Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

President Trump And Civil Litigation: Executive Immunity And The Emoluments Clause, Hayley Kaiser

Honors Theses

President Trump has become immersed in civil litigation since announcing his candidacy for the United States presidency. These lawsuits, which include assertions of presidential immunity under state jurisdiction and claims of constitutional violations under the Emoluments Clauses, present unique legal concerns that have never been challenged in the Supreme Court. Precedent shows that the president has never been exempt from the judicial process for his unofficial actions, although this may have led to unforeseen consequences. An evaluation of the history of the Emoluments Clauses leads to the conclusion that the Framers wanted to prevent outside influence on the United States …

The Effect Of Threat On Preferences For Male Versus Female Candidates, Marley Sandberg

Honors Theses

In the United States, there is a continuing question of why the political bodies of the government, (i.e. the Senate and the House of Representatives) lack descriptive representation for women (Paxton, Kunovich & Hughes, 2007). We have seen a growing body of research that tries to explain this lack of female politicians. While many explanations have been found that partially explain this, such as incumbent status favoring men, and fewer political role models for women (Paxton, Kunovich & Hughes, 2007), there still has been no definitive answer. There is reason to believe that threat may play a role in a …

Medicaid Work Requirements: State-Based Innovation Or Punitive Policymaking?, Diane Sherwin

Honors Theses

In March 2017, officials appointed to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services by President Donald Trump signaled to state governments their intent to support states who would choose to utilize Medicaid’s Section 1115 waiver provision to alter their state’s Medicaid program by introducing a work requirement. As of October 1, 2018, 13 states have heeded this signal and proposed a work requirement component for their Medicaid programs. The purpose of this paper is to determine if Medicaid work requirements are an innovative policy approach to improve independence among Medicaid enrollees, or if these requirements are a punitive, partisan approach …

Coming And Going: Identity, Institutions, And The United Kingdom's Resistance To The European Union, Lauren Bruning

Honors Theses

In 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, a decision widely known as ‘Brexit’. This analysis compares two competing theories – institution and identity – to explain why. Four historical events, chronologically ordered from 1945 to 2016, are examined with both identity and institution analysis to explain British integration and its subsequent withdrawal from the European Union. Through this analysis, one can conclude the United Kingdom’s decision to withdraw in 2016 stemmed from a variety of reasons, but each of these can be explained by identity (a sense of nationalism), or institution (EU relationships).

Nationalism around …

The Future Of The Death Penalty In Nebraska: Utilizing Bruce Bueno De Mesquita's Predictioneer's Game To Create A Forecast Model Of Capital Punishment, Katie Andersen

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the future of the death penalty in Nebraska with the goal of producing a forecast model of the issue utilizing Bruce Bueno De Mesquita’s Predicationeer’s Game software. Local and national politics are included to give a comprehensive idea of why Nebraska is in the hot seat in terms of capital punishment. Understanding the politics of the issue is vital to realizing the challenges of changing Nebraska’s policy on capital punishment and further explains the conflicted history between key players in the state.

The Predictioneer software requires input data of key players’ positions on the issue, influence, salience, …

Democratic Failure In Various Forms Of Democracy, Jonathan Lederer

Honors Theses

Democratic Failure is a problem which has plagued democratic states since their earliest instances, and increasingly is a problem in the world today. Accordingly, a question to ask is, “Are certain forms of democracy more likely to experience democratic failure than others?” The correlation between democratic failure and a state’s executive institutional structure has been researched extensively, while the correlation between a state’s legal tradition and democratic failure has been studied far less. This thesis attempts to confirm the conventional wisdom that certain democratic institutional structures are more likely to fail, and attempts to find out whether certain legal traditions …

“That’S Why I Deleted You, Aunt Kathy”: Political Tolerance, Online Selective Exposure, And Relational Closeness, Justice Forte

Honors Theses

In the present day, people have copious options for news consumption, and therefore, are presented with increased opportunity to engage in selective exposure, or the selection of media that confirm their beliefs (Stroud, 2008). Past research in the areas of political tolerance (Sullivan et al., 1979), ideology (Brandt et al., 2014), and political conversations in the context of our relationships (Mutz, 2006) highlights the negative impact of tuning out the other side. In exploring these topics, these scholars set out to determine when individuals are willing to extend tolerance toward groups or views with which they disagree and when they …