Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Reaping What We Sow: The Implications And Outcomes Of Mississippi House Bill 1125, The “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (Reap)” Act, Kerigan Brewer

Honors Theses

Mississippi House Bill 1125 (MS HB1125), also known as the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act,” was signed into law by Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves in early 2023 (REAP Act, 2023). It is one of multiple policies passed into law that limit the rights of transgender people. This thesis aims to clarify the history of the trans community, dispel myths around gender-affirming health care and the trans identity, and discuss the current state of anti-trans laws and transgender rights. Using a policy analysis framework by DiNitto (2011), MS HB1125 is analyzed on points like its social and economic costs, the …

The "Othering" Of America: How The Strategic Use Of Crisis And Ressentiment Succeeded In The Trump Era, Laura J. Franklin

Dissertations

The establishment of a crisis theme through public rhetoric often triggers widespread attention, resulting in public concern and media coverage of an issue that could potentially be overblown or deceptive. In right-wing political discourse, this crisis warning is typically delivered by a White male leader with ready access to the powerful news media. An “us versus them” theme often occurs. Within this mode of a hegemonic exclusion, a culture of immigrants or an American minority are often depicted, perhaps aggressively, as a threat: A threat used to motivate, enrage and create the frustrations inherent in ressentiment. This dissertation explores the …

A Critical Analysis Of Political And Media Discourse On Immigration During The Trump Era, Daleana Phillips

Dissertations

This research examines political and media discourse on Immigration through four studies: Trump’s immigration reform speech, newspaper coverage of DACA, a Saturday Night Live episode, and social media via #ColoradoBorderWall memes. Various critical cultural theoretical frameworks are used within critical discourse and textual analysis is to examine media and political rhetoric about immigrants and immigration policy during a period of drastic institutional political change evidenced by Trump’s administration. As a collective, these narratives examine how Trump’s rhetoric and populist style of communication demonstrate a return to restrictive immigration rhetoric not witnessed in a presidential administration since the 1920s. This research …

A Lost Reference Point: How Placing Our Identities In The State Has Facilitated Social Polarization Among Americans, Dylan Evans

Honors Theses

We are living in a moment of societal breakdown, as America is increasingly plagued with fractious polarization along political and cultural lines. The potential causes of this are complex and exist within a broad spectrum of possibilities, with the potential solutions being even more contentious. However, it is my contention that identity is the central issue here. As people begin to place their identities in a religious devotion to the liberal state as opposed to a transcendent ideal, once simple, agreed-upon premises become harsh divides, and polarization ensues. To fully evaluate how this has happened, and thus how it may …

Policy Implications Of Managing Biodiversity And Natural Resources Across International Boundaries, Dillon Brown

Dissertations

Fisheries Management under the best of scenarios is a complex action. It requires thoughtful consideration of resources that tend to be out of sight, widely distributed, highly variable both spatially and temporally, and present dramatic variation in life history and ecology. No one management approach has been developed which can effectively incorporate all these variables. Add to this the issue of transnational boundary movements of these resources, and one discovers that this complex issue needs to be addressed by multiple entities, agencies, and nations to have any chance of success.

This research set out to discover ways in which fisheries …

A Comparative Analysis Of Statutory Remedies For Wrongful Convictions In The Fifty States, Abigail St. John

Honors Theses

Thousands of individuals have been wrongfully convicted across the United States. When an exoneration occurs, an individual’s conviction is absolved, and their innocence is proved through newly discovered evidence. While it might be impossible to protect from the errors of the criminal justice system, it is in the hands of the state to compensate the wrongly convicted. There is an abundance of research that focuses on reforming the existing wrongful conviction compensation legislation, but there is a lack of scholarly data that explains the motivations behind this compensation. Moreover, few researchers have considered the role of partisanship and political parties …

The Effects Of “No Pro Homo” Policies On Lgbtq+ Perceptions In The American South, Isabella L. Brocato

Honors Theses

Five states in the American South currently have “no pro homo” policies in place, while an increasing number of bills targeting discussions about sexuality and gender identity in public schools are being introduced to House floors around the country. Although there is extensive research on the ways in which these policies put the physical and mental well-being of LGBTQ+ students at risk, there is little to no research about how they shape public perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community collectively. With inspiration from Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s social science study cited in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), this study works …

Media Framing And Respectability Narratives In #Blacklivesmatter: A Twitter Analysis, Sherrice Wright

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine community dialogues on the social media platform, Twitter, in order to better understand how conventional media framing influences conversations on social media. The Black Lives Matter movement, one of the most prominent, current social justice movements, was founded on Twitter. Since then this platform has played a pivotal role in gaining awareness for issues of marginalized citizens. While Black Lives Matter has had a key role in the development of public perception, so has the traditional media. Through the use of media framing, the dominant class has the ability to reinforce or …

The Politicization Of School Reopenings: Media Coverage Of Teachers Unions, Sarah King

Master's Theses

The process of school reopenings during the COVID-19 pandemic has garnered a significant amount of attention from various stakeholders including parents, school administrators, teachers, teachers’ unions, and the media. Negotiations over elements of school reopening policies, such as mask mandates and remote-learning options have, in certain school districts, been fraught with contention. The politicization of school reopening policies has been the source of a growing body of research, which tends to analyze policy decisions in conjunction with COVID data. However, a large gap in the literature has appeared concerning the politicization of school reopenings and the impact of the media, …

“Effective Immediately”: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Reaction Of Mississippi Newspapers To 1969’S Alexander V. Holmes County Board Of Education Decision, Phoebe Waters

Honors Theses

This qualitative study analyzed articles from Mississippi newspapers in three regions. In North Mississippi, Greenville and Tupelo were surveyed. In Central Mississippi, Jackson, Meridian, and Natchez were surveyed. In South Mississippi, Hattiesburg, McComb, and Biloxi were surveyed. These newspapers were chosen as they were among the biggest in the state and reported either daily or weekly and would be able to provide a wide range of opinions. These newspapers were surveyed from October 30, 1969, through November 14, 1969, and headlines, editorials, and other opinion pieces were analyzed. This study analyzed articles in order to investigate what the media response, …

Revisiting The Economic Voter Hypothesis: Electoral Volatility And Economic Uncertainty In Latin America (1997-2018), Charles Tibedo

Dissertations

The large majority of studies concerning the “economic voter” have tended to follow specifications that assume retrospective, myopic, and sociotropic voter behavior. However, the magnitude of the economic effect and the conditions under which the effect is found have varied considerably across the entire body of research.

This study reframes the study of economic voting by focusing on variability in economic performance over the medium-term as a causal factor as opposed to specifying particular directions and levels of economic performance over the short-term as the necessary condition for retrospective and sociotropic voter behavior. Additionally, structural and institutional conditions associated with …

Towards Economic Growth And Development: The Role Of Development Finance Institutions In Fostering Foreign Direct Investment In Sub-Saharan Africa, Carmen Cagiza

Doctoral Projects

This dissertation contributes to the debate on economic development in developing countries through the analyses of four related strands of literature – the FDI and growth literature, the literature on finance and development, the DFI and growth literature, aid, institutions and economic development. The present research seeks to contribute to the debate on the effect of DFIs on FDI and consequently on economic development in developing economies to bridge the existing funding gap and thus ensure these economies achieve the global shared vision of sustainable development of the United Nations 2030 agenda. We acknowledge that development is triggered by economic …

Re-Framing Gender: An Analysis Of Journalism’S Social Media Characterization Of Female Presidential Candidates During The 2020 Presidential Election, Taylor Kiernan

Dissertations

The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without those who supported me both academically and personally throughout this process.

I would like to thank my dissertation chair and mentor, Dr. Christopher Campbell whose expertise and guidance made this research possible. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members Dr. David Davies, Dr. Cheryl Jenkins, Dr. Laura Stengrim, and Dr. Fei Xue, for their guidance and advice during the research process, as well as their expertise in the classroom which molded my abilities as a researcher during my time at The University of Southern Mississippi.

I …

The Formation Of Proxy Force And External State Relationships: Prospect Theory And Proxy Force Decision Making, Brandon Temple

Dissertations

Proxy war is a common tactic employed by great powers as a safer alternative to direct conflict, especially in the era of nuclear weapons. While proxy war is common, there is a lack of research on the formation of proxy-external state relationships. Previous research has typically examined the phenomena of proxy war through the perspective of the external state power, leaving a gap in the literature. This dissertation fills that gap by assessing the conditions under which armed groups enter into proxy relationships with external states. Using prospect theory as a framework for understanding more clearly armed group decision making …

Identification Of Cultural Differences And Their Effects On International Relations: A Novel Approach, Stephen W. Jones

Dissertations

International Relations suffers from underspecified treatments of culture that risk reifying, essentializing, or ignoring the effects of cultural differences in the conduct of relationships between states. Following a review of the development of the culture concept, this interpretivist, epistemologically critical realist, dissertation introduces intercultural adaptive frameshifting from the intercultural communication literature. To assess whether culture has effect within an epistemic community, four frameworks are evaluated within a non-IR field (global Christian reasoning). Speech act theory is used to assess meaningful affect through illocutionary and/or perlocutionary divergence based on cultural difference.

Following the findings that such cultural differences do in fact …

When You Play The Game Of Drones, You Win Or You Die: Examining The Role Of U.S. Drone Strikes In U.S. And English Language Allies Newspapers From 2008-2019, Melissa Aho

Dissertations

In the years following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States ramped up its usage of drones and drone strikes around the world. Spanning three United States’ presidents, drone strikes became a regular feature in the US military arsenal. While American newspaper media and citizens have been very pro-drone, global citizens view drones in a far more negative light. This study examines US military drone strikes and English-speaking allied newspapers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom and evaluates if coverage remains positive or negative depending on the newspaper’s conservative or liberal leanings from 2008–2019. …

Underrepresentation Of Women In American Politics, Lindsey Crane

Master's Theses

In this project I studied why women are underrepresented in state legislatures. I conducted a data set ranging from 2000 to 2018 for forty-three US states, analyzing the percentage of women who won and the number of women who ran in the elections. Using this data, I found evidence that personal life choices have the most effect on rather women want to run for political office and successfully pursue political careers. Having this specific quantitative dataset, the study provides a better understanding to why women are still widely underrepresented on the state level. I also find that my independent variables …

How To Defend Those Who Defend: An Examination Of The Underfunding Of The Public Defender System, Selma M. Newbill

Honors Theses

The public defender system in the United States is in an indigent defense crisis because it is often unable to provide adequate representation to the citizens that the United States Constitution requires them to give. The growing attention on the system today is shedding light on public defenders’ stifling caseloads and on the people who are failing to receive the legal representation to which they are entitled by the constitution. The lack of political prioritization, the systemic inequities throughout the criminal justice system, and the underfunding of the public defender system has often rendered public defenders unable to provide their …

Water Elites’ Perceptions Of Water Security In The Middle East And North Africa Region, Ghaleb Akari

Dissertations

The Middle East and North African region continues to face significant water security challenges. The purpose of this dissertation is to gain a deeper understanding of water elites’ perceptions of water security in the MENA region. It is not meant to generalize the findings. Instead, the intention for the research is to identify, explain, and analyze by national elites' contrasting perceptions in Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Tunisia.

The study examines water elites’ perceptions in four areas: current knowledge level of water security, water resource management, water service delivery, and water-related risk mitigation. These elites’ perceptions of water security will help …

No More Shade: Deforestation And Rural-Urban Migration In Nigeria, Kambre Sims

Master's Theses

Some of the most well-documented motivating factors of migration in Nigeria include education, employment opportunities, and cultural conflicts. However, as the deforestation crisis has not improved and Nigeria has maintained its spot as the country with the most deforestation on Earth, access to critical forest resources may be in danger. In light of this crisis, this paper attempts to determine if deforestation has become a new motivating factor for migration as those in rural communities seek other avenues of obtaining those vital resources. Subsequently, Nigeria is also experiencing a housing crisis within its rapidly growing urban centers; obtaining and keeping …

Globalization, Immigration, And Cultural Change: Conditions That Predict Shifts In Nationalistic Attitudes, Kelly Trail

Dissertations

Globalization is on the rise across the globe. In many instances, nationalism appears to be, too, as evidenced by the anti-immigrant and “nation first” rhetoric and success of presidential candidates, such as Donald Trump in the United States and Sebastian Pinera in Chile. However, the author questioned whether nationalistic attitudes are truly on the rise across the globe and what conditions cause some countries to shift toward nationalistic attitudes in the face of rising globalization, while others to shift away from it. She utilizes descriptive statistics, case studies, and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to analyze the conditions that influence …

Predicting Political Development After United States Military Assistance: Evidence From Case Study Analysis, Susan Rae Alaniz

Dissertations

During the administration of former President Barak Obama, United States foreign policy increased its focus on international development instability that threatened U.S. national security. In 2010, President Obama issued Presidential Policy Directive 6, which declared that international development is a vital U.S. national interest. This was a watershed moment for not just how the United States views its national interests, but in which resources should be dedicated to protect them. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Defense has security assistance relationships with 155 countries. These countries represent a wide range of international development challenges.

This research examines the recipient state …

State-Level Fiscal Policy And Economic Growth: Assessing Recovery From The 2007 Recession, Nathan Barron

Master's Theses

This research examines state-level fiscal policy responses to the 2007 recession, with a particular focus on the short- and long-run effectiveness of government spending at achieving economic growth. Using OLS regression models to test the impact of government spending, institutional constraints, and economic policy climates on economic growth, this research shows that government spending has a positive impact on growth that decreases into a negative impact over time. Additionally, institutional constraints are consistently found to hinder growth while the effects of policy climate are mixed.

Political Public Relations Agenda-Building: A Content Analysis Of The Us 2016 Presidential Campaign Speeches, Tweets And News Stories, Emmanuel Nwachukwu

Dissertations

This study investigated the role of political agenda building of political speech and tweet in the 2016 US presidential elections and the relationships between the campaign messages and the news cycle during the election campaign period. It also used functional theory of political campaign discourse to evaluate the speech and tweets of the presidential candidates. The study utilized content analysis and analyzed 5303 units of speech, tweets, TV (CNN, FOX and NBC news) clips and news stories from New York Times and Washington Post to derive its conclusions.

The result of the study showed how tweets shaped the media agenda …

Exploring Scale In Ocean And Coastal Governance In The Wider Caribbean, Robin C. Mahon

Gulf and Caribbean Research

An early childhood attraction to the sea led to a career in marine ecology, fisheries and ocean and coastal governance. This paper tracks the development of my career from tertiary education, through a variety of jobs and positions with government, private sector, international and academic organizations. These positions took me from national to regional levels of governance, then down to local levels and ultimately back up to regional and global levels. At each stage new concepts join those already there to build what is ultimately a multilevel perspective on ocean and coastal governance. This perspective is built around ideas of …

Terrorism And Organized Crime: An Analytical Study From An International Law Perspective, Leila Mejdoubi

Master's Theses

With the spread of terrorism and its growing risks since the start of the 21^st century, a wide range of reports and studies have emerged. This funding comes from a special relationship between terrorist organizations, organized crime syndicates, and their cooperation with each other, which has enabled terrorist organizations in particular to carry out recruitment efforts and operations alike. It has also fueled an international black market for smuggling and trade in drugs and arms. Under what conditions do violent terrorist groups driven by extreme Islamist ideology collaborate with organized criminal enterprises to generate the requisite resources to pursue …

Winning Public Hearts And Minds: Security And Development Aid In The 21st Century, Mohammad Ashraf

Dissertations

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, foreign aid has focused on winning public hearts and minds in the aid recipient states as a hedge against insecurity and means to achieve progress in the “war on terror.” Western donors, especially the United States, argue foreign aid is an effective tool to expand government capacity and control over territory, win public hearts and minds, and ultimately mitigate the need and significant military costs of deployment to counter insecurity, extremism, and terrorism in weak, fragile and failing states.

This dissertation uses case studies to explore the …

Europe Rising (Again): A Comparative Study Of The Dynamics And Types Of Modern European Nationalisms, 1989-2018, Timea Varga

Dissertations

Nationalism is nothing new to Europe. While theoretical explanations of the catalysts of post-1989 European nationalist phenomena remain contested along material and non-material lines, this dissertation posits that it is the interaction of economic insecurities, societal fears, and populism over time that have shaped the rise and types of post-1989 European nationalisms. Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is combined with a collective case study design to examine: 1) how forces – political, economic, societal, or other – have dominated the formation and latest surge of European nationalisms since the end of European Communism in 1989; and 2) whether different, context-dependent …

The Emerging Millennial Majority, Kendra Kitchens

Honors Theses

This thesis operates under the framework of two theories: the realignment theory and the generational theory. I focus on a model of realignment developed by Arthur Paulson which determines three criteria that are necessary for a political realignment to occur: 1.) a new governing coalition, which is 2.) lasting and durable with 3.) a new policy agenda. A realignment can be driven by various factors, one of which being through generational replacement. Generational change can lead to a realignment when a new generation of voters emerges with unique political views that are likely to remain over time and cause the …

Online Political Participation: Evaluation Of The Changing Effects Over Time, Gabriel Davis May

Master's Theses

The internet is a political participation medium that has been subject to constant changes. Just since 2008, there has been a significant increase in the amount of people who use the internet for political purposes. Building on the work of Brian Kruger and others I evaluate whether the internet brings new participants into the political process or if the internet only "reinforces" those who already participate. I utilize data from recent American National Election Studies to employ an ordinary least-squares regression model for recent presidential election years and assess whether the internet has brought new participants into the political fray …