Digital Commons Network^™

Climate Hazards And Human Migration: Literature Review, Anna Ivanova, Deepti Singh, Pronoy Rai, Claire Richards, Hugo Vasconcelos, Michael Goldsby

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Human populations are migrating as a result of climate change. We conducted a systematic literature review examining the relationship between several climate hazards and migration flows. We reviewed 58 empirical studies between 2010 and 2023 that examined current and future migration related to acute and long-term climate hazards. The results indicate that the relationship between climate hazards and migration is diverse and depends on a range of socio-economic factors. Droughts and rising temperatures have a major impact on both international and domestic migration. Our review also reveals that multiple climate hazards collectively tend to intensify domestic migration toward urban areas, …

Second International Marxism And The Finnish Revolution, Luke Brodersen

University Honors Theses

This paper will consider the Finnish revolution of 1917-1918 as it was understood by Second International Marxists--not because these Marxists were right, but because the revolution was led by Marxists of a socialist party formed in the Second International. By dint of the constraints of time, of resources, and of a language barrier, this paper cannot be an exhaustive historical account of the activities of the Finnish socialists, nor a comprehensive explanation of Marxism, nor would it assume to provide a proper 'Marxist' analysis of this history. Of the two 20th century English language histories of this revolution--the work of …

American Evangelicalism And The Status Of Women: Biblical Interpretation, Politicization, And A Future For Secularism, Ivy Macneil Blackwood

University Honors Theses

American evangelicalism has positioned itself as a dominant force in social policy since the 1970s and has continued to grow over time. During Carter's presidency, the Religious Right, a neoconservative political identity of fundamentalist beliefs, emerged with the intention to homogenize American culture by infusing literal interpretations of biblical Scripture with American exceptionalism. With the help of charismatic leaders like Billy Graham, the political manifestations of American evangelicalism's fundamentalist beliefs have been solidified through conservative legislation and Christian demographic dominance in Congress and the Supreme Court. Women have been particularly burdened by evangelical institutionalization, as access to socioeconomic and political …

Threats Of Neoliberalism To Western Democracies And The Efficacy Of Neoliberal Critiques, Anis Zaman

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Abstract A neoliberal market-based governance system has engulfed Western democratic societies. Since it surfaced in the 1980s, neoliberalism remained the dominant governing system. The pervasive neoliberal governance logic has become deeply entrenched in our society in ways that make it less democratic. More so, market-based neoliberal dominant economic and political logic has caused a problematic drift in democratic political discourse by turning progressive political forces less progressive. While there is a superficial agreement between neoliberalism and democratic values at a deeper level, the two are in conflict. In contemporary governance practices, we can see the neoliberal takeover in most sectors …

Lawfare As A Policy Tool In Sino-American Relations: The Case Of Huawei Cfo Meng Wanzhou, Zachary S. Souders

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Competition between the United States and China is at an all-time high. Despite decades of diplomacy between the East and West, recent trends suggest the two powers are drifting further apart. To understand US-China relations, it is critical to understand major developments as they occur. This paper examines the geopolitical significance of United States v. Meng (2020), an extradition case in which US authorities requested the transfer of Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou to American jurisdiction. Despite US policymakers declaring Meng and Huawei to be threats to national security, the eventual dismissal of all charges Meng faced presents a puzzle …

Artificial Intelligence As The Next Front In The Class War, Christopher Hill

Dissertations and Theses

For many years, artificial intelligence has been confined to the realm of science fiction, and while the technology has been in development, predicting the effects AI will have on our society has been a challenging endeavor. The release of ChatGPT in 2022, the subsequent mass adoption of the AI chatbot, and the response by other private firms in the field announced AI's permanent entrance into the public sphere. These recent strides made in the field of artificial intelligence reveal that the pace of technological development has outstripped the rate at which we are able to politically examine and understand these …

The Bonneville Power Administration In A Transformative Decade: A Study Of Collibration In Public Administration, Christopher M. Frost

Dissertations and Theses

In 1987, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) celebrated its 50th year as a federal agency. It was created in 1937 to market power produced by federal dam operations on the Columbia River and provide electric transmission service in the Pacific Northwest region. A decade later, while its organizational mission had largely remained the same, BPA had undergone a major transformation both in its governance role with regional partners and as an institution of the Pacific Northwest. This study seeks to understand how this change occurred.

My research identifies three factors that enabled BPA to successfully respond to external challenges to …

Activism And Stress, Ashanti Laine T. Peredo, Taylor Gayton, Lalaine Sevillano

Student Research Symposium

Black women often shoulder a heavier burden of financial, social, and physical responsibilities within their families compared to non-Black individuals who do not identify as women. This increased load contributes significantly to mental health disorders and psychological distress and well as physical disparities. When compounded with experiences of racism and sexism, these responsibilities can lead to a sense of social invisibility and foster a tendency towards stoicism. This study is a mixed method study as it aims to quantitatively examine the relationship between activism, physical wellbeing measured by the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA), and psychological wellbeing among Black …

What Can We Learn About Teaching Excellence From Our Students? Lessons From Six Years Of Teaching Award Data, Christopher Shortell, Kris Henning, Carl Christiansen

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Teaching excellence in higher education can be defined and studied in different ways, but research efforts to date have often focused on institutional or instructor perspectives. This article uses a data set of over 500 open-ended comments submitted by Political Science undergraduates as part of a teaching award process to identify themes that matter most to students. We find that being supportive, bringing humor, enthusiasm, and passion to the classroom, and engaging students with relevant, challenging, and exciting activities are what defines teaching excellence from a student’s perspective. Building on these themes and using quotes to illustrate key concepts, we …

Is The Future Female? Lessons From A Conjoint Experiment On Voter Preferences In Six Arab Countries, Ellen Lust, Lindsay J. Benstead

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite growing evidence of pro-female bias in the electorate elsewhere, conventional wisdom holds that voters in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) prefer male candidates, presumably due to sexism. We test this conventional wisdom using a conjoint experiment administered to over 30,000 respondents in six MENA countries. We find both male and female respondents are more likely to express support for female candidates and see them as more capable than their male counterparts, even in stereotypically male domains. We argue the increasing demand for political outsiders explains these results. In highlighting the importance of such changes, our study expands …

Corporatizing Violence: Targeted Repression Of Indigenous Dissent In Democratic States, Laikaika Layne Rivera

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores state repression of disruptive protests against private development projects in democracies. Using a mixed methods approach, including logistic regression and case studies, the research identifies key factors influencing repression. Indigenous leadership, fragmented public opposition, and private elite influence increase the likelihood of violent repression. The findings suggest that when public resistance is insufficient against powerful private interests, coercive institutions resort to violent strategies to quell disruptions and signal increased costs for future dissent. State repression is more likely when the protest movement is comprised of Indigenous groups than compared to those of the general public. The study …

What Explains Male And Female Decision Making To Enter Law? Evidence From A Survey Of Us-Based Undergraduate Students, Abigail Cohen

University Honors Theses

The research conducted in this thesis aims to explain why fewer females than males choose law and pinpoint the explanation as to why they have disparate experiences in the field. The hypothesis is sex discrimination is to blame for the differences among female and male decision making. Sexual harassment and discrimination plays a very prominent role is male dominated fields and discourages females from joining those workforces. The research method for this experiment was an anonymous survey, sent out via social media and email. The survey method was chosen because it was meant to be a quick, yet effective way …

The Arab Spring Uprisings In Geopolitical Context, Jake Alan Rutledge

Dissertations and Theses

The question of why revolts, civil wars, and social unrest occur is central in the field of political science. This paper asks that question in the specific context of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings as a revolutionary wave. Many theories of revolution and social unrest locate their causes in the internal characteristics of the country where they take place, such as the country's demographics or level of economic development. This paper examines the external situation of a country: its relationships with other states and the international community. This paper examines eighteen Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa …

Evaluating Militant Decision-Making With Information Science: The Irish Republican Movement During The "Troubles", Joshua C. Eastin, Emily Kalah Gade, Michael Gabbay

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Why do militant groups decide to escalate or deescalate their use of violence in conflict? Examining the case of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, we analyze groups that adopt violence as a political strategy and evaluate factors that influence its application. To do so, we adopt a novel empirical approach to the study of militant groups. Drawn from information science, this approach enables estimation of variable influence and uncertainty within structured case studies, and is thus ideal for topics such as militant decision-making where systematic data collection is difficult.

Critical Consciousness & The Rural-Urban Divide, Kendall O'Rorke

University Honors Theses

This study investigated the relationship between conceptions of Critical Consciousness (CC) and urban vs. rural geographic location type. Participants (N = 31) completed the Short Critical Consciousness Scale (CCS-S, Rapa et al., 2020), and 25 additional questions regarding potential location-based Idealogical differences. No measurable differences were found regarding differences in conceptions of critical consciousness (using CCS-S scores) based on rural-urban location, however, other responses supported some current research regarding political typology. Additional research is needed to fully understand this topic.

The Impetus Of International Security In European Integration: The Nature Of Eu Common Security And Defense Policy, Osman Goktug Tanrikulu

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores the complicated relationship between security considerations and the European integration process. The research uncovers specific security factors that have shaped the EU integration process. Applying policy alignment and collective efforts for governance, this study offers a methodological improvement to the conventional status quo satisfaction concept within power transition theory.

Findings indicate that external militarized actions targeting European nations only occasionally disrupted integration in the short term. Instead, inner coordination among member states vis-à-vis external actors, promoted integration. During the early stages of integration, alignment with the EU collective was crucial, while aligning with regional leader Germany became …

The New Profits Of Pleasure: Reality Television And Affective Exploitation In Post-Pandemic Neoliberalism, Sophia Aepfelbacher

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis uses reality television and the parasocial relationships it cultivates as a microcosm to better understand the current form of neoliberalism as well as the implications it has for democracy. I extend the preexisting scholarship surrounding neoliberalism and reality television by emphasizing the importance of social media in understanding that link. By conducting a case study of Netflix's Love is Blind, I demonstrate how both reality television content and the reality-television-participant-to-influencer pipeline serve to reinforce neoliberal values by constructing powerful cultural imaginaries such as a model of care and self-sufficiency that centers marriage and the household. I argue …

Do Men Strategically Leverage Women's Intersecting Identities? Intersectional Symbolic Inclusion As An Electoral Competition Strategy In Polarized Turkey, Elif Sari Genc

Dissertations and Theses

Do party elites use intersectionality as an electoral competition strategy? In this dissertation, I study this question in the context of mayoral elections in Turkey by focusing on the competition between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the People's Republican Party (CHP). Examining the gender and religious orientation of candidates from these parties, local variations in party affiliations, and partisan polarization that is decisive in vote choice at the district level, I argue that the Islamist AKP strategically selects secular-appearing women to leverage their intersecting identities in races where secularist partisan polarization against this party is high.

Drawing on …

Policy Implementation In Crisis: Lessons From The Philippines, Steven T. Zech, Joshua Eastin, Matteo Bonotti

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Like many countries, the Philippines faced severe economic, social, and political challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020 President Duterte issued an executive order announcing a national state of emergency that introduced a highly restrictive system for community quarantine and lockdown. While these measures led international observers to rank the Philippinesʼ pandemic response among the worldʼs most stringent, it is unclear whether subsequent health outcomes were sufficient to justify the severity. In this article, we evaluate discrepancies between COVID-19 policy goals and outcomes in the Philippines via a compelling but under-utilized method of democratic deliberation, the ‘mini-public’. The mini-public …

Network Tango: Examining State Dispositions Toward Attribution In International Cyber Conflict, Robert Riley Turner

University Honors Theses

Cyberspace is an environment of international conflict often sought out due to its ability to create significant effects at little cost, and obfuscating the ready attribution of hostility. One avenue toward streamlining the attribution of hostile actions in cyberspace is the introduction of a due diligence of data transparency amongst states. This level of data transparency must somehow be incentivized. The following study surveys the geopolitical dispositions of three major powers that utilize cyberspace as a venue of conflict: The United States, China, and Russia; in order to determine how each nation might interact with an international due diligence of …

The Collapse Of The Afghan State And Its Relation To Us Policy, Omar Saradi

University Honors Theses

The main inspiration for this has been down to my curiosity of my heritage. The events described, particularly in the 1970's, were things that were contemporary to my family, and the escape from Afghanistan as refugee was an experience that was firsthand for my dad--who escaped in 1979 to Pakistan to claim refugee status in the US. One of the things that struck me the most in his story of escaping on foot with a group of villagers, was that the centers for refugees in Pakistan were not the cleanest and housed a crowded room of people who were stuck …

War, Decisions, И Деньги: Analyzing Private Military Companies In American And Russian Contexts, Tara Harper

University Honors Theses

Private Military Companies (PMCs) have become increasingly prevalent throughout the global security landscape. Their rise has led war - and the tools state's use to wage it - to become increasingly privatized with each state's varied approach to the evolving security landscape. Understanding and comparing the role of PMCs in such states as the U.S. and Russia allows for greater clarity regarding the industry as a whole, due to the structural differences in each state's approach to utilizing these companies. Regarding the Russian context, such companies as the Wagner Group have increasingly gained global attention due to how they are …

From The Closet To The Campaign Trail: Navigating Disclosure Of Sexual Orientation In Campaign Media Content By Openly Lesbian Political Candidates In The Oregon 2022 Election Cycle, Bridget D. Volk

University Honors Theses

This qualitative study examines the strategies employed by openly lesbian political candidates in navigating the disclosure of their sexual orientation within campaign media content during the Oregon 2022 election cycle. The project uses Tina Kotek, a candidate for Oregon governor, and Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a candidate for Oregon House District 5, as case studies. The thesis comprises of four main sections, each focusing on a specific aspect of campaign media content: analysis of the biography sections on each candidate's campaign website, examination of two selected social media posts from each candidate, analysis of two television advertisements for each candidate, and a …

Women Parliamentarians In India Since 1991: Challenges And Opportunities, Vatsala Bhusry

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

India gained a new economic orientation in 1991 following the policy of economic liberalization. It offered the opportunities to close the gender gap in various fields including the political field as visualized in the original goal of the Indian constitution. However, there is an acute underrepresentation of women at the national political level and there is a lack of evidence-based research studies to analyze this gap. This study maps the political trajectories of 13 elected women leaders holding offices at the national level since 2019. To better understand the challenges and opportunities at both macro and micro levels they came …

Madame Justice Will Save Our Democracy: Gender Bias And Perceptions Of The High Court In Transitional Regimes, Christopher Shortell, Melody E. Valdini

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

While existing literature has established that women leaders are stereotyped as more likely to uphold the norms of democracy, the power of this effect in the non-democratic context is not established. We address this gap and argue that the context of regime transition cultivates a unique dynamic in which the stereotypes associated with women justices become especially valuable to both citizens and the state. However, we argue that this perception of women contributing to the health of democracy is not constant across all citizens equally; instead, those people with high levels of hostile bias against women are more likely to …

Nationalist And Non-Nationalist Christianity In The United States, Aaron Epperson

University Honors Theses

Christian nationalism has broken into the American news cycle over the last few years through its connection to former President Donald Trump, and it's closely associated with violent events like the January 6th insurrection and the Charlottesville, VA, Unite the Right rally. However, its close association with Trump and depiction in a 24-hour news cycle makes defining what Christian nationalism is--and is not--difficult for those unfamiliar with nationalism and the broader American Christian tradition. This paper hopes to briefly explore what Christain nationalism is within the United States through an exploration of nationalism itself and a discussion of nationalist and …

Global Climate Governance: Does Bilateral Cooperation Matter?, Nataliya Stranadko

Dissertations and Theses

The international relations literature looks at the climate regime from a perspective of power distribution, state interests, institutions, and multilateral negotiations. The international law literature focuses on legal analysis and design of international climate agreements. The transnational governance literature examines the participation of transnational actors at different levels of governance. However, each of these disciplines overlooks the trend in bilateral cooperation between national and subnational actors in a multilateral setting, which arises as part of the construction of the international regime. Why do national and subnational public actors in global climate governance cooperate bilaterally when multilateral cooperation already exists? What …

The China Balloon Incident: The Drama Within The Drama, Mel Gurtov

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The recent China Balloon Incident has all the appearance of high drama, though the heat is mainly provided by domestic politics rather than a strategic face-off of the U-2 or Cuba Missile Crisis variety. This is a drama in three acts. In Act 1, “Discovery”, the Biden administration went into action mode on finding that a Chinese “spy” balloon had crossed the US. An air force jet shot the balloon down, displaying Cold War-style toughness with China. In Act 2, “Evaluation”, new facts emerged that shed further light on the episode. Act 3, “Blaming”, involves mutual recriminations that obscure the …

Intersectionality Pertaining To The Disproportionate Rates Of Black Women In Prisons And Jails, Mackenzie Heller

University Honors Theses

The incarceration rates of Black women in America surpass even all other demographics. Yet, Black women are often not on the news when discussing prison rates in the United States. Rather we see Black men, Hispanic men, and so forth. While these people do make up large portions of the prison system they are seeing a decline in their incarceration rates. Black women are often pushed to the sidelines when discussing matters that can be seen as central to their livelihoods.

This thesis addresses the intersectionality that only Black women experience and how that affects their imprisonment rates and experiences …

Explaining Backlash: Social Hierarchy And Men’S Rejection Of Women’S Rights Reforms, Lindsay J. Benstead, Ragnhild L. Muriaas, Vibeke Wang

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Governments promote gender-sensitive policies, yet little is known about why reform campaigns evoke backlash. Drawing on social position theory, we test whether marginalized (women’s organizations) or intrusive (Western donors) messengers cause resistance across public rights (quotas) and private rights (land reform). Using a framing experiment implemented among 1,704 Malawians, we find that females’ attitudes are unaffected by campaigns, while backlash occurs among patrilineal and matrilineal males. Backlash among men is more common for sensitive private rights (land reform) than public rights (quotas) and Western donors than women’s organizations, suggesting complex effects generally more consistent with the intrusiveness hypothesis.