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Articles 1 - 17 of 17

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Amending The Stafford Act: Considerations For A Catastrophic Declaration, Ernest Brian Baudoin Apr 2012

Amending The Stafford Act: Considerations For A Catastrophic Declaration, Ernest Brian Baudoin

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Leader Psychology And Involvement In International Events, John Beieler Apr 2012

Leader Psychology And Involvement In International Events, John Beieler

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Linking Social Capital To Disaster Recovery, Ryan Gregoire Apr 2012

Linking Social Capital To Disaster Recovery, Ryan Gregoire

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Explaining Attitudes Toward Racial Preferences And Affirmative Action: A Multi-Racial Perspective, Rebekah Myers Apr 2012

Explaining Attitudes Toward Racial Preferences And Affirmative Action: A Multi-Racial Perspective, Rebekah Myers

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


The Decline In Trust In The European Union, Nathan Donald Price Jan 2012

The Decline In Trust In The European Union, Nathan Donald Price

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

After twenty years, the European Union is undoubtedly at a crossroads, as its institutions try to manage the sovereign debt crisis in member states and the uncertainty surrounding the future direction of the project. The challenges the European Union has faced, and the response to them, have drawn considerable attention on the capacity of the European Union to manage the interests of the Europeans. In this dissertation, I discuss the process of Europeanization and why it has resulted in suboptimal outputs. Additionally, I discuss the perception of a democratic deficit in the European Union. The purpose of this is to …


Early Voting In The 2004 Presidential Election, James Michael Siira Jan 2012

Early Voting In The 2004 Presidential Election, James Michael Siira

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The addition of early voting laws has led to the many changes in the US political system. In this dissertation I examine early voting early voting in a number of different contexts. First, how early voting fits in with the larger issue of voter turnout in the U.S. Second, why some states have early voting policies and other states choose to not have those policies. Third, how state-level political parties view the option to cast an early vote. Fourth, the differences between early voters, election day voters, and non-voters. Fifth, what are the determents of casting an early ballot. Sixth, …


Impact Of Religion And Religious Differences On Political And Economic Cooperation Between Countries, Betul Dicle Jan 2012

Impact Of Religion And Religious Differences On Political And Economic Cooperation Between Countries, Betul Dicle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Studies on economic and political cooperation of countries generally focus on the effects of factors such as geographical proximity, political regime type, and the different fiscal and monetary policies, among others. The impact of religious affiliation, however, stayed mainly as theory. The clash between and/or within religions had important proponents. We provide evidence that religion can have economic union effects. We evaluate whether there is historic economic polarization and whether religions have group dynamics similar to economic unions. Economic convergence, causation and trade cooperation are commonly reported for economic unions. Do these effects exist for countries with the same religion? …


Black-Woman Identity Centrality And Interference: An Examination Of Political Efficacy And Policy Attitudes, Alexandra Ghara Jan 2012

Black-Woman Identity Centrality And Interference: An Examination Of Political Efficacy And Policy Attitudes, Alexandra Ghara

LSU Master's Theses

While much of the recent literature centers on a discussion of the “inner conflict” experienced by black women, political scientists have not measured this identity conflict or its political consequences. In this article I fill this gap in the literature by employing a black-woman identity interference scale (Settles 2006) to test whether black women experience particular difficulty aligning their racial and gender interests, and how identity conflict affects their political efficacy (internal political efficacy, external political efficacy, and group political efficacy) and policy attitudes. I find that while black women’s political efficacy is only affect by their race consciousness, their …


Climate Change Displacement And Global Governance: A Case Study Of Three Intergovernmental Organizations And The Conflict Between The Member States And Bureaucracy, Andrea C. S. Berringer Jan 2012

Climate Change Displacement And Global Governance: A Case Study Of Three Intergovernmental Organizations And The Conflict Between The Member States And Bureaucracy, Andrea C. S. Berringer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change is a topic most often broached by environmental scientists and activists and its effects are discussed in terms of animal populations and atmospheric events. However, its direct effect on human life is yet to garner such attention. A changing climate will affect how people are able to use their environment, if at all. Sea level rise and desertification will force a shift in human habitation. How the world seeks to deal with this shift is yet to be seen. The global governance of climate change-induced displacement is currently at the stage of ad hoc development. Legal and conceptual …


En(Gendering) Policy: Gender Policies In Former Soviet Republics, Natasha Lachelle Bingham Jan 2012

En(Gendering) Policy: Gender Policies In Former Soviet Republics, Natasha Lachelle Bingham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines gender policies in former Soviet republics. Gender policies are depicted as traditional policies (including such policies as child support, spousal support, and inheritance rights), violence against women policies (domestic violence, marital rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment), and human trafficking policies. It builds upon previous works with a multi-methodological approach (content analysis, logistical regression, and qualitative survey analysis). The focus here is on the factors that influence adoption of formal policies in former Soviet republics from 1993-2008. I explore variance across both countries and policy areas, assessing whether (and why) certain post-Soviet states are more likely to …


How Level Of Globalization Affects Public Opinion Towards Globalization In Particular Nations, Nickolaus Bizzio Jan 2012

How Level Of Globalization Affects Public Opinion Towards Globalization In Particular Nations, Nickolaus Bizzio

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis seeks to understand how the level of globalization affects the public opinion towards globalization. The reviewed literature traces the history of the most significant developments of the current global capital system as well as the public opinion literature which discusses relevant issues pertaining to the subject. Since globalization is highly correlated with modernization, much of the literature will involve examination of modernization as well as its critics. To test the presented hypotheses, Pew’s Global Attitudes Project Survey 2010 was used. The question used as the basis of the dependent variable asks if the respondent believes increasing business and …


The Lost City: Examining The Relationship Between Science, Philosophy And The Atlantis Myth, Kimberly Hurd Jan 2012

The Lost City: Examining The Relationship Between Science, Philosophy And The Atlantis Myth, Kimberly Hurd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Francis Bacon, long considered a minor figure in the founding of modern political thought, is now recognized as one of its foremost thinkers. Bacon not only championed a new type and method of scientific inquiry, he also developed a plan for how modern society could be re-ordered to accommodate and promote scientific progress. Bacon’s scientific writings cannot be wholly understood apart from his political writings, and many of his works combine the two topics so subtly that it is difficult to even place them in a definitive category. My project expands on the previous literature with a detailed analysis of …


Climate Change Policy In The European Union: Examining The Emissions Trading System, Tabitha Marie Cale Jan 2012

Climate Change Policy In The European Union: Examining The Emissions Trading System, Tabitha Marie Cale

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a cap-and-trade program regulating the carbon emissions of specific industrial facilities and is the EU’s primary policy mechanism for complying with emissions reduction targets found in the Kyoto Protocol. This dissertation examines the overall effectiveness of the EU ETS and more specifically what factors explain why some member states are more successful at reducing their carbon emissions than others. OLS and logistic regression models are constructed as well as qualitative case studies of Sweden, Denmark, Portugal and Greece, to examine observed differences in emissions in all 27 EU member states from …


Performance, Preference, Promotion: Political Mobility Of Chinese Regional Leaders, Liang Qiao Jan 2012

Performance, Preference, Promotion: Political Mobility Of Chinese Regional Leaders, Liang Qiao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As a study exclusively on the political elites, the dissertation studies the Chinese regional leaders and their political career mobility controlled by the central government from 1949 to 2010. The Chinese Communist Party controls its regional leaders by controlling their career movement (political mobility). This study explains why some regional leaders were promoted while some others were demoted or dismissed while most of them shared similar personal background and career experience. By providing empirical evidence with quantitative analysis, this study shows that in post-Deng Chinese politics (1997-2010) there are certain patterns and manipulated by the CCP center in demoting and …


The Existence Of Preference Outlier Committees In The 1999-2008 Louisiana House Of Representatives, Trisha Mari Sandahl Jan 2012

The Existence Of Preference Outlier Committees In The 1999-2008 Louisiana House Of Representatives, Trisha Mari Sandahl

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years the complexity of understanding the politics of committee assignment, has led to lively scholarly debates. At the heart of this debate lie three theories of legislative committee development: the distributive, informational, and major party cartel theory. Each of these theories attempts to explain legislative committee assignments through one single legislator motivation: legislator interest, party, or institutional interest. This dissertation argues that one single motivation as espoused in the distributive, informational, and major party cartel theory is not likely to explain all legislator committee assignments. Instead, Legislators committee assignments are likely to be a reflection of multiple motivations, …


Carl Schmitt's Radical Democracy: Schmitt, Hobbes And The Return To Political Identity, Ndifreke Ette Jan 2012

Carl Schmitt's Radical Democracy: Schmitt, Hobbes And The Return To Political Identity, Ndifreke Ette

LSU Master's Theses

Scholarly treatments of the controversial German jurist Carl tend to be bipolar: His writings are either scrutinized for totalitarian leanings or his flirtations with Nazism excused as unfortunately opportunistic. One of the more fruitful points to begin an exploration of Schmitt’s thought is in his interpretation of Thomas Hobbes. Schmitt criticized Hobbes both for ignoring the historical backdrop to the Leviathan myth, and also for prefiguring liberalism with his distinction between conscience and obedience. In recruiting Hobbes, this paper suggests that though Schmitt’s concern about the technologization of politics through liberalism was paramount, it was in support of a radical …


Immigration, The Welfare State And Income Inequality In Sixteen Oecd Countries, 1970-2007, Ping Xu Jan 2012

Immigration, The Welfare State And Income Inequality In Sixteen Oecd Countries, 1970-2007, Ping Xu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Many western democracies witnessed roaring levels of immigration and inequality in the past four decades. In spite of speculations that immigration is a contributing factor of the rising income inequality, existing studies do not have a consistent finding relating to this relationship. This dissertation utilizes new data sources to explore the relationship between immigration and inequality.My initial exploration points to the fact that immigration significantly leads to increases in post-redistribution income inequality in 16 OECD countries, but does not have any effect on pre-redistribution income inequality. I contend that it is because immigrants as non-citizens are often times not entitled …