Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Will The Restoration Of Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights In Florida Affect Their Citizenship?, Rebecca Spraggins

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Definitions of citizenship in the United States require discussions about political, civil, and social rights. In Florida, over 1.5 million ex-felons experience challenges in defining their citizenship because they have been stripped of their right to vote. However, Florida’s Amendment 4 could positively impact ex-felon citizenship by automatically restoring ex-felons’ voting rights after completing their sentences. Survey data showing approval of ex-felon enfranchisement and interviews of ex-felons barred from voting provide the information used to make claims about how voting rights will affect ex-felons’ citizenship. In this paper, theoretical analyses of the data presented to suggest that public opinion supports …

Neoliberalism: A Populist Crisis Of Conscience, Ryan Mullins

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The following paper examines the relationship between Populism and Neoliberalism in the early 21^st century in the U.S. Through the lens of a historical-structural analysis, it tests the hypothesis set forth by authors David Harvey, Dawson Barrett, and John B. Judis that the prominence of Populism in the 2016 election cycle could not be explained without the phenomenon of Neoliberalism in the U.S. To accomplish this, it examines the rise of income inequality and Neoliberal globalization and uses statistical and polling data to determine whether these variables were related to Neoliberalism and whether voters reacted to them in 2016. …

The Effects Of Gender And Apology On Evaluations Of Political Misconduct, Julia Trainor

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In American politics, elected officials often engage in transgressions that result in scandals. This thesis presents the results of an experiment testing how a politician's gender and the issuance or lack of an apology affect voters' evaluations of elected officials engrossed in a financial scandal. An experiment with 530 participants shows that politicians who apologize for financial misconduct are evaluated more favorably than politicians who do not apologize. In addition, the elected official's gender does not affect evaluations, and male candidates who apologized are not favored over women candidates who apologized. However, women respondents believed female candidates who did not …

What’S To Blame And Whose Voices Are Heard: How The New York Times Covers School Shootings, Lindsay Jensen Finman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This study examines how The New York Times covered the Newtown, Connecticut and Parkland, Florida school shootings, with specific attention to whose voices are heard and how media attention changes over time. A content analysis of 576 New York Times articles found that more articles were published on the Newtown shooting than on the Parkland shooting. In the first six months of coverage for both shootings, politicians were quoted more often than victims or parents, and stories largely discussed the shooting using a thematic frame; focusing on the issue of gun control. The evidence also suggests that activist-planned events helped …

All Politics Is Local: How The South Became Republican, Alexander Amico

Honors Capstone Projects - All

From 1876 until 1964, the Democratic Party held virtual dictatorial control over the American South. Beginning after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and that year’s presidential candidacy of anti-Civil Rights Act Republican Barry Goldwater, the South shifted reliably into the Republican column for presidential elections. Democrats still held a majority of all other offices in the region until the mid-1990s. This paper examines public opinion data in the American South, as well as partisan change in four Southern states, with an emphasis on the first time each state elected a Republican governor. I find that in …

The Fire This Time: Assessing The Scalability Of Supportive Service Programs For Young Men Of Color, A Case Study, Ronald James-Terry Taylor

Honors Capstone Projects - All

After spending the spring 2014 semester teaching at an urban high school in New York City, I began to question specifically what could be done to better support my students; specifically the young men and boys of color. By serving as a volunteer in the Empowering Males Leadership Class (EMLC) during the spring of 2014, I developed an interest in understanding (1) how the program was effective in servicing young men and boys of color and (2) how the interplay between federal programs and local implementation was characterized. This analysis is a hybrid of political science and policy implementation analysis, …

First Ladies In The Press: Analysis Of New York Times Coverage Of Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, And Michelle Obama, Siddra Shah

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This study analyzed New York Times coverage of Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama's official first lady activities during the first term of their husband's presidencies. Language used by journalists was analyzed to determine whether there was a negative, positive, or neutral tone used that may have indicated support, favorability, or criticism; and if so, whether there are certain activities or types of activities that warrant more negative or positive coverage; and how this changes depending the first lady and activity covered. ProQuest Central was used to find relevant New York Times articles that reported the first lady acting …

Operation Judicial Review: A Comparative Analysis Of The Role Of The Judiciary In Domestic And Foreign Detention And Material Support Cases During The War On Terror, Tyler Mitchell

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Bush and Obama administrations have pursued a military campaign during the War on Terror in which “the world is a battlefield.” The globalized nature of contemporary warfare has tested the limits of constitutional protections for individuals under the control of the United States government. My distinction thesis focuses on the extension of constitutional rights and, in turn, the maintenance of the separation of powers during the War on Terror. I provide a comparative analysis of the role of the judiciary to reconcile constitutional First Amendment free speech & association and habeus corpus rights with federal executive & legislative counterterrorism …

Partisanship Has A Price: Citizens United And Political Partisanship In The Us House Of Representatives, Sean Kennedy

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This study aimed to determine whether or not a correlation between independent expenditure levels and political partisanship in the US House of Representatives exists, using the Congressional sessions from before and after the Citizens United decision to determine if the decision had any effect on political partisanship. Multiple factors were tested to determine levels of correlation and to adjust for any potential exasperating factors. The study concluded that a very strong correlation exists between aggregate levels of independent expenditures and distance between average levels of partisanship for the parties. However, no causal relationship could be established from the data alone, …

Personal Wealth And Legislator Voting Ideology, Bo Stewart

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This paper studies the impact of personal wealth on legislator voting ideology. I specifically examine members of the US House of Representatives during the 112^th Congress. After establishing a relationship between wealth and poltical views toward economic policies amongst the general public, I hypothesize that wealthier legislators will have more conservative roll call vote records on economic policy than their less affluent colleagues. After controlling for party, district ideology, district wealth, and district education level, my multivariate analyses indicate that party and district ideology are the only variables that have a statistically significant relationship with legislator voting ideology. My …

In-Group Bias—Coloring Public Opinion And Spurring Public Backlash: A Comparative Analysis Of Affirmative Action And Title Ix, Samuel Joseph Knehans

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Civil Rights and Women’s Rights Movements were two parallel rights revolutions in American history. Each spurred noteworthy social change for a disadvantaged group, through affirmative action for African Americans and through Title IX programs for women. However, when one looks at the college enrollment data, it becomes clear that these programs achieved success at different rates—at least in higher education. This thesis is an attempt to explain why these seemingly analogous programs produced such disparate results. It attempts to answer the question: Did in-group bias influence public opinion and public backlash in the form of Supreme Court litigation, impacting …

Why American Voters Decide To Vote For Third Parties In Presidential Elections, Harmen Rockler

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Not a single person representing a third party has ever been elected president. Yet, year after year, there are candidates and voters who support individuals who have no chance of winning. Being able to understand why people decide to vote for third party candidates helps us to be better able to predict presidential race outcomes and could also lead to more successful third party candidates.

I find that third party voters in presidential elections tend to be more independent voters who have not committed to one political party. Younger voters are often supporters of third parties. Because they have not …

United States Sophistry On The Palestinian Resolution For Statehood, Marc James Mason

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This project examines the rhetorical devices and practices used by the Obama Administration to express and construct opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s statehood bid. This study focuses on uncovering the ideology embedded within President Obama’s Speech to the United Nations General Assembly during the opening of the 66th Session. By conducting an ideology rhetorical analysis of this text, this examination will uncover the reasoning that Obama deploys to make sense of and define the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and more specifically, the Palestinian bid for statehood. This ideology has contributed to the perpetuation of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories; thereby, …

Woodrow Wilson: Examining The Scholarly Statesman Through A Rhetorical Lens, Candice Elaine Mae Radloff

Honors Capstone Projects - All

My Capstone Project is a rhetorical and descriptive analysis of President Woodrow Wilson’s most notable speeches from 1896 to 1917. As a scholar-president, I particularly focus on Wilson’s ability to translate his personal scholarship into effective rhetoric at different points in his career. I provide the historical background and context necessary to understand the relevance and impact of the selected speeches. The six speeches that I analyze reflect his scholarship and rhetorical genius in the political arena, covering the three pivotal phases of his profession life: university scholar and president, governor, and President of the United States. I also consider …

Don’T Fear The Reaper An Analysis Of The United States’ Drones, Logan Christopher O'Brien

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Wars and the strategies used to fight them have constantly evolved throughout the history of mankind, simultaneously revealing our innovative brilliance and our inherent inability to avoid conflict with one another. The current state of the United States’ “War on Terror,” composed of the Afghanistan conflict and outlying operations in countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere around the world, has spurred exemplary advances used to combat a new type of enemy. Thus enters the drone, a remotely piloted aircraft that can be used for reconnaissance purposes or offensive targeting operations.

The drone is unique in that the pilot …

Utilization Of The New York State Division Of Human Rights, Sarah Turney

Honors Capstone Projects - All

There is a general disconnect between the services the New York State government offers and their utilization. This paper focuses on the New York State Division of Human Rights. The New York State Division of Human Rights purpose is to enforce the Human Rights Law through investigations into complaints of discrimination based on the protected classes. For the purposes of this paper, only employment discrimination will be discussed.

This paper argues the lack of utilization of these services arises from the lack of resident awareness of these services. Moreover, this paper argues that implementing practical government lesson plans into the …

The Televised Presidential Debate: Decreasing Effectiveness And The Impact Of The New Media Spin In The Fourth Age, Marcus Stevens

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This Capstone Project focuses on the entire history of televised presidential debates in America. Beginning with the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 and ending with the Obama-McCain debates of 2008, I examine and analyze academic books, articles and data in order to answer several questions: Did the American public continue to tune in to televised debate for information throughout the years? Have the debates lost their ability to maintain interest, change or affect electoral outcomes, or help inform the masses of the actual policies and promises of the candidates? Have the advances in technology and media had any effect on these …

The Supreme Court That Stole…Christmas? Measuring The Fallout From Lynch And Allegheny: A Critique Of The Establishment Clause And Religious Displays, Deidre E. Kalenderian

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Lynch v. Donnelly in 1984 and County of Allegheny v. ACLU in 1989, the only holiday themed religious display cases decided by the Court on the grounds on Establishment Clause violations, demonstrate the inadequacies of the Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence. The precedent set out by the Supreme Court in Lynch v. Donnelly and Allegheny v. ACLU compromise lower courts’ decision making process. Discrepancy in methods, results, and opinions threatens the credibility of the Court. This not only confuses the idea of religious freedom, but it also threatens its very core.

Lynch and Allegheny were intended to clarify Establishment Clause jurisprudence …

Changing Constituencies And International Trade: The Role Of Organized Labor On The Trade Platform Of The Democratic Party, Chad Ivan Brooker

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Abstract

Problem:

There has been much talk over the past 50 years of the role of American labor in a changing American industrial market. As the world has become increasingly connected, American workers who tout high levels of labor rights, high wages, and safe working conditions have been hard pressed to compete with emerging economies that often share little of these same principles or legal decrees.

The debate over American competitiveness in the world has been fought on the picket lines, on the streets, in back rooms and most importantly in the stolid, white, columned halls of Congress. While liberalized …

The Effect Of The Political Process On Education: Political Corruption And Education In Paterson, New Jersey, Curtis Martell Eatman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Paterson, New Jersey Public school system has continued to produce low-graduation rates, high drop-out rates, and low test scores despite being taken over by the state of New Jersey. In this qualitative paper, I see to place the blame for Paterson’s failing schools not on the teachers, parents and students—which other scholars have done—but on the politicians (namely the Board of Education) for their failures in leadership, being inept, and all out corruption. I propose solid solutions to the problem of Paterson failing schools. This study builds off of the scholarship of Lydia Segal, who worte Battling Corruption in America’s …

The Federal Minimum Wage, Political Thought And Citizenship, Thomas P. Hackman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Several questions about the minimum wage have not been answered adequately by scholars. The wage’s origins, its reasons for federal passage, the roots of its decline, and its future prospects are all up for debate in the current literature. This paper weighs in on these questions, hoping to improve the debate surrounding them. In the process, the importance of linking the wage to citizenship becomes clear. As the political thought of the issue has moved away from conceiving of minimum wages as tools for reaffirming the status of low wage workers, support for the wage, and its monetary value, has …

The Gap Between The Ideal And The Reality How High Stakes Testing Causes The United States And China To Fall Short Of Creating Well-Rounded Students, Adam L. Jones

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in the United States in 2001, there has been ever increasing attention paid to the role of high-stakes testing in an education system. The system in the United States and its counterpart in the People’s Republic of China have come under scrutiny because of their heavy reliance on high-stakes testing.

It is understandable in the United States that these tests may be necessary to ensure the existence of accountability in the educational system. Similarly, it is understandable that the People’s Republic of China needs an education system to help place …

Presidential Signing Statements: Expanding The Assessment Ot Include Policy As Well As Constitutional Implications, Matthew A. Gass

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The greatly expanded use of signing statements by President George W. Bush has been very controversial, as many view this as practice as an inappropriate encroachment by the president on the legislative function of Congress. A majority of the arguments made for or against the application of signing statements have focused on legal principles. The problem is that traditional legal, constitutional analysis does not fully address the concerns raised by signing statements. Not only is it unlikely that presidential signing statements violate the Constitution, but legal analysis fails to recognize or appropriately evaluate the policy implications of signing statements. This …

The American Democracy In The 21st Century, Richard A. Cocozza

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This paper puts forward a theory of democracy most suited for American politics given the plurality of ideological interests at play in the United States. This plurality, which I call the "fact of ideological diversity," dictates that in order for our government to be truly democratic, the political forum must foster opinions from all ideological considerations, not just the most dominant ones. I also demonstrate that given the nature of free institutions and our governmental structure, prior attemps by philosophers to reconcile a diversity of ideological interests using a procedural format is not sufficient to forming a wholly democratic political …

What Is Constitutional Democracy? A Comparative Analysis Between The United States And The European Union, Rebecca Tweed

Honors Capstone Projects - All

It is difficult to imagine the concept of constitutionalism without the notion of deliberative democracy. Historically, written constitutions are the capstone of the ages-long struggle to limit arbitrary governmental action. James Madison said, “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.”

We live in an era of constitution making. There are close to 200 national …

The Impact Of The No Child Left Behind Act On American Education, Eva Downing Rippeteau

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This paper explores the role and impact that the federal No Child Left Behind Act has had on public education since its legalization in 2002.

It begins with a history on the evolution of federal involvement in public education. Over time, mounting pressure for theUnited Statesto compete academically on an international level has created a need for all areas of education to become “accountable” for reaching high achievement standards, arriving at the overwhelming reliance on standardized tests we see in public education today. Next, this paper presents four areas of contention surrounding the debate over No Child Left Behind. The …

The Usa Patriot Act And The Alien And Sedition Acts A Comparative Analysis, David Wicclair

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This thesis is meant to accomplish the task of comparing and contrasting the different aspects of the Patriot Act and the Alien and Sedition Acts in the hope that, in the process, something can be learned about the future of the Patriot Act.

The first chapter of the thesis consists of an analysis of the controversial sections of the Patriot Act. Moreover, the debate over the Act is introduced and dissected. The last section of the chapter discusses the importance of studying similar national security legislation in American history – such as the Alien and Sedition Acts – in order …