Digital Commons Network^™

Tort Reform In Florida: The Impact Of Hb837, Kara E. Burns

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Legislative policies play a pivotal role in shaping the socio-political landscape of a nation, addressing critical issues, and reflecting the values and priorities of its citizens. This case study examines the implementation of Florida's House Bill 837 (HB837), a significant piece of legislation that has generated substantial interest and debate. The study aims to shed light on the practical implications of this policy within the context of its introduction, passage, and subsequent results. The research of this case study explores the historical and political backdrop against which HB837 was enacted. It examines the motivations behind the bill, the debates that …

Former United States Political Figures On S&P 500 Boards: Three Essays, Tyler K. Wasson

2023

Corporate political activity has been considered an increasingly important component of corporate strategy (Schuler, et al. 2019). Corporate political activity research examines how corporations interact with political officials to attempt to influence their political environment in ways that benefit their economic activity (e.g., Funk & Hirschman, 2017; Lawton, et al. 2013). In this dissertation I present three novel research studies on one area where corporate political activity research is underdeveloped, the presence and impact of government experienced directors, individuals who were either elected or appointed to work for the United States (U.S.) government and then served as a director on …

Upholding Democracy: Black Voter Mobilization And Its Impact On Political Participation And Representation, Angelee Divine Lee Smith

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The 2020 U.S. Presidential election saw a historic turnout of Black voters, who played a key role in determining the outcome of the election. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has played a significant role in mobilizing voters, particularly among Black Americans, in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The movement's focus on racial justice has motivated black communities across the country and inspiring the community to report to the ballot box. Including 2020 American National Election Study survey data. I explore how different identities affected voter attitudes and behaviors, as well as how this influenced mobilization strategies. The findings highlight …

Home Is Where The Heart Is: Rural Residents, Deprivation, And The Impact Of Prd On Governmental Representation, Mary Rachael Blandau

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

How does rural deprivation, defined here as the perception that rural residents are deprived of economic and social capital that comparatively disadvantages them more than their urban and suburban counterparts, impact their political attitudes? And how do these perceptions, termed perceived rural deprivation, impact their attitudes towards the government? While scholars have long studied rural behavior, interest in the topic was reinvigorated during the Trump presidency once it became clear that rural voters contributed to Donald Trump’s election in 2016 and became some of his strongest and most loyal supporters during his presidency.

Before we can answer the question of …

Political Polarization In College Students, David Franks

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Political engagement in the United States has been increasing over the last several years and with it a seeming rise in political polarization. Specifically, recent research supports that there has been a significant increase in affective polarization, which is characterized by strong negative emotions and impressions of one’s political opponents. Political science surveys have found that individuals rate their political opponents as being less intelligent and more selfish in recent years and individuals open to inter-party marriages have drastically declined in recent years compared to decades past. This study explored the relationship of personality, as understood in the Big Five …

The Normalization Of Sin, Maiya Groff

Capstone Showcase

This paper discusses the normalization of sin, specifically sex work. One question that emerges is how do some behaviors come to be seen as sinful, and then once those behaviors are accepted as sinful, how do they become normalized (ie., become socially acceptable again)? After identifying a gap in the existing literature pertaining to the lack of acknowledgement for the role of institutions in driving change, I seek to fill that gap by using pattern-matching to determine how closely aligned sex work is to the phases of Normalization Process Theory. Ultimately, I am expecting to find that, according to the …

Let Us Be The Fish Who Grow Legs: A Curriculum Guide For Linking Prison Industrial Complex Abolition, Environmental Justice, And State Power, Tess Gibbs

Scripps Senior Theses

This curriculum guide is designed to connect students’ understandings of environmental problems and injustices to their understandings of prison industrial complex (PIC) abolition, with the ultimate intention of cultivating the knowledge and imaginative practices to develop abolitionist-aligned solutions to environmental justice (EJ) problems outside of frameworks that rely upon state sanction. Students will connect the mutual causal forces of environmental injustices and the carceral state; explore intersections of environmental and carceral politics; and finish the course with broadened understandings of humans’ real and unrealized relationships with each other and the more-than-human world. The guide is intended to be worked through …

Issue Brief (The Cairo Review Of Global Affairs, 47), Noha El-Mikawy

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Party-Movement Interactions In A Contested Democracy: The Philippine Experience, Arjan P. Aguirre

Political Science Department Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Los Angeles Police Department After The End Of The Consent Decree, Daniela Corona

CMC Senior Theses

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) entered into a consent decree with the Department of Justice in 2001. The LAPD was tasked with reforming a range of behaviors and practices including racial profiling, excessive use of force and corruption. Previous studies suggest that after the implementation of the consent decree the LAPD was able to reduce their uses of force and improve public perception of their department while still maintaining an effective level of policing activity and preventing increases in the crime rate. This paper seeks to revisit the LAPD after the end of the consent decree and assess if …

Moving In The Underground: The Politics Of Black Joy In Roller-Skating And Funk Music In Chicago, John West

Pomona Senior Theses

Skating provides a moment of limited protection from the dangers of being Black in the after-life of slavery. Skating provides a way to temporarily escape the pain of the outside that is depicted above. The pain of a modern post-racial colorblind slave society. A society plagued with hyper-surveillance, mass incarceration, and domestic militarism targeted at Black and Brown bodies. Our joy and pleasure are what sustain us. We turn to jubilee to offer a moment of freedom from the burden of racial capitalism. Subversive Black joy, the joy that allows Black folk to restore, recreate, and reinvent themselves is how …

Variations In Refugee Acceptance Among Democratic States, Ryan King

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

What factors account for the variation in refugee acceptance? My review of existing literature and subsequent research paper will seek to further develop the understanding of this phenomenon by identifying and investigating factors that account for the differences in rates of migration flow among democratic states. The literature review will discuss the current body of research surrounding the topic, and the research itself will attempt to further the understanding of the impact of the given variables by using currently available data of international trends in migration, as well as a number of specific case studies. First, the paper will outline …

Racialization And International Security, Richard W. Maass

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Racialization—the processes that infuse social and political phenomena with racial identities and implications—is an assertion of power, a claim of purportedly inherent differences that has saturated modern diplomacy, order, and violence. Despite the field's consistent interest in power, international security studies in the United States largely omitted racial dynamics from decades of debates about international conflict and cooperation, nuclear proliferation, power transitions, unipolarity, civil wars, terrorism, international order, grand strategy, and other subjects. A new framework lays conceptual bedrock, links relevant literatures to major research agendas in international security, cultivates interdisciplinary dialogues, and charts promising paths to consider how overt …

The Cultural Diplomacy Of U.S. Peace Corps: Understanding The Role Of Peace Corps Volunteers As Strategic Geopolitical Assets, Corey B. Miles

Theses and Dissertations

Beginning in the Summer of 1961, the United States government has deployed volunteer humanitarians around the world to serve the mission of U.S. Peace Corps and has since contributed to communities in 143 partner countries while enjoying widespread popularity. Its mission of promoting world peace and friendship is pursued through three operational goals: technical training, cultural exportation, and cultural importation. Since 2016, with the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, and continuing through the Covid-19 pandemic, which produced the first global service interruption in agency history, the value of the Peace Corps service model has been fundamentally challenged. As a …

การย้ายถิ่นของนักกีฬาฟุตบอลจากทวีปแอฟริกาสู่ประเทศไทย, พสิษฐ์ วจนะดิษยาวงศ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ปัจจุบัน การย้ายถิ่นของกลุ่มแรงงานนักฟุตบอลได้รับความสนใจจากกลุ่มนักวิชาการที่ศึกษาการย้ายถิ่นมากขึ้นอย่างต่อเนื่อง อย่างไรก็ดี การศึกษามักมุ่งเน้นการทำความเข้าใจการย้ายถิ่นฐานของนักฟุตบอลจากภูมิภาคผู้ส่งออกนักฟุตบอล โดยเฉพาะแอฟริกาสู่ภูมิภาคยุโรป ซึ่งเป็นอดีตเจ้าอาณานิคม ขณะที่ในความเป็นจริง มีนักฟุตบอลจากภูมิภาคแอฟริกาหลั่งไหลเข้ามายังภูมิภาคอื่น ๆ ทั่วโลกอย่างต่อเนื่อง สำหรับประเทศไทย มีนักฟุตบอลชาวแอฟริกาที่ย้ายถิ่นเข้ามายังประเทศไทยจำนวนมาก และหลายคนได้สร้างคุณูปการแก่วงการฟุตบอลไทย จึงนำมาสู่คำถามที่ว่า ปัจจัยใดส่งผลให้แรงงานนักฟุตบอลจากทวีปแอฟริกาย้ายถิ่นเข้ามาค้าแข้งในประเทศไทย การศึกษาพบว่า พลวัตของโลกาภิวัตน์ รวมถึงการแปลงฟุตบอลเป็นสินค้า กอปรกับการที่ฟุตบอลกลายเป็นอาชีพที่ประชาชนจำนวนหนึ่งมองว่านำมาซึ่งรายได้จำนวนมาก ก็นำมาซึ่งการย้ายถิ่นฐานของนักฟุตบอล สำหรับทวีปแอฟริกาซึ่งประสบปัญหาความยากจน อาชีพนักฟุตบอลกลายเป็นความใฝ่ฝันของเยาวชนชายจำนวนมากที่ต้องการแสวงหาชีวิตที่ดีกว่าเพื่อตนเองและครอบครัว อย่างไรก็ดี ข้อจำกัดด้านการพัฒนาฟุตบอลในทวีปแอฟริกา ทำให้นักฟุตบอลชาวแอฟริกันต้องการไปค้าแข้งนอกทวีป โดยเฉพาะทวีปยุโรปที่ให้รายได้สูงสุด อีกทั้งยังมีอิทธิพลเหนือสื่อที่เผยแพร่ฟุตบอลในทวีปแอฟริกา แม้ประเทศไทยที่จะมีลีกฟุตบอลที่ดี แต่ถือเป็นเพียงทางผ่านที่ช่วยสนับสนุนให้ผู้คนได้เห็นนักฟุตบอลกลุ่มดังกล่าวมากขึ้นเท่านั้น อย่างไรก็ดี มิใช่นักฟุตบอลทุกคนจะประสบความสำเร็จในการยกระดับตนเองไปค้าแข้งในยุโรป ขณะที่จำนวนหนึ่งตระหนักว่าประเทศไทยมีความเหมาะสมและเลือกที่จะค้าแข้งในประเทศไทยระยะยาว

ธุรกิจกำจัดขยะพลาสติกของโลก ศึกษากรณีประเทศไทย, จุฑามาศ หวังสวัสดิ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การค้าขยะระหว่างประเทศ เป็นวิธีการที่ทุกประเทศทั่วโลกใช้ในการกำจัดขยะ โดยเฉพาะประเทศที่พัฒนาแล้วซึ่งมีการสร้างขยะจำนวนมหาศาล ผ่านการให้ความหมายใหม่จากขยะที่หมายถึงของเสีย กลายเป็นวัตถุดิบชั้นรองที่สามารถนำไปสร้างมูลค่าเพิ่มผ่านการรีไซเคิลได้ โดยอาศัยวาทกรรมการพัฒนาที่ถูกสร้างขึ้นมาเพื่อให้การส่งออกขยะไปยังประเทศที่มีการพัฒนาน้อยกว่าเป็นไปอย่างชอบธรรม ทำให้ประเทศปลายทางได้รับผลกระทบจากการกำจัดขยะแทนประเทศต้นทาง การค้าขยะระหว่างประเทศจึงเป็นการล่าอาณานิคมในรูปแบบใหม่ที่เรียกว่า "Waste Colonialism" ดังกรณีศึกษาประเทศไทย ที่รัฐบาลทหารขาดธรรมาภิบาล เป็นผู้อำนวยความสะดวกให้แก่นายทุนต่างชาติ นำเข้าขยะมารีไซเคิลโดยมองข้ามผลกระทบต่อธรรมชาติและความเป็นอยู่ของประชาชน ทำให้ประเทศไทยตกอยู่ภายใต้อาณานิคมขยะของประเทศที่พัฒนาแล้ว

Inequality And Violence: The Case Of Brazil, Kimberly Forsyth

Dissertations and Theses

As a dominant economic powerhouse in Latin America, Brazil paradoxically exhibits profound socioeconomic divides and egregious rates of violence. This study seeks to illuminate the extent of the intricate relationship between Brazil's inherent inequalities and its propensity for violence by employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The study focuses on the years from 2002 to 2021, a period characterized by pivotal social, economic, and political transformations. Utilizing the United Nations definition of homicide as a primary measure of violence, I collected data from Brazilian health repositories for all 27 federative unit's annual reported number of homicides. The research …

Interiorization And Localization: An Analysis Of Immigration Enforcement In Local Contexts, Manuel N. Leiva

Theses and Dissertations

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal agency that plays a large role in surveilling, apprehending, detaining, incarcerating, and deporting undocumented immigrants in the United States. Due to constraints on the number of ICE’s available personnel and resources, the agency relies on deputizing, or devolving to local law enforcement agencies the authority to enforce federal immigration policies. Prior to the 1990s, the enforcement of policies directed at controlling flows of undocumented immigrants was generally under the purview of federal law enforcement agencies and administrators, not state or local ones. The attacks on September, 11^th 2001 represented a flashpoint, …

China’S Global Strategy As Science Fiction, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Xi Jinping is leading China in a new direction, but how are we to understand the PRC’s global strategy? To understand domestic and international politics in most countries, we would look for clues in authoritative sources—leaders’ speeches, official documents and statistics, elite interviews and essays, and public opinion surveys. In the 2000s this method worked well to probe Chinese politics. But since civil society and independent thought have been severely restricted over the past decade under Xi, it’s necessary to go beyond such “factual” sources. To understand China’s global strategy, it’s best to read fiction, especially Chinese science fiction.

Variation In Growth Over Time Of Minority Religious Groups In The Philippines, Janet Vallejo

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Philippines has historically been predominantly Catholic due to Spanish colonial rule, but since the early 1900s, there has been an increase in the number of small Christian churches, denominations, and sects. Traditional theories like modernization, religious economy, or ideology fail to explain the varying growth patterns of these minority Christian religions because they do not account for sub-national variation nor fluctuations in adherents over time. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the emergence of minority Christian religions in the Philippines and develop a framework to study their growth trends over time. For the dependent variable, a typology …

Freedom And Heteronomy In The Anthropocene, Alexander M. Stoner, Harry F. Dahms

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Black Liberation In Transnational Terms: The Case Of Haiti And The United States, Dulanda F. P. Saintcyr

UROP Posters

Haiti made history on January 1st, 1804 when it secured independence from France. Not only did Haiti become a sovereign state, it also earned the title of being the first independent Black nation in the world. The latter accomplishment should not be ignored. The Haitians’ efforts created an impact that transcends their national border, particularly in the context of Black liberation. For example, the United States' history of working towards achieving full freedom for Black people resembles the Haitian struggle. Whether the connection between the two states is widely acknowledged is a point of interest. As a result, this project …

Strategies Global Virtual Team Leaders Use To Improve Trust And Communication, Sarah Crandell Monday

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Global virtual team (GVT) members’ inability to effectively build trust and communication has the potential to negatively impact organizational outcomes. Organizational leaders are concerned with team members’ inability to build trust and communication, as it is the leading cause of reduced productivity and efficiency levels within GVTs. Grounded in the social exchange theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies GVT leaders use to improve trust and communication among GVT members. The participants were 18 GVT business leaders from six organizations located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Data were collected using semistructured …

Criminology And Violent Extremist Radicalization, Starlett Michele Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, research on foreign terrorism became extensive in the United States while research on domestic terrorism and violent extremist radicalization was lacking. Despite the research that has been done, there was a lapse in scholarship analyzing terrorism radicalization and its relationship with criminology. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to analyze the perceptions of experts in terrorism and criminology about how factors of criminology can explain violent extremist radicalization. This study used two conceptual models of terrorism radicalization: (a) the staircase to terrorism and the (b) 4-stage model of the terrorist mindset. In addition, …

Criminology And Violent Extremist Radicalization, Starlett Michele Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, research on foreign terrorism became extensive in the United States while research on domestic terrorism and violent extremist radicalization was lacking. Despite the research that has been done, there was a lapse in scholarship analyzing terrorism radicalization and its relationship with criminology. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to analyze the perceptions of experts in terrorism and criminology about how factors of criminology can explain violent extremist radicalization. This study used two conceptual models of terrorism radicalization: (a) the staircase to terrorism and the (b) 4-stage model of the terrorist mindset. In addition, …

The American Founding Documents And Democratic Social Change: A Constructivist Grounded Theory, A I. Forde

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Existing social disparities in the United States are inconsistent with the promise of democracy; therefore, there was a need for critical conceptualization of the first principles that undergird American democracy and the genesis of democratic social change in America. This constructivist grounded theory study aimed to construct a grounded theory that provides an understanding of the process of American democratic social change as it emerged from the nation’s founding documents. A post hoc polytheoretical framework including Foucault’s, Bourdieu’s, and Marx and Engels’s theories of power was used to understand power dynamics. The research question focused on understanding the process of …

Ukrainian Women Refugees In Italy And Their Risk Of Sexual Violence: An Interview With Luisanna Porcu, Lepa Mladjenović

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Lobbying And Interest Groups In The States During The Progressive Era, Adam Chamberlain, James Strickland, Alixandra B. Yanus

Political Science

The postbellum rise of voluntary, federated associations set the stage for modern pressure politics in the American states, yet the connection between associations and lobbying in this era is grossly understudied. Relying on associations' own records and a new dataset of state lobbyists, we explore this relationship more deeply, documenting how federated associations gained membership, created political agendas, and lobbied state legislators for reform. To understand better the processes linking group strength with direct lobbying, we present descriptive case studies of the Grange (agriculture), the “Big Four” railroad brotherhoods (skilled labor), and the American Bankers' Association (finance). Our findings reveal …

Crime, Illness, & Abolition: An Exploration Through The Connective Tissue Within The Pic/Mic Matrix, Laila Kent

Scripps Senior Theses

This two part zine illuminates the shared mechanisms that construct and respond to ‘crime’, also define and treat illness in the US. Part 1 uncovers the status quo of our prison and health care system via the emergence of the The Prison-Industrial Complex (PIC), and The Medical-Industrial Complex (MIC). Through an exploration of the respective and overlapping histories, logics, and realities underlying the function of these systems, the mechanisms of individualism, objectification, and profiteering become strikingly clear. Part 2 breaks free of the status quo outlined in Part 1 by introducing abolition as the vision and strategy to heal from …

How Economic Distribution Impacts Human Rights On An International Level: A Case Study In Africa And The Balkans, Lindsey G. Ingraham

Honors Program Theses

Data from Reporters Without Borders and the World Bank was used in this small case study to assess correlations between economic dispersion, freedom of the press, and measures of gender equality in eight countries. These countries were selected from two regions, with four from both Africa and the Balkans to total eight: Angola, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Zimbabwe. The regions were selected to account for any regional trends affecting the data. These countries were selected based on their Gini Coefficients with the hopes of identifying correlations between economic distribution and their measures of human rights. …