Digital Commons Network^™

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.

It's A Mean, Mean World: Social Media And Mean World Syndrome, Samantha Kemp

University Honors Theses

Born from cultivation theory, which suggests that media has a profound effect on viewers' perceptions of the world around them, Mean World Syndrome is a psychosocial phenomenon that describes increased levels of fear, anxiety, and pessimism, as well as an overall perception of the world as "meaner" than it actually is, as a result of heavy viewership of violence-related mass media. Mean World Syndrome has primarily been associated with television consumption, but a major societal shift towards consumption of social media instead of television over the last two decades necessitates investigation into how social media affects its users. Through an …

Perspectives From Frontline Organizations In The Portland Metro Region On Addressing Food Insecurity During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan Horst, Meg Grzybowski, Huijun Tan

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

See video of related event: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/metropolitianstudies/155/

The main goal of this project was to contribute to an understanding of how frontline-serving food security organizations in the Portland region adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies in 2020-2022 and how they addressed increased rates of food insecurity among the region’s residents. We discuss the experiences of these organizations in serving the region’s food insecure residents, the many adaptations they made in the past few years, barriers experienced, and positive and critical reflections on local government. We identify lessons learned and promising ideas for how to better prepare our region, in …