Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Power And Politics In The Media: The Year In C-Span Archives Research, Volume 9, Robert X. Browning

The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research

Power and Politics in the Media: The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research, Volume 9 features articles from multiple disciplines that use the C-SPAN Video Library to explore recent controversies in American politics. Topics covered include Supreme Court nominations, Supreme Court oral arguments, rhetoric on disasters and COVID-19, and the effect of clothing on the approval of women in power. What unites these topics is the unique use of the video record of C-SPAN to explore the intersections of politics, power, rhetoric, and the media in the contemporary United States. Written in accessible prose, this volume showcases some of the most …

Backfire: How The Rise Of Neoliberalism Facilitated The Rise Of The Far-Right, Jacob Fuller

The Compass

Since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, it is indisputable that there has been a notable rise in the visibility and activity of the far-right in the United States. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there was a 30% increase in the number of operating hate groups across the United States, a number that has coincided with the rise of the Trump campaign and his subsequent election as President of the United States.¹ Therefore, much attention has been drawn to the rise of these movements and thus scholars have sought to seek out and identify the …

"Ok, Groomer" :(Post) Truth Rhetoric And Transphobia, Adit R. Selvaraj

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Paying attention to anti-LGBTQ rhetoric circulating on social media in Fall 2022, this thesis situates political rhetoric on Twitter, by analyzing the use of the hashtag #okgroomer. This hashtag, a corruption of the popular phrase “ok, boomer,” has been used to show contempt on social media by equating left-wing ideologies to pedophilia. Informed by gender critical theory, this work espouses the idea that #okgroomer is constructed as a post-truth ideal aided by the mythos that queer people are dangerous to children. To study #okgroomer, this thesis employs a critical technical discourse analysis informed by ecological scholarship to a case study …

Liberty And Its Legacy An Analysis Of Freedom And Liberty In American Political Rhetoric, Ryan S. Kovarovics

Honors Projects

The concept of freedom has always been central to the American identity, but its meaning has never been agreed on by all and has long been the subject of debate. An abridged explanation of the evolution of liberty’s meaning in political thought and American history is presented in the first chapter of this project. It demonstrates the long-standing importance of individual freedom in America and highlights some historical moments when liberty has come into conflict with other societal values. When used in American political rhetoric today, “freedom” and “liberty” typically take on a “negative” meaning that is focused mostly on …

Ideological Extremism, Conspiratorial Thought, And Support For Authoritarianism In The United States, Sophie N. Martino

Honors Theses

Since the nation’s founding, Americans have tended to take democracy for granted. People see democracy as a given, believing that adherence to democratic values will persist. However, in the past few election cycles, there has been a trend in support for authoritarianism in the United States – not just with political leaders and figures, but also with individuals susceptible to authoritarian values and signals. This thesis seeks to address this apparent threat of authoritarianism in the United States, delving into possible factors that play a role in the growing support for authoritarian attitudes among Americans. I believe that two phenomena …

Book Review: Carol Leonnig And Philip Rucker 2021. I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’S Catastrophic Final Year, Kenneth W. Moffett

eJournal of Public Affairs

This is a book review of Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker's recently released book, I Alone can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.

Navigating The Multiple Streams: The Strategic Use Of Sunset Provisions, David F. Wall

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite its long standing and historical use, temporary legislation had been a legislative tool largely ignored by scholars for many years. For the most part, temporary legislation had been used to serve specific functions within American politics and, being used in such a limited role, had avoided scrutiny. This changed in the early 2000s, following an exponential increase in the use of temporary legislation in the form of sunset provisions during the G.W. Bush administration. Scholars would debate whether or not this increased use was a good thing or not, arguing for and against a preference of temporary legislation over …

The Rise And Fall Of The American Fear Of Climate Change: Examining The Trends Of Climate Change Fear In The United States, Hannah Waldorf

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The changing climate is a situation that can be characterized by the threat of dangerous and irreparable changes to the planet. These alterations include an increase in global temperatures, food and water insecurities, extreme weather patterns, social unrest, and political conflict. Fear of the climate’s change has decreased within the past two years (2020 and 2021)—this paper will examine factors that influence the change in American climate fear. Using data from The Chapman University Survey on American Fears (CSAF)—which includes 1,035 participants—it is expected that the current downward trend in climate change fear is rooted in changes of media consumption, …

The Federalist Papers' Account Of Human Nature, Jeffrey P. Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper is an analysis of the account of human nature found in The Federalist Papers. This interpretation assumes The Federalist is a work of political rhetoric and advocacy, but also one of genuine significance as political science and philosophy. As a book, The Federalist is a coherent whole, which offers a coherent account of human nature, despite the collective nature of its authorship, the time pressures of its publication, and the piecemeal nature of its workmanship. This understanding of human nature is the thread which runs through all its analysis and numbers. Its arguments asserting the inadequacies of …

American Government 3e, Glen Krutz, Sylvie Waskiewicz

Open Access Textbooks

American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government courses. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and …

Nelson I La Bombolla Electoral De Nova York, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Durant molt de temps m’he enganyat a mi mateix, i de rebot he enganyat els altres: em pensava que no coneixia cap republicà. Quan els amics d’Europa em demanaven detalls sobre les idiosincràsies de la vida nord-americana, sabent que jo vivia a Nova York, la conversa començava o acabava dient: «Però, és clar, tu vius a NY. NY no és els EUA». Certament la «bombolla» de NY és un fet fefaent que en el meu cas s’accentua i es blinda gràcies a una membrana protectora de múltiples teguments.

With Liberty And Justice For Some: How Felony Disenfranchisement Undermines American Democracy, Kiley Staufenbeil

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

This paper examines the damaging effects of felony disenfranchisement on American democracy. The premise of American democracy is to include citizens in government processes, thus, felony disenfranchisement is inherently anti-democratic. The first section analyzes the historical timeline of the origins and prominence of felony disenfranchisement dating back to Ancient Greece. The paper considers the legal standing of felony disenfranchisement by examining relevant court cases, such as Richardson v. Ramirez (1974). Following this, a case study of the states that practice distinct levels of felony disenfranchisement, ranging from the most punitive states to the most permissive, is presented. The paper then …

Origins Of The Government Shutdown: The American Budget's Greatest Inefficiency, Samuel Francis Huggins

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Over the last 40 years, the American budget system has become increasingly inefficient and detrimental to the American People. The biggest issue within the budget system is the occurrence of government shutdowns and their increasing severity over time. Government shutdowns are a uniquely dangerous phenomenon that directly affects all Americans, hurting public workers, public infrastructure, removing social services, and creating chaos all across the country. The unprecedented harm caused by government shutdowns is well known and the shutdowns themselves are entirely avoidable, yet they continue to not only happen but increase in magnitude. I theorize that these shutdowns are caused …

Beyond Moral Condemnation: Confronting Ideological Populism In Democratic Politics, Maggie Holloway

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

“Realizing Democracy”: A Study Of The Regional And National Social, Political, And Economic Factors Driving Suffrage Development In The Age Of The Common Man, 1820-1850, Matthew Prosper

Honors Theses

The Age of the Common Man was a period of American political history lasting from 1820 to 1850 characterized by the implementation of universal white manhood suffrage by every state through removing property and tax qualifications from state constitutional suffrage laws, as well as the “common man” entering the center of much political discourse. These conventions were demanded by the political, social, economic, and in some cases physical climates and conditions of each state. To look at these factors, this thesis divides the nation into three regions, two of which are examined: the Northeast, the Northwest, and the South (the …

American Government 2e, Glen Krutz, Sylvie Waskiewicz

Open Access Textbooks

Since its founding, the United States has relied on citizen participation to govern at the local, state, and national levels. This civic engagement ensures that representative democracy will continue to flourish and that people will continue to influence government. The right of citizens to participate in government is an important feature of democracy, and over the centuries many have fought to acquire and defend this right. During the American Revolution (1775–1783), British colonists fought for the right to govern themselves. In the early nineteenth century, agitated citizens called for the removal of property requirements for voting so poor white men …

The 2016 Election Earthquake: Pacific County And The Future Of The Democratic Party In Rural Areas, Matthew Dayton

CMC Senior Theses

Pacific County was one of 206 counties nationwide to vote for President Trump in 2016 after voting for President Obama in 2008 and 2012. These counties were pivotal for Trump’s victory in 2016, and will continue to be crucial in the 2020 election and beyond. This paper uses an ethnographic method to understand why Pacific County flipped to vote for a Republican after voting for Democratic presidential candidates every cycle since 1952.

My findings suggest that the shift began with the long decline of the natural resource industry in the area. As industry diminished, unions became weaker, and they could …

The Effect Of States Of Emergency On Gubernatorial Approval Ratings, Meghan Steinbeiss

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

To what extent do unexpected, apolitical events affect governors’ popularity? Individuals’ attitudes towards government are often random, and executives at both the state-level and national-level are held accountable for events that they have little control over. In this study, I seek to understand how these unplanned events affect support for elected officials. Specifically, I examine the effect of the declaration of a State of Emergency on gubernatorial approval. I use an ordinary least squares (OLS) model and data from FEMA as well as the United States Officials Job Approval Ratings dataset to answer such questions. The results indicate that not …

Remembering An Invasion: The Panama Intervention In America’S Political Memory, Dave Nagaji

Senior Theses

In December of 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, a military invasion of the country of Panama, capturing Manuel Noriega and overthrowing his government. This research project examines how Colin Powell, Richard Cheney, James Baker, and George H.W. Bush presented Operation Just Cause in their memoirs. It attempts to determine how these senior leaders’ depictions of this invasion incorporated it into the Bush administration’s overall foreign-policy strategy. The research finds that their general approach was to present the Panama intervention as an isolated incident which had no intentional link to other major events at the time, was not …

What Senators Should Ask Brett Kavanaugh, Scott S. Boddery

Political Science Faculty Publications

At today’s confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, senators are attempting to decipher how Kavanaugh will rule on certain issue areas should he be confirmed to the high court. Senators will undoubtedly demand answers to their questions that ask whether Judge Kavanaugh will vote to uphold certain past cases, such as Roe v. Wade or Citizens United, and they’ll want a “simple yes or no” answer. While this line of questioning will primarily originate from the left side of the aisle this time around, this tactic is routinely used by both parties when vetting Supreme Court nominees. …

Communication Is A Two Way Street: Race, Gender, And Elite Responsiveness In U.S. Politics, Mia Costa

Doctoral Dissertations

At the heart of a representative democracy is the need for open lines of communication between citizens and their representatives. This dissertation is comprised of three stand-alone chapters which examine how responsive American public officials are to constituent communications, Americans' attitudes about elite responsiveness, and how race and gender condition this relationship. In the first chapter, I conduct the first meta-analysis of all experiments that examine how responsive public officials are to constituent communication. I demonstrate at a higher level of precision than any single study the degree to which legislators are biased against racial and ethnic minorities, and find …

Kennedy Retirement Plunges Supreme Court Into Politics. Here's How To Turn Down The Heat., Scott S. Boddery

Political Science Faculty Publications

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision to retire from the Supreme Court could create a sea change in the court’s jurisprudence for years to come. The debate about his successor will once again underscore the fierce partisan politics that surround the court.

It’s worth recalling that the constitutional framers originally envisioned a Supreme Court that was insulated from such politics. In fact, Alexander Hamilton argued quite famously, in Federalist No. 78, that the court must be protected from the electorate in order to serve as a check against the political branches of government without fear of reprisals at the ballot box. [ …

An Unlikely Populist: Donald Trump And The Rhetoric Of Elite And Minority Resentment, Jared Quigley

University Scholar Projects

Populist rhetoric is a political language employed by individual leaders which divides the populace into two categories: a pure, moral people and a corrupt elite. In this paper, I examine Donald Trump as a populist, focusing on Moffit’s political style approach (Moffit 2016) and Mudde’s definition of populism as an ideology (Mudde 2004). Listening to speeches from the campaign, I study how the components of these definitions of populism apply to Trump. I also examine the groups that Trump defined as “the people,” “the elite,” and the “undeserving minority groups.” I argue that while Trump does exhibit certain behaviors expected …

An Unlikely Populist: Donald Trump And The Rhetoric Of Elite And Minority Resentment, Jared Quigley

Honors Scholar Theses

Populist rhetoric is a political language employed by individual leaders which divides the populace into two categories: a pure, moral people and a corrupt elite. In this paper, I examine Donald Trump as a populist, focusing on Moffit’s political style approach (Moffit 2016) and Mudde’s definition of populism as an ideology (Mudde 2004). Listening to speeches from the campaign, I study how the components of these definitions of populism apply to Trump. I also examine the groups that Trump defined as “the people,” “the elite,” and the “undeserving minority groups.” I argue that while Trump does exhibit certain behaviors expected …

My Grandfather Was An Illegal Immigrant: Guest Opinion, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

In this opinion piece originally published in the Oregonian, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner reflects on his grandfather's immigration status in light of the Trump administration's decision to end temporary protection for 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants who came to the United States without documentation.

In A Gilded Cage, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

The Oxford history of the United States may be the most prestigious series of American history survey volumes in print. Originally launched under the aegis of C. Vann Woodward and Richard Hofstadter, it embraces at least three Pulitzer Prize-winners—James M. McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988), David M. Kennedy’s Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (1999), and Daniel Walker Howe’s What Hath God Wrought? The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 (2007)—plus two other Pulitzer nominations and a Bancroft Prize in 1997 for James Patterson’s Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974.

There …

The Effect Of Unemployment On Democratic Warfare, Andres Rakower

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study was done to see the effects of a war on the economy and the internal politics of the United States. In selecting the engagement, we would study we agreed the Iraq War would be aided by a large amount of sampling of public opinion that was more nuanced than in previous wars. The Iraq War was a very complicated war, as it was controversial from the beginning and became a political issue while continuing to be a war fought by Americans abroad. Based on the literature, there were many starting effects and assumptions that were accounted for such …

The Great And Widening Divide: Political False Polarization And Its Consequences, Victoria Parker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

American politics is becoming increasingly ideologically divided, and this cross-party hostility is reflected in pronounced partisan media outrage. However, while actual ideological polarization has indeed been rising, people estimate an ideological gap as being even larger than reality. We focus on whether part of this cross-party dislike can be explained by illusory perceptions of opposing party attitudes, attitudes the majority of the party members do not actually endorse. This illusory gap is referred to as false polarization; it is an interpersonal bias where a perceiver believes an opponent’s position is much farther away conceptually from where that opponent actually reports …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Paf 1250 (Citizenship And Public Affairs), Aaron M. Zack

Open Educational Resources

This course is a critical introduction to American political institutions and behavior. Attention is given to constitutional theory and principles, the constitutional system, political institutions (congress, the presidency, the judiciary, the bureaucracy), and political participation (public opinion, the mass media, elections, political parties, groups and interests.)

College Students And Online Political Expression During The 2016 Election, Kenneth W. Moffett, Laurie L. Rice

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

While college students traditionally exhibit low levels of political participation and interest in politics, they are more likely to engage in some forms of political expression than their elders. Their greater familiarity with online forms of political expression and engagement potentially lowers their barriers for political involvement. In turn, this potentially draws more young adults into the political process. We compare the precursors of expressive forms of online political engagement to those of talking to someone offline and trying to persuade them to vote for or against a candidate or party among college students. We find that both activities are …