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Super Pac Funding And Its Impact On Voting Behavior In The U.S. House Of Representatives, Michael J. Scariano
Super Pac Funding And Its Impact On Voting Behavior In The U.S. House Of Representatives, Michael J. Scariano
Honors Theses
In light of the increasing levels of polarization in terms of voting behavior among members of the U.S. House of Representatives over the 112th, 113th, and 114th Congresses, coupled with the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commision 558 U.S. 310 (2010), which authorized the use of unlimited fundraising and expenditure by outside groups in elections, the question was raised whether or not there was a correlation between these two occurrences. Specifically, this paper asks “what role does Super PAC funding play in the roll call vote choices of House Members of the 114th Congress?” To …
The Impact Of Political Oversight In Democratization: The Cases Of Japan And Bangladesh, Andrea K. Griner
The Impact Of Political Oversight In Democratization: The Cases Of Japan And Bangladesh, Andrea K. Griner
Honors Theses
This study seeks to illustrate the importance of oversight in parliamentary democracies. A case study of Japan and Bangladesh is analyzed with a focus on legislative oversight. Results stress the importance of stable institutions and executives, and incentives for parties to consolidate.
The Challenges Of Isis And The Modern Nation-State, Matthew Burton
The Challenges Of Isis And The Modern Nation-State, Matthew Burton
Honors Theses
This essay examines the challenges that the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, pose to the contemporary state system. The rise of ISIS in the territories of Iraq and Syria raises two fundamental questions, one conceptual the other directly political: First, ISIS’s claim to be a state and world powers’ resistance to this claim raises the question of what constitutes a state in today’s international system. Second, as a unique form of political organization that has become successful in the Middle East in a relatively short time, ISIS raises a number of practical political questions such as, what it takes to …
Diverging Approach: Railroad Regulation, The Staggers Act And Path Dependence, Henry Strangford Scherck
Diverging Approach: Railroad Regulation, The Staggers Act And Path Dependence, Henry Strangford Scherck
Honors Theses
Just over a hundred years prior, American railroads claimed the unprecedented feat of traversing the entirety of the North American continent. At Promontory Point, Utah, two locomotives, the Jupiter and the No. 119, met pilot to pilot in an event which was broadcast nationwide via telegraph and is still memorialized today. In the years following, the railroad industry gained unprecedented power. In the late 19th century and the opening years of the 20th, much policy-making impetus was focused on checking the power of the railroads.Public sentiment largely opposed the monolithic strength wielded by the industry, and the federal government both …
American Popular Culture, Politics, And Comedy: How Saturday Nigh Live Delivers The "News", Jillian Callanan
American Popular Culture, Politics, And Comedy: How Saturday Nigh Live Delivers The "News", Jillian Callanan
Honors Theses
Saturday Night Live has delved into the realm of politics throughout its forty-one seasons as a means of generating humor through satirical and parodical representations of politicians. This thesis explores Saturday Night Live during election years in particular, when the show generates a great deal of its content from the surrounding political atmosphere to comment on the issues at hand in a way that most often contrasts the style of reporting done by traditional hard news programs. The increasing role of entertainment in news delivery sheds light on the blurred lines between news and entertainment news, and this thesis will …
New Refugees - Old Rules: An Analysis Of Jordanian Refugee Policies And Their Effects On Humanitarian Relief, Sarah Kader
New Refugees - Old Rules: An Analysis Of Jordanian Refugee Policies And Their Effects On Humanitarian Relief, Sarah Kader
Honors Theses
Over 1.4 million Syrians have fled to Jordan since 2011 as a result of the brutal, ongoing conflict in Syria. Just as the Palestinians fled Israel these last 67 years, the newly arrived Syrian refugees are an ignored actor in a cruel game between the Jordanian state, the United Nations Agencies, the United States and interested non-state actors. The resulting human rights violations, including denial of rights to work, healthcare, education, and movement, are not accidental but are sanctioned by the Jordanian state. This thesis analyzes Jordan’s history with the Palestinian refugees; the motivations and implementation of policies excluding Palestinians …
Unveiling Laïcité: Secularism Algerian Muslims And The Headscarf Affair In Modern France, Coleen Nugent
Unveiling Laïcité: Secularism Algerian Muslims And The Headscarf Affair In Modern France, Coleen Nugent
Honors Theses
The historical relationship between the French state and its form of secularism, laïcité, and the French Muslim population is fraught with conflict, misunderstanding, and ambivalence. Laïcité, is a form of secularism unique to France, thus why it refuses to be translated from its native French. France also has a unique colonial relationship with Algeria, which was considered an integral part of France during France's colonial empire. Both the history of laïcité and the history of this colonial relationship help to explain the modern relationship between laïcité and the French Muslim population. In order to analyze this conflict, the "Head Scarf …
Reforming Japan: Measuring The Success Of The Allied Occupation's Economic Educational And Constitutional, Gordon Duncan
Reforming Japan: Measuring The Success Of The Allied Occupation's Economic Educational And Constitutional, Gordon Duncan
Honors Theses
Following the surrender of Japan on September 2 of 1945, American forces occupied Japan in an attempt to remove Japan’s ability to wage aggressive war. From 1945 to 1952, Occupation authorities in Tokyo under General Douglas MacArthur undertook a number of reforms intended to ‘demilitarize’ and ‘democratize’ Japan, some of which left major structural changes to the pre-war Japanese system. This thesis will focus on three reforms: the dissolution of Japan’s zaibatsu (large industrial conglomerates such as Nissan), democratization of the education system, and Article IX of Japan’s Constitution which bans Japan from possessing military forces. I analyze the success …
Sino-African Relations In The 21st Century: Consistency And Complexity, Josh Tryon
Sino-African Relations In The 21st Century: Consistency And Complexity, Josh Tryon
Honors Theses
Sino-African relations will continue to impact global power trends as China continues to actively engage with African states. This thesis has contributed to the debate concerning the nature of Sino-African affairs in a number of distinct ways. First, the three dominant schools of understanding Chinese actions in Africa were outlined and explained in-depth, they include: Chinese Imperialism, Great Power Rivalry, and Economic Engagement. However, the flaws within these categorizations, namely that of researchers treating them as mutually exclusive, have resulted in the misinterpretation of evidence and researchers interpreting the same evidence to argue in support of different schools of Sino-African …
Missed Connection: A Case Study Of Social Media, The Youth Vote And The 2015 Louisiana Gubernatorial Race, Valencia Richardson
Missed Connection: A Case Study Of Social Media, The Youth Vote And The 2015 Louisiana Gubernatorial Race, Valencia Richardson
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.
A Historical Analysis Of The Early Christian Church Fathers’ Opinions Regarding Abortion, Lauren Taylor Provencher
A Historical Analysis Of The Early Christian Church Fathers’ Opinions Regarding Abortion, Lauren Taylor Provencher
Honors Theses
Due to scarce material on the subject in the Bible and supposed discord among Early Christian Church Fathers, the debate on abortion is one that is often hotly contested in the United States. From the religious political aspect there is much debate over whether the Early Christian Church had a single mindset towards the notion on abortion or was deeply divided on the subject as we are today. A popular narrative, even among many in academia, is that the Church was not unified on the topic. Some even go so far as to ascribe to a pro-Choice stance on abortion …
Excessive Police Force And Misconduct: A Failing System And How To Improve It, Elise Seale
Excessive Police Force And Misconduct: A Failing System And How To Improve It, Elise Seale
Honors Theses
The Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute was passed by Congress as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, partly as a reaction to a nationwide debate about excessive use of police force after Rodney King’s brutal killing in 1991. The statute gave the Department of Justice the ability to investigate and file suits against individual police departments; the statute’s intent was both to reform the investigated departments with high amounts of misconduct and excessive force and to incentivize police reform nationwide. However, because of the financial setbacks involved in launching investigations and inconsistency in implementation, this …
Factors Of Political Party Competitiveness In Mississippi, Anna Kate Baygents
Factors Of Political Party Competitiveness In Mississippi, Anna Kate Baygents
Honors Theses
This research project examines the relationship between urbanization and political party competitiveness in Mississippi. Using elections results from the 2011 and the 2015 Mississippi House of Representatives races, this project seeks to find if there is a relationship between urbanization and competitiveness in Mississippi, and if not, which factors do affect competitiveness. Previous research indicates that as an area urbanizes, its elections become more competitive among different political parties. However, this study finds that there is no clear correlation between urbanization and party competitiveness in Mississippi elections, and that other factors, including race, education, and geographic location, may have more …
A Comparative Analysis Between The Histories And Methods Of The Pro-Life And Lgbt Movements, Savanna B. Fox
A Comparative Analysis Between The Histories And Methods Of The Pro-Life And Lgbt Movements, Savanna B. Fox
Honors Theses
This thesis explores the connection between the elite theory and social movements by comparing the success of the pro-life and gay rights movements in America and investigating the effects that elite influence has had on these movements. The research is deductive in nature, investigating the elite theory in relation to social movements. The methodology of this project is organized as a comparative analysis between the gay rights and pro-life causes. The research discovers that elite influence, whether a social movement appeals to morality politics or interest group politics, and what kind of policy changes a movement seeks to affect all …
Explaining The Outcomes Of The Affordable Care Act Through Lowi And Salamon’S Policy Evaluation Models, Anna Moravec
Explaining The Outcomes Of The Affordable Care Act Through Lowi And Salamon’S Policy Evaluation Models, Anna Moravec
Honors Theses
This paper illustrates how tools-based theoretical models, like Lester Salamon’s, can be used to predict the outcome of policy tools. Theodore Lowi and Lester Salamon’s theoretical models were applied to select provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to generate predictions regarding their outcomes. The validity of these predictions was assessed by comparing them to current empirical data and trends. Ultimately, this paper sought to demonstrate how tools-based models can be used to predict policy tool outcomes relatively accurately. Our evaluation used Lowi’s original model detailed in his Four systems of policy, politics, and choice (1972) paper and Salamon’s model …
Understanding Tacit Theories Of Nonprofit Administrators In Collaborative Interorganizational Networks, Ella C. Sanders
Understanding Tacit Theories Of Nonprofit Administrators In Collaborative Interorganizational Networks, Ella C. Sanders
Honors Theses
As the nonprofit sector increases in size, many organizations are choosing to collaborate as a new approach to delivering goods and services to the public. Collaboration occurs when “organizations work together to address problems through joint effort, resources, and decision making and share ownership of the final product or service” (Guo & Acar, 2005). In my research, I ask the question: How do nonprofit administrators conceptualize this kind of interorganizational collaboration? These conceptualizations are referred to as tacit theories: the wisdom and knowledge of administrators that is implicitly known as a result of experience. I compare these tacit theories to …
The Clean Power Plan: A Legal Analysis Of The E.P.A.'S Final Rule, Robert Paul
The Clean Power Plan: A Legal Analysis Of The E.P.A.'S Final Rule, Robert Paul
Honors Theses
The consensus among scientists is that climate change and its consequences are upon us as the result of human activity. The necessary reductions of emissions of greenhouse gases to mitigate these consequences have long been identified. The continued failure of the United States Congress to pass any national legislation directly addressing climate change has led President Obama to pursue executive action, through the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency, to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act section 111(d). Collectively known as the Clean Power Plan, the heart of this action is the carbon dioxide emissions Final Rule …
Allied Paper Landfill, A Case Study Of Superfund, Kaitlin Braunschweig
Allied Paper Landfill, A Case Study Of Superfund, Kaitlin Braunschweig
Honors Theses
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (1980), more commonly known as Superfund, delegates the responsibility for cleanup of more than 1,300 hazardous waste sites to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This thesis is designed as a case study to investigate the Superfund program through the lens of the Allied Paper Landfill portion of the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site. Through interviews with key stakeholders an evaluation was completed based on the following research questions: 1) are the current goals of Superfund appropriate, 2) is the funding mechanism sufficient to fulfill the goals of Superfund, and 3) is the …
Global Paths To Enlightenment: A Foundation Scholar Study Abroad To The Dominican Republic, Tacy Allan
Global Paths To Enlightenment: A Foundation Scholar Study Abroad To The Dominican Republic, Tacy Allan
Honors Theses
There are many different ways for students to gain a multicultural awareness and a global focus, which are important tools for their lives. Study abroad opportunities are seen as one of the widest-reaching and best hands-on learning paths that can be taken to broaden the horizons of students. This proposal combines service learning, a social justice issue (clean water), and global impact; giving students the chance to learn what is here in Kalamazoo and what is in Dominican Republic, how those issues compare and contrast as well as how each location is dealing with these issues. This proposed class will …
Preachers, Politics And The Pulpit: The Influence Of Church Structure On How Clergy Approach Political Topics And How Congregations Receive Their Messages, Michael Bender
Honors Theses
Inspired by the Catholic Church’s nationwide resistance to President Obama’s contraceptive mandate in the summer of 2012, this honors thesis paper attempts to discover a link between church polity (or church structure) and whether political messages are more or less likely to be preached by clergy from the pulpit and accepted by their congregants. Given that churches are places where attendees are exposed to political messages, this paper hypothesizes that structurally centralized Christian denominations are more likely to have preached on the contraceptive mandate than decentralized denominations. Accordingly, it is assumed that Catholics are more likely to have heard about …
Legislating Hiv As A Crime: Assessing The Likelihood Of State Adoption Of Hiv Criminalization Laws, Adam Michael Beyer
Legislating Hiv As A Crime: Assessing The Likelihood Of State Adoption Of Hiv Criminalization Laws, Adam Michael Beyer
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.
The Influence Of Media On Political Knowledge, Colin Dailey
The Influence Of Media On Political Knowledge, Colin Dailey
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.
Women Do It Better: The Inclusion Of Women In Post-Conflict Peace Negotiations, Mary Scott Wofford
Women Do It Better: The Inclusion Of Women In Post-Conflict Peace Negotiations, Mary Scott Wofford
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.
Human Rights And Healthy Societies: Opening Social And Cultural Spaces For Peacebuilding, Margaret A. Maloney
Human Rights And Healthy Societies: Opening Social And Cultural Spaces For Peacebuilding, Margaret A. Maloney
Honors Theses
Exploring peace demands rethinking many of the assumptions that have driven the field of peacebuilding. Previously, scholars have investigated the content of peace agreements in relation to the promotion of sectors that include security, justice, and democracy. However, I hypothesize that by focusing narrowly on these areas, scholars and peacemakers overlook crucial ingredients that create stable post-conflict societies. This senior thesis examines the inclusion of social and cultural rights in peace agreements and aims to contribute to a more robust understanding of whether traditionally “soft” issues like education, art, and women’s participation may have significant impacts on the long-term health …
The Evolution Of The Scope And Political Ambition Of The State Attorneys General, Elizabeth A. Brumleve
The Evolution Of The Scope And Political Ambition Of The State Attorneys General, Elizabeth A. Brumleve
Honors Theses
The state attorneys general (AGs) play a crucial role in government, on both a state and national level. They provide the legal voice of the state in matters ranging from the defense of state laws to consumer protection and, for some, criminal prosecution. The increase in the amount of multistate litigation undertaken by the attorneys general and their growing influence over policy reflect an expansion in the scope of this office. Furthermore, the AG’s office provides an effective record-building platform from which candidates can, and often do, establish campaigns for higher office. The 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), a …
Support For Preschool Expansion Among Louisiana Adults, John Garrett Clawson
Support For Preschool Expansion Among Louisiana Adults, John Garrett Clawson
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.
Race Representatives: Why Black Members Of Congress Matter, Shenika Mcdonald
Race Representatives: Why Black Members Of Congress Matter, Shenika Mcdonald
Honors Theses
My research project consisted of examining 200 bills sponsored by six African American members of Congress during the Ninety-third Congress (1973-1975). These six members of Congress represented Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; or New York, New York- three metropolitan cities with significant African American populations. This research emphasizes the importance of Black members of Congress to African Americans nationwide by highlighting the Congressional Black Caucus' formation and mission, examining the bills' key terms and public policy issues for racial implications, and consulting a variety of secondary source material that underscores the need for descriptive representation in the Black community. The primary …
Campaigning On Youtube: Messaging And Online Communication In The 2016 Presidential Nomination Process, Abraham Krieger
Campaigning On Youtube: Messaging And Online Communication In The 2016 Presidential Nomination Process, Abraham Krieger
Honors Theses
The Internet has become an important media environment in the context of political campaigns. This research examines YouTube, the most popular website for video content, in order to understand how the platform fits into the broader media landscape and analyzes the messaging content of leading candidates seeking the 2016 nomination. It tests several hypotheses about the YouTube content posted by the campaigns of Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton, during the period from the announcement of their candidacies through February 10, 2016. The research finds that campaigns upload varying amounts and types of content and that they …
The Us And The Syrian Security Dilemma, Marlee Pittman
The Us And The Syrian Security Dilemma, Marlee Pittman
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.
Exogenous Barriers To The Incorporation Of The Second Generation North Africans In France, Amber Malone
Exogenous Barriers To The Incorporation Of The Second Generation North Africans In France, Amber Malone
Honors Theses
Immigration is a polemic subject in French society today. The 2005 riots in the banlieue and the government's response to the outraged and discontented immigrant populations brought forth a topic left out of public discourse for years before the heavily televised protests. At the forefront of this public debate surrounding identity and incorporation was one of France's largest immigrant populations, North Africans. Marginalization of a particular group often appears in the terms of social and cultural conflict. While this is true, incorporation of the culture of migrants and their representation in French society are not the only exogenous factors that …