Digital Commons Network^™

New Data On Court Curbing By State Legislatures, Meghan Leonard

Faculty Publications – Politics and Government

The examination of the interaction between the institutions in American state politics has long suffered from a dearth of data. This is the case despite the importance of understanding the separation of powers in the states and the specific effects on policy making and policy outcomes. In this article, I introduce a new, original dataset of court-curbing introductions by state legislators. The data include information on more than 1,200 state legislative bills that would restrict the power of the courts. In this article, I provide descriptive statistics for the data, employ the data to test hypotheses, and explain how this …

The Fight For Equality: Black Lives Matter, Success, & Social Media, Metyia K. Phillips

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis strives to assess how social media has impacted the success of the Black Lives Matter movement. By conducting a survey between September 30th, 2022 - October 12th, 2022, respondents were asked questions to gauge their attitudes about the Black Lives Matter movement, social media usage, and the success of the movement. The results of the survey (n=571) in conjunction with a 2016 Pew Research Center survey (n=2,144) were used to evaluate how social media has impacted the success of the Black Lives Matter movement. The survey was taken by a nonrandom group of respondents because I distributed the …

Politics & Marriage: The Generational Gap In Marriage Priorities And Political Ambition Among Black Women In Politics, Torri A. Jackson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Global Adverse Effects Of Scientific Prescribed Medications: Covid-19 Vaccines, Albert Mcbell Ninepence

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

The impact of scientific prescribed medications are tremendous and cannot be overemphasized. Irrespective of scientific prescribed medications impacts, in recent epoch it has attracted some criticisms on its efficacy. Prescribed medications are medications from scientific treatments or cure which is the widely accepted approach to curing or treating illnesses and diseases. On the other hand, traditional prescribed medications which are non-scientific tend to be less utilized, ignored and extremely criticized by pure scientists. The criticisms surrounding scientific prescribed medications escalated during the era of COVID-19. While some people resorted to the use of scientific prescribed medications of COVID-19 vaccines to …

Black Minds Matter: Exploring The Double Trauma Of Anti-Blackness And War On The Psycho-Political Well-Being Of African And African-Descent Refugees From Ukraine, Macire Aribot, Nassim Ashford, Korea S. Badio

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

Amid the horror of the Russia-Ukraine war, Black refugees from Ukraine have suffered multiple traumas: The trauma of war and the trauma of anti-blackness. The world caught a glimpse of this via social media and news reports that African people were physically blocked from boarding trains and buses by Ukrainian officials, as well as neighboring countries denied entry to people who were not “Ukrainian.” These double traumas have undoubtedly placed Black refugees in Ukraine among the most vulnerable group of people in this humanitarian crisis. However, despite the psycho-political suffering Black refugees have experienced during the Russia-Ukraine war, their voices, …

Chinese Celebrities’ Political Signaling On Weibo, Dan Chen, Gengsong Gao

Political Science Faculty Publications

In China, celebrities can dominate public discourse and shape popular culture, but they are under the state’s close gaze. Recent studies have revealed how the state disciplines and co-opts celebrities to promote patriotism, foster traditional values, and spread political propaganda. However, how do celebrities adapt to the changing political environment? Focusing on political signaling on Weibo, we analyze a novel dataset and find that the vast majority of top celebrities repost from official accounts of government agencies and state media outlets, though there are variations. Younger celebrities with more followers tend to repost from official accounts more. Celebrities from Taiwan …

The Serbian Orthodox Church As A Transnational Political Actor: A Case Study Of Regime Change In Montenegro, Dunja Arandjelovic

All Theses

Although many scholars have considered how religious institutions can affect democratic change, little attention has been given to the contemporary transnational potential of a church with a distinctively national identity. This study will explore the capacity of national churches to act transnationally by analyzing the Serbian Orthodox Church’s (SOC) recent political intervention in Montenegro, during which the church mobilized almost half of the Montenegrin population during the COVID pandemic in a movement that led to the defeat of Montenegro’s president in parliamentary elections for the first time in 30 years. My project is based on in-depth elite interviews with ten …

Bilateral Tensions, The Trade War, And Us-China Trade Relations, Ka Zeng, Rob Wells, Jingping Gu, Austin Wilkins

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article constructs a measure of geopolitical and economic tensions in US-China relations based on the sentiment expressed in major US news media and utilizes it to analyze the impact of bilateral tensions on US imports from China between 2002 and 2019. Our results suggest that bilateral tensions have had a negative effect on US imports. Additional analyses of the impact of bilateral tensions for industries with varying levels of supply chain linkages to China suggest that, contrary to expectations, they have more disproportionately affected industries highly integrated with the Chinese market. This pattern continues to hold during the trade …

Security Implications Of Arctic Climate Change In Russia And The United States, Elaina Meyer

Political Science

Climate change is altering the world in an unprecedented way which brings about difficulties for world leaders. The Arctic is one particular region where major climate change consequences are being felt. As climate change grows more severe in this region not only will accessibility to the Arctic grow, but interest in the Arctic will grow as interest in Arctic resources heighten. As a result of these changes countries with Arctic borders and interests are going to face a variety of economic and security concerns in the region. This paper specifically looks at the way Russia has and is likely to …

Intersectionality Pertaining To The Disproportionate Rates Of Black Women In Prisons And Jails, Mackenzie Heller

University Honors Theses

The incarceration rates of Black women in America surpass even all other demographics. Yet, Black women are often not on the news when discussing prison rates in the United States. Rather we see Black men, Hispanic men, and so forth. While these people do make up large portions of the prison system they are seeing a decline in their incarceration rates. Black women are often pushed to the sidelines when discussing matters that can be seen as central to their livelihoods.

This thesis addresses the intersectionality that only Black women experience and how that affects their imprisonment rates and experiences …

Money Moves: An Analysis Of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment In Europe, Susan Soh

Honors Theses

In recent years, China has begun engaging in outward foreign direct investment (FDI). There is a significant amount of literature dedicated to understanding China’s FDI in developing nations. However, very little research has been conducted over Chinese FDI in advanced economies. As a result of this gap in existing literature, the question arises, what explains Chinese FDI in Europe?

As FDI is a transaction to which both the donor and recipient countries must agree, this thesis has a dual focus. One chapter of the thesis analyzes the effects of and motivations for Chinese FDI on European nations. In this chapter, …

Authoritarian Regimes And Public Goods Structure And Survival, Benjamin Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

What explains the variance in the level of public goods provision in authoritarian regimes? Naturally, there are differences in the capabilities of states, however, there is a noticeable trend in the level of output from certain authoritarian states. Democracies have a clear causal mechanism for public goods provision, which is the electoral mandate, but dictatorships lack this feature. Hence the question is posed, why do some authoritarian states put so much effort into the provision of public goods? Singapore is considered one of the most developed states in the world, (outperforming some of the most democratic states.) yet it is …

Thither The Russian Navy? Putin’S Navalization In A Historical Context, William Emerson Bunn

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The Syrian operation of 2012 was the first successful employment by Russia of expeditionary warfare, narrowly defined as naval support to Russian (or Soviet) ground forces in a war away from their periphery (i.e., in a country that does not border them), from the sea. This was brought about in part by the development of two types of cruise missiles: advanced anti-ship missiles (which protects their expeditionary force from NATO naval units, enabling local sea control) and new land attack cruise missiles (similar in design and capability to the U.S. Tomahawk). In the past geographical, technological and political constraints …

The Personality Profile Of China’S Empress Wu Zetian, Ruoyue Wang, Yunyiye Chen, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Empress Wu Zetian, de facto ruler of China from 665 to 705, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data about Empress Wu were collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and DSM-5.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of …

Foreign Policy In Media: An Examination Of The Captain America Films., Kat Hernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Popular culture and media are consumed daily by billions around the world, media which can contain meaningful and politically relevant material. The three Captain America films from the 2010s represent this phenomenon in the presentation of Captain America as a nationalist superhero with geopolitically relevant storylines. The direction and production of these films illustrate significant parallels to foreign policy choices of the United States. Through an interpretive analysis of the Captain America films: Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War, this project seeks to analyze Captain America’s image and …

Exploring How Morality Framing And Partisanship Influence Public Perceptions Of Immigration, Gerardo Jesus Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this thesis research project is to provide a new theoretical outlook that explores and analyzes how morality framing may affect American political preferences and behavior. Partisanship and ideological preferences have long been acknowledged as significant predictors of political behavior in the American electorate. I posit the framing of the key issue of immigration through a moral prism can increase support for presidential proposals and may counteract or even overpower the effects of partisanship. When oneâ??s views on morality and partisanship are at odds with each other on a given issue, I expect respondents who self-identify as morally …

Bipartisn Bills From Caucus Collaboration: Solutions To Polarized Or Non-Polarized Issues?, Kaitlin Holden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This paper investigates whether caucus members pursue bipartisan collaboration on bills related to polarized or non-polarized policy issues. The aim is to determine whether caucuses may be used to pursue bipartisan solutions to major policy issues in an increasingly polarized political environment. I model the effect that the presence of a women’s caucus has on bipartisan collaboration in increasingly polarized legislatures, depending on whether a bill’s title contains words related to polarized issues and its overall sentiment. Findings indicate that bipartisan women may be more likely to collaborate on polarized bills then non-polarized bills in legislatures with a women’s caucus …

Proposed Alternatives To Decrease Private Tutoring In Egyptian Pre-University Education, Fatemah Abdel-Razek

Future Journal of Social Science

Private tutoring continues to exist in Egypt, even though it has been officially banned by the 2016 ministerial decree No. 53 and the 2018 ministerial decree No. 714. The current research reviews the relevant literature, provides a background on private tutoring, analyzes the current policy for dealing with private tutoring in Egypt, and it proposes three policy alternatives for decreasing private tutoring in Egyptian pre-university education. These alternatives are turning most educational curricula into educational games, lengthening the school day, and returning extra-curricular activities to Egyptian schools. These policy options are evaluated based on the criteria of equity and fairness, …

The Impact Of Ethnic Groups On National Security, Seham Fawzi

Future Journal of Social Science

Ethnic diversity in and of itself does not negatively affect national security. The threat it imposes to national security is a result of many factors combined with political opportunity that fundamental changes occurring in the political system exploited by ethnic and sectarian groups trying to change the political system to their advantage. Many factors such as political, historical, economic, social, cultural, environmental, and psychological factors may lead ethnic groups to rebel and impose threats to the national states of any country especially developing countries.

The Influence Of Religion On Immigration Public Opinion, Olga Alvertos

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This study explores the ways in which the religious beliefs of individuals influence their opinion on immigration and immigration related policy. While seemingly separate topics, the two are interwoven through variables such as party affiliation, education level, and age. Previous studies show a clear correlation between frequent attendance of religious services and positive views on immigration and related policies. This topic has yet to be explored in depth and with reference to frequency of religious attendance. Using ANES data, my goal with this research is to determine if a strong attachment to religion affects public opinion of immigration policy and …

Media, Distrust Of Government, And Fear Of Terrorism In The United States, Lauren Rowe

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The United States is experiencing a growing threat from domestic terrorism, though there is a relative lack of understanding of this threat by the public, and there is a need to understand how public perceptions of risk have been shaped around the fear of terrorism. This paper explores the impact of various forms of media usage and intake on individual perceptions of terrorism, as well as the ways in which public governmental distrust and party identification relate to the fear of terrorism. Using the results obtained by the Chapman University Survey of American Fears in which data was gathered from …

Qanon Deconstructed: Faith And Lies, Sam Andrus

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

All prior categorizations of conspiracy theories fall short when applied to the system of belief known as QAnon. This paper first examines the previous literature that laid down a basis for understanding the nature of conspiracies and isolates aspects of the QAnon canon to delineate and test the predictors of belief. The data for this research were obtained from the 2020 wave of the Chapman Survey of American Fears (CSAF) conducted by the Earl Babbie Research Center at Chapman University. Layered crosstabulation tests and multiple linear regression results find that conspiratorial thinking outweighs partisanship when predicting QAnon belief. Strikingly, despite …

The Levels And Discrepancies Of America’S Fear Of Terrorism, Kate Lindfors

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Within the United States, individuals do not appear to possess an accurate understanding of terrorism and the threat it may pose to Americans. This not only creates inaccurate perceptions of the actual risk levels associated with terrorism in the U.S. but a misunderstanding of the potential sources of terrorist threats and the impact they could have on the country. In this paper, I will examine this misunderstanding of contemporary terrorism, particularly in relation to America’s inflated sense of fear and general misplacement of the threat. In order to examine this topic, I have used the Chapman University Survey on American …

Public Opinion On Illegal Immigration In The United States: Understanding The Xenophobic Sentiments Towards Illegal Immigrants, Alexandra Martinez

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Over the past 10 years, the topic of illegal immigration has divided Americans with the past three presidencies. This paper investigates the relationship between party ID,media exposure, education and religion with the views a person has on illegal immigration. Using the Chapman Survey of American Fears, I found a moderately strong relationship between an individual's party-identification and how much fear
they show towards the topic of illegal immigration throughout the United States. I found that media exposure and a person’s political identification correlates with their views on illegal immigration. Among the interesting findings, I can conclude that individuals with more …

Victimization: Examining The Fear Of Mass Shootings, Isa Alarcon

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The matter of safety has been a prevalent concern in our society as crime-related news continues to flood our technological devices and TV screens. The United States has not seen a shortage of mass shootings, especially in the past few months. Past research has suggested that tragic events such as mass shootings create a sense of moral panic and fear amongst the general public, however fear of victimization has not been studied. In this paper, I will explore possible contributing factors to the public’s perceived risk of becoming a victim of mass/random shootings. Using the data collected by the Chapman …

Social Media Effects On People's Fear Of Terrorism, Cameron Pastore

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In the past few decades, social media has constantly been upgraded to comply with users' needs. Social media has become a prevalent tool today as many use it to share their thoughts and gain a glimpse into other people's lives, but a lot of people also use social media to obtain news about what is going on in the world and their communities. In this article, I examine social media’s influence on people's fear of a potential terrorist attack on their homeland. The data for this research was obtained through The Chapman University Survey on American Fears (CSAF), conducted in …

The Papua Conflict: The Different Perspectives Of The Indonesian Government And International Communities—Review From The English School Theory, Mohamad Rosyidin, Andi Akhmad Basith Dir, Fendy Eko Wahyudi

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

The West Papuan issue has become a flashpoint of conflict between Indonesia and the international community. However, studies on this subject have never been concerned about the causal root of differences between Indonesia and the international community over the West Papuan issue. There has not been a theoretical account of how this issue is framed in international politics. Existing literature tends to overlook the fundamental narrative, that is, the contrasting view between Indonesia and those who support West Papuan freedom. This paper aims to analyse the root cause of this debate. Using the English School approach in international relations, this …

Questioning China’S Peaceful Development: A Mahanian Sea Power Analysis Of Blue Water Navy Accumulation, Patricia Patricia, Putu Agung Nara I.P. Satya

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

China has been rapidly accumulating naval capabilities for nearly 4 decades with the ambition of pursuing blue-water-navy forces through its People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). With its peaceful development policy, the acquisition of such powers has been interpreted as an anomaly and therefore resulted in an increase of security dilemmas between states. In the quest for explanations behind China’s actions, multiple scholars have examined this phenomenon by utilizing offensive realism, defensive realism, and Tirpitzian non-hegemonic naval theory. Thus, this paper brings another perspective by applying the Mahanian Sea Power approach. Consequently, the analysis established that China’s pursuit of blue-water-navy is …

Solidarity For Myanmar: #Milkteaalliance Indonesia’S Transnational Activism In Pressuring The Government Of Indonesia And Asean, Muhammad Anugrah Utama

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

The military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, carried out by the Tatmadaw against top officials from the newly elected-government–in which National League for Democracy (NLD) Party made the majority–brought strong backlashes from civil society, one of which was the Milk Tea Alliance. This paper discusses the activism of Milk Tea Alliance Indonesia in pressuring the Indonesian government and ASEAN, especially during the ASEAN Special Summit. This paper is based on qualitative method using literature review on the case study of Milk Tea Alliance activism in Indonesia. By referring to the ‘Boomerang pattern’ framework on transnational advocacy network, this …

Bureaucratic Resistance And The Challenge Of Implementing Asean Our Eyes: Case Study Of Jolo Church Bombing 2019, Chaula Rininta Anindya

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

Arus Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) memicu kekhawatiran dunia, termasuk negara-negara di Asia Tenggara. Pada tahun 2017, Indonesia mengajukan inisiatif “Our Eyes” untuk menciptakan sebuah wadah bagi negara-negara ASEAN untuk bertukar informasi intelijen guna memberantas kegiatan terorisme transnasional. Inisiatif tersebut kemudian diubah menjadi “ASEAN Our Eyes” (AOE). Tetapi, beberapa tahun setelah dibentuknya inisiatif tersebut, terjadi peristiwa pengeboman gereja di Jolo, Filipina. Inisiden tersebut menunjukkan hambatan untuk mengimplementasikan inisiatif AOE. Pelaku diidentifikasi sebagai Warga Negara Indonesia yang berhasil masuk ke Filipina berkat bantuan jaringan teroris lokal di Filipina. Idealnya, inisiatif AOE dapat mencegah serangan tersebut. Artikel ini akan mendiskusikan dinamika domestik di …