Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Interest Groups, Political Party Control, Lobbying, And Science Funding: A Population Ecology Approach, Allyn Katherine Milojevich

Doctoral Dissertations

Science plays an increasingly important role in public policy in a range of issues from national security to public health. Thus, scientists will play an increasingly important role in society. This dissertation first examines how federal science funding changes with partisan control of key political institutions. Next, science-related interests groups, including their formation, specialization, and lobbying activities, are examined. Interest groups are a growing aspect of the American political system. However, they are an understudied aspect of political institutions. While much of their activity occurs within the legislative branch, they also work in the executive and judicial branches to advocate …

A Veteran Welfare State: Veterans' Benefits, Coalition Politics, And Social Policy Change, 1943-1973, Melinda R. Tarsi

Doctoral Dissertations

America’s commitment to the reintegration of veterans via social policy is not a recent political development; since the end of World War II, federal and state government programs have been designed (and redesigned) to successfully transition former military personnel back into civilian life. Beginning with the 1944 Serviceman’s Readjustment Act (commonly known as the G.I. Bill), the federal government has taken the primary role in this reintegration initiative, investing billions of dollars into veterans’ benefit programs for education assistance, unemployment compensation, and job placement services. Even as the legislation has been renewed after military conflicts, veterans’ education benefits have remained …

Southie Versus Roxbury: Crime, Welfare, And The Racialized Gubernatorial Politics Of Massachusetts In The Post-Civil Rights Era, Daniel T. Kirsch

Doctoral Dissertations

Racial and ethnic divisions at the national level and their effects on politics take on an abstract character when not discussing specific communities. To obtain a reliable, consistent, and potentially reliable measure of a relationship, demographic information and voting behaviors at the small community, submetropolitan level must be examined in high-turnout, same-office elections over a protracted period, ideally in a polity with a penchant for racial tolerance. The political language of Boston has been mired in racialization since at least the Civil Rights era, particularly since the Boston anti-segregation busing crisis of the 1970s. While previous research has focused on …

Friendly Fire: Amicus Curiae Participation And Impact At The Roberts Court, David Hooper Scott

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the nature and extent of amicus curiae participation and impact at the Roberts Court. While previous literature has addressed amicus activity and influence in prior eras of the Court, in specific issue areas, and in specific cases, none has focused in a systematic way on the Roberts Court. Compiling data from the 2007-08 through 2011-12 terms of the Roberts Court, this study first examines the levels and categories of amicus participation during this time period. Amicus activity at the Roberts Court is ubiquitous, and exhibits an “arms race” phenomenon, being relatively ideologically balanced.

Second, this study analyzes …

Gender And Party Stereotypes In The Evaluation Of U.S. Senate Candidates, Rebecca Madelyn Shafer

Doctoral Dissertations

In the United States, there has been a gradual increase of women elected to office, yet women are still drastically underrepresented at every level. One potential obstacle to the electoral success of women is the propensity of voters to stereotype candidates based on their gender. However, voters also stereotype political candidates based on their party affiliation. Therefore, it is important to understand how stereotypes regarding the Republican and Democratic Parties may interact with stereotypes concerning men and women.

While experimental research has been utilized extensively to test the effect of gender stereotypes on candidate evaluations; almost all of this research …

Service Satisfaction, Competence And Caring: Examining The Influence Of Experience With The Public Bureaucracy On Citizen Attitudes Of Trust In Government, Lauren Kriston Harding

Doctoral Dissertations

Examining the relationship among government performance, service satisfaction and trust in government advocated by the New Public Management, this research contributes to a better understanding of the performance-trust hypothesis and its assumptions. This study evaluates the satisfaction link of the performance-trust hypothesis, investigating influences on service satisfaction and how these translate into trust. In particular, two implicit assumptions of the performance-trust hypothesis are explored. First, citizen experience with public services is examined as a measure of specific support for government. Second, the role of citizen interactions with the bureaucracy is assessed, specifically identifying the influence of citizen attitudes toward public …

Strategic Mediation: The Domestic Influences And Constraints On Diplomacy, James Preston Todhunter

Doctoral Dissertations

Mediation theory has developed separately from mainstream theories explaining foreign policy. Specifically, mediator motivations and constraints have often been overlooked. I extend an argument explaining mediator motivations, and thus mediation occurrence and strategy, in terms of domestic political institutions and leader performance. The notion that leaders use foreign policy in order to help further their domestic fortunes and those of their party is widely accepted in the international relations literature, as is the notion that political survival is pre-eminent in any leader’s decision-making calculus. Scholars have also shown that leaders shift their focus to foreign policy when institutional factors, such …

The Role Of The Party Record In Elections For The House Of Representatives, 1970-2008, Matthew Thomas Gross

Doctoral Dissertations

Much scholarly attention has been devoted to the role of political parties in Congress. One of the major theories of party legislative organization is cartel theory. Cartel theory assumes that each legislative party possesses a party record or reputation, which influences the election prospects for all members of the party. It provides an electoral incentive to encourage cooperation among party members in a single chamber of Congress.

Congressional scholars have paid little attention to the party record. In the following chapters, I bring together the desultory scholarly research on the party record and examine the impact of the party record …

The Determinants Of Supreme Court Decision-Making: An Ideal Point Analysis, Colin Ross Glennon

Doctoral Dissertations

The relationships among governmental institutions are some of the most studied phenomena in political science. Yet these complex interactions remain largely unexplained due to the difficult task of developing accurate measures that lead to quantifiable tests that enhance explanation and prediction. This work centers on the interactions of United States Supreme Court justices with other political actors. The goal of this dissertation is to better understand the relationship between the Supreme Court and its institutional environment. In short, I ask: What factors affect Supreme Court justices’ voting decisions?

I approach this question from several different angles while making use of …

Spokes, Pyramids, And Chiefs Of Staff: Howard H. Baker, Jr. And The Reagan Presidency, Michael Lee Haynes

Doctoral Dissertations

One of the most compelling areas of research when considering the modern presidency is the role of the White House chief of staff (COS) and the direct impact it has on the presidency. The office of the president’s chief of staff is often referred to as the power behind the throne. Chiefs of staff exercise great authority and control within the White House Office (WHO) functioning as a filter or gatekeeper strictly controlling the access of information and people reaching the president. The COS is also one of the president’s closest advisers. James Baker, former chief of staff for …

Governmental Fragmentation And Rural Sprawl: Case Studies Examining Governmental Structure And Limited Public Choice, Daniel C. Carter

Doctoral Dissertations

Marion County, Tennessee was formed in 1817 and currently all seven cities within its boundaries combined account for 34,202 (thousand) acres. Within a short period time, Marion County will experience over 40,000 (thousand) acres of traditional forestland being converted to private, rural residential development. These former forested tracts are all located in remote areas of the county with very few existing public services. The intent of this dissertation is to demonstrate how government structure and funding mechanisms result in a type of rural sprawl that is rapidly fragmenting thousands of acres throughout Tennessee and the United States as timber companies …

Elements Of Postfeminism: The Current Landscape Of American Politics?, Laura Delorenzo Denison

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to establish the meaning and definition of postfeminism along with an assessment of whether it accurately represents the current era of thinking. It is an historical, descriptive, qualitative analysis of the feminist movement from its inception with the central focus on the newest strand of feminist thought, postfeminism. The progression toward these conclusions entails an outlining of the waves of feminism and the strands of thought within these eras as well as a discussion of third wave feminism, modern feminism and generational differences between the waves. The focus on postfeminism begins with an exploration …

The Political Roles Of Presidential Children: Kennedy Through Clinton, Tabitha Alissa Warters

Doctoral Dissertations

Many facets of the institution of the presidency warrant examination. Individual presidents, cabinets, staffs, and first ladies have all been studied in-depth, but one aspect of the presidency remains fundamentally unexplored: the political activities of presidential children.

Role analysis using case studies was the method of examination used. Role analysis was the method used in early studies on first ladies and is replicated in this study on presidential children. The basic assumption is that all presidential children from Kennedy through Clinton have performed political roles. By examining the repeated political activities of the 24 presidential children, five political roles were …

Andrew Johnson And The Patronage, James Lewis Baumgardner

Doctoral Dissertations

The Constitution bestows upon the president the right to make appointments "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate" to federal position at home and abroad. Over the passage of time, through free use of this power and the implied power of removal, the several chief executives constructed a vast patronage system, of which one primary goal was to reward the party faithful for their services. The purpose of this dissertation is to determine how well Andrew Johnson, the unexpected successor of Abraham Lincoln, used the seemingly powerful patronage weapon and the reasons why he used it as …