Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Organizations, Women, And Political Participation, Lindsey Juszczak

The Eastern Illinois University Political Science Review

The author considers the relationship between the percentage of women in state legislatures and the presence of organizations that encourage female participation in politics and the pursuit of higher office. Using a qualitative analysis of a number of states, the author finds areas of support for the hypothesis but also finds areas where other states can improve.

Seismic Waves, Aubrey L. Kamppila

Student Publications

I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy on November 9, 2016, when I awoke to the news that Donald Trump had been elected President. To say it was a shock was an understatement, like many Americans, I had never dreamed the scenario possible. At that moment, I felt more powerless and disconnected from my country than ever before. For the next few weeks, I struggled to comprehend how I personally could combat the assault on my political views and values, what stand I could take, and what impact it might have. Finally, on one of many emotional phone calls with …

The Message, Medium And Messenger: A Study Of Political Persuasion Through A Case Study Of Planned Parenthood, Jodi Leah Kraushar

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Jones Studies The Condition Of American Politics., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

There are many reasons why people decide upon a career. Some follow family tradition, others seek careers with the potential for a big paycheck, still others are inspired by a particular professor in college. But in certain cases, something more mundane explains how a person arrives at such a momentous decision.

“I grew up in a family where, every morning as I was eating my cereal before going to school, the radio was on with the news,” says Dr. David Jones, a professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences in …

Analysis Of The Super Pac Donor Pool And Contribution Behavior, Frederick Van Augur

Holster Scholar Projects

Super PACs, since their inception in 2010, have played a significant role in federal campaign finance. In 2016 alone, super PACs spent over $1 billion trying to influence elections. In particularly close contests with significant disparities in independent expenditures (the main tool of super PACs), this money can play an important role in the outcome. Despite the prominent role of super PAC money in federal elections, limited research has been conducted on the sources of this money. While speculation about mega-donors, corporations, unions, nonprofits, and shell companies has dominated the news media and political punditry, these sources of funds have …

Render Unto Caesar: How Misunderstanding A Century Of Free Exercise Jurisprudence Forged And Then Fractured The Rfra Coalition, John S. Blattner

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis provides a comprehensive history of Supreme Court Free Exercise Clause jurisprudence from 1879 until the present day. It describes how a jurisdictional approach to free exercise dominated the Court’s rulings from its first Free Exercise Clause case in 1879 until Sherbert v. Verner in 1963, and how Sherbert introduced an accommodationist precedent which was ineffectively, incompletely, and inconsistently defined by the Court. This thesis shows how proponents of accommodationism furthered a false narrative overstating the scope and consistency of Sherbert’s precedent following the Court’s repudiation of accommodationism and return to full jurisdictionalism with Employment Division v. Smith …