Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Multipolar Melting Pot: A Spatial Analysis Of Political Orientation In The United States, Nathanael Baumann

CMC Senior Theses

Politics at the national level seems increasingly polarized – but what does polarization really mean in a political context? Is the American political landscape so unidimensional that voters throughout the country can be represented by a linear left-right spectrum? By classifying gubernatorial candidates across the country based on their distinct social and economic positions, then mapping them in a two-dimensional space, I posit a very different kind of political landscape – one made up of diffuse, fluid political preferences.

The Impact Of State Legislative Activity On Judicial Independence, Alec Haas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The role of judicial officials to release independent decisions remains a vital component to the very existence of the judicial branch. However, due to disagreement over various individual court’s interpretation of their respective state constitution, numerous state legislatures have begun to introduce bills that significantly weaken state judiciaries. Many of these bills have statutes that lower the burden for judicial impeachment, remove jurisdiction over subject matter, change the election system for judicial officials, reduce the resources of the court, and introduce politics into seemingly non-partisan matters. Influenced by the passage of bills that weaponize state legislatures against the courts, this …

An Epidemic Of Skepticism: Examining Right-Wing Populist Responses To The Covid-19 Crisis In Germany, Rachel Moline

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role of far-right populist groups in the framing of global health crises. To understand the impact far-right populism has had on the response to health crises, I will be analyzing the case of the Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), or Alternative for Germany, and their response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. I evaluate three distinct time periods in the AfD’s history and determine how the AfD has framed and reframed its crisis narrative in response to the coronavirus compared to previous crises, such as the refugee crisis of 2015. I hypothesize that new crises will lead far-right …

Washington State Sausage Making: Attempting To Measure The Efficiency Of The Legislature, Jonathon Church

PPPA Paper Prize

This paper explores the validity and justification for using how a bill dies in the Washington State legislative process to better critique and measure government efficiency. The information was gathered through interviews with former and current members of the State Legislature and from first-hand experience while working as an intern during the 2022 legislative session. Part one of the paper utilizes multiple sources to present a detailed description of the various ways in which a bill can fail to make it through the legislative process during the regular session. Part two then expands on how these obstacles in a bill's …

The American Congress Digital Archives Portal Project White Paper, Danielle Emerling

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This white paper documents the work of the American Congress Digital Archives Portal project to aggregate congressional archives into a single, online platform and make them more broadly available. Congressional archives document the democratic process; the development of public policy; and multiple narratives related to the country’s social, cultural, and political development. Work of the project included developing standards and best practices; creating governance structures for the one-year project and future phases; developing a web portal that meets user needs and adding archival content; determining digitization priorities via a research survey; conducting usability testing; and communicating and publicizing the project. …

Texas Disenfranchisement Of Felons, Michelle Baker

Quest

Policy Research Project

Research in progress for GOVT 2306: Honors Texas Government

Faculty Mentor: Tiffany Cartwright, Ph.D.

Michelle Baker wrote the following research paper as an assignment for my online GOVT 2306: Honors Texas Government class during the Fall 2020 semester. The class assignment helps students begin to formulate a classic policy paper, in which alternative policy options are discussed and analyzed, ultimately leading to a preferred policy option. Students submitted just a few paragraphs of the paper at a time over the course of the fall semester before finally pulling everything together in one cohesive research paper. As Michelle’s …

S11, E05: The Department Of Justice, Nia Rodgers, John Aughenbaugh

Civil Discourse Podcast

Aughie and Nia move on to the next department in the series, the Department of Justice. They discuss the various Attorneys General, the structure of the Department of Justice, and interesting tidbits about the history, political intrigues, and the people who have served within the DoJ.

The Power Of One: Majority Leadership Power In The United States Senate, Andrew Taylor Ordentlich

Honors Theses

The United States Senate has long been heralded as an institution known for its strong reliance upon procedural rules and the leadership that is able to use those rules to their advantage. Recent leaders including Senators Reid, McConnell, and Schumer have attempted to reform the rules of the Senate to its advantage. But why are we seeing this influx in reform now? This thesis utilizes the theory of Conditional Party Government (CPG) to explain the prevalence and lack of reform between 1900 and today. Using roll-call vote data and primary sources such as historical newspapers and the Congressional Record, this …

Participatory Budgeting: A Librarian’S Experience, John P. Delooper

Publications and Research

This article discusses one librarian’s experience with the Participatory Budgeting process in New York City. It includes information about how New York’s Participatory Budgeting process works, as well as Participatory Budgeting’s principles, and some discussion of how libraries have utilized PB. In addition, it includes discussion of how librarian skillsets can be especially useful for participatory budgeting.

Sovereign Authority And Rule Of Law: The Effect Of U.S. Use Of Torture On Political Legitimacy, Sydney Bradley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Governmental sovereignty is created and maintained by mutual respect for the rule of law by the government and citizens. To maintain legitimacy, a government must act within the bounds of the contract that created it. Otherwise, the relationship founded by said contract would be nullified, as would the duties and obligations that flow from that relationship. Torture exemplifies an ultra vires act used by the United States to show the consequences of over-extended authority on political legitimacy and the rule of law. Founded on the philosophies of Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, and Christine Korsgaard, this research investigates the nature of …

Implications Of Information: An Analysis Of How State Secrecy Prevails Over The Rights Of Free People, Cassandra Kostal

Honors Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the withholding of information at the hands of the federal government and the subsequent creation of a culture of secrecy that threatens the freedom of information. The primary research question was: How does the government keep information classified in the age of information and how does this penchant for secrecy and nondisclosure undermine the public’s faith in their leadership? Research into this question was conducted through two means: printed and online publications. The printed publications were books recommended to me by Dr. John Bender and the online publications were sources found through searches using …

U.S. Government And Politics In Principle And Practice: Democracy, Rights, Freedoms And Empire, Samuel Finesurrey, Gary Greaves

Open Educational Resources

This book is written for students early in college to provide a guide to the founding documents and structures of governance that form the United States political system. This book is called American Government and Politics in Principle and Practice because you will notice that what has been inscribed in law has not always been applied in practice-particularly for indigenous peoples, enslaved peoples, people of color, women, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, those formerly incarcerated, immigrants and the working class within U.S. society. In designing this book, we have two goals. First, we want you to know what the founding documents …

The Political Imagination: Introduction To American Government, Peter Kolozi, James E. Freeman

Open Educational Resources

The Political Imagination: Introduction to American Government provides realistic, critical analysis as well as a hopeful, engagement-oriented narrative that encourages students to understand the important role they can play in the political system and in crafting a society in which they want to live. The Political Imagination draws on social and political theory and history offering an analytical as well as normative framework to think about the substance of politics, the procedures and institutions of government, and a dynamic, socially contingent definition of political power.

Power Transitions In A Troubled Democracy, Peter L. Strauss, Gillian E. Metzger

Faculty Scholarship

Written as our contribution to a festschrift for the noted Italian administrative law scholar Marco D’Alberti, this essay addresses transition between Presidents Trump and Biden, in the context of political power transitions in the United States more generally. Although the Trump-Biden transition was marked by extraordinary behaviors and events, we thought even the transition’s mundane elements might prove interesting to those for whom transitions occur in a parliamentary context. There, succession can happen quickly once an election’s results are known, and happens with the new political government immediately formed and in office. The layer of a new administration’s political leadership …

Curb-Sided: How Technology Disrupts The American Transportation Planning Process, Mary Angelica Painter

Dissertations

The disruptive arrival of Uber, Lyft, and other transportation network companies (TNCs) into American cities ignited arguments on how policy-makers should regulate such entities. Policy debates started among policymakers, companies, and existing industries and interests. In attempts to persuade policy, actors adopted a variety of language and used different levels of government to achieve policy goals. In almost all cases, TNCs were able to gain favorable policy through image framing and venue shopping – the key components to Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET). This analysis looks at the policy process of three American cities: Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, and Austin, …

Jack S. Hill Papers, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of various political papers of Georgia State Senator Jack S. Hill from 1989 to 2020, and personal, military, and family documents from before his time in office from 1965 to 2019. The collection consists of various personal documents, legislative records, constituent correspondence, press and media activity, audio visual materials, and artifacts from Senator Hill’s life.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

Healthy And Unhealthy Responses To American Democratic Institutional Failure, Thomas D'Anieri

CMC Senior Theses

I have set out on the hunch that politics in America “feels different,” that we are frustrated both with our institutions as well as with one another. First, I will seek to empirically verify this claim beyond mere “feelings.” If it can be shown that these kinds of discontent genuinely exist to the extent that I believe they do, I will then explain why people feel this way and why things are different this time from the economic, political, and social points of view. Next, I will examine two potential responses, what I will call the populist and the institutional …

Catholicism And Politics In A Fallen World: Understanding Human Imperfection As Relates To Political Institutions, George J. Doyle

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

This thesis is composed of two primary parts, each involving discussion of Catholicism and political life. Part I critiques Thomas Aquinas’ theory of government in light of his theory of nature, with an emphasis on original sin as a defining attribute of the human person. The section concludes with an argument in favor of democracy rooted in Aquinas’s theory of human nature, as well as an understanding of the role of the Catholic Church in light of the claims made in this part of the thesis. Part II contains a political science study assessing factors that contribute to party identification …

Factors Influencing The Likelihood Of Women Winning Elections, Natalie Browning

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study analyzes variables that increase the likelihood of women winning an election for the United States Congress spanning from 1970 to 2020. This study analyzes the relationship between how liberal the United States is and the likelihood of women winning elections. A dependent relationship was found between the level of liberalism rising in the US and women winning elections. Some of this study is also used to analyze a possible relationship between women being more likely to win open seats or those with incumbents seeking reelection. A possible relationship was found between those two variables, but it was decided …

House Oversight Of The Executive Branch In The 116th Congress, Molly Reynolds

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presents a lecture titled "House Oversight of the Executive Branch in the 116th Congress" by Brookings Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, Molly Reynolds. Democrats promised to undertake oversight of President Trump and the executive branch. This lecture answers questions about the ability of the House of Representatives to fulfill one of Congress’s duties during the Trump administration and previews whether and how this oversight activity may impact the 2020 elections.

Classroom Activities For Openstax American Government, Michael Lewkowicz, Dovile Budryte, Scott Boykin, Laura Young, Yohannes Gedamu

Political Science Ancillary Materials

This new set of classroom activities for OpenStax American Government was created under a Round Eleven Mini-Grant for Ancillary Materials Creation and Revision. The materials created in order to support faculty implementing OpenStax American Government in the classroom include:

• Icebreakers
• Video Activities
• Quiz Activities
• Discussion Activities
• Brainstorming Activities
• Team Activities

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres

Theses and Dissertations

I have long considered themes of the body. Drawing on my knowledge as a fashion designer, I bring materials and hardware from the fashion industry into my artwork transforming and rendering them non-functional. My sculptures relate to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. The following pages will analyze how the United States penal system controls, constrains and restricts the body through physical and psychological wounds. Furthermore, they will examine how the Catholic Church controls people’s minds and behavior through a ritualistic belief system.

S02, E02: Eviction Part 2 – The Longer Take, Nia Rodgers, Katheryn Howell, Benjamin Teresa, Donna Coghill

Civil Discourse Podcast

This podcast is a continuation of the podcast Eviction Part 1. It discusses cases of eviction, how the instability of housing impacts individuals and neighborhoods, section eight and how eviction is just the latest form of dispossession of people. It looks at neighborhoods in Richmond that have seen instability in some form over the last 100 years.

Analyzing Gun Control: Nature Or Nurture?, Josie Chan

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The year of 2017 was deemed the deadliest year for mass killings, which explains the growing tension between those who want stronger restrictions compared to those who do not. In October 2017, 59 people were killed, with over 500 people injured in the Las Vegas massacre. When a national tragedy of such magnitude strikes, it immediately stirs up talks of gun control measures. Whether it is the National Rifle Association funneling more money to fight for 2^nd Amendment rights or passionate Americans fighting for stronger gun restrictions, the debate regarding government restrictions on firearms and ammunition proves to be …

Curriculum Drama: Using Imagination And Inquiry In A Middle School Social Studies Classroom, Catherine Franklin

Occasional Paper Series

This essay provides a vivid window into an eighth-grade class engaged in a legislative curriculum drama. Students acted as members of political parties within the Senate and participated in legislative hearings, discussed costs and benefits to legislation, and engaged in debates. Curriculum drama formed a bridge that linked the task of teaching and learning about a defined unit of study to the authentic interests, concerns, and energies of the students

The American Political Mindset: The Relationship Of Exceptionalism And Cynicism In Public Opinion, Anya Kaiser 3068310

Honors Projects

This research investigates the pervasiveness of both political cynicism and American exceptionalism within American society. Throughout history, there has been an interaction between the public's feelings of American exceptionalism and cynicism in the United States, starting at the nation’s founding and continuing into recent times (Chaloupka, 1999). As an inter-disciplinary and mixed-methods study, this research utilizes both a nationally representative quantitative data-set and a qualitative analysis of Allen Ginsberg’s (1959) poem “America,” a cultural representation of the relationship between American exceptionalism and cynicism. Using the American National Election Studies’ 2012 survey on trust in government (N = 5,914), I examine …

The Influence Of Threatened State Preemption On City Council Voting Behavior And Municipal Broadband, Dillon P. Corbridge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relationship between city and state government has been contentious at times throughout American history. Cities only have the legal authority granted to them by state government, yet many cities have cause to seek policy that may not be in the interest of those who govern the state. Leaders of American states may choose to preempt municipal authority by removing the legal power of a city to perform certain actions. While preemption provides states with a tool for regulating the policies and practices that cities may pursue, it is unclear whether city leaders act cautiously to avoid preemption, or instead …

Influences On 21st Century Federal Elections, Laura A. Ahrens

Georgia College Student Research Events

Expansive research exists on the topic of American citizens’ participation and behavior related to voting in federal elections. It is clear that multiple variables influence a citizen’s choice to vote and the political direction of that vote. However, there remains room for analyzing American electoral participation since politics and presidential decisions are increasingly shaping daily life activities. In this paper, I critically analyze the dependent variables of whether or not American respondents voted in the 2012 federal election, and if so how they voted for the presidential candidate. Additionally, I utilize logistic regression to examine whether there is a significant …

Race Relations In The Post-Obama Era, Ron Miller

Jerry Falwell Library Events

No abstract provided.

The Socioeconomic Impact Of Indian Gaming On Kumeyaay Nations: A Case Study Of Barona, Viejas, And Sycuan, 1982 - 2016, Ethan L. Banegas

Theses

This study will use the reservations of Barona, Viejas, and Sycuan to measure the socioeconomic impacts of gaming within the Kumeyaay nation. It will also draw on information available from other gaming tribes. To organize my research, I will use the following categories: health, education, economics and infrastructure. Within these four topics I will cover: investment capital, poverty, higher education, internet access, alcohol addiction, suicide rates, obesity, diabetes, and other socioeconomic indicators. Once this is accomplished I will assess the social and economic impact of gaming on Barona, Viejas, and Sycuan and include the possible implications to heal historical trauma …