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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

What Makes Green Parties Successful: A Comparative Analysis Of Germany, Austria, And France, Macy Miller Nov 2020

What Makes Green Parties Successful: A Comparative Analysis Of Germany, Austria, And France, Macy Miller

Honors Theses

Starting in the 1980s, green parties began to make their debut. Their establishment was considered to be largely in response to environmental and anti-nuclear movements. Although their history has been quite brief, these parties have been making waves throughout the world. Throughout this research, a pattern arises between economic stability and quality of life, mainstream party competition, policy positions, and green voters themselves when examining the success of the green parties. In particular, they have demonstrated great success in the European Union. In an attempt to explain this success, this research explores three specific green parties: the German, the Austrian, …


Institutional Form And Its Influence On Instability Following The Assassination Of A Head Of State, Ashlee Mcgill Apr 2020

Institutional Form And Its Influence On Instability Following The Assassination Of A Head Of State, Ashlee Mcgill

Honors Theses

The period following an assassination is one of fear and uncertainty for citizens of a nation after their leader has been assassinated. However, different nations experience assassinations differently; while some collapse and result in failed states, other nations have seen leaders rise to power. Thus, I examine how institutional forms—democracy, autocracy, and anocracy—influence and structure how a country experiences instability following the assassination of a head of state. I do this through a qualitative case study of three assassinations: John F. Kennedy of the United States in 1963; Rafael Trujillo of the Dominica Republic in 1961; and José Antonio “Chichi” …


Can Continuous Campaigns Cause Conscientious Citizens To Cower?, Melissa Hall Mar 2020

Can Continuous Campaigns Cause Conscientious Citizens To Cower?, Melissa Hall

Honors Theses

The following study examines the relationship between campaign season length and voter turnout. Campaign season length is defined as the period between either the legal beginning of the campaign season as specified by the government or the announcement of the first candidate’s candidacy and the date of the election. Voter turnout is defined as the percentage of eligible voters that voted in the election. Eligible voters include all people of voting age in the country, regardless of whether they are registered to vote. There is no existing literature on the effects of campaign season length on voter turnout. My hypothesis …


The Rising Risk Of Terrorism In The Philippines And Natural Resource Corruption, Blair Mills Mar 2020

The Rising Risk Of Terrorism In The Philippines And Natural Resource Corruption, Blair Mills

Honors Theses

As foreign fighters, who had previously traveled to the Middle East to conduct operations under the flag of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), return to the Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia, they are bringing their ideologies and knowledge of terrorist operations with them. In addition to tracking the growing trend of terrorist attacks being conducted in the Philippines in the name of ISIL, it is crucial to determine how these returning fighters are gathering the funds and resources necessary to carry out these attacks and establish new terrorist cells. This question of how returning terrorists …


State Policy Outcomes On Refugee Integration And Success, Emily Johnson Mar 2020

State Policy Outcomes On Refugee Integration And Success, Emily Johnson

Honors Theses

Though U.S. refugee resettlement is primarily managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the process of ensuring refugee success upon arrival often relies on state-level policy. In this research, I analyze the relationship between state resettlement policies, including welfare distribution, ESL education, and publicly-funded resettlement programs, and refugee social and economic outcomes, including employment, home ownership, and English proficiency. My findings indicate that there is a slight positive relationship between state resettlement service accessibility and refugee employment, home ownership, and English proficiency. However, analysis results regarding state welfare policy and ESL education produced null results. Ultimately, I …


German Immigration And Its Ties To Landscape Change In Nebraska, Lindsey Labrie Mar 2020

German Immigration And Its Ties To Landscape Change In Nebraska, Lindsey Labrie

Honors Theses

This thesis uses a multidimensional approach to frame the different waves of German immigration within the context of land use change in Nebraska. By recounting the historical challenges and struggles Germans faced in their homelands, this thesis provides similarities between historical immigration patterns throughout the state. Observing the timing of these movements of people paints a clearer picture of how these immigrants might have helped change the farming and cultural landscapes of Nebraska. Knowing and recognizing historical immigration in Nebraska cultivates a deeper appreciation for the current relations between immigrants and Nebraska’s physical landscape.


An Examination Of Nebraska’S Law Setting The Age Of Majority At Nineteen, Lauren Mcneal Mar 2020

An Examination Of Nebraska’S Law Setting The Age Of Majority At Nineteen, Lauren Mcneal

Honors Theses

My proposed research covers the actions of the Nebraska legislature surrounding the age of majority. During the summer of 2019, I interned with Senator Adam Morfeld to draft a bill lowering the age of majority in Nebraska from nineteen to eighteen for healthcare services. Many eighteen-year-olds, especially students, face complications when they seek healthcare services but need parental consent. This is because young adults tend to move away from their homes at this age but are still not considered independent from their parents under Nebraska state law. In this thesis, I use the information I gathered from my interim research …


Racial Bias And The Death Penalty In Nebraska (2005-2019), Natalie Bielenberg Jan 2020

Racial Bias And The Death Penalty In Nebraska (2005-2019), Natalie Bielenberg

Honors Theses

Ample evidence exists to suggest that the death penalty in the United States is affected by racial bias. Nebraska has a complex history with the death penalty, and in this study I investigate whether or not that racial bias is present in Nebraska’s capital punishment. Using a list of every Nebraska Department of Correctional Services inmate since 1982, I test for a relationship between race of inmate and sentencing outcome and a relationship between race of victim and sentencing outcome. No significant relationship was found between either race of inmate and receiving the death penalty nor race of victim and …


The Impact Of State Legislative Term Limits On Descriptive Representation, Matt Baldwin Jan 2020

The Impact Of State Legislative Term Limits On Descriptive Representation, Matt Baldwin

Honors Theses

Do term limits make state legislatures more descriptively representative of their population? If the composition of a state legislature is a function of its ruleset and design, then term limits—a major shift in the rules—would change who is running for office and who is getting elected. In order to explore this question, a dataset was created by contacting a number of states to solicit responses on the demographics of their state legislatures from 1990-2018. In addition, information regarding some control variables (partisanship, time, economy) was gathered. A gap variable was created to see what difference existed between the proportion of …