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C-Dem Researchers Meeting Notes, November 10, 2019, Consortium On Electoral Democracy

Meeting Notes

No abstract provided.

House Oversight Of The Executive Branch In The 116th Congress, Molly Reynolds

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presents a lecture titled "House Oversight of the Executive Branch in the 116th Congress" by Brookings Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, Molly Reynolds. Democrats promised to undertake oversight of President Trump and the executive branch. This lecture answers questions about the ability of the House of Representatives to fulfill one of Congress’s duties during the Trump administration and previews whether and how this oversight activity may impact the 2020 elections.

Prosperity Versus Equality At The Polls, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

Thailand's 2019 Vote: The General's Election, Jacob Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Thailand’s March 2019 ballot was the first for the country since 2011, and for many it signaled the potential end of the military junta’s five-year rule. But was it truly a return to democracy? This essay argues that the election was far from a democratization event. Instead, it was a highly orchestrated exercise to ensure authoritarian longevity. The junta employed techniques of institutional engineering as well as managing the election’s outcomes in an effort to extend the premiership of Prayuth Chan-ocha despite increasing pressure for a return to civilian rule. The results of the election suggest that Thai society continues …

Thailand’S 2019 Vote: The General’S Election, Jacob Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Thailand's March 2019 ballot was the first for the country since 2011, and for many it signaled the potential end of the military junta's five-year rule. But was it truly a return to democracy? This essay argues that the election was far from a democratization event. Instead, it was a highly orchestrated exercise to ensure authoritarian longevity. The junta employed techniques of institutional engineering as well as managing the election's outcomes in an effort to extend the premiership of Prayuth Chan-ocha despite increasing pressure for a return to civilian rule. The results of the election suggest that Thai society continues …

A New Campaign Strategy Informed By Pragmatism: Running On A Platform Of Expanding Voting Accessibility, Aaron Martin, Zoe B. Pidgeon, Robert Calimente, Alexandra D'Antonio, Albi Taipi

Honors Scholarly Publications

Voter disillusionment is commonplace in the United States, with many eligible voters either choosing not to or altogether unable to exercise their right to vote. To the former, in 2016 alone, nearly 40 percent of eligible voters did not vote. Although it is an issue that extends to the health of a democracy, voting itself is not one that is central to campaign platforms, with candidates running on more high-profile issues such as healthcare or the economy. A solution to voter disillusionment is for pragmatically minded candidates to organize their campaigns around voter expansion as a means to build winning …

Influencing Political Tolerance Among Populists In The Uk, Stephen Black, Kirk Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In recent years, politics around the world have seen a drastic change in its elections. Not too long ago, Mexican leftist populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swept the elections in July 2018. It did not come as a surprise as several other countries, especially in Europe, have seen a wave of populism emerging with the election of centrist French President Emmanuel Macron and the reelection of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In this context, populists are generally those who view the world with an “us-versus-them” mentality and who see some sort of conspiring elite (often the government) who disregard the …

Representational Style And Congressional Elections: New York's 19th District In The 115th Congress, Margaret Mccormick

Honors Theses

The disconnect between members of Congress and the American public is no secret. Of the three branches of government, the legislative branch is intended to be the most representative of the people. However, it consistently faces the lowest approval ratings among the American public. Although the public largely disapproves of Congress as a legislative body, most Americans support their own representative. This phenomenon is reflected in high reelection rates for congressional incumbents. My thesis examines the relationship between congressional representation and elections through an evaluation of the representational style of Congressman John Faso. Faso, who represented New York’s 19th District …

The 2018 Elections: Gender, Media Representation, And Campaign Strategies, Emily Bobruff

Honors Theses

For my thesis topic, I am researching the impacts of media representation of candidates on gender and campaigning. I break down my research based on the type of campaigns, including U.S. senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns. Looking into campaigns for each type of office, I observe how candidates represented themselves in the 2018 elections through their own campaign advertisements. I juxtapose this research with my research on how the media then portrays candidates, and look to see if gender impacts media coverage in 2018. Main questions that my research provides insight to: How has the role of gender in campaigns changed …

Make America Great Again? American Conservatism And Donald Trump, Justin Lange

Honors Theses

LANGE, JUSTIN M. Make America Great Again? American Conservatism and Donald Trump. Department of Political Science, June 2019

ADVISOR: Prof. Clifford W. Brown, Jr.

It might seem difficult to imagine now, but once upon a time it was possible to feel shocked by political developments. We’ve become so desensitized, especially in the last few years. Yet in 2016, there was a profound sense of disbelief over the results of the American presidential election. How could Donald Trump, a complete political outsider who’d never before held office, defeat an opponent who seemed to hold every office except for the presidency she …

What An Election Poster Can Tell Us About Thai Election Campaigns, Jacob I. Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In the runup to Thailand’s 2019 national elections, the country has been awash with election posters. This simple form of campaign communication remains a staple of Thai campaigns, despite the advent of various Internet platforms and communication devices. But although election posters are often discussed by journalists and the general public, they are rarely analyzed in academic research. This is surprising and unfortunate, since their wealth of textual and visual information can tell us a lot about campaigns.

When Youth Run For Office, P. Francis Wilson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The purpose of this work is threefold: to define the term ‘youth candidate’, to create a public data archive of youth candidates around the U.S., and to reveal what role age plays on the campaign trail for younger candidates. The first study shows the increase in young people running for office in the U.S.. The second study tells of age discrimination towards younger candidates on the campaign trail. Also within this document is an archive and photo album of youth candidates and their campaigns. The results of this research tell a data and experience-driven story of the quickly changing and …

Midterm Decline In Comparative Perspective, Duncan Gans

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

History Of Military Interventions In Political Affairs In Pakistan, Hina Altaf

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Military interventions in political affairs have hinder the process of democratization within countries like Pakistan. This single case study of Pakistan discusses why the military intervened into domestic affairs by discussing political, economic and social conditions within Pakistan after partition from India. This study shows that heavy reliance on the military post- partition decreased civilian authority and increased military supremacy. Moreover, this study also shows the shift from direct to indirect military intervention within Pakistan and concludes that the military will continue to influence political affairs indirectly if the elected civilian government threatens its interest.

The Purple Wave: Gender And Electoral Outcomes In The 2018 Midterms, Semilla B. Stripp

Political Science Honors Projects

This thesis offers an analysis of the relationship between gender and electoral outcomes in the 2018 midterm elections. What role did gender play in the success of candidates for the House of Representatives? In answering this question, I quantify women’s success by analyzing the extent to which female candidates’ vote shares can be attributed to their gender. I find that, while controlling for various electoral and biographical factors, female challengers and open seat candidates performed better than their male counterparts, while female incumbents had no advantage over male incumbents. These outcomes also divided along party lines, with Democratic women performing …

Margaret Chase Smith's 1972 Election: The Fall Of An Institutional Giant, Allison Kobzowicz

Senior Honors Theses

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress and was well-known by her constituents in Maine as a principled, integrous public servant. In 1972, after 24 years in the Senate, Margaret Chase Smith lost her first ever election to democratic challenger, William Hathaway. An examination of the primary source documents available at the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine, as well as local and national newspaper coverage, finds three main reasons that Smith suffered defeat: Smith was unwilling to let go of her traditional way of campaigning, she was berated by a press …

Erratic Trump Needs Some Naysayers, Not More “Yes” People, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

Editorial column by Evan Barrett which appeared in the following newspapers:

The Missoulian, April 9, 2019

The Montana Post, April 13, 2019

The Missoula Current, April 12, 2019

The Montana Standard, April 14, 2019

Here’S Looking At You: Public- Versus Elite-Driven Models Of Presidential Primary Elections, Colin D. Swearingen, Elizabeth A. Stiles, Kate Finneran*

2019 Faculty Bibliography

Objective. This study advances the presidential primary literature in two ways. First, since many studies in this literature advocate for more detailed theoretical development, we incorporate an interdisciplinary approach by utilizing social contagion theory from the field of sociology. Second, presidential primaries do not adequately explore what role the public plays during the invisible primary. We thus incorporate Google Trends data into presidential primary models to account for the relative amount of public attention for each presidential primary candidate. Methods. We use fixed effects regression to determine the impact of public attention on a candidate’s share of the contested primary …

East Chicago Politics: A Cornucopia Of Corruption, Tina Ebenger, Tracey Mccabe

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Despite the comical title, there is a lot of corruption in East Chicago (IN) politics. One mayoral election had to have a “do-over” because of fraudulent absentee ballots, and a former mayor is doing time in jail for using public monies to remodel his home. This cornucopia of corruption extended to the indictment of six public officials (the so-called Sidewalk Six) in East Chicago for misusing public funds for political gain, specifically vote-buying, in the 1999 mayoral reelection of Robert Pastrick. These officials, ranging from a parks superintendent to a city engineer to several city council members, bought votes by …