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The Effectiveness Of The Strategies Interest Groups Use To Influence Health Care Reform In The United States: A Case Study Analysis Of President Clinton, Bush, And Obama's Health Care Reforms, Jacquelyn E. Hannan

Senior Independent Study Theses

This independent study explores the effectiveness of the strategies interest groups use to influence health care reform in the United States. This is done through testing three hypotheses The hypotheses are: 1) With all other things being equal, interest groups who are more active with the reform movement are more likely to be successful in their goals than those who are less active, 2) With all other things being equal, interest groups who are aligned with presidential health care reform initiatives are more likely to be successful in their goals than those who are not aligned, and 3) With all …

'You Are Who We Say You Are': The Politics Of Ethnicity In Post-Genocidal Rwanda And Bosnia-Herzegovina, Stephanie A. Sugars

Senior Independent Study Theses

The establishment of peace in post-genocidal states is vital, as the experience of extreme division and violence can scar a population, contributing to violence and inequality moving forward. Existing literature on post-conflict transition and governance argues that two main systems are typically used: consociationalism and assimilationism. While consociationalism argues for heterogeneity in the state and assimilationism for homogeneity, both of these systems use the institutionalization of identity as a step in post-conflict recovery, through such means as proscribing or privileging particular identities. This study posits that this is inherently flawed, as attempts to institutionalize identity ignore its contextually fluid or …

"If You Want To Test A Man's Character Give Him Power" Abraham Lincoln's Character And Use Of Strategic Action: An Analysis Of Presidential Decision-Making, Hannah Sharfman

Senior Independent Study Theses

The examination of President Abraham Lincoln’s performance in office through multiple political theories can help political scientists better understand the decision making process which led to both successful and unsuccessful decisions taken by arguably the most illustrious president in United States history. My research examines three of Lincoln’s major decisions while in office, using the cases of the Emancipation Proclamation (successful decision), the management of General McClellan (failed decision), and his suspension of habeas corpus (mixed decision). My aim is to discover can these theories focusing on presidential character or on the use of strategic action help to explain the …

Violence Without Verdicts: A Comparative Analysis Of Social Movements And Race Relations In The United States And South Africa, Madison Swoy

Senior Independent Study Theses

This paper explores the role that social movements play in weakening the racial hierarchies that continue to persist in contemporary United States and South Africa. A theoretical analysis of the function of social movements is followed by an historical survey of the racial hierarchies within these two countries, with particular attention paid to the countries’ respective eras of institutionalized racism characterized by the Jim Crow and Apartheid periods. After which, police brutality and service delivery are used to exemplify the structural racism that endures in each of these societies. These two issues also serve as the most galvanizing issues for …

Armed With An Easel: Understanding Artistic Political Praxis Through The Works Of Theodor Adorno And Chantal Mouffe, Evelyn Yu Yu Swe

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study is divided into four chapters. The first chapter examines the role of capitalism in the formation of our culture. The argument presented here is that culture plays an important role in reinforcing modern neoliberal capitalism and that neoliberal capitalism has massive control over the dissemination of culture and the arts. The chapter concludes that it is necessary to utilize socio-cultural means in combating the influence of capitalism, and there does indeed exist emancipatory potential in artistic political praxis.

The second chapter focuses on Theodor Adorno’s aesthetic theory in articulating his conception of the emancipatory potential of art. …