Digital Commons Network^™

Critical Dialog: Response To Rachel M. Gillum’S Review Of The Politics Of The Headscarf In The United States, Bozena C. Welborne, Aubrey L. Westfall, Özge Çelik Russell, Sarah A. Tobin

Government: Faculty Publications

A Critical Dialog between the reviewer, Rachel M. Gillum, of The Politics of the Headscarf in the United States and the authors, Bozena C. Welborne, Aubrey L. Westfall, Özge Çelik Russell, and Sarah A. Tobin. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2018. 264p.

Palestinian Women’S Agency, Yasmin Khodary

Political Science

In Civil Resistance and Conflict Transformation, Veronique Dudouet divides responses to oppression into two main analytical categories. The first category refers to conventional actions, including party politics, advocacy or diplomacy, dialogue and negotiations, and litigation. The second category is non-intuitional/contentious actions including: first, nonviolent/unarmed/peaceful resistance through protest and persuasion, non-cooperation, disruptive intervention and creative resistance and second, violent/armed resistance through warfare, terrorist attacks, guerrilla insurgency, protest violence and sabotage. These two sub-categories of resistance operate outside the bounds of conventional political channels and are usually employed by an oppressed minority or disempowered majority by an exclusionary national or foreign actor. …

Corporations And The American Polity, Patrick Labossiere

Student Theses and Dissertations

Research on corporate communications’ effects on politics presents an acknowledgement of a relationship between the two topics, leaving a void in the explanation and examination of this topic. The void presents an opening to introduce a conceptual process for how corporations are able to craft communications to influence the American Polity, the democratic social organization within the United States. This research begins with a historical review of how corporations gain prominence in American society, capturing the ability to participate in the democratic social organization of the polity. A qualitative analysis of several conceptual frameworks serves as data, to establish an …

Out-Of-Control Covid-19 Pandemic Hampers The Nationalism, Aly Hiko, Austin Horng En Wang

Political Science Faculty Research

© The Author(s) 2020. Early studies show that the COVID-19 pandemic causes the rally-around-the-flag effect and increases the level of nationalism among the voters after the outbreak. However, how long does this boost last? Voters may cognitively withdraw their identification to the beloved country if the pandemic is rampant in where they live as well as when the government fails to address it thoroughly. We conducted a pre-registered MTurk experiment (n = 606) on 20 April 2020, in the United States—3 months after the first confirmed case and weeks after the large-scale lockdown. Results show that US subjects who were …

Global Trends In Tobacco Cigarette Use Among Adolescents: Prevalence Of Use And Evidence Based Cessation Interventions, Rejoice Addae, Cheryl Knight, Tamara Pace-Glover

Journal of Global Awareness

Tobacco use remains a global problem, and as a demographic group, adolescents are at a high risk of its adverse effects. In addition, disparities exist in strategies to address tobacco control, particularly among youth from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. The health risks associated with tobacco use provide a compelling reason for all nations to prioritize addressing and regulating its use and providing sustainable funding sources for training healthcare professionals and others under Article 14 of the World Health Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This article has four primary goals: (1) to provide an overview of the 2005 World Health Organization’s international …

Could Deglobalization Kill Transnational Cooperation? A Brief Historical Lesson, Virág Rab

Journal of Global Awareness

The study examines a historical period referred to in the literature as deglobalization. After the First World War, economic nationalism gained ground in some countries, mainly for political reasons, characterized by protectionist economic policies and the pursuit of autarchy/self-sufficiency. There were no international regulations or well-functioning international institutions that would have facilitated economic cooperation. How did those who worked hard to reconstruct the European economy react to this situation? This study presents this through the process of developing an informal network of bankers, and it indirectly highlights some important links between informal networks, globalization, and deglobalization.

Beyond Gatekeeping: Propaganda, Democracy, And The Organization Of Digital Publics, Jennifer Forestal

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

While there is disagreement as to the severity of the digital disinformation problem, scholars and practitioners have largely coalesced around the idea that a new system of safeguards is needed to prevent its spread. By minimizing the role of citizens in managing their own communities, however, I argue that these gatekeeping approaches are undemocratic. To develop a more democratic alternative, I draw from the work of Harold D. Lasswell and John Dewey to argue that we should study the organization of digital publics. For citizens to engage in democratic inquiry, publics must be organized so that they can (1) easily …

Fear Of Illegal Immigration, Sofia Sanchez

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Illegal immigration has continuously been a hot topic, and the American population has obsessed over what measures should be taken with these people, if any. In a qualitative study, the fear of illegal immigration is going to be analyzed based on various independent variables such as ideology, party identification, and media, based on results from the Fear 2020 survey. The Chapman Survey of American Fear began in 2018, analyzing people’s different fears nationwide, and how those might be related to other characteristics. Previous research analyzes attitudes towards illegal immigration; however the fear component will be a new addition to this …

Fear Of Whites No Longer Being The Majority, Kassandra Gomez Orozco

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The 2014 National Projections report was based on the 2010 Census and estimates through 2013. The finding of these studies predict that by 2044, more than half of the American population will belong to a minority. The idea of whites no longer being the majority may be alarming to some people, as it has always been the norm of the country. This perceived threat of demographic change may be an indicator voters voting out of fear, and voting for candidates that cater to that fear. This paper will attempt to look at whether ethnicity or party identification have more relationship …

Politics Stops At Nature's Edge: The Need For Bipartisanship In Environmental Policymaking, Allison Kustic

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Climate change is an existential threat to humans and everyday life, yet in recent years Congress has been unable to pass comprehensive environmental policy that addresses climate change. Collaboration between both parties in Congress is often necessary for passing legislation. There was a time when bipartisanship was common, and Congress passed significant environmental legislation. In particular, this happened during the 1970s with the Clean Water Act in 1972, the Endangered Species Act in 1973, the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974, and the Toxic Substances Control Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976. However, since 1994, increased polarization …

The Patriot Act: How It Hurts Democracy, Madison Racquel Wadsworth

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

After the devastating attacks on American soil on September 11th, 2001, the world's perceptions of security changed forever. Immediately following the attacks, the United States government passed the USA PATRIOT Act, broadening definitions of terrorism and codifying unconstitutional acts, such as unwarranted searches of private property, indefinite holding of suspected terrorists, and ultimately torturing those suspects. This act has had several long term implications leading to a reduction in the quality of American democracy, which subsequently affected other liberal democracies around the world through violations of basic democratic principles, or civil liberties, such as: due process, physical attacks, and freedom …

Nationalism In The Age Of Brexit: The Attitudes And Identities Of Young Voters, Emma Wolkenstein

Honors College Theses

The Brexit referendum marked the first time in the United Kingdom when political lines were drawn along distinct generational lines. In 2016, 73% of young people, aged 18-24, and less than 40% of older voters, aged 65 and over, voted to Remain. In comparison, over 60% of older voters and only 27% of young voters voted to Leave (Fig. 1). Voters aged 25 to 64 remained fairly split between two options, but the difference between older and younger generations is incredibly significant (Kelly 2016). Voter differences have historically been between socioeconomic classes; the urban and the rural, the wealthy and …

Backlogged Or Logjammed? An Analysis Of The Patterns That Surround The Rape Kit Backlog Across Jurisdictions, Elizabeth Dowd

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Untested rape kits sit in crime labs, hospitals, evidence lockers, or storage facilities untouched. In the worst-case scenarios, rape kits have been thrown out of police storage before the statute of limitations had expired. A major public policy problem is developing as these kits stack up and create a backlog. The primary problem with the rape kit backlog is that all victims are not receiving justice. To solve the problem, the backlog of rape kits needs further exploration and analysis. If a pattern can be established about why the problem is occurring, then policies can be constructed and implemented to …

Social Media And Fear: Social Media As A Catalyst For Political Fear In The United States., Shane R. White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: Using the American National Election Study data from the 2012 and 2016 surveys I explore how social media usage shapes fear. This is likely caused by the nature of social media leading to oversharing of sensationalized articles likely to elicit an emotional and fearful response. My findings suggest first that social media usage has a statistically significant effect on whether they would say they are afraid of a candidate (2012) and how afraid they say they are of the candidates (2016). Second, social media has little effect on economic fear, and may actually make people more hopeful about the …

Teacher Demoralization: Neoliberal Influence On The Complex Education System And Teacher Morale, Dionne Elvira

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Since the 1980s, neoliberal influence has slowly taken over our education system’s vision and purpose. Presently, marketization in schooling has drawn the attention and influence of those of monetary and political power (Bartlett et al., 2002). Accountability measures set in place by the strings attached to school funding and sanctions encompass blanket demands on classroom instruction not equitably designed to support our diverse student populations (Ravitch, 2013; Reigeluth, 2014; Tsang, 2019). The school system, as it presently stands, is managed and maintained under systematic models that do not align to the complex needs of each unique school within its unique …

Text As Data: An Overview, Kenneth Benoit

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

When it comes to textual data, the fields of political science and international relations face a genuine embarrassment of riches. Never before has so much text been so readily available on such a wide variety of topics that concern our discipline. Legislative debates, party manifestos, committee transcripts, candidate and other political speeches, lobbying documents, court opinions, laws – not only are all recorded and published today, but in many cases this is in a readily available form that is easily converted into structured data for systematic analysis.

Stratified Security Communities: Transatlantic Distrust And Identity Divergence, Afra Maike Herr

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

With mounting pressure by the United States directly and through their strategic shift and slow abdication of leadership towards Asia and away from the transatlantic community, European states have growing incentive to cooperate more strongly and integrate their defense and security efforts. The absence of such a trend of integration points to internal barriers to growing cooperation countering the external dynamic. Utilizing the theory of security communities, this thesis explores German, French, and British understanding of leadership, defense, and their respective public opinions. Focusing on the security identities of all three nations and their visions for the community as well …

The Dove's Advantage: Impact Of Gender And Conflict On Executive Approval, Micala H. Gillespie

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Do citizens evaluate female vs. male leaders’ foreign policy decisions differently? The number of countries that have had female leaders continues to expand, but little is known about how domestic audiences reward or punish female (relative to male) leaders for foreign policy choices. This study examines how the gender of a national leader conditions the relationship between their hawkish/dovish ideology and public approval for rapprochement policies in militarized interstate conflicts. Results from time-series cross-sectional data using multiple regression models with fixed effects from 31 countries and 127 leaders show that public approval tends to be lower for women leaders and …

The Path To Victory: A Comparative Analysis Of Mena Region Countries, Negar Moayed

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

During the “Arab Spring” the Arab world witnessed a wave of uprisings. As a result of these anti-government movements, four governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen were overthrown, three governments of Bahrain, Jordan, and to some points Saudi Arabia were faced with critical difficulties, and one government ,Syria, experienced domestic war. All these happened while some other Middle Eastern countries remained stable. Yet, the remaining questions are: how did these protests emerge? How was the collective identity which is essential for the social movements created? Why were some of these movements successful in overthrowing the regime while the others …

A Rivalry Of Necessity: An Analysis Of Mechanisms Of Contention Between The Islamic Republic Of Iran And The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Aras Syahmanssuri

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution that extremely concerned the Saudis leaders culminated after the overthrow of a monarchical regime of the Iranian Shah and the power rise of a theocratic Shia government led by Ayatollah Khomeini. From the early days of this revolution, Khomeini raised a unique slogan, which was “exporting the revolution” to neighboring countries. Through targeting the Shia minority in neighboring countries, this slogan highly concerned the Gulf countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Examining four decades of hostility, which starts from the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran, this study indicates that the rivalry between the Islamic …

Failure To Protect: Why The International Community Will Fail To Respond To The Cultural Genocide Of Turkish Cypriot People, Hilmi Ulas

Peace Studies Faculty Articles and Research

The international community has time and again committed to never let genocide occur again – however, multiple bouts of genocide have occurred since the Holocaust. This, in addition to the current quandaries surrounding the Uyghurs of China, points to the fact that the international laws and institutions have loopholes that allow for genocides – especially those that enact structural and cultural violence without necessarily employing direct violence – to ‘slip through’.

This has been the case in spite of R2P policies being in place. In this paper, I examine the inability of international systems to capture ‘cultural genocide’ or intervene …

War, Media, And Memory: American Television News Coverage Of The Vietnam War, Brock J. Vaughan

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Social and political impacts of television news coverage of the Vietnam War are often glorified and grossly overestimated. This paper argues that the role of the American media during the war did not directly affect public support for the war, nor did it profoundly impact American nationalism and military policy. Television news coverage did, however, influence how events were perceived and remembered. The commonly held belief that the American news media was directly responsible for the decline of public confidence in the U.S. government, ultimately contributing to the public’s distaste for any further involvement in Vietnam, is a narrow viewpoint …

I Can’T Breathe: Assessing The Role Of Racial Resentment And Racial Prejudice In Whites’ Feelings Toward Black Lives Matter, Emmitt Y. Riley Iii, Clarissa Peterson

Political Science Faculty publications

Since 2014, public opinion data suggests that whites have become more supportive of the Black Lives Movement. The recent murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have prompted a national debate about the need to address systemic racism in policing within the United States. Recent studies have shown how racial resentment has spilled over into a wide range of political issues that are not associated with race; however, no current research examines how racial resentment might shape whites’ views toward Black Lives Matter. Employing the racial reaction theory and the 2016 American Election Study Survey, we hypothesize and confirm that …

Nature Of Home-Grown Terrorism Threat In Ghana, Mohammed Zulkarnain

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The present state of security in the West African sub-region raises important issues of the nature of home-grown terrorism (HGT) threats in Ghana. Most studies of home-grown terrorism have focused mainly on the psychological implications of terrorist acts. This paper examines the complexities of the Ghanaian state securities perceive the nature of the threat of home-grown terrorism in the country. Data was collected from representatives of the state security agencies using semi-structured in-depth interviews. Findings indicate that the threat nature of home-grown terrorism in Ghana varies but the most significant is the threat from the recruitment of Ghanaian Muslims by …

The Masked Demos: Associational Anonymity And Democratic Practice, Jennifer Forestal, Menaka Philips

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The increased use of anonymous digital platforms raises substantive concerns about accountability in digital spaces. However, contemporary evaluations of anonymity focus too narrowly on its protective function: its ability to protect a diversity of speakers and ideas. Drawing on two examples of anonymous political engagements – Publius’s writing of the Federalist Papers and college students’ use of the social media platform Yik Yak – we develop an account of anonymity’s associational function: the processes by which people generate and negotiate collective identities, discussions, and actions in wider publics. As we argue, anonymity’s associational function can (1) generate conditions under which …

The Influence Of Foreign Elite Rhetoric: National Identity, Emotions, And Attitudes Toward Austerity, Alessandro Del Ponte

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

How does foreign elite rhetoric affect citizens’ emotions and attitudes about austerity? In a survey experiment conducted on the online blogs of the two major Italian newspapers, participants read a fictional news article where the German Chancellor addressed Italians. Across treatments, I varied whether the message blamed or praised Italians, and whether the message focused on economic or symbolic concerns. Praise generated enthusiasm whereas blame spurred anger and anxiety. Moreover, respondents with a strong national or European identity who read a message of praise were more enthusiastic, less angry, and less opposed to austerity. Finally, people who identify strongly with …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 96, No. 13, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Burned Out – COVID-19
• Payne, Michael. 15 Years with the Bagel Brothers – Sandra Hurley
• Hargrove, Matthew. Hilltoppers Get in the Win Column, Home Finale Up Next - Football
• Kieser, Nick. All Eyes on the Spring – Basketball, Softball, Soccer, Baseball
• Leboutier, Addison. Little Flock of Jesus Christ Fellowship Comes Home – Clarence Tapp
• Cox, Alex. Editorial Cartoon re: Kamala Harris
• What a Kamala Harris Vice Presidency Means for Young People of Color
• Lattimer, Jacob. Student Government Association Sustainability Committee Looks to Make an Impact …

Predictors Of Economic Outlook In Stability Operations, Juan Carlos Garcia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The participation of the United States military in stability efforts has increased dramatically since 2001. The core of current U. S. stabilization policies and measures derives from the US military's lessons in countering insurgencies since the late 20th century through the ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and countries experiencing radical Islamic insurgencies. Counterinsurgency operations focus on gaining support from the relevant population through security, governance, and economic efforts. This research seeks to improve the understanding of the relationship between perceptions of security and governance on populations' economic outlook during stability operations. Applying the “Winning Hearts and Minds” approach to the …

Enemy Mine: Negative Partisanship And Satisfaction With Democracy, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Polarization has increased in recent decades, including emotional distance between partisans. While positive partisan identity has been linked to the absorption of democratic norms and democratic satisfaction, this article addresses the impact of negative partisanship on citizens’ satisfaction with the functioning of their democracies. Employing two measures of negative partisanship – dislike for a party and unwillingness to ever vote for a party – the article finds that negative partisanship is linked to lower satisfaction with democracy, particularly negative partisanship for major parties. It also finds that respondents’ sentiments towards other parties moderate the experience of electoral outcomes; the win/loss …

Migration And Inequalities In The Face Of Covid-19: Vulnerable Populations And Support Networks In Mexico And The United States, Claudia Masferrer

Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center Research

Our world changed drastically on February 11th 2020 when the World Health Organization announced the name of the new coronavirus disease as COVID-19, and the pandemic was later considered the greatest challenge we have faced since World War II. Although we have started to experience social life in various new ways, the impacts that it will bring are still unknown. In recent years, migration had already undergone different transformations globally, and more changes are expected. How will populations on the move and migrant populations live in the following years post-COVID, and how different actors will respond to these changes, is …