Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Biological Bases Of Political Attachment: Neurobiological Correlates Of Ideology And Partisanship, Carisa Bergner

Theses and Dissertations

To fully understand the foundations of political attachments in an increasingly polarized environment, political scientists must reconcile traditional theories of political attitudes and behavior with insight gained from neurobiological approaches. The purpose of this research is to investigate the neurobiological correlates of strength of political ideology and partisanship, as well as the neurobiological correlates of ideological and partisan orientation. To do so, both structural and functional neuroimaging analyses were conducted on a diverse sample of patients at a Level 1 Trauma Center. Results indicate that strong ideological attachment is significantly associated with decreased volume in the left insula, though partisan …

The Supreme Court's Third Shift: Policy, Precedent, And Public Opinion Via The Shadow Docket, Taraleigh Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The Supreme Court is attracting more attention to its emergency docket – cases decided with neither briefing nor oral argument. These cases, while seemingly focused on immediate, individual problems, could potentially create policy in a way not necessarily intended or approved by Congress. Because the Court is particularly reliant on institutional support for effective policymaking and because we know that people support the Court, at least in part, due to its legalistic nature and its specific procedures, some are concerned that making decisions using this alternative, less public process as well as relying on these hastily decided cases as precedent …

The Political Economy Of State Fragility And The Extent To Which It Fuels International Migration Amongst Nigerians., Funmilola Olorunfemi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the political economy of state fragility and the extent to which it fuels international migration amongst Nigerians and adopt a qualitative research method to critically review 15 articles that was identified using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). The thesis argues that while migration is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria, there is a renewed fervor amongst Nigerians to migrate and that migration amongst Nigerians is in the context of forced mobility. Employing thematic analysis, the thesis demonstrated how state fragility factors which includes economic factors, sociological factors, geographical factors, and unifying factors …

The Road To Democratic Backsliding, Yunus Emre Orhan

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses three different papers to develop and empirically assess a theoretical framework to explain puzzling support for illiberal incumbents, highlighting the micro-level tradeoffs associated with punishing leaders. I mainly investigate whether affectively polarized regime supporters are more likely to tolerate incumbents who engage in undemocratic action and how affective polarization evolves and why it manifests itself worldwide today. The first paper explores the linkage between democratic backsliding and affective polarization at the country level. The second paper switches its unit of analysis to the individual level and provides direct evidence on the linkage ideological/affective polarization and voters’ willingness …

The Roadmap To Iraq: How 9/11 Facilitated The 2003 Invasion, Michael Loren Shumway

Theses and Dissertations

The attacks of 11 September 2001 not only resulted in retaliatory attacks upon the nation of Afghanistan for its harboring of the terror cell al Qaeda but also for the later U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Although initial intelligence connected the terrorist group al Qaeda to the attacks, Bush’s administration officials began assembling intelligence on Iraq’s weapons capabilities and its possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction. In this 2002 National Security Strategy, Bush announced his administration’s position that the United States would react pre-emptively to threats against the United States or its global interests. This pre-emptive position opened the …

White Resistance To Public School Integration In Milwaukee, Wisconsin And Prince Edward County Virginia, Joseph Ryan Moore

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACTWHITE RESISTANCE TO PUBLIC SCHOOL INTEGRATION IN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN AND PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, VIRGINIA by Joseph Moore

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2022Under the supervision of Professor Amanda Seligman The white community demonstrated fierce resistance to the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The forms of resistance to integrated public schools varied by region, state, and locality. This study aims to compare the forms of resistance to integrated public schools that took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Prince Edward County, Virginia between 1954-1976. I have used historical archival materials to permit comparisons between the types of resistance …

Three Essays On The Effectiveness Of Foreign Aid, Yunhee Choi

Theses and Dissertations

Throughout three essays, this dissertation investigates three important aspects of the effectiveness of foreign aid: whether and how foreign aid is effective. Chapter 1 explains the background of the study on foreign aid. This introduction chapter also summarizes my arguments and the empirical strategies of each essay. Chapter 2 analyzes when foreign aid helps the recipient countries’ economic growth. In specific, this chapter argues that the political leaders’ survival strategy determines how to spend the aid, and it makes the difference in the aid effectiveness to achieve economic growth. Using a panel dataset for the 82 aid recipient countries between …

The Little Man With The Big Mouth Stands Up For Wisconsin: George Wallace And The Political And Constitutional Struggles Between Federalism And Equal Protection In Wisconsin Elections From 1964 To 1976, Ben Hubing

Theses and Dissertations

Alabama Governor George Wallace ran for the presidency four times between 1964 and 1976, bringing his candidacy north of the Mason-Dixon Line to Wisconsin. Wallace’s campaign in the Badger State fostered a debate among residents regarding constitutional principles and values. Wallace weaponized federalism and states’ rights, arguing that the federal government should stay out of school segregation, promote law and order, restrict forced busing, and reduce burdensome taxation. White working-class Wisconsinites armed themselves with Wallace’s rhetoric, pushing back on social and political changes that threatened the status quo. Civil rights activists and the black community in Wisconsin armed themselves with …

Pick A Horse, Ditch The Goat: The Rise Of The Spoiler Frame In A Bipartisan Election Discourse, Barbara Alexandra Raftes Dahlgren

Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly, public opinion shows Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are some of the most onerous in recorded history, and Americans want to see third-party options alongside them. Half of Americans use televised news to stay informed, but the two-party horserace leaves little room for the multiple candidates on the ballot. This analysis explores the prominent horserace discourse of the 2012 and 2016 televised coverage of the U.S. presidential races and the “spoiler effect” frame within. Following Jill Stein’s Green Party candidacy through the months surrounding each election, the coverage advanced her portrayal from “nonfactor” to “spoiler” despite the consistency in …

Unequal Representation In Local Democracies: An Analysis Of Public Opinion And Policy Outcomes In U.S. Cities, Amanda Jane Heideman

Theses and Dissertations

The nature of the connection between what citizens want and what government does is a central consideration in evaluating the strengths and weakness of democratic governance. A large body of research in “mainstream” American politics literature examines the link between public opinion and responsiveness at the national, state, and district level, generally finding that outcomes reflect citizen preferences. However, much less is known about the relationship at the municipal level. Cities offer a distinctive opportunity to test for the presence of ideological representation as well as the presence of unequal representation and its consequences. Using data on both the aggregate …

Old Dogs, New Tricks: Authoritarian Regime Persistence Through Learning, Nicholas Ryan Davis

Theses and Dissertations

How does diffusion lead to authoritarian regime persistence? Political decisions, regardless of what the actors involved might believe or espouse, do not happen in isolation. Policy changes, institutional alterations, regime transitions-- these political phenomena are all in some part a product of diffusion processes as much as they are derived from internal determinants. As such, political regimes do not exist in a vacuum, nor do they ignore the outside world. When making decisions about policy and practice, we should expect competent political actors to take a look at the wider external world. This dissertation project presents a theory of regime …

Redistributing Resources: Henry Maier, The Wisconsin Alliance Of Cities, And The Movement To Modify Wisconsin's State Shared Revenues, Samantha J. Fleischman

Theses and Dissertations

During the 1960s, the City of Milwaukee was enduring fiscal distress. Mayor of Milwaukee, Henry Maier, turned to the State of Wisconsin to modify the state shared revenues formula as a method to increase funding for central cities. Maier created the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, which was comprised of mayors throughout the state, in order to gain the support needed to pass formula changes through legislation. This thesis examines how the Alliance of Cities was able to modify the state shared revenues formula. Although the Alliance faced rejection from the state legislature, two factors enabled a reform. First, the Alliance …

Reasonableness And The Means Of Production, Dennis Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Although John Rawls’s work has been incredibly influential in political philosophy, the question of how Rawls’s principles of justice would be realized in the institutions of a just society has only recently received significant attention. Stated most clearly in Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, Rawls discusses five regimes, only two of which are compatible with justice as fairness: liberal socialism and property-owning democracy. Rawls argues that both regime types can satisfy his principles of justice and choosing which regime to institute depends on the culture of the nation in question. In this essay, I argue that although both liberal socialism …

Divided Agencies: Internal Strife In The Fight Against Castro, Stephanie R. Schmidt

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. State Department differed in their approaches to dealing with the Castro regime from 1959 through the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Using declassified documents from the CIA and State Department, I argue that the approaches of the CIA in dealing with the Castro regime were more aggressive than the approaches of the U.S. State Department. Many of the primary sources used in this work were accessed in the CIA electronic reading room and on the office of the historian website. The office of the historian is an …

A Horizontal And Vertical Analysis Of Public Service Motivation, Michael Bednarczuk

Theses and Dissertations

The positive consequences of public service motivation (PSM) have been well-­demonstrated in the public administration literature. However, while it is often used as an independent variable, it is rarely used as a dependent variable. This dissertation expands the understanding of the antecedents of PSM, the dynamics of PSM over time, and the differences in PSM within bureaucrats. It was found that parental traits and religious practices had the largest effect on childhood PSM. Longitudinal models highlighted the constant impact of youth PSM over time, which no other study had had the data to do. It was also found that having …

Preferred Institutions: Public Views On Policy, Shawn Christopher Fettig

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I ask why people might prefer one institution of government (courts, legislatures, executives) over another to handle certain issues. Previous research has focused on legitimacy of the courts, whether institutions can legitimate policy, and how public opinion is thus informed. This research is invaluable in understanding support for and influence of specific institutions, but this only gets us so far. We still do not know why people might feel that one institution is more legitimate than another to handle policymaking on a specific issue. Here, I begin to examine this question arguing that institutions act as source …

Power, Responsibility, And Sexually Violent War Tactics: A Theoretical And Empirical Analysis Of Rape During Civil War, Jennifer L. Clemens

Theses and Dissertations

Broadly, this dissertation asks, why rape? In address, this research posits a leadership preference-based strategic theory of rape during war; marking the first large-N, quantitative exploration of leadership preferences on the use of rape in civil war. Using an original dataset, preferences of armed group leaders are evaluated against the level of rape across all civil conflicts between 1980 - 2009. The results highlight three critical findings. First, evidence suggests that rape is distinctive from other human rights violations and is permitted or controlled differently than are more common forms of extra-combat violence (i.e., torture, extra-judicial killings, disappearances). This work …

Voting Radical Right In Europe: A Comprehensive Explanation For Vote Choice, Michael Allan Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Although the radical right in liberal democracies have received a wealth of attention in the literature, the mechanisms explaining individual radical right vote choice are unclear. This analysis provides the first comprehensive theoretical framework and empirical modeling of individual radical right vote choice. The choice to vote for a radical right party is a function of several factors. First, the opportunity structure in the form of external supply-side factors must be conducive for radical right success. Second, parties must make crucial decisions in order to take advantage of the opportunity structure (internal supply-side factors). Then, macro-social force illicit the adoption …

Revisiting Us Economic Statecraft: Three Essays On Nuclear Reversal, Anti-American Political Violence, And Social Policies In Target States, Wondeuk Cho

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates whether and how U.S. economic statecraft influence policies and politics of targeted countries. Chapter 1 raises research questions about the role of U.S. economic statecraft in policies of targeted countries. The chapter summarizes my argument and empirical findings. Chapter 2 analyzes whether and to what extent U.S. economic statecraft extracts nuclear reversal commitments from target countries that have ever explored and pursued a nuclear weapons development. Using updated data on nuclear proliferation between 1970 and 2004, this study finds that U.S. economic sanctions with international organizations' involvement and U.S. foreign aid are likely to extract a suboptimal …

A Think Tank On The Left: The Institute For Policy Studies And Cold War America, 1963-1989, Brian Scott Mueller

Theses and Dissertations

For American intellectuals, the Cold War involved a battle far more important than the ones taking place in faraway lands. While the nearly half-decade conflict never degenerated into a nuclear war, the combat between intellectuals resembled a nuclear explosion at times. Participants in the war of words believed that intellectual debates would determine the direction of American foreign policy, and possibly whether the United States survived the Cold War. Led by groups such as the Americans for Democratic Action, liberal intellectuals held the dominant position during the first decades of the Cold War as they became hardened Cold Warriors intent …

Ideology Versus Clientelism: Modernization And Electoral Competition In Brazil, Cássio Da Silva Muniz

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how parties utilize the political dimensions of ideology (left-right) and clientelism (programmatic-patronage) to compete electorally in developing democracies. It proposes a combined utility theory, which suggests polarized competitive elections in modernizing national electoral markets compel programmatic parties to coalesce with clientelistic parties to gain access to regional private electoral markets. Methodologically, this study draws on a mixed-method approach focusing on Brazil as a crucial test case. It applies spatial voting models to assess the validity of ideological competition as well as geospatial voting distribution based on clustering and dispersion to devise a new quantitative measurement of clientelism …

Politics Of Xu: Body Politics In China, Peng Yu

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines body politics in the People’s Republic of China. It first closely looks at Zhuangzi’s idea of xu by analyzing the major aspects of the term—blandness, lack of substance, spontaneity, dispossession, incompleteness, and absurdity. It then argues that the concept of xu generates profound implication for politics by bringing up a particular mode of politics—politics of indeterminacy. In this mode of politics, power relation and power structure are never settled. Instead, they morph without being actualized. Examined in this context, the body for Zhuangzi is understood as an indeterminate entity whose political agency is attributed to its capacity …

Performing Private Life On The Public Stage: Tracing Narratives Of Presidential Family Lives, Leisure And Masculinities In Us News Media, Kathryn Michele Kallenberger

Theses and Dissertations

Images and stories about US presidents’ family lives, private vacations and athletic identities are constants in the political news media landscape. These news representations texture and shape how the presidents are envisioned in popular imagination as powerful political figures and embodiments of contemporary masculinities. This study explicates US news media representations of President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama in select mainstream political news publications from the 1990s to the 2000s. This study further considers how the cultural forces of heteronormativity, patriarchy, Baby Boomer masculinity, class, race and taste influenced popular presidential images. Much of the news discourse regarding presidents …

Framing The Policy Debate: Competing Portrayals Of Technology In Online Content Regulation And Lessons From Science And Technology Studies, Jeremy John Mauger

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to control access to certain online content, the U.S. Congress has repeatedly mandated the use of powerful regulatory technologies such as Domain Name System blocking, Internet Service Provider filtering, age verification systems, and commercial filtering software. The application of these enforcement mechanisms may have serious implications for constitutional rights, individual freedom, and autonomy. This research will show that policies including the Communications Decency Act, the Child Online Protection Act, the Children's Internet Protection Act, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the PROTECT Intellectual Property Act all have the potential to negatively impact these rights. Although the motivations …

Curse Or Cure? Remittances And Corruption In The Developing World, Michael D. Tyburski

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between migrant remittances, money earned by migrant workers and sent back home, and corruption. Remittances total more $400 billion US a year, making them an important capital flow with understudied political consequences. Some scholarship argues that remittances increase corruption by allowing governments to reduce their provision of public goods and redistribute wealth to political supporters as private goods. In contrast, I argue that the relationship between remittances and corruption varies by regime type. Remittances will likely aggravate corruption in relatively authoritarian regimes where governments require smaller supporting coalitions and may be more likely to view …

Essays On Religion And Political Behavior: How Religion Facilitates Political Development And Change, Sky L. Ammann

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates several unexplored topics regarding the influence of Americans' religion on their political attitudes and behaviors. First, it posits that religious socialization enables and constrains the development of a child's party identification and moral issue attitudes over time. Using the Youth Parent Socialization Panel Study, three indicators of a parent's religion are employed to predict a child's politics early in life, over time, and across generations. The results show an evolving role of parental religious socialization on individuals' party identification and moral issue attitudes. In particular, for newer generations, parental religious beliefs have supplanted historical, religious-belonging-based religious measures …

Golden Opportunities: Vacancies And Representation In The U.S. Senate, Timothy Lynch

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how vacancies in the United States Senate are filled. Despite the ability of states to set the institution for naming replacements, gubernatorial appointment continues to be the dominant method of selecting successors. The popularity of gubernatorial appointment - which empowers a single individual to substitute his/her judgment for the decision of the state electorate - is curious given that one goal of the Seventeenth Amendment was to democratize the selection of senators. However, appointments provide a notable benefit over elections by creating shorter vacancies. Drawing on biographies of governors and appointees, and primary-source accounts of appointments, ambition …

Scotus On Cert: A Look At The Blackmun Papers, Zachary Wallander

Theses and Dissertations

Many studies aim to capture the influence of the Supreme Court over political actors who provide information to the justices. However, it seems reasonable to suggest that the reciprocal effect might also occur. Certain groups and individuals, hence political actors, might influence the Court through information mechanisms. With increasing requests for certiorari and thousands of cases being petitioned to the Court, the justices are faced with the daunting task of trying to decide which cases merit review. Reviewing 80-100 cases a year, the justices must rely upon political actors to help ease their burden of decision making. Employing the Blackmun …

An Investigation Of Competitive And Non-Competitive Framing Effects: Interpreting The Relationship Between Elite Rhetoric And Support For Preventive War, Jeffrey Alan Guse

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

AN INVESTIGATION OF COMPETITIVE AND NON-COMPETITIVE FRAMING EFFECTS: INTERPRETING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ELITE RHETORIC AND SUPPORT FOR PREVENTIVE WAR

by

Jeffrey Guse

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,

Under the Supervision of Professor Steven B. Redd

This dissertation examines how competitive and non-competitive framing environments influence public opinion towards the use of preventive force. I attempt to develop a theory that helps to explain which factors are responsible for influencing public opinion for those who possess strong predispositions towards or against the use of force in contrast to those who possess weak predispositions towards or against the use of force. I …

The (Rail)Road Not Traveled: The Failure Of The Krm Commuter Rail Proposal In Greater Milwaukee, Wi, Neal A. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail (KRM) proposal was one of many passenger rail proposals studied for the greater Milwaukee area over the past few decades. The proposed line would have connected the cities of Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee, as well as communities in northern Illinois, along already existing rail lines. An analysis of archival information, newspaper coverage, and interviews with key stakeholders were conducted to explore the influence of an auto-dominated culture, the role of politics, local and regional expectations, funding issues, and the legacy of earlier local debates to determine why the KRM commuter rail proposal failed. In the beginning, …