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Comparing The Us Response To The Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan And The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine: Learning From The Past And Planning For The Future, Zachary Hogan

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

As the Russo-Ukrainian war continues to rage, the decisions of the present are of paramount importance. In order to make the most positive and well-supported decisions in this ongoing conflict, it would be wise to look to past instances of similar situations. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is such an instance. The parallels between the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the past Soviet invasion of Afghanistan are extensive and, more importantly, informative for U.S. foreign policy. It is with this lens that this paper will pursue a historical foreign policy analysis of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, its circumstances and …

Hablando Sobre Inmigración: How Members Of The House Of Representatives In 118th Congress Frame The Issue Of Immigration, Guadalupe Castañeda Martinez

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

Historically, Immigration has played a critical role in forming the nation’s identity, economic prosperity, and promoting cultural diversity. Considering that the issue of Immigration has been in the news and is considered by many to be important and in need of policy solutions, little progress has been made on passing comprehensive immigration reform since the 113 th Congress in 2013. How members of Congress talk about Immigration is important because framing can influence public opinion, shaping perceptions of the issue and affecting policy decisions. Members may use their platform to communicate how they think about policy issues. Research has been …

The Truth About Partisan Affiliation: Fear, Trust, And Media, Hailey Merin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

As the father of Western logic, Aristotle's research of the scientific method of analysis, biology, and psychology has been adopted by present-day America. If America has openly accepted an array of Aristotle's teachings, why have they ignored his observations that political parties are non-Democratic?

This research explores the relationship between political party affiliation, sentiment toward the government, and media influence on fear of corrupt government officials. Firstly, this paper examines the idea that sentiments toward the government are influenced by partisan affiliation. Secondly, it determines that after the 2020 election, Republicans fear corrupt government officials more than any other major …

"The Land That Feminism Forgot": Birthzillas, Madwives, And The Politics Of Chilbirth, Amber Vayo

Doctoral Dissertations

“The Land that Feminism Forgot” is an in-depth exploration of the politics of childbirth that draws together qualitative and quantitative evidence to theorize the connections between treatment in childbirth and maternal mortality. Situating the qualitative research in the larger national context, the second chapter offers a State Reproductive Autonomy Index that provides an overview of the reproductive policy landscape at the national level. The dissertation then explores the role of institutionalized childbirth, medical mistrust, and obstetric violence in the U.S.’s longstanding maternal mortality crisis and offers policy suggestions in key public health areas. Through 120 qualitative interviews with people who …

Views Of Judaism And Jewish People In Jordan: Political, Social, Historical, And Religious Considerations, Thalia Gustina

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research was to find out what the general view of Judaism and Jewish people is within Jordan and what factors play into these views. There were a few aspects of this topic that were specifically focused on in this study. The impact of Israel on the way that Jewish people are perceived was one of the main topics explored. Part of this was looking at the history of Judaism and Jewish people in the Arab World and how the relationship between them and their non-Jewish neighbors changed after the creation of Israel. As a majority Muslim …

Mental Health In Massachusetts Prisons, Jeffrey Yung

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In November of last year, former Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division released the findings of an investigation of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MDOC). They found several violations of prisoner’ constitutionals rights for mental health cases under the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments for criminal defendants. The findings reveal a lack of structured mental health care for MDOC prisoners, untrained employees, and unnecessary abuse of restrictive housing for prisoners designated under a mental health watch program.

Self-Determination In American Discourse: The Supreme Court’S Historical Indoctrination Of Free Speech And Expression, Jarred Williams

Honors Theses

Within the American criminal legal system, it is a well-established practice to presume the innocence of those charged with criminal offenses unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Such a judicial framework-like approach, called a legal maxim, is utilized in order to ensure that the law is applied and interpreted in ways that legislative bodies originally intended.

The central aim of this piece in relation to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution is to investigate whether the Supreme Court of the United States has utilized a specific legal maxim within cases that dispute government speech or expression regulation. …

Pandemics And Partisanship: Following Old Paths Into Uncharted Territory, Luke Fowler, Jaclyn J. Kettler, Stephanie L. Witt

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although partisan politics tend be set aside during crisis, the timing of gubernatorial actions in response to COVID-19 is telling about how partisanship is shaping the way elected officials are reacting to this pandemic. Using an event history analysis, the authors find that Democratic governors responded to the White House’s attempts to downplay the severity of the pandemic by declaring emergencies in order to draw citizen attention to and to prepare for a public health crisis. On the other hand, Republican governors resisted doing so until Trump declared a national emergency on March 13; however, Republican reactions were conditional on …

Democratic Governors Are Quicker In Responding To The Coronavirus Than Republicans, Luke Fowler, Jaclyn Kettler, Stephanie Witt

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

While the coronavirus pandemic is a national and international concern, state and local officials find themselves on the front lines of the public health battle.

Governors, in particular, have been in the spotlight in recent weeks. New York’s Andrew Cuomo has been praised by news outlets for his leadership at the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, while others have been criticized for slow responses.

A clear partisan gap has emerged in how quickly governors have declared emergencies and issue stay-at-home orders. Democratic governors have issued orders three to four days sooner than Republican governors, on average.

Factors That Influence African American Male Retention In Public Four-Year Institutions, Shantya V. Plater

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to the lack of policies at the federal and state level, 4-year public colleges and universities across the United States are left to develop retention policies at the institutional level to support their diverse populations. Retention rates for minority students lag behind their peers, especially African American male students. This study identified the factors that influence retention amongst African American male students at 4-year public colleges and universities. The theoretical framework used in this study was the Tinto model of academic and social integration. The data identified that financial resources, family support, and academic and social engagement influence the …

Mother Nature And Menvironmental Politics: Analyzing How Gendered Frames Affect Support For The Clean Air Act, Grace Montgomery

Senior Independent Study Theses

While environmental issues are becoming more significant and frequent, concern for the environment varies. Research has shown a gender gap in environmental concern, particularly in that males see helping the environment as compromising their masculinity (Brough et al. 2016, 568). My I.S. examines whether and how gendered frames shape public support for the United States’ environmental air pollution policy, the Clean Air Act. In order to connect an issue to a frame, an individual will draw upon a relevant schema and apply elements from that schema in order to understand the issue. Gender is an accessible schema that strongly shapes …

Human Rights? What A Good Idea! From Universal Jurisdiction To Crime Prevention, Daniel Feierstein

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Over the last decades, Genocide Studies has entered in a “comfort zone.” With fellowships and support from governments or NGOs, we have developed a very comfortable environment in which the knowledge we produce about genocide prevention is neither critical nor useful. We have become trapped by assumptions we have never checked against reality and many of us have chosen to work inside the circle of those assumptions: genocide and mass violence are horrible acts committed by horrible people; we cannot stand by and do nothing; we have the responsibility to protect civilian populations and that responsibility takes the form, as …

Barriers Between Effective Transnational Changemaking: Relationships Between Ingos And Moroccan Ngos, Julia Walters

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper seeks to explore the relationships held between international non-governmental organizations, primarily based in the West, and Moroccan NGOs. The existing literature on the topic explores the ways in which international NGOs can both benefit and harm domestic NGOs, which seek to fix issues not thoroughly addressed and solved by the state or by the market, such as issues of gender-based violence, female education, and lack of rural healthcare. The data gathered was organized into two types of relationships; financial and non-financial. Financial relationships between INGOs and NGOs were often depicted as crucial in enabling critical projects, such as …

Public Financing Of Elections In The States, Nicholas Meixsell

Honors Theses

In the US, there is a history of the courts striking down campaign finance reform measures as unconstitutional. As such, there are few avenues remaining for someone who is interested in 'clean government' reforms. One such avenue is publicly financed elections, where the state actually provides funding for campaigns. These systems can be quite varied in the restrictions and contingencies they attach to the money, and for examples one has to look no further than the states There are many states that have some form of public financing for elections, and by looking at the different states' systems we are …

Multicultural Narratives: Language As A Site Of Struggle For Amazigh Rights Activism In Morocco, Joyce Lee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Moroccan constitutional monarchy’s officialization of the Amazigh language in 2011 was its response to a building coalition for Amazigh rights, which simultaneously narrowed and broadened the scope of the Amazigh Rights movement. This study’s purpose was to analyze Tamazight as it has currently manifested in the urban space of Rabat as a site of struggle for Amazigh people. The questions the study attempts to answer are: a) Has the Moroccan government found success in its chosen goal of standardization of the Tamazight language in schools? b) Do Amazigh activists share this same goal? c) Whose needs do the goals …

Refuge In A Place Without Refugees, Jane Roarty

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The question of who should be given legal status as a refugee has consistently been veiled in discussions of ‘practicality,’ political motives, and inaction. Centered in these discussions tend to be state officials, international organization officials, and academics. More importantly, typically excluded from this assembly of decision makers and the thinkers are those actually and personally affected by the specifics of the term. In Jordan, this discussion is particularly interesting because the government does not legally recognize refugees since the United Nations refused to recognize Palestinians under the 1951 Convention definition. This paper aims to unpack the term refugee: both …

State Spending And Local Financial Impacts From California 2017 Wildfires In Napa And Sonoma Counties, Frannie Edwards

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

The Future Of The Death Penalty In Nebraska: Utilizing Bruce Bueno De Mesquita's Predictioneer's Game To Create A Forecast Model Of Capital Punishment, Katie Andersen

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the future of the death penalty in Nebraska with the goal of producing a forecast model of the issue utilizing Bruce Bueno De Mesquita’s Predicationeer’s Game software. Local and national politics are included to give a comprehensive idea of why Nebraska is in the hot seat in terms of capital punishment. Understanding the politics of the issue is vital to realizing the challenges of changing Nebraska’s policy on capital punishment and further explains the conflicted history between key players in the state.

The Predictioneer software requires input data of key players’ positions on the issue, influence, salience, …

The Politics Of Exclusionary And Inclusionary Zoning: The Road To Residential Segregation, Emily M. Partika

Senior Independent Study Theses

This paper aims to explore why some suburbs adopt land use policies that encourage exclusivity and segregation, meanwhile others adopt land use policies that encourage inclusivity and integration. Specifically, I analyze the social, economic, and political factors that motivate the adoption of certain land use policies. This research extends Charles Tiebout’s public choice theory in conjunction with Michael Danielson’s theory on local government autonomy over land use regulation. These theories combine to explore the understudied relationship of median voter pressure on local government to explain how political actors adopt policies motivated by pressure from from residents, or median voters. Additionally, …

Women In Parliament: A Study Of Issue-Specific Female Coalition Building In Morocco, Lura Morton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Currently, 81 out of 395 members of the House of Representatives, Morocco’s lower chamber of Parliament, are women. In other words, roughly 20.5% of the representatives are women. For comparison's sake, the world average is 23.8%.1 Morocco is near the world average in terms of representation, but what does female representation accomplish? Are the women in parliament effective at representing Moroccan women, their rights, and their concerns? This paper explores the concept of female parliamentarians as substantive representatives of female citizens. Specifically, this paper examines if female members of parliament (MPs) form coalitions around issues that are specific to women, …

Seismic Early Warning Systems In Japan & Mexico: Expectations And Reality, Frannie Edwards

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Community Accountability In Land Use Planning: Using Mitigation Strategies, Frannie Edwards

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Creating Accountability With Interstate Cooperation: Unauthorized Water Use Enforcement On The Klamath River, Luke Fowler, Isaac Castellano

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

While lacking coercive power to compel enforcement, interstate compacts create accountability through multiple sources and layers connecting enforcement behavior to oversight. Using logistic regression, we test a model of accountability and enforcement of unauthorized water usage on the Klamath River. Findings indicate unauthorized water usage is far more likely to be reported and enforced on the Klamath River than on neighboring rivers in the same counties. Conclusions indicate the increased institutional layers of interstate compacts lead to more accountability and stringent enforcement and reporting of unauthorized water use.

Immigration Policy Demanders: The Influence Of U.S. Interests Groups And The American Electorate On Major Political Party Platforms, Scott D. Sears

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study seeks to understand how political parties create their platforms. Specifically, this study examines how, when, and why political parties cater to the interests of interest groups and the electorate regarding immigration policy. Three qualitative case studies are examined: 1984, 2004, and 2016 party platforms and the corresponding policy preferences of interest groups and the electorate. Bawn et. al’s theory on political parties forms the theoretical framework of this study, which claims that parties are likely to cater to interest groups when political salience is low and parties are likely to cater to the electorate when political salience …

Policy Dissemination: Public Administration Theory And International Organizations | A Case Study On The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities In The Kingdom Of Morocco, Rachelle Ann Wilson

Capstone Projects – Politics and Government

With the advent of international organizations comes international law. Unprecedented at such a global and influential level, there is no theoretical framework within public administration explicitly focused on administrative structure and strategies for the implementation of international law. Consequently, the current administrative literature and theoretical framework must be looked to and transposed, as much as possible, to the international stage. This paper explores public administration theory and how it would manifest if applied to international policy implementation. By taking a closer look into the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its implementation strategy within the …

Hannah Arendt And Natives As Extras: Towards An Ontology Of Palestinian Presence?, Francesco Melfi

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

The essay grew out of Hannah Arendt’s reflection on the roles and uses of the mask, a meditation on the ontology of the transient public figure or persona vs. one that restitutes the person to the unadulterated Selbstdenken dimension of the Epicurean philosopher-in-hiding. The author individuates in the resulting caesura between the donning and the taking off of the mask the primal source of that paradox in Hanna Arendt’s political behavior that alternately compelled her to confront the ontological presence of the Palestinian people, and made her withdraw into philosophical hiding without ever really coming to terms with it. In …

Self Sufficiency In Refugees, Sarah Zayed

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Syrian refugee crisis has taken the world by storm as it is not only a Jordanian issue or a Middle Eastern issue but rather it is a humanitarian crisis. The intent of this research is to study Syrian refugees living in Jordan whom are living outside of refugee camps and their level of self-sufficiency. A few ideas the researcher has kept in mind throughout this study are: Are refugees working in the same fields as they did in Syria? Does Jordan really invest in these workers? What is the Syrian point of view? What is the Jordanian government point …

The Puzzle Of Post-Conflict Justice: Identifying Factors That Influence State Selection Of Mechanisms, Taylor V. Knoop

Senior Independent Study Theses

The period of post-conflict is wrought with frustrations, broken trust and intense hurt as a state works to bring its society out of internal conflict. Post-conflict justice mechanisms are designed to provide tools to move a state towards stability. While scholars have evaluated the different post-conflict justice mechanisms in reaching their goals, there is limited research into understanding why a state may implement one post-conflict justice mechanism over another. Specifically, what factors impact the form of post-conflict justice mechanisms in states? This research presents six post-conflict justice mechanisms through three theoretical-derived categories, retributive justice, restorative justice and immunity measures, before …

The Effect Of The Syrian Crisis On Jordanian Internal Security, Andrew E. Szparaga

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Jordan has a refugee crisis; between 620,000 and 1.3 million Syrian refugees are seeking refuge in Jordan. This report aims to answer which aspect of Jordanian security the refugees have the biggest effect on. It also aims to answer whether the refugees based in camps, like Za’atari, or those integrated into the Jordanian communities are more threatening to internal security. Because many argue that Syrian refugees have a negative effect on the economic, environmental, military, political, and social securities of Jordan, many believe that they might pose a possible threat to the country’s internal security factors. The Syrian refugees have …

Conflict Between Saudi Arabia And Iran: An Examination Of Critical Factors Inhibiting Their Positive Roles In The Middle East, Ghadah Alghunaim

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Since 1979, Saudi-Iranian relations have been tense due to their position as superior powers in the Middle East. Both countries have different values and perspectives in regards to diplomatic relations with the West. As a consequence of the new developments in Iran's foreign policy and the newfound openness to the West adopted by President Rouhani, the topic has proven to be of research interest. The primary concern of this research was to explore the effect of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East, and whether or not there is a possibility to overcome this conflict using …