Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Nothing New Under The Sun: Augustine And Cicero’S Visions Of How Human Nature Relates To Justice, Virtue, Biblical Wisdom, And The State, Faith Chudkowski

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Social issues today stand at the forefront of civil discourse, global injustice abounds, and the average citizen seems to be more invested in molding a better future than ever before. In the 2020 presidential election, nearly two-thirds of America voted, a percentage that has not been reached since 1900.[1] In recent years, social media has become a primary avenue for rallying support and spreading ideas that range from domestic policy to new notions of justice. Yet, where passionate debate has erupted, levels of polarization and division have risen as well. Where one finds genuine concern for the state of …

Effectively Educating Asian Americans On Rank Choice Voting, Justin Balwan, Darren Jin, Mathew Marrone, Jasmine H. Namdar

Publications and Research

Our poster demonstrates the most effective way to educate the Asian American community on Rank Choice Voting.

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …

Explaining Reproductive Health Disparities: Violence In The “Colorblind” Institution Of Medicine, Chineze Osakwe

Honors Scholar Theses

Medical policies have resulted in violence that has a formal role in regulating the reproductive rights of women of African descent in the United States from the Jim Crow era (circa 1965) to present day (2021), resulting in significantly racialized reproductive health disparities regardless of social or economic influences. This thesis explores why reproductive violence against African-American women persists, regardless of women’s own class and educational background. I have focused on the potential impact of two structural components that I hypothesized contributed to the perpetuation of reproductive violence against Black women and persistent health disparities. The two factors explored in …

Bridging The Gap: Analyzing The History Of U.S.-Russian Relations Throughout History And The Actions That Would Improve Them, Coleman Anderson

Senior Honors Theses

After the onset of communism in Russia, relations between the United States and Russia have been tense up to the modern day. Even the fall of the Soviet Union could not usher in a permanent peace between the two countries, with mistrust pouring over from both parties. Utilizing both primary sources and commentary from subject matter experts, this paper argues that in order to achieve a legitimate and sustainable policy of peace between the United States and Russia, policymakers need to first understand the history and culture of the people they are reaching out to. Using this knowledge, policymakers can …

Presidential Rhetoric And Media's Contribution To The Subjective Nature Of Truth In American Democracy, Bianca Miccolis

English Honors Theses

This thesis examines the role of media on the subjectivity of truth in presidential rhetoric and its ethical implications. In my three case studies, I find that there is some form of deception by each president in their chosen form of media. I analyze Roosevelt’s use of the radio, which he uses to hide his disability and gain more executive power to combat the Great Depression. I examine Reagan’s use of television and how he fabricates an intimate relationship with the American people to enact tax reform. Finally, I investigate Trump’s use of Twitter to deflect negative publicity as he …

Battling Youth Unemployment In France: Can Macron Put Young People To Work?, Adriana C. Bolivar

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

High unemployment has been a persistent struggle for the French economy, especially over the last 30 years under presidents Mitterrand, Chirac, Sarkozy, Hollande, and now Macron. In recent years, this problem has particularly plagued young workers making them the “lost generation” of Europe. This paper studies the history of youth unemployment in France and assesses the impact of government policies and cultural norms on young workers. Additionally, it highlights the trade-off between workers’ rights and economic growth in an attempt to draw attention to the importance of culture and context in development.

The factors that have driven French structural youth …

Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan

University Scholar Projects

The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …

Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan

Honors Scholar Theses

The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …

The Saints And The State : The Mormon Troubles In Illinois, James Simeone

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

A compelling history of the 1846 Mormon expulsion from Illinois that exemplifies the limits of American democracy and religious tolerance.

When members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (known as Mormons) settled in Illinois in 1839, they had been persecuted for their beliefs from Ohio to Missouri. Illinoisans viewed themselves as religiously tolerant egalitarians and initially welcomed the Mormons to their state. However, non-Mormon locals who valued competitive individualism perceived the saints‘ western Illinois settlement, Nauvoo, as a theocracy with too much political power. Amid escalating tensions in 1844, anti-Mormon vigilantes assassinated church founder Joseph Smith and …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Analyzing Inhumane Practices In Mississippi’S Correctional Institutions Due To Overcrowding, Understaffing, And Diminished Funding, Ariel A. Williams

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine the political, social, and economic factors which have led to inhumane conditions in Mississippi’s correctional facilities. Several methods were employed, including a comparison of the historical and current methods of funding, staffing, and rehabilitating prisoners based on literature reviews. State-sponsored reports from various departments and the legislature were analyzed to provide insight into budgetary restrictions and political will to allocate funds. Statistical surveys and data were reviewed to determine how overcrowding and understaffing negatively affect administrative capacity and prisoners’ mental and physical well-being. Ultimately, it may be concluded that Mississippi has high …

Untold Stories Of The African Diaspora: The Lived Experiences Of Black Caribbean Immigrants In The Greater Hartford Area, Shanelle A. Jones

University Scholar Projects

The African Diaspora represents vastly complex migratory patterns. This project studies the journeys of English-speaking Afro-Caribbeans who immigrated to the US for economic reasons between the 1980s-present day. While some researchers emphasize the success of West Indian immigrants, others highlight the issue of downward assimilation many face upon arrival in the US. This paper explores the prospect of economic incorporation into American society for West Indian immigrants. I conducted and analyzed data from an online survey and 10 oral histories of West Indian economic migrants residing in the Greater Hartford Area to gain a broader perspective on the economic attainment …

Lolita In The Contemporary American Classroom: Pedagogical And Learning Approaches, Jasmine Revels

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study is to discover effective collegiate-level teaching and learning strategies for Vladimir Nabokov’s 1958 novel Lolita in the midst of the current American political and social climate. Some of the factors of the current political and social climate in the United States thought to have an effect on the teaching of Lolita, and were thus considered for further inquiry, were cancel culture, the Me Too Movement, and trigger warnings. Primary research was collected from college students and English college professors. To obtain this research and the opinions of respondents regarding this topic, a combination of both …

A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With A Single Step: Towards A Confucian Geopolitics, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This commentary welcomes the opportunity of a dialogue on the development of a Confucian geopolitics that offers an alternative to the prevailing dominant geopolitical theories. Three areas are discussed to further development of such an alternative. The first is the challenges (and not only the opportunities) of recovering Confucian values to inform foreign policy and international relations. The second is the appropriation of Confucian philosophy to legitimize state action, and how this is actually playing out in present-day China. The third is the slippage between narrative and practice – that is, how a narrative of Confucian geopolitics is translated in …

Thomas Middleton And The Plural Politics Of Jacobean Drama, Mark Kaethler

Late Tudor and Stuart Drama

Thomas Middleton and the Plural Politics of Jacobean Drama represents the first sustained study of Middleton's dramatic works as responses to James I's governance. Through examining Middleton’s poiesis in relation to the political theology of Jacobean London, Kaethler explores early forms of free speech, namely parrhēsia, and rhetorical devices, such as irony and allegory, to elucidate the ways in which Middleton’s plural art exposes the limitations of the monarch’s sovereign image. By drawing upon earlier forms of dramatic intervention, James’s writings, and popular literature that blossomed during the Jacobean period, including news pamphlets, the book surveys a selection of …

Seeking Asylum In A Modern Society: Global Responses To Latin American Migration, Rebecca Dickinson

Senior Honors Projects

The United States is no stranger to asylum seekers and refugees. The most famous seaport in the country houses a 305-foot-tall statue of a woman bearing a torch with words from the poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus etched at her feet: “‘Give me your tired, your poor, /Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’”^[1] The Statue of Liberty is a symbolic representation of open arms to immigrants from all walks of life. But if everyone is welcome, why do so few actually gain entrance?

US interventionism policies in the 20th century have defined the lives of millions …

Sovereign Authority And Rule Of Law: The Effect Of U.S. Use Of Torture On Political Legitimacy, Sydney Bradley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Governmental sovereignty is created and maintained by mutual respect for the rule of law by the government and citizens. To maintain legitimacy, a government must act within the bounds of the contract that created it. Otherwise, the relationship founded by said contract would be nullified, as would the duties and obligations that flow from that relationship. Torture exemplifies an ultra vires act used by the United States to show the consequences of over-extended authority on political legitimacy and the rule of law. Founded on the philosophies of Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, and Christine Korsgaard, this research investigates the nature of …

Sovereignty, Statehood, And Subjugation: Native Hawaiian And Japanese American Discourse Over Hawaiian Statehood, Nicole Saito

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Although discourse over Hawaiian statehood has increasingly been described by scholars as a racial conflict between Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians, there existed a broad spectrum of interactions between the two groups. Both communities were forced to confront the prejudices they had against each other while recognizing their shared experiences with discrimination, creating a paradoxical political culture of competition and solidarity up until the conclusion of World War Two. From 1946 to 1950, however, the country’s collective understanding of Japanese American citizenship began to shift with recognition of the community’s military service record and an increased proportion of veterans elected …

Latino Voter Registration And Participation Rates In The 2020 Presidential Election, Laird W. Bergad, Luis A. Miranda Jr.

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction:

This report examines voter registration and participation rates among Latinos in every presidential election since 1992.

Methods:

All data on registration and voting found in this report were derived from the Voting and Registration Tables issued by the U.S. Census Bureau at https://www.census.gov/topics/public-sector/voting/data/tables.html.

Discussion:

Latino voter registration rates reached an all-time high in the 2020 presidential election: 61.1% of all Latino citizens 18 years of age and older, rising from 57.3% in 2016. Latino voting rates (the percentage of Latinos eligible to vote who actually voted) also rose to a historic high of 53.7% in November 2020, increasing from …

'Here We Start And In Jerusalem We Meet:' The Motivational And Organizational Influences Of Israel's Statehood Ontransnational Salafi Jihad, Charlotte Armistead

Honors Theses

The Israeli occupation of Palestine and its impact on the proliferation and longevity of transnational Salafi jihad is largely underestimated in current literature. In this thesis, I argue that Palestine, defined as both the nation and physical borders before the Balfour Declaration, largely contributed to the twentieth century revival of transnational Salafi jihad and is used by both Al Qaeda and ISIS as liberation and annihilation movements, respectively. In order to assess the motivational and organizational influences of the Israeli occupation of Palestine on transnational Salafi jihad, I examine the works of Abdullah Azzam, a selection of Osama Bin Laden’s …

Beliefs And Their Byproducts: The Impact Of Religiosity And Political Ideology On Attitudes Toward Covid-19, Vaccines, And Climate Change, Philip Goodrich

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Several studies have indicated that an individual’s level of religiosity impacts their views toward science and scientific phenomena. Moreover, research shows that these views can also be impacted by an individual's political affiliation and ideology. In this research paper, I examine the relationship between one’s religiosity and political ideology and their attitude toward the novel corona virus (COVID-19), vaccines, and climate change. Using data from the 2021 Chapman University Survey of American Fears, I find that while religiosity plays a role in one’s attitudes toward these three scientific phenomena, the greatest correlation stems from one’s political ideology. In other words, …

Vaccine Hesitancy, The Covid 19 Pandemic, And Christian Fundamentalism, Nicole Drew

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Over the past few decades, religion has continued to move to the forefront of American politics, with many viewing fundamental Christianity as synonymous with the Republican Party. Donald Trump's presidency has increased this tenfold, with significant figures within American Christianity voicing their support for him and tying him into Biblical prophecies. In the media, this appears to have affected how this demographic views the COVID 19 pandemic. The literature in this area focuses heavily on American Christians' response to mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, and other attempts to mitigate the spread of the CoronaVirus; however, research on how this same demographic …

Populism And Evangelicalism: A Cross-Country Analysis Of Chile And The United States, Adam Roberts

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

From Concert To Confrontation : The Ideational Motives Of Russia's Wars With Georgia (2008) And Ukraine (2014), Inguna Miller

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines the ideational background of Russian foreign policy, with a particular focus on ideas relevant to Russia’s conflicts with Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. Two broad approaches to Russian foreign policy – nationalism and pragmatism – present distinct views on Russia’s international role. Nationalism incorporates strong anti-Western and neo-imperialistic ideas with emphasis on Russia’s unique international mission and advocates a confrontational stance. Pragmatism conceptualizes Russia as a great world power but proposes a concert-based foreign policy that avoids a direct military confrontation. Both schools of thought are prevalent in Russia’s foreign policy discourse, and their ideas …

Profiles In Leadership: Women Of Color Elected To Office In Massachusetts, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

In 2015, UMass Boston’s Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy released the first-ever publication exploring the elected leadership of women of color in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts largely to make known the contributions of female electeds of color across the Commonwealth. The publication also aimed to delve into what hinders and what facilitates the elected leadership of women of color. This 2021 updated publication contains profiles of the 174 women of color who have been elected to key policymaking positions and offers quantitative analysis to better understand office-holding patterns.

Evident in the profiles is the centrality of community …

The United States And Portuguese Angola: Space, Race, And The Cold War In Africa, Alex J. Marino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an international history of the role of the United States in the process of decolonization in Angola, a former colony of Portugal. I argue that the United States embraced Portugal, Angola, and neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo as irreplaceable Cold War allies. Decolonization in Africa challenged America’s relationship with all three countries, as competing forces within the American public called for Washington to adopt an anti-colonial, anti- racist ideology, while others demanded their government to support white supremacy at home and abroad. Decolonization in Angola, a protracted liberation struggle that started in 1961 and lasted until 1974, …

Positive Rhetoric, Prejudiced Policy: The Contradiction Of Islamophobia In American Government After 9-11., Molly Bilz

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Following the tragic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, local and national leaders responded to the security crisis by uniting the country under the American ideals of freedom and democracy while condemning the Islamic terrorist group responsible. With beliefs rooted in historical American and European prejudice, Western scholarship promoted a “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West wherein the cultures’ supposed irreconcilable differences would inevitably lead to warfare. Simultaneously, many Americans grew suspicious of Muslims after the attacks, including government officials. As hate crimes against Muslim and Middle Eastern Americans soared in the U.S., government leaders used positive rhetoric …

The Effect Of The Political Climate On Latinos’ Wellbeing, Magda E. Mendoza Soto

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The presidential election of Donald Trump significantly influenced various aspects of the population of the United States. Given Trump’s emphasis on anti-immigrant policies, it is essential for professionals and practitioners to better understand how the Latin population is experiencing and responding to today’s political climate. Participants in this study ranged in age from 18 to 64 and were from Latin descent, which consists of persons, cultures, or countries related to the Spanish language, culture, people, or to Spain in general. Ninety-six participants completed the quantitative measures including The Adult Hope Scale (HS), Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the …

Racialized Reality: Crime News And Racial Stereotype Framing, Warrington Sebree

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that crime news is a primary mechanism for shaping public consciousness surrounding legal order, social morality, and threats present in their citizens communities. This research explores how news media influences negative attitudes towards criminal justice reform and Black identity. Utilizing Framing Theory, this study focuses on whether negative stereotypes in crime news triggers racial prejudice and bias towards African Americans. Participants of this study will consist of current students at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The findings suggest that knowing the race of a potential criminal assailant influences respondents’ attitudes towards presumptions of guilt, future criminality, and criminal …

A Study Of Young American Women, Conservatism, And Feminism, Laurel Lux

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

As of June 2020, only 31% of self-identified conservatives in the United States were women. Modern political conservatism is known for rejecting modern feminism as well, which is often stereotyped as a women’s issue. With such a small percentage of women identifying as conservative, the question arises as to why young American women reject modern feminism and identify with modern political conservatism. In this study I examined the literature comparing modern conservatism, conservative women’s movements, and modern feminism, and conducted a small questionnaire of conservative women 18-24. I concluded by describing three generalized schools of thought regarding conservative women’s views …