Digital Commons Network^™

Humanitarian Intervention: Motivations And Norms In Cases Of Genocide, Jaelynn Thomas

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In 1948, the international community came together and promised to “prevent and punish” genocides under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention). Despite the Genocide Convention’s commitment to humanitarian intervention, states are selective and inconsistent in intervention. While there are many case studies done on state motivation for intervention, statistical studies are rarely done and a system for predicting what variables will likely produce humanitarian intervention on a wide scale has not been explored. This study uses a Cross-Sectional Time Series Estimator Model to track whether states were more likely to intervene in …

What Explains American Perceptions Of Russia And China?, Shane Stryker

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This undergraduate senior thesis project aims to investigate the question of how Americans perceive the challenges posed by Russia and China comparatively, and which factors have the greatest influence on these perceptions. This is important for many reasons, such as a greater understanding of American public opinion on foreign affairs that may help frame approaches to U.S. foreign policy. Additionally, finding where the American public agrees and disagrees on competitors and challengers provides us with insight that can be used to explain perceptions.

First, there will be a literature review concerning the importance of understanding public opinion, explanations and theories …

Detriments To Effective High School Teaching In Kentucky, Christopher Wallace

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This quantitative study examines Kentucky public high school teachers’ perceptions regarding the detriments they and their students face when striving to effectively educate and learn. Data was collected by surveying public high school teachers from across the Commonwealth (n=453). Using Likert-style scales, the survey captures the barriers most detrimental to their students’ assessment outcomes. Concluding questions sought additional personal experiences to elaborate findings. 2023 Kentucky American College Test (ACT) scores represent the dependent variable in the ordinary least squared regression models. Further information regarding administrative effort and points of view was gathered through interviews with four Commonwealth Superintendents. This study …

Strategic Rhetorics: Apartheid South Africa/Apartheid Israel: Address To Chapman University’S Gaza Solidarity Encampment, May 2024, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

"On 2 May 2024, Chapman University faculty were asked to participate in a 'faculty speak out' in support of the Chapman Students For Justice In Palestine’s Gaza solidarity encampment. We were invited to speak 'from our expertise and/or personal experiences in a call for a ceasefire in Gaza' (Leitz, 2024). This is a slightly expanded version of what I said[.]"

The Effects Of Empathic Reactions To The Overturning Of Roe V. Wade On Campaign Participation And Voter Turnout: Evidence From The 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections, Cigdem Sirin, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, reversing the nearly 50-year-old landmark decision that affirmed a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. Several months later, voters turned out in record numbers for the 2022 midterms, though a widely predicted “Red Wave” vote did not materialize. There has since been speculation that overturning Roe v. Wade played a crucial role in the midterms, generating a “Blue Tsunami” or “Roevember” driven largely by young, pro-choice women voting out of self-interest. We posit instead that group empathy was the key motivational mechanism in the link between opposition …

She Speaks For Millions: The Emergence Of Female Diplomatic Voices In The Russo-Ukrainian War, Amber Brittain-Hale, Amber Brittain-Hale

Education Division Scholarship

This research critically investigates the public diplomacy strategies deployed by a cohort of influential female European leaders on Twitter during the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022-2023. The study comprises eight leaders - Kallas (Estonia), Marin (Finland), von der Leyen (President of the European Commission), Metsola (President of the European Parliament), Sandu (Moldova), Simonyte (Lithuania), Zourabichvili (Georgia), and Meloni (Italy) - representing millions of constituents. By mirroring the analytical attention given to Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this study scrutinizes the distinct approaches and dif erences in emotional, cognitive, and structural language use between these influential female figures and President Zelenskyy in their …

Embody The Cause: Subaltern Body Protests As Resistance Tactics, Dipakshi Sarma

Political Science Honors Projects

Gendered, classed, and racialized bodies differentially experience state-sanctioned violence and societal norms. Body protests — when the body manifests the political messages by drawing attention to itself — manifest in these intersections. Women engaging in body protests garner more attention; a body that is sexualized, controlled, and subjugated draws attention to itself as a political act. To understand this, I ask, what explains the specific tactics that women employ in acts of political resistance? By employing subaltern agency and feminist social movement theories, I use process tracing and comparative analysis of three body protest cases: the incarcerated Armagh women in …

Data To Disinformation Navigating Fake News & Statistical Manipulation On Social Media, Mason Mcilwain

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

Over the past decade, concerns about "fake news" and information accuracy have surged. Social media has become a primary source of news and information, especially among younger demographics. While offering numerous advantages, these platforms are often filled with errors and present information through personalized lenses, highlighting the need for conscious consumption and critical thinking when interpreting the meaning of a post. This lesson will utilize lectures, case studies, think pair share, and Socratic discussions.

This lesson can be a stand-alone lesson to increase student awareness of news consumption on social media.

It could also be part of a broader curriculum …

The Impact Of Censorship On Covid-19 Policy Formation In The United States, Victor Wallis

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Voice Of Reason: The Rhetoric Of Women Politicians In A Polarized U.S. Congress, Ingrid Ryan

Honors Program Theses

Political rhetoric can be utilized as a divisive tactic in the modern polarized age to separate the Democratic and Republican public in U.S. congressional speeches. Once holding an educational purpose in the 1980s, U.S. House representatives and senators now must focus on their political party’s issue goals to ensure their re-election. This research investigates common political rhetoric tools – while evaluating women politicians’ speeches about abortion, the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, and Donald Trump’s two impeachments – to find if they encourage partisan polarization or anti-democratic behavior. This research focuses on these speeches from U.S. House Representatives Ilhan Omar and …

Technical Temporalities Of The Transitional Protest Movements, Talha C. Issevenler

Publications and Research

The concept of political time is unpacked through an analysis of the interactive, technologically mediated field between the state and social movements. The activities of protest movements are set in dialogue with state reason in order to theorize the temporality of political rationality as entangled with political affects (i.e., attachments to past political ideals and unmetabolized/unsymbolized technological propensities).

Originalism & Judicially-Enacted Religious Exemptions: Revisiting Employment Division Of Oregon V. Smith, Eric Russell Coykendall

CGU Theses & Dissertations

In the 1963 case Sherbert v. Verner , the Supreme Court read the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause to mean that, in certain cases, religious believers should be exempted from otherwise applicable laws. In 1990, the Supreme Court essentially overturned that framework in the case Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith . The Smith case has proved quite controversial, and numerous public-interest law firms, especially those that defend religious litigants, have regularly asked the Court to overturn it in favor of a re-application of the Sherbert precedent. Their contention is often that the Smith ruling is inconsistent with the original …

Decentralize, Depoliticize, Democratize: An Empirical Political Economy Analysis Of Global Cryptocurrency Adoption, Jennifer L. Verdier

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the global adoption of cryptocurrency, challenging the broad narrative that it would fundamentally revolutionize finance through decentralization, depoliticization, and democratization. Despite not fully delivering on these transformative promises, cryptocurrencies have continued to gain traction. This dissertation delves into the political economy aspects that fuel this sustained adoption. Through quantitative examination of data from the International Monetary Fund, Statista, World Uncertainty Index, and the World Bank, this study investigates the complex interplay of factors influencing cryptocurrency adoption. The study employs multivariate models with TFE, assessing not only economic variables but also the critical roles of trust in traditional …

Factors Associated With Human Trafficking: A Quantitative Analysis, Thomas Mejdrech

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Human trafficking appears in many forms and affects millions of people every year. In addition to the direct consequences of human trafficking, the crime violates international laws and universally recognized human rights while providing a lucrative revenue source for criminals. The full effects of human trafficking remain unknown due to several challenges to collecting accurate information. Victims of human trafficking are reluctant to seek assistance from law enforcement for fear of punishment from traffickers, arrest, incarceration, or deportation from immigration officials. Additionally, victims’ documentation is frequently confiscated by their traffickers to maintain control. Which measurements are the best for tracking …

Boiling Behind Bars: Exploring The Hidden Toll Of Extreme Heat On Mental Health In Texas Prisons, Sandra K. Miller

Social Work Theses - Archive

The State of Texas supports the largest prison system in the US and held 132,859 people in 100 units scattered across the state as of December 2023. Approximately 70% of Texas prison beds are not air conditioned, despite the state’s reputation for dangerously hot, humid summers. The State has officially recorded temperatures inside Texas prison facilities as high as 120 degrees with heat index values of over 150. Although there is a growing body of research on the negative physiological and psychological consequences of extreme heat among the general public, little is known about the physical and emotional toll of …

Historical Reappearance: Tracing The Impacts Of Argentina's Los Desaparecidos To The Rise Of President Javier Milei, Analise Sofia Chain

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In 1976 the Argentine government was taken over by a right wing military junta, attempting to “save” their country from communism. Military officials kidnapped, tortured and killed between 10,000 and 30,000 Argentine citizens, who were thought of as “guerrillas” supporting the leftist government and the late president Juan Perón. These victims are regarded as the disappeared, or Los Desaparecidos; due to the fact their families had no knowledge of where their loved ones were taken, or what was happening to them. Many of these young, liberal advocates were never seen or heard from again, their remains lost to history, and …

Fourth-Branch Institutions And Political Oppositions, Hernán Gómez Yuri, Fernando Loayza Jordán

Scholarly Articles

Fourth-branch accountability can be characterized as a constitutional trust-type mandate to provide intrastate nonpartisan accountability with a broad repertoire of institutional capacities. Fourth-branch institutions play a significant role in protecting constitutional democracies, and their role in the system of political accountability becomes especially apparent when political oppositions are unwilling or unable to perform a partisan check. These institutions partly emerge from distrust in the political branches’ ability to ensure accountability in a partisan world. Thus, they are designed to be insulated from partisan pressures and anchored to the core principles of legality and impartiality. However, fourth-branch institutions do not exist …

Presidential Investment In The Administrative State, Nicholas Bednar, David E. Lewis

Articles

In this paper, we explain how presidents strategically invest in administrative capacity, noting that presidents have few incentives to invest effort in capacity building in most agencies. We test our account with two analyses. First, we examine the time it took for the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations to nominate individuals to appointed positions. We find that presidents prioritize appointments to policy over management positions and that nominations occur sooner in agencies that implement presidential priorities. Second, we examine the responses of federal executives to the 2020 Survey on the Future of Government Service to see whether perceptions of …

War, Remembrance, And Katýn:
How Public Memory Sites Affirm National Identity, Adele Partington

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The nation of Poland had a well-established national identity based on its culture, religion, language, and history prior to its occupation by the USSR, but this identity was suppressed in the sixty years of Soviet control from 1939 to 1989. After achieving their independence, Poles reexamined their history and identity, in addition to choosing which aspects of Soviet history and identity to keep or do away with. This thesis examines the relationship between public memory sites in or about Poland and the affirmation of the Polish national identity after Polish independence from the Soviet Union in 1989. Building on the …

Power To Elect: Voter Perception Of Accessibility In North Carolina, Kristi Langford

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

North Carolina has been the subject of controversy surrounding voting rights for many years. Those controversies include voting ID laws, voter intimidation at the polls, and systematic changes to early voting times, dates, and locations. The North Carolina General Assembly has been accused of gerrymandering the district maps to dilute the vote of Democrats and people of color. This study looks at how registered voters in North Carolina perceive their access to voting despite the controversies. Two hypotheses were tested: those in North Carolina who were people of color or of lower socio-economic standing would feel they have a higher …

“We’Ll Offer Asylum Just So Long As…” The Discrimination Of Poc And Lgbtq+ Refugees In Ongoing Refugee Crises, Faith N. Schaefer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

An ongoing refugee crisis is apparent in global politics and foreign relations. Still, the way receiving countries regard certain communities in this critical period has brought to light the inhumane discrimination solely based on one’s skin color and/or sexual identity. Despite the “open arms” policy that most nations tend to project, there is an unwritten protocol along borders that some states have chosen a “pick and choose” approach when it comes to People of Color (POC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other gender non-conforming (LGBTQ+) individuals who are fleeing their country of origin. Any such prejudice and inequity …

The Challenges Of Decoding Russian Coercion, Cynthia A. Roberts

Publications and Research

This review essay critically examines cultural explanations of deterrence and coercion, focusing on Dmitry Adamsky’s The Russian Way of Deterrence as the most important recent effort to explain Russian strategic behavior through the lens of strategic culture. While recognizing the book’s considerable strengths in describing Russian concepts, terminology, and practices of deterrence and coercion, the essay questions how much explanatory leverage culture actually provides. It argues that cultural approaches risk over-complexifying the Russian case while under-specifying causal relationships, and asks why distinctive strategic cultures do not produce greater variation in coercive behavior and outcomes. The essay contrasts cultural interpretation with …

Sister City International Project Exchange: Providing Resources For Migrants, Claire Saldaña

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

Migrants continuously enter the United States through the southern border and overwhelm Texas border cities’ resources. Many migrants entering U.S. have travel plans; however, they need basic resources to continue their journey. San Antonio has one of the best migrant resource center models in the country but are increasingly overwhelmed with the continuous surges. This proposal focuses on the City of San Antonio, as it is the main port of transportation for migrants to the rest of the U.S. Through the Sister City International program San Antonio will create a letter of intent for an exchange program. The creation of …

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? A City Manager In Times Of Transition, Patrick William Antonen

Dissertations and Theses

The public administration literature provides many assertions as to what causes a city manager to consider when to remain in their position or relocate to a new position. This study identified variables that impact the decisions to change cities. This research surveyed current city managers in northern Midwest states to explore which variables make a difference. The variables were categorized to include considerations about personal concerns, career motivations, and organizational contexts. Simple analysis suggests that a decision to change cities is very much influenced by the perceived dysfunction of the city council and political or interest groups that influence the …

Fascism: A Reading List With Notes, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

Today, Fascism is on the rise around the world including, dismayingly, in the United States of America, threatening the rule of law, which is the basis of democracy. In the U. S. Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee for president, has declared himself the standard bearer for authoritarian rule. If he wins, it is likely the United States will cease to be a democracy. If democracy is to survive, it is essential that citizens understand fascism, how it comes into existence, and what it does once it has taken root is essential. That is the reason for this reading list.

The Role Of Prejudice In Political Campaigns, Sara Steffens

A with Honors Projects

A research paper examining traits of the highly prejudiced person according to Gordon Allport, how prejudice leads to the ten stages of genocide and an analysis of highly prejudiced political ads.

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

Not In My Zoning Code: Understanding The Mechanisms Of Policy Diffusion Of Deregulatory Zoning Reform Across U.S. Cities, Fiona F. Nash

Honors Theses

Do we need local government? Cities maintain representative institutions of government, hold elections, and host public hearings, but does that mean they can tackle city-specific problems? This project seeks to understand how deregulatory zoning policies, a supply-side tool to increase housing supply of affordable homes, spread across the 300 largest U.S. cities, or not. Cities might implement a zoning reform because they learn from another city, desire to increase housing supply for economic conditions, imitate another city, are forced too by a higher level of government, or are ideologically motivated to do so. I test each hypothesis of diffusion through …

International Cultural Property Protection And Law: Ukraine And Beyond, Susanna Helms

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project examines the ongoing destruction and theft of Ukrainian cultural heritage by Russian forces since February 2022 in tandem with international cultural property law, and theory, and case studies. By studying relevant cultural property laws and gathering information from associated theories of cultural property nationalism and internationalism, this project examines how these laws and theories apply to modern Ukraine. This thesis utilizes a qualitative approach to analyze theories surrounding cultural property and heritage and explores how these theories influence international law. For a more comprehensive approach, three case studies are used and examined via qualitative historical analysis: Nazi art …

Harmony And Turmoil: Comparative Study Of Political Stability In Cambodia And Uganda, Pheanusa Satra Ty

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Authoritarian regimes have several mechanisms that enforce that rule. Rooted in Gerszewski's “The Three Pillars of Stability,” this thesis utilizes the theoretical framework that explain how the three main strategies of repression, co-optation and legitimation are used by Cambodia and Uganda. Each of these strategies or “authoritarian pillars” are used to different degrees by the regimes of the countries. The difference in their outcome, however, lies in the stabilization process of the pillars in the regimes. Combining primary and secondary qualitative data, I will demonstrate how Cambodia’s balancing of their pillars was more successful than Uganda’s. The former managed to …