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Super Pac Funding And Its Impact On Voting Behavior In The U.S. House Of Representatives, Michael J. Scariano Dec 2016

Super Pac Funding And Its Impact On Voting Behavior In The U.S. House Of Representatives, Michael J. Scariano

Honors Theses

In light of the increasing levels of polarization in terms of voting behavior among members of the U.S. House of Representatives over the 112th, 113th, and 114th Congresses, coupled with the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commision 558 U.S. 310 (2010), which authorized the use of unlimited fundraising and expenditure by outside groups in elections, the question was raised whether or not there was a correlation between these two occurrences. Specifically, this paper asks “what role does Super PAC funding play in the roll call vote choices of House Members of the 114th Congress?” To …


The Impact Of Political Oversight In Democratization: The Cases Of Japan And Bangladesh, Andrea K. Griner Aug 2016

The Impact Of Political Oversight In Democratization: The Cases Of Japan And Bangladesh, Andrea K. Griner

Honors Theses

This study seeks to illustrate the importance of oversight in parliamentary democracies. A case study of Japan and Bangladesh is analyzed with a focus on legislative oversight. Results stress the importance of stable institutions and executives, and incentives for parties to consolidate.


The Efficacy Of Congestion Pricing, Zachary J. Ridder May 2016

The Efficacy Of Congestion Pricing, Zachary J. Ridder

Honors Theses

The practice of congestion pricing, also called road pricing, is by no means a new innovation. It has roots as far back as the American Revolution, but in the modern world filled with hundreds of millions of cars it is a possible answer to gridlock, a potential source of revenue, and an environmentally conscious policy. The question remains though, is congestion pricing effective and, assuming that it is, is it a benefit to a community or a tax upon the poorer members of society? It has been implemented across the world in many forms and with varying degrees of success, …


Explaining The Outcomes Of The Affordable Care Act Through Lowi And Salamon’S Policy Evaluation Models, Anna Moravec May 2016

Explaining The Outcomes Of The Affordable Care Act Through Lowi And Salamon’S Policy Evaluation Models, Anna Moravec

Honors Theses

This paper illustrates how tools-based theoretical models, like Lester Salamon’s, can be used to predict the outcome of policy tools. Theodore Lowi and Lester Salamon’s theoretical models were applied to select provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to generate predictions regarding their outcomes. The validity of these predictions was assessed by comparing them to current empirical data and trends. Ultimately, this paper sought to demonstrate how tools-based models can be used to predict policy tool outcomes relatively accurately. Our evaluation used Lowi’s original model detailed in his Four systems of policy, politics, and choice (1972) paper and Salamon’s model …


Media's Isis Crisis: How Isis Came To Be Through Framing And Naming, Cameron A. Morgan May 2016

Media's Isis Crisis: How Isis Came To Be Through Framing And Naming, Cameron A. Morgan

Honors Theses

An exploration of the ISIS crisis from July 2013 - June 2014 in the New York Times and the Guardian's respective coverages using frame analysis. Through keywords, frames were determined to be constructed. Frame analysis was broken into three parts, particularly focusing on sourcing, power dynamic and structure.


Millennial Skepticism And Susceptibility To Media Persuasion, Olivia K. Lee May 2016

Millennial Skepticism And Susceptibility To Media Persuasion, Olivia K. Lee

Honors Theses

This study examines the disconnect between millennials' perceived and actual skepticism toward news media outlets as well as the Third Person Effect in millennials' attitude toward others' skepticism. This body of work includes survey research to examine these theories in the context of millennial news consumption.


An Ethics Of Economic Sanctions, Macallee N. Goldman May 2016

An Ethics Of Economic Sanctions, Macallee N. Goldman

Honors Theses

This paper provides an ethical analysis of smart sanctions under the combined framework of the categorical imperative and utilitarianism. Developing an ethical model that also encompasses sanction effectiveness as a means of evaluation, this paper argues that smart sanctions should not be used by countries and legislative bodies as tools of expression or of achieving goals without efficiency considerations grounded in this ethical framework. Only when they clearly meet the criteria of utilitarianism and the categorical imperative should smart sanctions be used. By doing so sanction effectiveness is argued to be maximized, in both ethical and empirical context.


Understanding Tacit Theories Of Nonprofit Administrators In Collaborative Interorganizational Networks, Ella C. Sanders May 2016

Understanding Tacit Theories Of Nonprofit Administrators In Collaborative Interorganizational Networks, Ella C. Sanders

Honors Theses

As the nonprofit sector increases in size, many organizations are choosing to collaborate as a new approach to delivering goods and services to the public. Collaboration occurs when “organizations work together to address problems through joint effort, resources, and decision making and share ownership of the final product or service” (Guo & Acar, 2005). In my research, I ask the question: How do nonprofit administrators conceptualize this kind of interorganizational collaboration? These conceptualizations are referred to as tacit theories: the wisdom and knowledge of administrators that is implicitly known as a result of experience. I compare these tacit theories to …