Digital Commons Network^™

A Medieval Pirate's Life: The Role Of Piracy In Medieval Life Versus Its Role In Modern Historiography, Leah Lam

History ETDs

Medieval piracy is a mysterious phenomenon that is interwoven within the politics, culture, economic histories of the Middle Ages. Its presence throughout the Middle Ages is not questioned, yet it is rarely researched thoroughly. The subject of medieval piracy falls prey to the biases and assumptions that modern historians carry towards piracy as a whole, making the subject be under researched and improperly utilized. In this thesis, I will be highlighting the role that piracy played in medieval life and the way that modern historiography has neglected it. To do so thoroughly, I have pulled examples from different times, regions, …

Understanding Political Success: Unethical But Effective Political Leadership, Madison Richmond

Senior Honors Theses

This research answers the question of how unethical people can still manage to be effective political leaders. To understand the implications of rhetoric in political leadership, the research presents artifacts and sources from those impacted or influenced by such leadership. Adolf Hitler’s ethical values, traits, leadership style, use of rhetorical devices and communication theories, and his most famous speech will be analyzed to aid in understanding how he packaged evil ideologies in such an appealing and believable manner. The findings from the research support the claim that successful political leadership is influenced by the use of rhetoric, leadership styles and …

The Theological Error Behind Post-Liberalism’S Bid For Political Power, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

With Pa’S Highest Court Depleted, Shapiro, Gop Senate Leaders Let Voters Down, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Roe V. Wade And Beyond, Abby Fulton, Allie Mckibben, Sarah Warner, Jayden Taylor, Ethan Kroll

Spring 2023

Within our Zine Roe v. Wade and Beyond, our group has examined the implications of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and how this affects different groups. This zine explores the history of this landmark Supreme Court case, and helps readers understand what the effects of this decision are. In addition to looking at the politics that are associated with this debate and this decision, the Zine also investigates different problems associated with obtaining an abortion such as education and skin color. The Zine seeks to educate readers about how abortion affects a variety of women, as well as help …

Just-Right Government: Interstate Compacts And Multistate Governance In An Era Of Political Polarization, Policy Paralysis, And Bad-Faith Partisanship, Jon Michaels, Emme M. Tyler

Indiana Law Journal

Those committed to addressing the political, economic, and moral crises of the day— voting rights, racial justice, reproductive autonomy, gaping inequality, LGBTQ rights, and public health and safety—don’t know where to turn. Federal legislative and regulatory pathways are choked off by senators quick to filibuster and by judges eager to strike down agency rules and orders. State pathways, in turn, are compromised by limited capacity, collective action problems, externalities, scant economies of scale, and—in many jurisdictions—a toxic political culture hostile to even the most anodyne government interventions. Recognizing the limited options available on a binary (that is, federal or state) …

Die Deutsche Nationalversammlung Und Weimar: On The Creation Of Democracy In Weimar Germany, Jason Wendling

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper is a historical analysis of the creation of the Weimar Republic, as well as a political analysis of the Weimar Republic’s constitution. In reviewing both Weimar’s history as well as the constitution, I hope to inspire learners to look back to the Weimar Republic, and not focus primarily on the failures that led to the rise of the Nazi Regime, but rather celebrate the successes that the drafters of the constitution were able to achieve. I review the history of the 1918 November Revolution, the history and party programs of the three important parties of the Weimar Republic, …

The Americans Progress Forgot? An Interdisciplinary Study Of The Role Of Media In Opiate Politics, Rachael M. Erickson

Senior Theses

The most recent opioid crisis in the United States was largely described, by politicians, the media, and subsequently members of the voting public, as being an issue primarily affecting rural White communities. This phenomenon is shaped by the fact that the rate at which White Americans use opiates is outpaced by the frequency with which White American use of opiates is described as an issue of human interest in opinion or editorial articles in news media. In this thesis I aim to understand how the racialized public and political perception of opiate use is shaped by local media.

The following …

Lunatics, Liberals And Bloodthirsty Haters: The South In The 1972 Presidential Election, Thomas Clayton Strebeck

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will analyze the political campaigns of President Richard Nixon and Senator George McGovern in the Southeastern United States during the 1972 presidential election. Both candidates’ political careers up to the 1972 presidential election, which informed their actions and the actions of their campaigns, will also be analyzed to determine how these impacted their political decisions. Nixon’s career as Vice President, his comeback after his losses in 1960 and 1962, and his first term as President all taught lessons that culminated in a campaign that earned him one of the most dramatic landslides in American political history. Senator McGovern’s …

What Bad Decisions By Ron Desantis And Gavin Newsom Have In Common, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

How Have Researchers Defined Institutions, Politics, Organizations And Governance In Research Related To Epidemic And Pandemic Response? A Scoping Review To Map Current Concepts, Austin Wu, Shivangi Khanna, Shelly Keidar, Peter Berman, Laura Jane Brubacher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In recent years, the literature on public health interventions and health outcomes in the context of epidemic and pandemic response has grown immensely. However, relatively few of these studies have situated their findings within the institutional, political, organizational and governmental (IPOG) context in which interventions and outcomes exist. This conceptual mapping scoping study synthesized the published literature on the impact of IPOG factors on epidemic and pandemic response and critically examined definitions and uses of the terms IPOG in this literature. This research involved a comprehensive search of four databases across the social, health and biomedical sciences as well as …

The Panama Canal Treaties Were Carter’S Biggest Foreign Policy Win, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

The Clapham Saints: A Correlational Study Between A Christian's Level Of Commitment To The Christian Faith And Their Engagement In Human Trafficking Political Matters, Charles L. Carpenter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this correlational study is to determine if a relationship exists between the commitment level of Christians who attend a church in the Northern Shenandoah Valley portion of Virginia that falls under the covering of Abba’s House––Chattanooga, Tennessee as assessed by the Belief into Action (BIAC) scale, and their level of engagement in human trafficking political matters, as assessed by the Human Trafficking Political Engagement (HTPE) scale. Every year, millions of individuals become victims of human trafficking. Human trafficking victims are created in God's image, leaving Christians obligated to protect them. William Wilberforce and the Clapham Saints’ political …

A Century Of Critical Buddhism In Japan, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

This chapter introduces the central arguments of Critical Buddhism as a lens by which to view the course of “modern” Buddhism in Japan, particularly as it relates to politics. It traces philosophical and political precedents for Critical Buddhism in the context of Japanese modernity, by focusing on several progressive Buddhist figures movements from mid-Meiji through early Shōwa, including the New Buddhist Fellowship and the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism. I argue that previous attempts to centralize criticism as a basic Buddhist precept were unsuccessful in part do to an inability to distinguish the Buddhistic components of their thought and practice, …

What Both Sides Of The Abortion Fight Can Learn From Antonin Scalia, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Why I Am No Longer A Jew, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

By Any Measure, Liberal Democracy Is Superior. Here’S Why, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Gender & Sexuality In New York Politics, Bianca M. Guerrero

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

If I Were A Betting Man: Some Predictions For The Year We Have Left, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

On Pope Benedict, Science, Faith, And His Legacy, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Airplane Hangars And Triple Hills: Renovation, Demolition, And The Architectural Politics Of Local Belonging At The Our Lady Of Csíksomlyó Hungarian National Shrine, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

In 2019, Pope Francis, leader of the global Catholic Church, celebrated an outdoor Mass at the Our Lady of Csíksomlyó Hungarian national shrine in Romania. When the Franciscan Order that runs the shrine published renovation plans for the altar where the pope would appear, the Facebook post received over 800 outraged comments, including one man who asked, “How can such a beautiful Hungarian symbol, so perfectly integrated into the landscape, be humiliated like this?” By situating these expressions of outrage in the history of Eastern European material politics, I argue that the aesthetic value the commentators were defending – a …

An Alternative To The Independent State Legislature Doctrine, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

The Openness Of Talmud, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

2023 Polarization Index Part Ii: Issue Polarization, Katie Sonder

US Political Polarization

Polarization is both a buzzword and a tangible indicator of the state of our nation. We hear how polarized the American public is from our politicians, the media, and our friends and family. We have also experienced the effects of voter suppression, election denial, cancel culture, the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and congressional gridlock.

This Polarization Index was created to help us better understand how polarized the American public is really. Grasping the ways in which we are polarized – to what degree and over what issues – and identifying areas of bipartisan agreement, will give us a …

The Battle Over Bostock: Dueling Presidential Administrations & The Need For Consistent And Reliable Lgbt Rights, Regina L. Hillman

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court released its opinion in the landmark civil rights case, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. In the Bostock decision, the Court held that protections from employment discrimination “because of sex” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Prior to the Court’s decision, millions of LGBT employees had no protection from discriminatory treatment based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and discrimination was pervasive.

Nonprofits, Taxes, And Speech, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Journal Articles

Federal tax law is of two minds when it comes to speech by nonprofits. The tax benefits provided to nonprofits are justified in significant part because they provide nonprofits great discretion in choosing the specific ends and means to pursue, thereby promoting diversity and pluralism. But current law withholds some of these tax benefits if a nonprofit engages in certain types of political speech. Legislators have also repeatedly, if unsuccessfully, sought to expand these political speech restrictions in various ways. And some commentators have proposed denying tax benefits to groups engaged in other types of disfavored speech, including hate speech …

The Politics Influencing College And Career Readiness Education Policy In The Context Of K-12 Schools, Jeneva D. Adams

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the vision, operations, and governance structure of state legislature on the College and Career Readiness (CCR) education policy to identify the decision-making process and opportunities and gaps for an equitable K-12 education pathway that challenges a more inclusive implementation of readiness at the state level. I endeavored to do the following in order to complete this qualitative research study: (a) identify if Indiana General Assembly decision-making on CCR priority focus of readiness serves the best interests of students or the economy, (b) gain an understanding of what influences Indiana to embark upon the education policy reforms they …

Defining Creativity And Its Role In Marx's Philosophy, Carlos Avila

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore the concept of creativity as it appears in the major works of Karl Marx and to attempt to discern its role in the emancipatory political project that Marx proposes. Contemporary understandings of creativity still rely upon notions of the artist-genius, locating the "true" expression of creative freedom in the work of art. A more recent development is the commodification of creativity as a quality of a good worker, who is now expected to find innovative ways of doing their job more efficiently. Both of these ideas about creativity allow for our creative …

The Complications Of People In Diplomacy, Kiner Kwok

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

In the late 18th century and early 19th century, European embassies eagerly interacted with Qing China (1644–1912). In 1792, Lord George Macartney (1737–1806) led the first British mission to Qing China. During this mission, even though Lord Macartney met with the Qianlong emperor (r. 1735–1796), his goal of establishing free trade and diplomatic relations with the Qing court was rejected. A few years later, in 1795, a mission, sent out by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), arrived at the Qing court to congratulate the Qianlong emperor’s 60th anniversary of his governance. Then again, in 1805, a Russian mission, led …

Privacy And National Politics: Fingerprint And Dna Litigation In Japan And The United States Compared, Dongsheng Zang

Articles

Drawing cases from two related areas of law-fingerprint and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) data-this Article proposes a modified framework, built on the Balkin-Levinson emphasis on national politics: First, national politics understood as partisan rivalry cannot account for what I call doctrinal lock-in in this Article, where I will demonstrate that in different stages of American politics-the Lochner era, the New Deal era, and Civil Rights era-courts across the nation ruled predominantly in favor of public data collectors-state and federal law enforcement in fingerprint cases. From the 1990s, when DNA data became hot targets of law enforcement, the United States Supreme Court …