Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Advancing A Sustainable Career Model For Political Science Students: Implications For Career Development Research And Practice, Tashfeen Ahmad

Journal of Global Awareness

This paper aims to assist lecturers, universities, and their administrators in improving the relevance of political science undergraduate degree programs in the context of globalization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. This paper will reflect on how to tailor the political science degree to achieve a sustainable career and improve students' employability in the future. The latest theoretical frameworks incorporating the concept of "sustainable" career development were used in advancing the model of employability in the political science field. The author relies on a qualitative approach and the literature review with implications for practice in advancing the notion that competency-based …

The Politics And Ethics Of Immigration In A Commercial Republic, Kiara Palomares

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The quote on the Statue of Liberty reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The retched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” These words are central to the mythology of America as a nation of immigrants and, to the extent that this myth is accurate, one would expect that after experiencing multiple waves of immigration the United States (US) would have developed a set of principles guiding how legislators think about and frame immigration policy. This would not be …

Elephants Never Forget: Partisan Schemas And The Continued Influence Of Misinformation, Jeremy V. Hermanson

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In an age where information is plentiful and access to it is practically unlimited, the veracity of information is frequently an afterthought. Previous research has demonstrated that individuals may often be reluctant to alter their beliefs and attitudes even after false information is corrected. This phenomenon is known as the continued-influence effect or the continued influence of misinformation (CIM). Misinformation and “fake news” have grown more common, and their effectiveness may be explained by CIM. Research also shows that schemas can have significant effects on how information is processed, and preexisting beliefs, values and attitudes can affect what information is …

Food Deserts In Indianapolis, Anthony Little

Environmental Justice

This project focuses on the issue of food deserts in Indianapolis.

Hostile Architecture, Hannah Sparks

Environmental Justice

This project is centered around the concept of public spaces and architecture that is intentionally designed to prevent unhoused people from having unlimited access to the environment for survival purposes.

Conservation And Its Effect On Indigenous Communities, Emma Vanderheyden

Environmental Justice

This project investigates the effects of conservation on indigenous populations.

Food Apartheid In Indianapolis, Anna Watson

Environmental Justice

This project examines food deserts and food apartheid in Indianapolis.

Food Waste In The United States, Jack Pitchford

Environmental Justice

This project is centered around the food waste problem in the United States and around the world.

Practicality Or Principle: A Comparative Study Of The Origin Of Legal Protections On Gun Rights, Robert (Rj) Haskin

Honors Theses

This study examines the legal protections of the right to bear arms as an extension of John Locke’s principles of government. Whereas most studies of the right to bear arms focus on the contemporary practical consequences of an armed populace, I focus on the foundations of the right and how it has been exercised across the diverse circumstances of the U.S. and Azerbaijan to achieve the ideal of self-determination. Specifically, I detail and compare the political histories of each country leading up to their independence and how they obey Locke’s precepts. Given that the chief commonality between the two countries …

Look Who's Talking: Differences In Rates Of Interruptions And Proportion Of Time Used By Male And Female U.S. Courts Of Appeals Judges, Sabrina L. Collins, Molly G Baldock, Jasmyne N. Post, Elizabeth Turner

Grawemeyer Colloquium Papers

During oral arguments, attorneys are given the chance to elaborate on their written briefs and answer questions from the judges deciding the case. Studying oral arguments can be a window into the power dynamics between judges and attorneys, and can shed light onto how factors like gender may affect judicial decision-making. While a growing body of research has examined gender dynamics in oral arguments in the United States Supreme Court, no existing studies have examined whether these findings hold up in the U.S. Court of Appeals, the second highest courts in the country. We collected data on two years of …

Strategic Culture And Cyber Strategy, Andrew S. Olejarski

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this paper is to explore the relationship between strategic culture theory and how it interacts with war-parallel usage of cyber methods. Cyber methods, at times incorrectly classified as "cyberwarfare", as a means of statecraft are becoming increasingly prevalent, and developing an understanding of how states use them, particularly during conflicts, would be a great boon to the field of security studies. Strategic culture theory, an international relations theory focusing on the relationship between culture and strategy, may be an effective means to analyze conflict-parallel use of cyber methods. This paper will consider the relationship between strategic culture …

Orthodoxy And Loyalty: An Exploration Of Electoral Volatility As Experienced By Religious Political Parties In Israel And The Netherlands, Bryant Donner

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Religious political parties have been mainstays of the Dutch and Israeli political scenes throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. While each nation possesses exceptionally open and proportional party systems with high degrees of electoral volatility, the Netherlands’ remaining orthodox Protestant parties and Israel’s Haredi parties have weathered this volatility better than other parties have.

Using the Dutch Christian Union, the Dutch Reformed Political Party, the Israeli Shas, and the Israeli United Torah Judaism as examples of religious parties in the twenty-first century, this paper examines sociological and political dimensions on which religious parties of different political alignments and faiths and …

Politics, Power, And Purpose: An Orientation To Political Science, Jay Steinmetz

Open Educational Resources

This textbook provides an overview of the political science discipline and is suitable for introductory courses at the undergraduate level. In Part I, the book covers important themes for political science undergraduate majors, such as defining politics, ideologies, institutions of governance, concepts in democracy, and public law. Part II provides an overview of the major subdisciplines in political science: political theory, international relations, comparative politics, American politics, public policy and public administration, and methods. This textbook serves as an excellent resource in courses such as Introduction to Political Science or Orientation to Political Science

An Understanding Of Prisons, Race, And Class In The United States, Seth Ketchum

Honors Projects

After a summer of protests sparked by police brutality, the United States remains divided on this most important issue. This paper will seek to contextualize this country’s situation to explain that these protests stem from a history of inequality, in order to argue against claims that the protests are unjustified. With a multidisciplinary approach, we can begin to observe just how unequal this country is and understand what drives so many people to protest during the middle of a global pandemic.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Pol 1101 (American Government: Practices And Values), David Jones

Open Educational Resources

In this course we will analyze the ideas and values that shaped the drafting of the United States Constitution, the institutional framework it established, the ways in which the American public affects the functioning of these institutions, and how these institutions, in turn, affect the lives of the American public.

Making The People. An Interview With Paulina Ochoa Espejo, Haverford College, Paulina Ochoa Espejo, David Cortés Ferrández, Sandra Nava Nieto

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

Paulina Ochoa Espejo is an Associate Professor of political science at Haverford College. She is the author of On Borders: Territories, Legitimacy and the Rights of Place (OUP, 2020), The Time of Popular Sovereignty: Process and the Democratic State (PSUP, 2011) and co–editor of the Oxford Handbook of Populism (2017).

The Role Of Ideology Through The Lens Of Primary Elections, Mark P. Walsh

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

This paper serves as an in-depth look at the role ideology plays in modern America, and uses the primary electoral system as a mechanism through which one can examine ideological shifts in politicians and the electorate. The evidence gathered indicates that primary elections are breeding grounds for increased ideological extremism as a result of the more radical nature of politically engaged voters, the only group who on average take part in these elections. As a result, only the most ideologically dogmatic candidates move on to the general election and thus potentially into office. The effects this has upon policy and …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Politics Of Gun Control In The United States And Australia, Nicholas Leone

College Honors Program

This thesis centers on the interrelationships and differences in firearm legislation and culture within the United States of America and Australia. As a result of the Port Arthur Massacre on April 28, 1996, Australia was faced with an unprecedented mass shooting that completely shifted Australian politics and culture regarding firearm safety and availability. Thus, the thesis inquiries into the effectiveness of Australia’s buyback program as well as the cultural and political factors that allowed for such legislation to be passed. After suffering 118 mass shootings in the U.S. since 1982, the history of the United States regarding gun control is …

Institutional Form And Its Influence On Instability Following The Assassination Of A Head Of State, Ashlee Mcgill

Honors Theses

The period following an assassination is one of fear and uncertainty for citizens of a nation after their leader has been assassinated. However, different nations experience assassinations differently; while some collapse and result in failed states, other nations have seen leaders rise to power. Thus, I examine how institutional forms—democracy, autocracy, and anocracy—influence and structure how a country experiences instability following the assassination of a head of state. I do this through a qualitative case study of three assassinations: John F. Kennedy of the United States in 1963; Rafael Trujillo of the Dominica Republic in 1961; and José Antonio “Chichi” …

How Much Difference Can We Make? Assessing The Change In Students’ Critical Thinking In A Private Political Science Program In Egypt, Yasmin Khodary

Political Science

The purpose of this study is to determine the change in students’ levels of critical thinking (CT) through comparing the results of second- and fourth-year students. The study also investigates the factors that are statistically significant in explaining the change, if any, in students’ CT. In doing that, the study determines whether or not the use of assessment criteria that encourage CT influences or triggers any change in students’ CT. The study employs mixed methods, combining quantitative methods with qualitative ones. Quantitative data were collected using the California CT Skills Test in order to investigate the change in students’ levels …

Can Continuous Campaigns Cause Conscientious Citizens To Cower?, Melissa Hall

Honors Theses

The following study examines the relationship between campaign season length and voter turnout. Campaign season length is defined as the period between either the legal beginning of the campaign season as specified by the government or the announcement of the first candidate’s candidacy and the date of the election. Voter turnout is defined as the percentage of eligible voters that voted in the election. Eligible voters include all people of voting age in the country, regardless of whether they are registered to vote. There is no existing literature on the effects of campaign season length on voter turnout. My hypothesis …

An Examination Of Nebraska’S Law Setting The Age Of Majority At Nineteen, Lauren Mcneal

Honors Theses

My proposed research covers the actions of the Nebraska legislature surrounding the age of majority. During the summer of 2019, I interned with Senator Adam Morfeld to draft a bill lowering the age of majority in Nebraska from nineteen to eighteen for healthcare services. Many eighteen-year-olds, especially students, face complications when they seek healthcare services but need parental consent. This is because young adults tend to move away from their homes at this age but are still not considered independent from their parents under Nebraska state law. In this thesis, I use the information I gathered from my interim research …

Book Review: The Third Pillar: How Markets And The State Leave The Community Behind, George Morrow

Essays in Education

Rajan, Raghuram (2019). The Three Pillars: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind. New York: Penguin.

Mr. Rajan explains the success and failure of societies through the interrelationship of three social sciences (what he calls pillars): economics (the marketplace), political science (government), and sociology (communities). In Section I, Mr. Rajan describes the origins of each pillar starting at the end of the medieval era. Each pillar has its own tale related to it social science but their stories are interwoven as well. An example: the marketplace and the expansion of trade (both territorially and in complexity) could only …

President Trump’S First Term: The Year In C-Span Archives Research, Volume 5, Robert X. Browning

The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research

C-SPAN is the network of record for US political affairs, broadcasting live gavel-to-gavel proceedings of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and to other forums where public policy is discussed, debated, and decided––without editing, commentary, or analysis and with a balanced presentation of points of view.

The C-SPAN Archives, located adjacent to Purdue University, is the home of the online C-SPAN Video Library. The Archives has copied all of C-SPAN's television content since 1987. Extensive indexing, captioning, and other enhanced online features provide researchers, policy analysts, students, teachers, and public officials with an unparalleled chronological and internally cross-referenced record …

Racial Bias And The Death Penalty In Nebraska (2005-2019), Natalie Bielenberg

Honors Theses

Ample evidence exists to suggest that the death penalty in the United States is affected by racial bias. Nebraska has a complex history with the death penalty, and in this study I investigate whether or not that racial bias is present in Nebraska’s capital punishment. Using a list of every Nebraska Department of Correctional Services inmate since 1982, I test for a relationship between race of inmate and sentencing outcome and a relationship between race of victim and sentencing outcome. No significant relationship was found between either race of inmate and receiving the death penalty nor race of victim and …

Neoliberalism, Rationality, And The Politics Of Congestion Pricing In New York City, Max Finkelpearl

Honors Papers

Elected officials in the United States currently face a difficult and growing challenge: how to finance the estimated $4.5 trillion needed to bring the United States’ public infrastructure back to a state of good repair. Amidst the uncertainty of financing public services through tax revenues, policymakers in several cities around the world have been advocating for and implementing an urban policy solution called congestion pricing. In this study, against the background of theories of political decision making, I analyze two cases in New York (2007-2008 and 2017-2019) to demonstrate why congestion pricing became the policy of choice by elected leaders …

The Impact Of State Legislative Term Limits On Descriptive Representation, Matt Baldwin

Honors Theses

Do term limits make state legislatures more descriptively representative of their population? If the composition of a state legislature is a function of its ruleset and design, then term limits—a major shift in the rules—would change who is running for office and who is getting elected. In order to explore this question, a dataset was created by contacting a number of states to solicit responses on the demographics of their state legislatures from 1990-2018. In addition, information regarding some control variables (partisanship, time, economy) was gathered. A gap variable was created to see what difference existed between the proportion of …

Black Finesse Amidst The Political Science Paradigm: A Race-Grounded Phenomenology, Janiece Zalina Mackey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, I develop a methodology that I call Race-Grounded Phenomenology (RGP). The scope of this study investigates how Black undergraduate students navigate the discipline of political science. An eclectic array of critical theories of race unveil the ways in which Black undergraduate students exhibit flair and tenacity, or what I call Black Finesse. The eclectic array of critical theories of race utilized in this study include critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, and identity enactments. However, this study focuses on the Black student experience amidst the socialization of political science or what I call the political science paradigm. …

Ramerican Political Science Review (Vol. 5, 2020)

Ramerican Political Science Review

Letter from the Department of Political Science -- Analyzing the Accuracy of Early Warning Systems in the Field of Modern Genocide and Suggested Changes: A Comparative Case Study of Myanmar, Rwanda, and Darfur / Jhanys Gardner -- The Chicken Game and the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis / Zhuoran Li -- The Impact of VP Nominees: An Overview of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election / W.P. Jackson Krug -- The FMLN and FARC as Diverging Models of Post-Conflict Integration / Adam Hales -- Censorship and Control in the PRC / Robert Johnson -- Perpetual Neglect: An insight into the implications of …

Decolonizing Urban Indian Institutions: Indigenous Authority In Boise, Idaho, Melanie Lee Fillmore

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

American Indigenous populations are underrepresented in American political science discourse. There is a lack of knowledge on public perception of political trust within Indigenous communities. I argue that contemporary discourses on data and political participation of American Indigenous people are incomplete without framing that data within the context of ongoing settler colonialism. National data shows that nearly 71% of all American Indigenous people live in urban settings. Framing American Indigenous political participation requires an in depth examination of the role of American Settler colonialism. Studies need to account for the impact of Federal government use of authority has had on …