Digital Commons Network^™

Seeing Politics Through Popular Culture, Dan Chen

Political Science Faculty Publications

This essay surveys the scholarship on Chinese cultural politics in the reform era and argues that popular culture is a crucial realm where politics is manifested, shaped, and challenged. Based on an overview of this literature, this essay finds that Chinese popular culture remains subversive despite evolving political rule and changing socioeconomic structures. Meanwhile, the state has kept up with popular culture and managed to dominate various cultural spaces ranging from television, film, literature, music, and comedy, to celebrities and public discussions on morality.

The studies reviewed here collectively illustrate a fragmented yet vigorous popular culture that actively responds to …

Corporate Lobbying And Esg Reports: Patterns Among Us Companies, 1999–2017, Huchen Liu, Sijing Wei, Jiarui Zhang

Political Science Faculty Publications

To lobby legislators, it is important for interest groups to signal their ability to help legislators win elections and provide them with policy-relevant information. We explore for-profit companies’ use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reports as a signaling device to promote their reputation to legislators and convey their ability to provide electoral and policymaking support, which is valuable for lobbying. To this end, we create a panel dataset by combining ESG reports issued by US companies and the same companies’ lobbying and campaign contribution records from 1999 to 2017. We expect companies to issue more ESG reports, as well …

Your Honor’S Misdeeds: The Consequences Of Judicial Scandal On Specific And Diffuse Support, Joshua Boston, Benjamin J. Kassow, Ali S. Masood, David R. Miller

Political Science Faculty Publications

Legitimacy is a bulwark for courts; even when judges engage in controversial or disagreeable behavior, the public tends to acquiesce. Recent studies identify several threats to the legitimacy of courts, including polarization and attacks by political elites. This article contributes to the scholarly discourse by exploring a previously unconsidered threat: scandal, or allegations of personal misbehavior. We argue that scandals can undermine confidence in judges as virtuous arbiters and erode broad public support for the courts. Using survey experiments, we draw on real-world judicial controversies to evaluate the impact of scandal on specific support for judicial actors and their rulings …

Promoting Information And Visual Literacy Skills In Undergraduate Students Using Infographics, Nicole Kalaf-Hughes

Political Science Faculty Publications

Because research and communication proficiency is ubiquitous in the academic and professional world, teaching students the necessary information literacy (IL) and visual literacy (VL) skills has become increasingly important. Integrating IL and VL pedagogy into substantive coursework can enhance students’ comprehension of the material and teach them to make a meaningful contribution to public awareness and understanding of political science. Yet, faculty often find it challenging to include instruction in these skills with necessary coverage of substantive course material. This article discusses the use of an infographic assignment in an introductory American government course as a tool to teach literacy …

Patriotism And Democratic Education, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

Whether patriotism has a valuable part to play in the educational system of a democratic society is now a highly contentious matter. This chapter argues that it does, principally because such a society is a kind of cooperative practice that requires its members to enact, enforce, and – in most cases – obey the laws that govern their self-governing polity. Democracies rely on rules, and especially the rule of law, to provide the reasonably clear expectations necessary to coordinate public activities and to overcome collective-action problems. By encouraging citizens to set aside personal advantage and play a cooperative part in …

The Electoral Connection In Court: How Sentencing Responds To Voter Preferences, Joshua Boston, Bernardo S. Silveira

Political Science Faculty Publications

Do elected judges tailor criminal sentences to the electorate’s ideology? Utilizing sentencing data from North Carolina’s Superior Courts—which transitioned from statewide to local elections in 1996—we study whether judges are obliging to voters’ preferences. We find some evidence of responsiveness: judges from liberal districts were more lenient, while those from moderately conservative districts assigned harsher sentences. Judges from increasingly conservative districts did not change their sentencing patterns, which leads to lower re-election rates. These findings suggest that judges adapt their behavior to retain office, or else they are held accountable by the public.

State And Society In The Violation And Promotion Of Human Rights, Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

Political Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Diversity And Disconnection: Does An Online Setting Affect Student’S Understanding Of Privilege, Oppression, And White Guilt?, Shannon Mcqueen

Political Science Faculty Publications

Should educators teach diversity courses in online formats? Courses covering sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, or homophobia are increasingly part of the curriculum requirements for college students. This study compares student surveys from six sections of the author’s introductory Diversity in Politics course; three of these sections are taught asynchronously online, and three are taught in a face-to-face setting. Results reveal no difference between online and face-to-face students’ understandings of privilege and oppression, sense of belonging, or white guilt. However, although all Republican students increased their understanding of privilege and oppression from this course, Republican students uniquely entered the course with less …

Policy Stringency, Political Conditions, And Public Performances Of Pandemic Control: An International Comparison, Dan Chen, Yong Li, Jiebing Wu

Political Science Faculty Publications

What factors might explain the cross-country variations in COVID-19 public performances and what lessons can be drawn to be better-prepared for future pandemics? This study focuses on the effects of policy stringency on COVID-19 public health outcomes to gain insights into national-level state responses to COVID-19 and the conditions for their effectiveness. Using data from 136 countries comprising 91.4% of the global population, we find that more stringent policies lead to lower infection and death rates. More importantly, the negative effects of restrictive policies on infection and death rates are moderated by political trust and democracy levels, possibly through the …

Political Competition And Judicial Independence: How Courts Fill The Void When Legislatures Are Ineffective, Joshua Boston, David Carlson, J. Brandon Duck-Mayr, Greg Sasso

Political Science Faculty Publications

What effect does political competition have in generating de facto judicial independence? We argue that competition in a legislature can drive increases in de facto judicial independence. Our game-theoretic model reveals that increased competition for seats impedes legislators’ ability to enact their platforms, regardless of government turnover probability, and increased legislative fractionalization also makes court intervention more likely. Utilizing a sample of democratic states, empirical evidence suggests when a country’s legislature is increasingly fractionalized among parties or has increasing seat turnover, we observe increases in de facto independence. This research provides new perspectives on the link between independence and competition.

Partisanship, Trump Favorability, And Changes In Support For Trade, Ceren Keser, James C. Garand, Ping Xu, Joseph Essig

Political Science Faculty Publications

Why has the relationship between partisan identification and Americans’ trade attitudes shifted in recent years? We suggest that recent shifts in trade attitudes among partisans are driven by Donald Trump, who staked out a position on trade that is at odds with the position on trade traditionally held by Republicans. Using panel data from the Voter Study Group (VSG) surveys from 2011, 2016, and 2017, we conduct cross-sectional analyses showing that the relationship between partisanship and trade attitudes has shifted dramatically from 2011 to 2016/2017; in 2011, Republicans were significantly more supportive of expanded trade, but by 2016/2017 the relationship …

Media Framing And Public Support For China’S Social Credit System: An Experimental Study, Ping Xu, Brian Krueger, Mingxin Zhang, Marc Hutchinson, Mingzhi Chang

Political Science Faculty Publications

Although China’s social credit system (SCS) is widely portrayed by Western media as repressive surveillance, recent studies show that it receives high levels of support among Chinese citizens. Previous research suggests that people support the SCS because they lack knowledge about the system. This study further examines the roles of media framing (Western vs Chinese framing) and monitored behaviors (financial vs social behaviors). The results from a survey experiment conducted in China (N = 1600) demonstrate that when exposed to Western framing, public support for the SCS is lower, but only when participants are informed that the SCS monitors …

Populist Nationalism In The Age Of Trump, Vernon D. Johnson, Chelsee Autry

Political Science Faculty Publications

This paper builds upon the arguments advanced by Johnson and Frombgen in “Race and the Emergence of Populist Nationalism in the United States” (2009). Johnson and Frombgen made three central arguments: that the US is two nations, not one; that racial attitudes are central to each national identity, and that social movements of a populist character have critically shaped each national identity. They then offered a typology of left and right national identities, each of which had been shaped by populist social movements. This paper seeks to revisit the two nations thesis in the era of Donald Trump on the …

Chinese Celebrities’ Political Signaling On Weibo, Dan Chen, Gengsong Gao

Political Science Faculty Publications

In China, celebrities can dominate public discourse and shape popular culture, but they are under the state’s close gaze. Recent studies have revealed how the state disciplines and co-opts celebrities to promote patriotism, foster traditional values, and spread political propaganda. However, how do celebrities adapt to the changing political environment? Focusing on political signaling on Weibo, we analyze a novel dataset and find that the vast majority of top celebrities repost from official accounts of government agencies and state media outlets, though there are variations. Younger celebrities with more followers tend to repost from official accounts more. Celebrities from Taiwan …

Indian South Africans As A Middleman Minority: Historical And Contemporary Perspectives, Vernon D. Johnson

Political Science Faculty Publications

Beginning in the 1940s, a literature on middleman minorities emerged to demystify the intermediary economic niche that Jews had occupied in medieval Europe. They were viewed as ethnic entrepreneurs occupying the economic status gap. In the 1960s, scholars began to apply middleman minority theory to colonial societies and to American society. More recently, Coloureds in South Africa have been identified as a middleman minority of another type: semiprivileged proletarians occupying an economic status gap in labour between whites and Africans. A political status gap between whites and Africans, both seeking alliances to achieve hegemony, is also occupied by Coloureds. Among …

A Tough Woman Around Tender Men: Dilma Rousseff, Gendered Double Bind, And Misogynistic Backlash, Farida Jalalzai, Brianna Kreft, Lizbet Martinez-Port, Pedro A. G. Dos Santos, Brigid M. Smith

Political Science Faculty Publications

Dilma Rousseff's presidency ended in controversial form. The first woman elected to the position in Brazil, Rousseff's 2016 impeachment was seen as a coup by her supporters and as a necessary step for democracy by her detractors. With the Brazilian economy facing its worst recession in history and the Car Wash corruption scandal ravaging the political class, critics continually raised questions about Rousseff's leadership style and abilities. This article analyzes how this criticism in part can be attributed to gendered subjective understandings of preferred leadership traits. Using a thematic analysis of interviews with political actors in five different Brazilian states …

The Domestic Impact Of International Shaming: Evidence From Climate Change And Human Rights, Faradj Koliev, Douglas D. Page, Jonas Tallberg

Political Science Faculty Publications

Do international shaming efforts affect citizens’ support for government policies? While it is a frequent claim in the literature that shaming works through domestic politics, we know little about how and when international criticism affects domestic public opinion. We address this question through an originally designed survey experiment in Sweden, which (i) compares the effects of international shaming in two issue areas—human rights and climate change, and (ii) tests whether government responses to criticism moderate the impact of shaming. Our main findings are fourfold. First, we find substantial effects of international shaming on domestic public opinion. These effects hold across …

Exploring The Effects Of Traditional Media, Social Media, And Foreign Media On Hierarchical Levels Of Political Trust In China, Ping Xu, Yinjiao Ye, Mingxin Zhang

Political Science Faculty Publications

Although there is a consensus that mass media play an important role in the rise and fall of political trust in Western democracies, existing research on media use and political trust in China achieved relatively inconclusive findings. By using two surveys conducted in China in 2013 and 2018, we examine the effects of media use, including traditional media, social media, and foreign media, on Chinese citizens’ trust in their central and local governments. Our research shows that traditional media usage such as watching TV and reading newspapers is positively associated with citizens’ trust in the central government but is not …

Gendering Coalitional Presidentialism In Brazil, Malu A. C. Gatto, Pedro A. G. Dos Santos, Kristin N. Wylie

Political Science Faculty Publications

Coalitional presidentialism is a power-sharing strategy deployed in multiparty presidentialist democracies that entails the distribution of cabinet positions to coalition partners to facilitate governability. This model of governance is increasingly common worldwide, gaining growing scholarly interest. The consequences of coalitional presidentialism for women’s cabinet representation, however, have received scant attention. In this article, we provide a gendered analysis of the Brazilian experience with coalitional presidentialism. Through the quantitative analysis of an original dataset of all ministerial appointments (N = 597) under eight Brazilian presidents (1985–2019) and a descriptive assessment of the coalitional dynamics during that period, we evaluate the …

Gendered Political Violence As A Legal Framework: An Analysis Of The Brazilian Reality, Adriana Jacob Carneiro, Farida Jalalzai, Pedro A. G. Dos Santos

Political Science Faculty Publications

In August of 2021, the Brazilian government sanctioned in the Electoral Code and the Penal Code the typification of violence against women in politics (VAWIP) as a punishable crime. This research provides a critical analysis of the implementation of the 2021 Law n. 14.192 that typifies VAWIP as a crime. To do so we discuss how the law addresses, in theory, the types of VAWIP identified in the extant literature (physical, psychological, sexual, economic, and semiotic). We then discuss Brazil’s VAWIP law contextualizing it within the Brazilian political landscape, regional (as well as global) perspectives on the issue, and comparing …

Review Of Cachita’S Streets: The Virgin Of Charity, Race, And Revolution In Cuba By Jalane D. Schmidt, Gary Prevost

Political Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Immigration, Policy Exclusion, And State-Level Inequality In Tanf Usage, Ping Xu, Ling Zhu

Political Science Faculty Publications

The relationship between immigration and welfare provision is at the heart of welfare politics research. While prior studies have examined how immigration affects welfare generosity, less is known about the consequences of exclusive welfare policies and immigration on social inequality. In this paper, by using TANF as the policy context, we offer a systematic examination of how immigration combined with state immigrant welfare policies affect inequality in welfare usage between citizens and immigrants. Using data across the fifty American states from 2001 to 2016, we find evidence that exclusive state immigrant TANF policies are a key source of decreased immigrant …

E-Participation In Contemporary China: A Comparison With Conventional Offline Participation, Ping Xu, Kristin Johnson, Ashlea Rundlett

Political Science Faculty Publications

Drawing on the resource theory of political participation, we compare the determinants of Internet-based e-participation and conventional offline political participation in China by employing data from an original survey conducted in 2013. We find that e-government and other online platforms provide more equal participation opportunities to Chinese citizens traditionally lacking political resources. Although non-party members and non-elites are disadvantaged in conventional offline participation, they are not in e-participation, especially through using e-government systems. Internet/computer access and Internet skills push individuals away from conventional offline participation, and frequent social media users are more likely to engage in e-participation. Taken together, these …

How A Community Foundation’S Disaster Framework Guided Rapid Pandemic Response, Steven W. Mumford, Isabel Barrios, Kellie Chavez Greene

Political Science Faculty Publications

Disasters create opportunities for philanthropy to rebuild equitably by prioritizing the most vulnerable community members in disaster response and addressing existing disparities and structural inequities in the recovery phase. As intermediaries between donors and local communities, community foundations are well-positioned to lead transformational disaster response.

Through its experience with Hurricane Katrina and subsequent disasters in the region, the Greater New Orleans Foundation developed a flexible disaster framework that emphasizes four broad principles — resilience, sustainability, civic participation, and equity — and specific practices in each area to guide rapid and long-term disaster response and preparedness. This article describes how the …

Maximizing Social Equity As A Pillar Of Public Administration: An Examination Of Cannabis Dispensary Licensing In Pennsylvania, A. Lee Hannah, Daniel J. Mallinson, Lauren Azevedo

Political Science Faculty Publications

Public administration upholds four pillars of an administrative practice: economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and social equity. The question arises, however, how do administrators balance effectiveness and social equity when implementing policy? Can the values contributing to administrative decisions be measured? This study leverages the expansion of medical cannabis programs in the states to interrogate these questions. The awarding of dispensary licenses in Pennsylvania affords the ability to determine the effect of social equity scoring on license award decisions, relative to criteria that represent the other pillars. The results show that safety and business acumen were the most important determining factors in …

For Hemispheric Unity, A Change In U.S. Foreign Policy Is Needed, Brett J. Kyle, Andrew G. Reiter

Political Science Faculty Publications

On March 10, President Joe Biden announced that the United States would designate Colombia as a Major Non-NATO Ally. This designation extends special military and economic privileges to Colombia, including participation in joint defense research and training, and the ability to purchase weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and other surplus war material from the United States. This came on the heels of a U.S. delegation traveling to Venezuela for the first time since the United States broke off diplomatic relations and closed its embassy there in 2019. Motivating the U.S. overture is the potential to resume purchasing Venezuelan oil to compensate for …

Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity In Nonprofit Leadership And Organizational Resilience, Steven W. Mumford

Political Science Faculty Publications

Racial diversity in nonprofit leadership presents a variety of benefits crucial for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, leadership remains predominately white. Practitioner-oriented studies decry racial disparities in nonprofit funding, but academic literature offers mixed conclusions on how diversity influences resource acquisition. This article examines associations between racial composition of nonprofit leadership and organizational resilience to the pandemic, based on a survey of New Orleans-based nonprofits in winter 2021. Logistic regressions assess whether leadership diversity increases the likelihood of organizational resilience in both service delivery and financial health, finding that greater board diversity is associated with targeted programming and advocacy …

Facebook Algorithm Changes May Have Amplified Local Republican Parties, Kevin Reuning, Anne Whitesell, A. Lee Hannah

Political Science Faculty Publications

In this research note we document changes to the rate of comments, shares, and reactions on local Republican Facebook pages. Near the end of 2018, local Republican parties started to see a much higher degree of interactions on their posts compared to local Democratic parties. We show how this increase in engagement was unique to Facebook and happened across a range of over a thousand local parties. In addition, we use a changepoint model to identify when the change happened and find it lines up with reported information about the change in Facebook’s algorithm in 2018. We conclude that it …

The Partisan Gender Gap: Why Democratic Women Get Elected But Republican Women Don't (Book Review), Shannon Mcqueen

Political Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Why Have Military Courts Become Such As Popular Tool Of Repression?, Brett J. Kyle, Andrew G. Reiter

Political Science Faculty Publications

In November, the Taliban government in Afghanistan announced the establishment of a military tribunal to enforce Sharia law. It will also handle complaints against Taliban police, army, and intelligence units. The developments in Afghanistan are not unique. Military courts have been a key feature of human rights abuses in India, Pakistan, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and many other countries. Why are regimes of all types increasingly turning to military courts as a tool of repression?