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Full-Text Articles in American Politics
Was Trump’S Deployment Of Federal Officers To Portland, Oregon And Other Cities During The Summer Of 2020 Legal And Constitutional?, Celina Tebor
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Cities across the United States erupted in protest during the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. In response to these protests, President Donald Trump deployed federal troops to multiple cities, including Portland, Oregon. The legal basis for sending the troops was to protect federal property, and relied upon the powers of the Department of Homeland Security and an executive order from the summer. However, President Trump’s rhetoric suggests that the purpose of sending the troops was to quell the protests. Politicians, protestors, and lawsuits have alleged that Trump’s actions are unconstitutional, …
The Denial Machine And Its Effects On Climate Policy, Peter Faragasso
The Denial Machine And Its Effects On Climate Policy, Peter Faragasso
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Climate policy at the federal level has failed since 1988, when James Hansen first testified to Congress about climate change. I take an interest group approach and ask why climate policy has so persistently failed. I identify a “denial machine”, organizations and individuals who have fought policy and the science behind climate change and have sought to derail efforts to pass comprehensive climate change legislation. I look at the denial machine’s effect at the grassroots level in affecting public opinion in section one, highlighting how successful this loose coalition was at undermining belief in climate science from 2008-2010, during the …
Defining Sexism: The Impact Of Elite Cues On Conceptualizations And Labeling Of Gender-Based Prejudice, Leslie Davis
Defining Sexism: The Impact Of Elite Cues On Conceptualizations And Labeling Of Gender-Based Prejudice, Leslie Davis
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Hostile sexist attitudes, labeling of sexual harassment, and support for the #MeToo movement vary significantly by partisanship and political ideology (Cassese, Barnes, and Holman 2018; Warren, Schneider, and Gothreau working paper; Conroy 2019). But why do we see such discrepancies in how Republicans and Democrats recognize and perceive sexism? Past literature has shown the impact of partisan elites in shaping mass attitudes within the electorate (Druckman, Peterson, and Slothuus 2013; Zaller 1992). Could elites, both partisan and nonpartisan, impact how individuals label and conceptualize everyday sexism? By fielding an original survey experiment to a nationally representative sample that includes a …
Playing By The Rules: The Use Of Special Rules In The Contemporary United States House Of Representatives, Zachary Kirk
Playing By The Rules: The Use Of Special Rules In The Contemporary United States House Of Representatives, Zachary Kirk
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Though it is one of the most powerful committees in Congress, the Rules Committee gets far too little attention. In this paper, I ask how the Rules Committee and amending process have been used in the contemporary United States House of Representatives by the party leadership to move legislation. I begin with an explanation of the function and history of the Rules Committee, including its evolution into an arm of the House leadership in the present day. This is followed by a discussion of the legislative theories that could explain leader behavior and how they may be using the Rules …
Sovereign Authority And Rule Of Law: The Effect Of U.S. Use Of Torture On Political Legitimacy, Sydney Bradley
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 …
Constructing Communities: The Effect Of Housing Policy On County Populations And Election Outcomes, Ashley Hernandez Estrada
Constructing Communities: The Effect Of Housing Policy On County Populations And Election Outcomes, Ashley Hernandez Estrada
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Virginia is currently confronting a housing affordability crisis. Many municipalities across the state are becoming progressively inaccessible to low-income Virginians. As this crisis continues to escalate, Virginia localities and their communities are beginning to weigh their options to address this problem. Relaxing zoning density policies to allow denser, multi-unit housing construction is one proposed solution to increase municipalities’ housing stock and lower overall housing costs. This paper addresses the following questions. How would the adoption of this strategy affect the population composition of Virginia communities? Could these effects have ramifications for Virginia’s political voting outcomes? Through fixed effects regression analysis, …
“All Is Quiet In Arlington”: The Desegregation Of Arlington County Public Schools And How We Remember It, Ella Benbow
“All Is Quiet In Arlington”: The Desegregation Of Arlington County Public Schools And How We Remember It, Ella Benbow
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Brown v. Board of Education overturned the long-enforced “separate but equal” doctrine forcing school systems to decide exactly how much they would comply with the holding that segregated public schools were no longer constitutional. Several states, Virginia among them, relied on pupil placement boards to deny the transfer of many Black students to primarily white schools. Some localities’ violent resistance to any desegregation is still reflected in the prevalent de facto school segregation 66 years after Brown. My thesis examines the reaction of Arlington County, a small, liberal area just outside Washington, D.C. that boasts about being the first integrated …