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Electoral Systems And Intra-Party Candidate Selection Processes: Influences On Legislators' Behavior, Yael Shomer

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

How legislators behave and how cohesively parties act are influenced, to a great extent, by the institutional environment within which they operate. While most research has regarded each institution separately, this dissertation project seeks to theorize and to empirically examine the complex institutional context that affects legislators' behavior and representation styles. I specifically shed light on how electoral systems and intra-party candidate selection processes, separately and in combination, influence how much legislators emphasize their unique individualistic behaviors at the expense of their parties' collective unified reputations. I argue that electoral systems and candidate selection procedures conditionally structure the incentives and …

Ideological Endzones: Nfl Films And The Countersubversive Tradition In American Politics, Nicholas R. Archer

Open Access Dissertations

This study examines the role of propaganda and popular culture in constituting the American political tradition through the study of NFL films by employing a decidedly overlooked theoretical conception of the American political tradition—the countersubversive tradition thesis. Originally put forth by Michael Rogin, the countersubversive tradition is defined as “the creation of monsters as a continuing feature of American politics by the inflation, stigmatization, and dehumanization of political foes.” It is my belief that in looking at what constitutes the individual characteristics of the countersubversive tradition in a text like a sports film it is easier to see how it …

An Analysis Of Sources In Journalism On The Supreme Court, Dione Garlick

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The United States Supreme Court bUilding is intimidating, to say the least. The massive structure rises four stories above the ground and the three million dollars worth of white marble shines starkly against the blue sky.l The inscription "EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW" runs horizontally across the top of the impressive structure. This beautiful bUilding is part of the imagery associated with the Supreme Court. Along with black robes and gavels, the Supreme Court has carefully crafted the images that are connected with the justices and the Court.

Unlike the leaders ofthe legislative and executive branches, the justices of the Supreme …

Does Democracy Impact The Lives Of The Poor In Nicaragua?, Tanisha Shandie Brown Mitchel

Master's Theses and Capstones

Does democracy help the poor? Nicaragua, the emphasis of this study, will be used to analyze the impact democracy might be having on improving the lives of the poor. The World Development Indicators (World Bank) and the Human Development Index (United Nations) from 1992--2006 will be used in this study to measure economic growth in Nicaragua. The Latin America Public Opinion Project data on Latin America measures Nicaragua public opinion regarding democracy and economic growth in the country.

The graphs from the World Bank illustrate that the standard of living for the poor in Nicaragua is improving and that democracy …

Campaigning For Authenticity, Erica J. Seifert

Doctoral Dissertations

In the fall of 1976 Jimmy Carter wanted to be "an American President... who is not isolated from our people, but a President who feels your pain and who shares your dreams." With humble, hopeful, homey images of Plains, Georgia, campaign advertisements sold Carter as a fresh-off-the-farm, peanut-picking Cincinnatus---an authentic American to whom voters could relate.

Authenticity became increasingly important to candidate selection in the late twentieth century for multiple reasons. As a priority of the Babyboom Generation, the value of authenticity informed Americans' relationships to own another and evaluations of their cultural products. Political and cultural upheaval resulting from …

The Political Assassination Of Edmund Randolph: George Washington's Presidential Affair Of Honor, John C. Kotruch

Master's Theses and Capstones

On 19 August 1795 George Washington ambushed Secretary of State Edmund Randolph in an impromptu tribunal to face the allegation of treasonous corruption in the service of France with evidence covertly provided by Great Britain.

A synthesis of the biographies of Washington and Randolph, histories of Jay's Treaty, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Battle of Fallen Timbers, and the diplomatic correspondence between Great Britain and the United States during the early republic reveals the motivations behind a British plot to manipulate the composition of the United States' government by implicating Randolph. The study dispels the myth that the intercepted French diplomatic …

Asset Forfeiture: State Restrictions And Equitable Sharing, Charles Kucher

Master's Theses and Capstones

Civil asset forfeiture is criticized for its lack of procedural protections for property owners and for skewing the priorities of law enforcement. Federal civil forfeiture law allows federal agencies to prosecute civil forfeiture cases for state and local law enforcement agencies, a practice that is criticized for allowing the circumvention of state laws. This thesis looks at three factors governing forfeiture at the state level (standard of proof, conviction requirement and financial incentive) and examines their effect on federal equitable sharing payments. The results indicate that both conviction requirement and standard of proof affect equitable sharing payments and suggests that …

The Politics Of Constitutional Review: Evidence From The European Court Of Justice, Michael Malecki

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Judges who perform judicial review have the extraordinary power to strike down laws that do not conform to their own policy preferences. Their political independence is generally regarded as a normative good. In this work, I consider the microfoundations of judicial preferences and how those preferences interact with institutional independence to determine the policy impact of judicial review. The following argument is developed in the context of the Court of Justice of the European Union: European Court of Justice, or ECJ). Constitutional Courts generally and the ECJ in particular are considered "independent" when they enjoy discretion to act counter to …

Parties, Committees, And Rules In The U.S. House Of Representatives, Hong Min Park

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

This dissertation project aims to build upon the literature of positive theories of legislative politics, and provide three more nuanced stories about various stages in the U.S. House of Representatives: rules making, committee composition, and floor voting. The chapter, Conditional Nature of Rules Changes, examines why the U.S. House of Representatives has changed its standing rules regarding the principle of majority rule and minority rights. I begin by taking a critical look at previous studies on this subject, after which I propose an alternative theory on the conditional nature of rules changes. The empirical findings reveal that different combinations of …

The Ethics Of Forcible Democratization, David Speetzen

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Recent wars have led many to believe that the promotion of democracy cannot justify foreign intervention, but this is rash. A government's right to non-intervention should hinge on whether it adequately: 1) protects its subjects' human rights and: 2) represents their collective political will. I argue that when and where the international legal system's ability to enforce human rights matures and the social conditions for better representation emerge, the standards for adequate protection and representation should rise. Since democracy significantly augments both functions of government, eventually the right to non-intervention should depend on maintaining democratic institutions. Failure to do so …

Bayesian Multilevel Analysis Of Binary Time-Series Cross-Sectional Data In Political Economy, Xun Pang

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In this dissertation project, I propose a Bayesian generalized linear multilevel model with pth order autoregressive errors: GLMM-AR(p)) for modeling inter-temporal dependence, con-temporary correlation, and heterogeneity of unbalanced binary Time- Series Cross-Sectional data. The model includes two unnested sources of clustering in the unit- and time-dimensions for analyzing heterogeneities and contemporal corre- lation which are salient in the era of globalization. Group-level variations are further explained with unit- and time-specific characteristics. For handling dynamics in pol- itics and political economy, I apply the autoregressive error specification to analyze serial correlation which may not be fully captured by the selected covariates. …

Give Me Your Engineers, Your Ph.D.S, Yearning To Fund My Welfare State. Fiscal Crises And High-Skilled Immigration Policies, Mariana Medina Garciadiego

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Points systems, immigration policies in which potential immigrants make an application to enter the country and then are selected on the basis of their skills, age, and occupation, have been proven to be more successful attracting high-skilled immigrants, but very few countries have implemented them. This is particularly paradoxical since high-skilled immigrants are more beneficial in fiscal terms: they are expected to pay more taxes than low skilled immgirants, and not depend heavily on government provided welfare. My core argument is that left of center governments in liberal welfare states implement points systems during a fiscal crisis as a mean …

Foreign Policy Mismanagement During American Presidential Transitions, Linda Schulte

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Despite vast literature on American foreign policy and presidential decision-making, little attention has been given to the problems associated with presidential transitions. The American presidential transition period is accompanied by three limitations that threaten the effectiveness of presidential authority. First, presidential authority is unclear in the ambiguity of the transition period. Second, new administrations struggle to incorporate overlapping initiatives and personnel into new policies and priorities. Third, inexperience can cripple a new administration in the first few months of a presidency. These limitations are illustrated by an analysis of two transitional foreign policy crises: the Bay of Pigs crisis overlapping …