Digital Commons Network^™

A Leak? The Supreme Court Tipped Its Hand On Abortion Long Ago, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

Delineating The Source And Implications Of Social Polarization, Logan Kohan

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the causes and consequences that meta-perceptions of polarization in the United States entails. The survey used in this study assessed respondents demographic and political information prior to questions regarding polarization. This study found that the polarization in the United States results from a multitude of variables, including: the intrusion of partisan cues into everyday life, social sorting, polarization’s implicit effect, and differences in moral concern. Moreover, polarization encompasses and variety of ramifications that include disease, amplified interparty animosity, biased policy evaluation, reduced governmental efficiency, intraparty polarization, tribalism, and the quest to achieve …

An Epidemic Of Skepticism: Examining Right-Wing Populist Responses To The Covid-19 Crisis In Germany, Rachel Moline

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role of far-right populist groups in the framing of global health crises. To understand the impact far-right populism has had on the response to health crises, I will be analyzing the case of the Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD), or Alternative for Germany, and their response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. I evaluate three distinct time periods in the AfD’s history and determine how the AfD has framed and reframed its crisis narrative in response to the coronavirus compared to previous crises, such as the refugee crisis of 2015. I hypothesize that new crises will lead far-right …

The Pastoral Connection - Examining Parallels Between Pastoral And Political Rhetoric During The Revolutionary War, Abigail A. Zedwick

Masters Theses

This paper examines the parallels between rhetoric in sermons preserved from the Revolutionary War period and rhetoric in political speeches and writings from the same period. The aim is to establish the extent of the parallels in rhetoric and to demonstrate that the rhetorical stances from the pulpit preceded the same rhetorical stances in political, secular work through establishing the date each document was published or presented. Studying these sources alongside reliable secondary sources on both the political and religious rhetorical themes will demonstrate, when put together to form a more complete picture of the period, that the political rhetoric …

White Constituents And Congressional Voting, Eric Hansen

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Why do some members of Congress vote more on the extremes of their party than others? I argue that lawmakers representing more homogeneously white districts have greater electoral incentive to moderate their voting records, since the two parties compete more for support of white voters than for the support of minority voters. I provide evidence using roll-call votes from the U.S. House and Senate. I find members representing more homogeneously white districts have more moderate voting records, a finding that holds for Democrats and Republicans. I explore two potential mechanisms: legislator responsiveness and electoral punishment. While legislators do not seem …

How A Shuttered Bathroom At A Pgh Grocery Store Explains Structural Racism, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

Indigenous Movements In Colombia: Redefining Their Notion Of Citizenship Through Social Demonstrations, Representative Groups, And Constitutional And Legal Reforms, Catalina Betancur Velez

Political Science Student Scholarship

Catalina Betancur Velez ’23
Majors: Political Science and Global Studies
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Casey Stevens, Political Science

Indigenous groups in Colombia have been victims of forced displacement and dispossession of territory. As they become more present in current social and political conversations, there have been partial improvements and advancements of promises made by the government. However, the Colombian government and ethnic majorities still fall short of the guarantees and the assurance of indigenous citizenship. This essay proposes that through the means of resilient social demonstrations, the establishment of representative groups, and the push for Constitutional and legal reforms, Indigenous people …

From Handmaids To Princesses: How Identity And Politics Impact Definitions Of Biblical Rape, Gabrielle R. Isaac-Herzog

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

The politics of sex in the Bible are complex. They are impacted and limited by the time of the stories, as well as the political landscape and laws of the region. However, since many modern religions have emerged from the text of the Hebrew Bible, it is important for scholars to continue the work of critically examining the texts in the contemporary context. This paper offers a textual analysis of several biblical stories through a feminist and decolonial lens. Through the generation of a taxonomy by which these stories can be categorized, this paper posits that the biblical definitions of …

Pursuit Of The Vote: Factors Utilized In Resisting Discrimination In Democratic Elections, Matthew Nicholson

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Suffrage movements make use of various social and political factors to pressure their governments to expand the scope of voting rights. Using McAdam’s political process model, I will analyze how disenfranchised groups’ use of nonviolent demonstration, appeals to international pressure, and appeals to religion, affects their success. This will also highlight patterns that emerge when groups are willing to instigate violence in pursuit of their goals. Most studies examine these variables in the context of the pursuit of independence or revolution, whereas this study focuses on groups wishing to remain within a system given their desired reforms. I will analyze …

Bystanders Without An Excuse: On The Moral Duty To Revolt, Meghna Melkote

Honors Theses

Che Guevara, an Argentine revolutionary who served as a key player in the Cuban Revolution, was known for his forceful rhetoric calling people to action to engage in revolution. His language was the language of duty - when he called on people to act, he did so with moral force behind his words. In the face of nascent revolution and discontent, he called upon those aggrieved to “tremble with indignation every time that an injustice is committed in the world” and act accordingly1. Guevara is appealing to a common intuition many leaders in social justice seem to have; there is …

For Our Future: Why Suffrage Must Be Extended To Disenfranchised Youth, Nolan Mchugh

Honors Projects

Is our democracy truly representative if large portions of our population consistently fail to make their voices heard at the polls? 18-24 year olds consistently turn out to vote at the lowest levels of any age group, and yet these are the voters who will live the longest with the policy decisions being made today: how can we improve voter turnout and civic engagement in the next generation to ensure our democracy is truly "by the people and for the people?" To answer this question, we must turn to another group whose voices are not heard at the ballot box, …

"Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" Ethnic Mexicans, Urbanism, Culture, And Politics In Emerging Silicon Valley, 1940-1980, Alexandro J. Jara

History ETDs

My dissertation explores the Latino experience in Santa Clara County, especially in San Jose. The area, located in Northern California’s Bay Area, is nestled just south of the more popular cities of Oakland and San Francisco, nearly five hundred miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. My examination of the social, cultural, and political activities of Latinos in San Jose provides insight into the community development of ethnic Mexicans away from traditional sites of study in places like Tucson, San Antonio, and Los Angeles. I argue that beginning at mid-century, Latinos moved into the downtown area and helped prevent nearby neighborhoods from …

Toomey’S Vote Against Ketanji Brown Jackson Set A Dangerous Precedent. Here's Why, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

Public Policy And Religion In The Pandemic: U.S. Constitution And The First Amendment, Stephen Covell, Diane Riggs, Cameron Borg

Modules for Teaching Pandemic Response and Religion in the USA

The following teaching module is designed for high school and college level instructors who seek to teach a lesson on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the relationship between church and state. The teaching module features a lesson plan, case studies, and assignments that can be incorporated as the instructor sees fit. This teaching module was created by Western Michigan University's Department of Comparative Religion.

The Fuel For Neo-Nazism, Brandon M. Rubsamen

Global Tides

This paper attempts to explain the cause of support for far-right extremism movements in Europe. It takes a comparative approach in explaining that support by first analyzing Germany and Luxembourg. In each country, politics, history, economics, and society are explored in order to elicit a root cause. Once that main factor is found, Norway and Greece are also analyzed to see if the hypothesis holds. Political stability is hypothesized to be the root cause in far-right support in Germany (and lack thereof in Luxembourg), and the examples of Norway and Greece support this hypothesis. By comparing and contrasting aspects of …

Encountering Education: Elements For A Marxist Pedagogy, Derek R. Ford

Education Studies Faculty publications

In Encountering Education, organizer and political and educational theorist Derek R. Ford develops new marxist pedagogical elements to advance the class struggle. Ford argues that the entire marxist project of establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat and creating a classless society entails an educational praxis that builds up disinterpellative encounters. Through an inventive reading of Marx, Althusser, Glissant, and others, they advance two dialectical pedagogical processes of inquiry and presentation, developing both--and the political relations between the two--through a range of theorists and situations. Encountering Education both illuminates the historical, political, spatial, technological, and sonic conditions of our struggle …

Monopolies, Monopsonies, And Everything In-Between: The Gradual Unwinding Of Nearly A Century Of Antitrust Activity, Chase Faulkner

Senior Theses

Changes in the interpretation of antitrust law since the Reagan administration have created a simultaneous increase in mergers/acquisitions and a decrease in antitrust action. This trend started with Ronald Reagan in an effort to bolster a stagnant United States economy, yet in spite of the revolution the global economy has undergone in the last few decades, this trend is still perpetuated today. While this has helped the United States economy abroad, it has come at a cost domestically. A number of industries have become dominated by a single firm (or a group) through a variety of anticompetitive practices, and their …

Biden, Trump, Durbin, And Taxes: The 2020 Election In Illinois, John Jackson, John Foster

The Simon Review (Occasional Papers of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute)

This paper provides a summary of the 2020 presidential race, both nationally and in Illinois. It also analyzes the U.S. Senate race in Illinois and the referendum on the graduated income tax proposal, which was Governor JB Pritzker’s highest policy priority for that year. The results are placed in the larger context of the deep polarization of America and Illinois. The analysis uses the results of the 1996 presidential election (Clinton vs. Dole) and senatorial election (Durbin vs. Salvi) and the 1998 gubernatorial election (Ryan vs. Poshard) as a baseline to demonstrate the profound geographical realignment of the two parties …

There Are Limits To The American Renaissance Over Ukraine, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

Ukrainians Are Fighting And Dying To Defend Their Homes. Could I Do The Same?, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

What Does The Jan. 6 Committee Hope To Learn From Sen. Doug Mastriano?, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

Adapting To A 4°C World, Karrigan Börk, Karen Bradshaw, Cinnamon P. Carlarne, Robin Kundis Craig, Sarah Fox, Joshua Ulan Galperin, Shi-Ling Hsu, Katrina F. Kuh, Kevin Lynch, Michele Okoh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, J.B. Ruhl, James Salzman, David Takacs, Clifford J. Villa

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Paris Agreement's goal to hold warming to 1.5°-2°C above pre-industrial levels now appears unrealistic. Profs. Robin Kundis Craig and J.B. Ruhl have recently argued that because a 4°C world may be likely, we must recognize the disruptive consequences of such a world and respond by reimagining governance structures to meet the challenges of adapting to it. In this latest in a biannual series of essays, they and other members of the Environmental Law Collaborative explore what 4°C might mean for a variety of current legal doctrines, planning policies, governance structures, and institutions.

Interview With Hugh Gillis, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History Collection

Senator Hugh Gillis (G) interviewed by Esther Mallard (M), July 29, 1992. Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog!

Interview With Jay Fraser, Malcolm Maclean, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History Collection

Jay Fraser and Malcolm MacLean were interviewed by Esther Mallard, May 12, 1990. Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog!

Zen And The Art Of Resistance: Some Preliminary Notes, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

In the Western and oftentimes Asian imagination, Buddhism generally—and Zen more specifically—is understood as being resolutely disengaged, attaching itself to a form of awakening that is not only, as the classical phrase has it “beyond words and letters,” but in the modern summation by D. T. Suzuki, perfectly compatible with any and all forms of political and economic “dogmatism,” whether capitalist, communist, socialist, or fascist. Of course, as numerous scholars have shown over the past century, on the level of historical actuality, Buddhist and Zen teachers and institutions have long participated in (usually hegemonic) economic and political structures. The …

Why Do Pa. Courts Have A Say On Mail-In Voting? They Probably Shouldn't, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

How The U.S. Supreme Court Is Inviting The Senate To Scrap The Filibuster, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

Backdrop To A Musical Revolution: Urban Uprisings, Black Power And The Vietnam War Shatter The Politics Of Respectability In Popular Music, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

The Big Lie Is Undermining Our Democracy. Both Parties Need To Defeat It, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

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

Rising Up Without Pushing Down: Lessons Learned From The Suffragettes' Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric, Kit Johnson

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton famously wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal.” Yet when suffragettes spoke of “all” men and women, they were clear about exceptions. Immigrants did not qualify. Indeed, in her own address at the First Women’s Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848, Stanton said that “to have . . . ignorant foreigners . . . fully recognized, while we ourselves are thrust out from all the rights that belong to citizens, it is too grossly insulting to the dignity of woman …