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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Governing A Continent Of Trash: The Global Politics Of Oceanic Pollution, Anne Longo May 2020

Governing A Continent Of Trash: The Global Politics Of Oceanic Pollution, Anne Longo

Honors Scholar Theses

There is a new continent growing in the North Pacific Ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Patch is composed of a vast array of marine pollution, discarded single-use items, and mostly microplastics. This thesis explores how and why governments and other entities do or do not deal with the growing problem of ocean pollution. Sovereignty roadblocks and balance of power prove to be obstacles for such efforts. This thesis then attempts to create the ideal model of governance for ocean plastics using the policy-making process. The policy analysis reviews bilateral, multilateral, and non-governmental solutions for the removal …


March Like A Girl: A Case Study Of The Women’S Movements In Spain And The United States, Magdalena Klin May 2020

March Like A Girl: A Case Study Of The Women’S Movements In Spain And The United States, Magdalena Klin

Honors Scholar Theses

Between 2017 and 2018, the gender equality movement exploded in Spain and the United States due to two independent catalysts. In each respective country, there was one main grassroots coalition that channeled public outrage into a coherent display of protest. As the initial passion from the catalyst events diminished, these coalitions did not fade away. Instead, they grew into their nation's face of women’s advocacy. Given the comparable set of circumstances in Spain and the U.S., I identify how two temporary, newborn coalitions were able to capitalize on a burst of fame and develop into leading organizations. This paper examines …


"Bad Hombres" And The Bully Pulpit: A Study Of Presidential Rhetoric On Social Media And Behavioral Responses Of The Immigrant Population, Mary Vlamis May 2020

"Bad Hombres" And The Bully Pulpit: A Study Of Presidential Rhetoric On Social Media And Behavioral Responses Of The Immigrant Population, Mary Vlamis

Honors Scholar Theses

For years, social scientists have studied the impact of presidential rhetoric on public opinion and consumer behavior. This paper adds to the literature on presidential rhetoric by investigating how presidential statements on social media change public behavior in a reaction to these statements. President Trump's immigration policy tweets are used to examine if there is a relationship between the president's statements and changes in behavior using and Google searches. I find no relationship between the instance of a President Trump’s tweet and changes in searching for related topics among both large immigrant populations and Trump supporters.


How Oil-Reliant, Autocratic Regimes Transition To Renewable Energy, Brady Harman May 2020

How Oil-Reliant, Autocratic Regimes Transition To Renewable Energy, Brady Harman

Honors Scholar Theses

Climate change is here, yet even as states transition to green energy, oil remains supreme at both the international and national levels. Many nations around the world have based their economies on the production of fossil fuels, leaving these countries entrapped in the “resource curse,” often contributing to the development of autocratic regimes. As the world economy moves away from fossil fuels, these countries will be left with the question of how to transition to green energy sources. In this paper I examine how the approach to green energy implementation differs between autocracies and democracies. More specifically, I demonstrate the …


What Does It Take? The Informal Factors That Are Conducive To The Passage Of A Participatory Amendment, Connor Huydic May 2020

What Does It Take? The Informal Factors That Are Conducive To The Passage Of A Participatory Amendment, Connor Huydic

Honors Scholar Theses

Hundreds of Constitutional revisions are proposed in our national legislature every year, yet only twenty-seven have been ratified as amendments in the 243-year history of the United States. The Constitution outlines the formal factors required to ratify an amendment, but this paper will focus on the informal factors that are integral to the eventual passage of a participatory amendment. Through case studies of the Nineteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments, this thesis examines the factors that contributed to the ratification of these amendments to find similarities in the circumstances that helped propel these bills to eventual adoption as amendments. Non-radical social movements, …


Public Matters? Comparing Decision-Making By Appointed And Elected Prosecutors In Cases Of Deadly Use-Of-Force By Police In The Hartford Judicial District And Suffolk County, Andrew E. Dubsky May 2020

Public Matters? Comparing Decision-Making By Appointed And Elected Prosecutors In Cases Of Deadly Use-Of-Force By Police In The Hartford Judicial District And Suffolk County, Andrew E. Dubsky

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis dissects prosecutor discretion for appointed and elected prosecutors after a “catalyst” event shifts public opinion. Previous studies have shown that elected prosecutors are more likely to use discretion favoring the opinion of the public than their appointed counterparts (Bandyopadhyay 2014, Nelson 2014, and Valenti 2011). Because elected prosecutors are more likely to follow public opinion, they should also be more likely to respond to the demands of the public than their appointed counterparts. In effect, elected prosecutors are expected to be more likely to exercise discretion in their charging and prosecuting. To test this, I use the 2014 …


Driven Towards Whiteness: The 1968 Election And White Supremacy, Arianna Tsikitas May 2020

Driven Towards Whiteness: The 1968 Election And White Supremacy, Arianna Tsikitas

Honors Scholar Theses

Existing literature highlights the political interaction between the Republican party and civil rights, how civil rights impacted the white ethnic revival, and the appeals made by the Republican party to keep their new voters happy. Many are familiar with the history of discrimination against Eastern European immigrants, yet the process through which they adopted white identity politics is another matter. The role of right-wing activists and leaders during the Wallace Presidential campaign was instrumental in connecting these dots for the Republican leadership, however this too goes largely unnoticed. My thesis will complement existing literature by tracing the involvement of these …


Is China Stealing Our Tech? A Look Into The Role Of Intellectual Property Rights In Us-China Trade Relations, Ryan Chester May 2020

Is China Stealing Our Tech? A Look Into The Role Of Intellectual Property Rights In Us-China Trade Relations, Ryan Chester

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis aims to further the current scholarship on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and their effects on international trade and the US-China trade relationship more specifically. The main analysis of this thesis is a quantitative cross-country analysis of over 100 countries to see how IPR plays a role in international trade, while analyzing how the Sino-US trade relationship fits into larger trends. This thesis aims to answer the questions as follows: What are the current policies surrounding Intellectual Property Rights between China and the US? Does increasing the strength of IPR laws influence imports? Does the strength of a country’s …


Ethnic Conflict's Effect On Internet And Black Male Feminism, Seraphin Tala May 2020

Ethnic Conflict's Effect On Internet And Black Male Feminism, Seraphin Tala

Honors Scholar Theses

Within the study of democratic institutions worldwide there exists the need to study factors within states, countries, and or territories that elicit or hinder democracy. Among these are the relationships that exist between ethnic cultures that interact within the same governmental structure and the roles they play within that institution. Throughout the African continent, there are many governmental structures that support hundreds of tribes holding various sociocultural differences. These differences have led to ethnic conflicts throughout African history and even escalated to civil war which pose social, political and economic detriments to the nation involved. In recent years the internet …


The Impact Of Location On Healthcare Access For Individuals With Disabilities, Addison Kimber May 2020

The Impact Of Location On Healthcare Access For Individuals With Disabilities, Addison Kimber

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper analyzes healthcare access for individuals with disabilities living in rural areas. In current political discussion, we typically think of insurance coverage as the metric to analyze healthcare access. However, as demonstrated by studies of healthcare in the United Kingdom, people with disabilities continue to face barriers to health care even with universal healthcare systems. In particular, individuals in rural areas have less healthcare access than urban residents. This is due to factors including socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, access to competent care, and transportation. This study aims to understand if disability status exacerbates the issue of access in rural …