group sometimes lead to negative responses? Specifically, this paper tests three hypotheses. First, I hypothesize that Individuals with high ingroup-centric beliefs will react differently to the treatments compared to individuals with low ingroup-centric beliefs. Second, I hypothesize that individuals who experience dissonance as a result of the treatments will react negatively to the treatments. Finally, I hypothesize that the framing of these …

Is Healthcare A Right?, Ben Ader, Kelly Patterson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project was an experiment to help understand the views of Utahns on healthcare and whether or not healthcare can be included in a list of basic rights. We also assessed the many dimensions of healthcare and where Utahns lie on a graph measuring the intrinsic motivations for or against healthcare as a basic right.

Counterterrorism In Authoritarian And Democratic Governments, Tai Gray

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This research project aims to determine if significant differences exist in the types of counterterrorism used by authoritarian and democratic governments. A case study of the counterterrorism methods used by the United States and Chinese governments shows that authoritarian governments' methods seem to be more extreme due to a greater influence over domestic media and public opinion, but similarities in the realm of human rights also exist that could suggest a more similar response between the two regime types.

A Tall Tale: How Stories Can Change U.S. Public Opinion, Matthew B. Young

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything.” Just as in Abraham Lincoln’s day, today our nation’s course is influenced by public opinion. Thus, understanding which frame best elicits a change in public opinion will provide agencies with a more effective model to change voters’ opinions.

A frame is the presentation of an idea or fact, meant to encourage a specific interpretation. In this study, the issue of foreign aid will be framed as stories and facts. A story frame will portray information about a community or individual affected by U.S. foreign aid using the “Universal Story Structure.” …

Cybersecurity And The Future International Competitiveness Of The United States, Tai Gray

Student Works

Cybersecurity is inseparably connected to the future international competitiveness of the United States and must play a more significant role in both governmental and private spheres of American society. To increase the strength of U.S. cybersecurity and defend against future attacks, the government should devote more resources to providing cybersecurity tools and information to the public, promoting the implementation of secure forms of communication and purchasing, as well as researching and developing both offensive and defensive cyber tools. By focusing efforts on these three key areas, the U.S. government can better prepare for future cyberattacks and minimize risk to both …

Back Cover

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Predictive Ability Of Political Psychological Theory: A Case Study Of President Clinton’S Behavior In Bosnia, Madeline Ary

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Why does the U.S. sometimes choose to intervene in international conflicts? Can the political decisions of a leader be profiled? In order to address these questions, this study analyzes the case study of the Bosnian civil war and the decisions President Bill Clinton made to escalate intervention measures in the region until the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. To accomplish this analysis, the psychological theory of international relations, specifically operational code theory, will be applied. Overall, this analysis concludes that the psychological and instrumental beliefs held by President Clinton had an impact on U.S. foreign policy pertaining to Bosnia.

Conflicting Thoughts: The Effect Of Information On Support For An Increase In The Federal Minimum Wage Level, Joshua Cooper, Alejandra Gimenez

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

In March 2014, President Obama urged Congress to approve a minimum wage hike from $7.25 to $10.10. As expected, a debate sparked from both sides of the aisle about whether it should be increased at all and if the proposed jump was too large. Following this debate, a flurry of public opinion polls entered the field to measure how Americans felt on this issue. Research firms from the Washington Post to Pew fielded basic surveys asking how Americans felt about the potential wage hike. However, none of them looked at how the levels of information about the minimum wage increase …

Cover

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor, Alan Hickey Editor-In-Chief

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Trust And Scandal: A Tale Of Two Theories, James Martherus

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

“I am not a crook.” Those five words are burned into the nation’s memory. President Nixon was under investigation after five men were arrested trying to break into the Watergate office complex, where the Democratic National Committee was headquartered. Evidence was found that the burglary was funded using money from Nixon’s re-election campaign. This led to cover-ups at high levels within the FBI, CIA, and the White House. Nixon was implicated in these cover-ups and was eventually charged with obstruction of justice, abuse of authority, and defiance of committee subpoenas. It was then that Nixon uttered the infamous phrase, “I …

United States—Chile Bilateral Free Trade Act, Jake Berlin

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Since the formation of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) in 1947, world trade has increased exponentially, leading to unprecedented economic growth and prosperity throughout the world. The elimination of nontariff barriers (NTB’s) and the reduction of tariffs throughout the world have allowed world trade and wealth to flow effectively from one country to another guided by the “invisible hand” of economic liberalism. The Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, which led to the creation of a formal World Trade Organization (WTO), was seen by many as evidence pointing to continued progress toward trade liberalization throughout the world. In …

Contents

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Dispensable Nation, Alan Hickey, Shanna Dungan, Corey Cherrington

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Not long ago, Vali Nasr released a revealing account of his time with the U.S. Department of State as an advisor to Richard Holbrooke, the U.S.’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. In his book the Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat, we learn that the Obama administration did not live up to its potential in the realm of foreign policy. In fact, Nasr goes so far as to contend that the current leadership of the United States has hindered the U.S.’s ability to enact effective policy decisions abroad and has weakened our nation’s world leadership role.

Research Project: Children In Agriculture, Rachel Milliron

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

The concept of the “American dream” lures many immigrants to the U.S. each year. Patterns of immigration to the U.S. throughout history may be categorized into waves, including major waves from Asia, Europe, and Latin America (Nelli 1987: 200–01). American industries have welcomed and capitalized from the influx of cheap labor in the workforce. The agricultural industry employs many immigrants, and, more specifically, child immigrants or children of immigrants (Human Rights Watch 2014a). The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 exempts minors in agricultural jobs from the maximum-hour and the minimum-age requirements that apply to other working minors (Human Rights …

Gender, Corruption, And Culture: Evidence From The American States, Luke Bell

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

In recent years, several influential studies have reported that high levels of female representation in national legislatures seem to correspond with low levels of countrywide corruption. Scholars have expressed excitement at the prospect that simply adding women to government will “diminish the need for a painful, expensive, and politically difficult process of rooting out corruption via oversight and prosecution” (Esarey and Chirillo 2013: 364). Some governments have launched initiatives to increase the number of women in positions of public responsibility as a means of combating corrupt behavior. Peru, for example, recently created an allwomen police division in an attempt to …

Review Of “Political Theory In The Square: Protest, Representation, And Subjectification”, Lisa Mcghie, Alan Hickey

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

As globalization takes hold, political movements and protests across the world become more relevant to us as Americans. In their paper, “Political Theory in the Square: Protest, Representation, and Subjectification,” Marina Prentoulis and Lasse Thomassen analyze what such protests can teach us. The article, published in Contemporary Political Theory, is timely in our globalized situation where protests have become something common. The article uses the movement Toma la Plaza in Spain and the movement aganaktismenoi in Greece to show what the “occupy” movements are trying to accomplish and how, in the end, these activities will not completely change the hierarchal …