Digital Commons Network^™

Human Capital Flight Impact On The Greek Economy Post The 2008 Global Financial Crisis, Andrew Cook

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Historically, Greece has been a nation that focused heavily on the trading of goods for its economic success, due to its ideal geographic location serving as a conduit to the near east. However, in recent years the Greek economy has undergone changes that have altered its exports and the structure of the labor market. Greece continues to suffer repercussions from the 2008 Global Economic Crisis, which has caused a large outward migration of skilled workers. During the years of 2010-2015, between 280,000 and 350,000 skilled migrants had fled Greece to work in other nations abroad (Labrianidis & Pratsinakis 2016). Greece’s …

The Relationship Between Social Media Usage During The Covid-19 Pandemic, And Its Effect On The Youth Voter Turnout In The 2020 General Election, Mary Gilmartin

Honors Program Theses and Projects

History has shown that young voters have been known to be a lagging demographic when it comes to voter turnout in general elections. However, in 2020 there was a sudden spike in voter turnout in the age group of 18-24-year-olds. This sudden spike in voter turnout can be explained by the societal changes the youth demographic faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic and isolation protocols. Due to social distancing, normal in-person political participation shifted to online environments, especially on social media. Through social media, young people began to become more engaged politically as they gained access to political information and …

Black Lives Matter Vs. Anti-Lockdownand Stop The Steal: How Framing Affects Political Protests, Tarah Pierre-Louis

Honors Program Theses and Projects

For eight years the Black Lives Matter Movement has made consistent efforts to combat racial injustice, however, their message is often undermined by politicians, media elites, and partisan counter protestors who claim the movement is both aggressive and unwarranted. The same critics of the Summer 2020 Black Lives Matter protests drew comparisons to Anti-Lockdown protests in early 2020, and the insurrection on Capitol Hill in January of 2021 – despite inherently different messages behind each respective protest. This project sets out to find how the framing of the Black Lives Matter movement compares to other partisan protests such as the …

Somewhere That’S Green: Recreational Space Use And Civic Engagement In Massachusetts’ Urban Areas, Matthew Donohue

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Public green spaces, their use, and their accessibility are all crucial indicators of the state of life in urban areas. These spaces can signify the socioeconomic wellbeing of neighborhoods and cities, and often reflect trends accordingly; in one such case, Rehling et al. found in a study in German urban areas that those living at lower socioeconomic levels are often farther from green spaces than those at higher ones.^[1] Perhaps unsurprisingly, access to these spaces is also often an indicator of personal physical health. Rundle et al. found that adults in New York City who lived closer to large …

Cornerstone Or Threat? Political Ambition And The Federalist, Emily Taylor

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In “Federalist 47,” James Madison defines tyranny as “the accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elected.” In order to prevent tyranny, Madison argues in “Federalist 51” that it is first necessary to separate powers among the three branches of government and between the state and national governments. While this separation is a necessary protection against tyranny, it is not sufficient. In addition, second, it is also necessary to conform “the interior structure of the government, as that its constituent parts may, by …

Investigating Academic Pressures On The Children Of Immigrants, Michelle S. Murphy

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Immigration is a hot button issue in US society, and has been for a while now. Starting with the wave of Irish immigrants in 1815, immigrants were not necessarily greeted with open arms (History.com Editors. 2018). Throughout history, excluding immigrants and treating them poorly became a pattern. This includes the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the quota system placed into action in 1924 (History.com Editors. 2018). Immigrants have always been resisted by American society and treated accordingly.

This resistance against immigrants has only grown since the 2016 Presidential election. Immigrants and their families have been stereotyped as uneducated and who “steal …

The Politics And Ethics Of Immigration In A Commercial Republic, Kiara Palomares

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The quote on the Statue of Liberty reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The retched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” These words are central to the mythology of America as a nation of immigrants and, to the extent that this myth is accurate, one would expect that after experiencing multiple waves of immigration the United States (US) would have developed a set of principles guiding how legislators think about and frame immigration policy. This would not be …

Elephants Never Forget: Partisan Schemas And The Continued Influence Of Misinformation, Jeremy V. Hermanson

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In an age where information is plentiful and access to it is practically unlimited, the veracity of information is frequently an afterthought. Previous research has demonstrated that individuals may often be reluctant to alter their beliefs and attitudes even after false information is corrected. This phenomenon is known as the continued-influence effect or the continued influence of misinformation (CIM). Misinformation and “fake news” have grown more common, and their effectiveness may be explained by CIM. Research also shows that schemas can have significant effects on how information is processed, and preexisting beliefs, values and attitudes can affect what information is …

Redefining Affordable Housing In Ma, Maria Fernanda De La Fuente Martinez

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Housing is considered affordable if it costs 30% or less of a household’s income, and “is deed-restricted to income-eligible low- or moderate-income residents” (MAPC, n.d.). According to the Joint Center of Housing Studies (JCHS), as of 2017, 31.5% of all American households were considered cost-burdened by rent, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on rent. That same year, the percentage of severely cost-burdened households (those who spent over 50% of their income in rent) was 15.2%. This means that almost half of all Americans struggled to pay rent in 2017 (Veal & Spader, 2018).

What Causes Participation In International Non-Governmental Organizations?, Sophia Mann

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Participation in non-governmental organizations allows individuals to volunteer their time in the name of service. Public participation in non-governmental organizations can be garnered from all corners of the globe and regions of the world for various indirect reasons. There is a focus in this study on humanitarian and human right organizations.

​The Case Of The Melting Pot: How Does Opinion Bias Affect One’S Understanding Of Immigration In The Us?​, Mary Ankomah

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In such a delicate political climate the complete acceptance of legal immigrants in the United States seems too often to be a challenge carried to many native-born Americans. Feelings of displeasure, annoyance and anger are repeatedly cultivated by many American citizens towards immigrants. News media and social media platforms have displayed this kind of negative behavior towards legal immigrants, in which they are often accused of “stealing jobs,” “trying to suppress a certain ethnic population,” or “infesting” the area. This study analyzes the political-psychological reason behind this learned reaction, while focusing on factors that have sponsored this level of intolerance …

Understanding Sovereignty And The Us Constitution: A View From The Massachusetts And Virginia State Ratifying Conventions, Hannah Novotny

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Eighteenth-century American politics does more than simply provide us with the US Constitution. According to Gordon Wood (1991, 32), the stakes of eighteenth-century historical arguments are very high, as they deal with “nothing less than the kind of society we have been, or ought to become.” Barry Shain (1994, xiv) concurs with Wood, arguing that an understanding of the American founding “defines how Americans understand themselves as a historical people, as well as constraining what they might become.” As Wood and Shain indicate, an understanding of eighteenth-century American political thought shapes how we understand our past and informs the decisions …

Testing Tocqueville: The Political Theory Of The “Mayflower Compact” And Its Legacy, Vanessa Sherman

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The question of religion’s place in American political thought and practice continues to be a divisive issue. Critics of religion’s importance (Pangle 1988; Zuckert 1996) point to the centrality of natural rights liberal thought in The Declaration of Independence while proponents of religion’s importance frequently employ Alexis de Tocqueville’s account of religion in America in support of their arguments (see Allen 1998; Kessler 1992; and Tessitore 2002). In Democracy in America, Tocqueville (2000, 35) identifies the date of America’s founding as 1620 and, in doing so, argues that “there is not one opinion, one habit, one law, I could say …

Unvarnished Inhumanity: America’S Factory Farm Industry, Caitlin Rowley

Honors Program Theses and Projects

As exposed through a variance of media outlets, the United States is often inept in its endorsement of farm animal welfare laws; while incidents depicting the cruel mistreatment of farm animals are plentiful, the federal government enforces only two laws that address the issue directly. The 28 Hour Law and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, however pure in intent, are severely limited in scope, and according to reports from the USDA, handling violations are frequent yet rarely result in longstanding consequences. Consequently, this research provides a comprehensive overview of the activity within the factory farm industry so that, in …

Public Perceptions Of Police Interactions With Juveniles, Jillian Orr

Honors Program Theses and Projects

While previous research shows how different people respond differently to situations regarding police use of force on juveniles (Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, etc) this paper delves into what aspect each person has that influences the way they feel the police officer should respond to a juvenile suspect. I surveyed a group of about 300 people and asked them to give their responses to a vignette in which they were the acting police officer. Then, I analyzed the public opinion results through the lens of authoritarianism and compared them to the variables of age, gender, employment, and education.

Does International Law Change State Behavior?, Brett Franzie

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Human rights treaties are the main legal instrument used by the United Nations to advance human rights. While many treaties are ratified by the world, rights violations still happen, especially for women. The purpose of this study is to discover if states obey and follow international human rights law on women’s rights and protect the rights defined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. This analysis employed a case study methodology that compares four states: Sweden, Latvia, Libya, and the United Arab Emirates and their women’s rights practices. The United Nations Universal Periodic Review …

Examining The Varied Impacts Of Economic Globalization: A Comparative Analysis Of Four American States, Marina Smoske

Honors Program Theses and Projects

As a subject of extensive scholarship and a potent political buzzword, globalization is a deeply polarizing concept that inspires conflicting views about its effects. In the United States, popular debate often describes globalization as having uniformly positive or negative impacts on the country’s economic health. This line of reasoning is employed particularly with respect to shifts in the labor market and its implications on Americans’ economic prosperity. This reasoning, however, is not a theoretically sound or an empirically useful way to describe and understand the economic impact of globalization, for it implies that a complex, multifaceted phenomenon produces uniform results …

Applying John Kingdon’S Three Stream Model To The Policy Idea Of Universal Preschool, George Atupem

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Public education is no longer the great equalizer in the United States. The achievement gap is widening and in many areas education policies are perpetuating the problem. This phenomenon has created an education system built on inequality. The achievement gap in the United States has continued to widen because many children are missing out on the educational, economic, and social benefits of attending a high-quality preschool program. Access to quality preschool is an issue that briefly found its way onto the national agenda in 2013 but has since been edged out by broader national issues, such as healthcare and immigration. …

Refugee Policy & Social Integration In Jordan: Structural Barriers To Enclave Formation Among Forced Migrants To Jordan, David Nardelli

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The displacement of over five million Syrian refugees in the past six years has brought much needed attention to issues of forced migration. Today, the majority of the world’s refugees and internally displaced reside in urban areas of middle to low-income states, particularly in Asia and Africa. There is, however, a significant gap in research on self-settled refugees in the Middle East and their integration into host countries. In addition, much of the literature that does exist focuses on policies regarding labor policies yet ignores housing and settlement pattern issues and its impact on integration and community growth. This research …

A Comparative Program Analysis Of The Safe And Successful Youth Initiative In The Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities Of Brockton And New Bedford, Adam J. Costa

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In the summer of 2016, I participated in an internship with the Massachusetts Department of Correction Program & Reentry Services Division. I worked with state policy analysts to research and implement new reentry program initiatives in state facilities. The responsibility of these state employees was to identify key areas of research and evaluate program effectiveness through statistical analysis. I learned it was possible to compare and contrast public programs through comparative analytical study. The purpose of this honors thesis is to research violence reduction programs under the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) in Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities. This paper will …

The Effects Of New Public Management On Public Servant Job Satisfaction, Adam Ferreira

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The public sector is often lauded for its egalitarian principles and penchant for mutual cooperation, but competition is increasingly becoming the norm which may affect communication, efficiency, goals, and objectives. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects that competition and private sector practices have on public servants. A survey was sent to 700 employees of municipal governments in Massachusetts; 45 respondents completed the survey over the course of two weeks. The principle lesson learned from this research was that while public servants view competitive practices negatively, and nearly half of respondents viewed their performance evaluations negatively, neither …

Shari’A Arbitration Courts And Constitutional Democracy: A 21st Century Dilemma, Andrew Mccarthy

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This project examines the impact of the growing Islamic public in Western democracies, namely in the context of third-party arbitration courts based on Shari'a law. The project examines the controversies surrounding the introduction of Shari'a law into Western legal systems through the non-territorial federalism of arbitration courts.

A Just Framing Of Healthcare Reform: Distributive Justice Norms And The Success/Failure Of Healthcare Reform In America, Marissa Parker

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In 2010 President Obama did the politically unthinkable: he passed healthcare reform that has the effect of providing healthcare to all Americans. What makes this feat so impressive is that other presidents (Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton) all tried and failed in their efforts. Why did Obama succeed and these other presidents fail? Using agenda setting and issue framing theories, this study explores how each of these presidents framed their healthcare reform efforts. In particular, this study focuses on how each president framed reform in terms of distributive justice and the four principles of …

The American Electorate In Black & White: A Measure Of Candidate Selection And Policy Preferences, Femi Stoltz

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Introduction: In American society various social and antipoverty policies remain highly controversial among American voters. As one might expect, the relevance of race in relation to such policies can also be quite controversial. Incorporated within this research is an investigation of political attitudes and policy preferences of American voters. Using a variety of dependent variables, I gauge the effects of respondents’ race, ideology and party identification on policy preferences and other behavior patterns as they relate to political preferences. This measure of attitudes will contribute to a further understanding of race, social and antipoverty policies, and the ways in which …

Adam Smith: Providing Morality In A Free Market Economy, Kendra Tully

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and Wealth of Nations (WN) appear to suffer from an irresolvable tension: TMS extols human sympathy whereas WN extols the consequences of self-interest. This paper takes a comprehensive approach, adding to scholarship on what has become known as the “Adam Smith Problem.” There are traditionally four different approaches to the “Adam Smith Problem” in the secondary literature; economic, political, moral, and “principles” approach. Through a textual analysis of TMS and WN that focuses on prudence, the nature of happiness and Smith’s rhetorical style, this inconsistency between his two texts disappears. The emphasis Smith …

How Judges Decide: James Wilson's Theory Of Constitutional Interpretation, Geena Bournazian

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Why Words Matter: Framing Immigration In America, Kayla Harvey

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.