Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Why We Don’T Understand The Rule Of Law Or Explaining The Rule Of Law: A Practice In Search Of A Theory, Noel B. Reynolds Jun 2010

Why We Don’T Understand The Rule Of Law Or Explaining The Rule Of Law: A Practice In Search Of A Theory, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

This lecture summarizes the main attempts to formulate an understanding of rule of law among legal theorists and explains why they fail to account for the real experience of law. It also explains key characteristics of law that need to be recognized in an adequate account of the rule of law.


African Americans In Politics: What Factors Lead To The Election Of African American Representatives, Keith D. Gonzales, Sven Wilson Apr 2010

African Americans In Politics: What Factors Lead To The Election Of African American Representatives, Keith D. Gonzales, Sven Wilson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

African Americans have triumphed over a difficult history in the United States. They have had to overcome prejudices in education, the workforce, and politics. Today, we have an African American president and many African Americans hold office on every level of government. It seems to be a good time to evaluate the political environment for African Americans. Data from Congressional districts has been gathered and evaluated. The data has shown three significant factors affecting the chances of African Americans to be elected as a representative from any district. The results hint that there may still be work to be done …


Do The Insured Make Greater Use Of Medical Services?, Gregg Girvan, Sven Wilson Apr 2010

Do The Insured Make Greater Use Of Medical Services?, Gregg Girvan, Sven Wilson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Conventional wisdom states if policy-makers set the goal of increasing the number of patients with health insurance, visits to the emergency room (ER) will decrease while visits to a usual source of care (USC), such as a general practitioner, will increase. In examining year 2007 of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, this study seeks to test this hypothesis by answering two questions: 1. Whether having insurance affects ER and USC utilization, and 2. Whether greater USC utilization affects ER utilization. The analysis accounts for endogeneity issues with insurance and USC utilization. In order to account for the discrete, non negative …


Child Marriage: Can Access To Media Discourage The Practice In South Asia?, Angela O'Neill, Sven Wilson Apr 2010

Child Marriage: Can Access To Media Discourage The Practice In South Asia?, Angela O'Neill, Sven Wilson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

In this paper, we explore a possible role for the media to facilitate social change through international and domestic politics even when political will may be lacking. Using data from national health surveys in two South Asian countries, we find that frequent reading of the newspaper is associated with higher ages at marriage among women in all of the countries surveyed. Further research is necessary to determine the types of programs and degree of openness for the other forms of media in each of the countries.


Demand For Terrorism: What Factors Make A Country More Vulnerable To Attack?, Timothy P. Jensen, Sven Wilson Apr 2010

Demand For Terrorism: What Factors Make A Country More Vulnerable To Attack?, Timothy P. Jensen, Sven Wilson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Factors used to explain terrorism range from economic inequality (Bailey, 2002) to religious fundamentalism and prejudice (Anderson & Taylor 2001). Taylor (1998) found that “Neither social background, educational opportunity or attainment seem to be particularly associated with terrorism.” In an econometric analysis of terrorism, Krueger and Maleckova (2003) found no causal relationship between poverty in individuals and their likelihood of becoming terrorists. They examined the supply of terrorism by looking at biographical information of individual terrorists, particularly in Palestine. They found that most terrorists had more education than other members of their home country and were in occupations of high …


Does Democracy In The Home Create Democracy In The Nation?, Aimee Farnsworth, Valerie Hudson Apr 2010

Does Democracy In The Home Create Democracy In The Nation?, Aimee Farnsworth, Valerie Hudson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

While the rise of liberal democracy has usually been linked to the growth of capitalism and the rise of the bourgeoisie, a fairly new theory claims that democracy in the state began with democracy in the home (Hajnal1982; Hartman 2004). That is, as the relationship between husband and wife became more equal, a mini-democracy was created in the home which promoted liberal democracy on a larger scale, first in the community, and then the nation. Those promoting democracy might therefore find it beneficial to first, or at least concurrently, promote equality between husband and wife. Increased equality between spouses will …


From Pawn To President, Joshua C. Powell, Sven Wilson Apr 2010

From Pawn To President, Joshua C. Powell, Sven Wilson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This study attempts to clarify the causes of coups d’Etat, which still occur at alarming rates within less-developed nations. Previous research has focused on three potential motivations: greed, grievance, and feasibility. Greed: High levels of natural resources such as oil can easily be diverted into personal accounts, making a successful coup more profitable. Grievance: Repression or poor governance may lead to rebellion. Feasibility: A game-theoretic explanation in which coups are attempted simply because their success seems likely.


Just How Independent Is The Fed?, Brenton Swenson, Sven Wilson Apr 2010

Just How Independent Is The Fed?, Brenton Swenson, Sven Wilson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

The Federal Reserve has a duel mandate to fight inflation while keeping unemployment low. The Fed is designed to be largely independent from political influence. Just how independent the Fed actually is remains an open question. According to Political Business Cycle Theory, presidents who want to maximize their chances for re-election will attempt to fight inflation early in their term, while allowing inflation to rise before the election with the goal of boosting the economy.


The New User: Revisiting The Digital Divide, David S. Lassen, David Magleby Apr 2010

The New User: Revisiting The Digital Divide, David S. Lassen, David Magleby

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Though many scholars and commentators are optimistic about the influence of the Internet on American political culture, some decry the presence of a “digital divide” wherein individuals of higher socioeconomic status have greater access to online political tools. I argue that this is an unnecessarily limited view of online political behavior and that analyses of online political engagement should go beyond questions of access to include considerations of individual preference. Using the results from a new survey of 2008 campaign donors, I find that differences between online and offline political participators are largely skill-and interest-based, not demographic. I also present …


Not All Aid Flows Are Created Equal: An Analysis Of The Allocation Of Foreign Aid To Combat Infectious Diseases, Shane W. Dayton, Sven Wilson Apr 2010

Not All Aid Flows Are Created Equal: An Analysis Of The Allocation Of Foreign Aid To Combat Infectious Diseases, Shane W. Dayton, Sven Wilson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

The developing world is plagued by infectious diseases. Controlling infectious diseases will reduce suffering and promote economic development. Foreign aid donors fund projects for developing countries to help combat infectious diseases. However, foreign aid is not always allocated based on need. Often, it is given for political and strategic reasons1. With respect to aid for the health sector, the research has focused primarily on the global-disease level and not on the country-disease level. The limited research on the latter suggests that donors are responding to need2. The focus of my research is to examine the allocation of foreign aid specifically …


Public Transportation Decision Making, Benjamin Y. Warner, Sven Wilson Apr 2010

Public Transportation Decision Making, Benjamin Y. Warner, Sven Wilson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

People make decisions regarding whether they will use public transportation based on many factors. I create a logistic binary response model where one’s decision about whether to use public transportation is a function of the size of a city that the person lives in, number of vehicles the person’s household has available, household income, working status, and day of the week. Workers may find public transportation more convenient if the transportation is close to their home. This is more likely to occur in an area with high population density.


The Realty Of Inequality, Aimee Farnsworth, Valerie Hudson Apr 2010

The Realty Of Inequality, Aimee Farnsworth, Valerie Hudson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Although women’s property and inheritance rights are recognized in international law, women in many countries still lack the ability to own or inherit property, either by law or by the trumping of law in practice. The increasing number of women as heads of household who are in critical need of land and property for economic security is a particular concern in the developing world, and a major factor for the progress of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (United Nations 2009). Even where laws are present, the rift between property rights and actual ownership is immense. Discrepancies between statutory and …


Book Review, W. Reed Smith, Norman C. Rotham, Pedro P. Geiger, Laina Farhat-Holzman Apr 2010

Book Review, W. Reed Smith, Norman C. Rotham, Pedro P. Geiger, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.