Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

When Ballots Are Blank: Write-In’S Serving Local Government And The Implications For A Healthy And Vibrant Democracy, Thomas J. Ruter

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

Our democracy depends on having a supply of candidates running for elected office, but in some instances, no one wants to run. This phenomenological study asks what the effects on a healthy and vibrant democracy are if ballots are blank and the seat is filled through write-in or appointment. Rooted in democratic theory, this study explores small, rural city elections where write-ins won election. Understudied, local governments are responsible for decisions affecting the lives of millions of people each day. Workforce scarcity, the alienation of young Americans from politics, government bashing, nasty campaigns, threats of physical harm, and other barriers …

Why Foundations? The Theory And Strategy Of The General-Purpose Foundation, Samsher (Sam) Singh Gill

The Foundation Review

As foundations increasingly grapple with the penetration of socioeconomic dissension into every facet of our country’s public culture, it has become difficult to evade the moral salience of whether philanthropic wealth aggregation and allocation reflect or even entrench the structures of material accumulation many now see at the root of declining support for liberalism across advanced economies.

This essay argues that contrary to growing internal and external anxieties about the role and legitimacy of general-purpose foundations in the United States, there is a sound theoretical expression of them as an essential institution in a liberal democracy. The core principle of …

Public Trust And Citizen Engagement As Tools Of Democrcay For Good Governance In Nigeria, Olukayode Gilbert Ojo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractSince Nigeria gained independence in 1960, political leaders' and elected officials' behavior and actions have contributed to a decline in public trust and people's engagement with the democratic system. It is currently unknown whether the concepts of public trust and citizen engagement can be democratic tools for good governance in Nigeria, with its diverse religions, ethnicities, and cultural values. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the Yoruba people’s perceptions of the barriers to and facilitators of public trust and citizen engagement in the Nigerian democratic system. The theoretical framework was polarities of democracy theory, espoused by …

Young People’S Perception Of Opportunities To Participate In Democratic Governance, Jennifer Nga Yu Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations General Assembly, 1989) accords all young people the right to be heard and make decisions on matters affecting them. Despite the fact the United States remains the only country in the world not to have ratified this document, a number of American cities have nevertheless begun to engage young people in community decision-making (e.g., in neighborhood associations or community boards). However, as of yet there are few actual opportunities for youth to participate fully in the governance of their cities. This study examined the perspectives of young people …

Twitter And Millennial Participation In Voting During Nigeria's 2015 Presidential Elections, Deborah Zoaka

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractMillennial participation in voting has been low since democratic governance was restored in Nigeria in 1999, after 26 years of military rule, constituting a grave threat to democratic consolidation and electoral legitimacy. Little is known about how Nigerian millennials were mobilized to participate in the 2015 presidential elections using Twitter as a major tool. Research questions focused on how Twitter as a social media platform define participation of millennials in promoting voter turnout in Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election. The study was sited within the theoretical framework of democratic participant theory and the uses and gratifications theory. A qualitative phenomenological research …

Perceptions About The Asylum-Seeking Process In The United States After 9/11, Keith Nalumango

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Asylum seekers in the U.S. have faced a plethora of impediments leading to some of them abandoning their applications, which may deny them their rights under the United Nations convention on refugees. Despite the abundance of literature on the plight of these persons, no study has examined the lived experiences of asylum seekers in the U.S. from the time they apply for asylum to the time their applications are adjudicated. Using Benet's polarities of democracy as the theoretical framework, the purpose of this single participant narrative study was to explore these experiences in order to provide policy makers with a …

Nonviolent Resistance To Security Policy In Nationalist Northern Ireland, 1970-1981, Thomas E. Caulfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Political division has plagued Northern Ireland since its partition from the rest of Ireland in the 1920s. Current literature recounts the role of nationalist actors in the violent struggle that erupted in 1969 initiating a 3-decade period of civil strife described as the Troubles. However, very little scholarly coverage exists providing details of nonviolent resistance on the part of some community members. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to examine the meanings and perceptions evoked from Irish nationalists from Belfast and Derry who chose to challenge security policies through nonviolent actions from 1970 through 1981. Using a chain …

Democracy And Civil Society In Latin America And The Caribbean In A Time Of Change, Susan Appe, Daniel Barragán, Anabel Cruz

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

No abstract provided.

A Taxonomy Of Independent Electoral Reapportionment Systems, James Ruley

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

This paper addresses a means of checking legislative gerrymandering, which I have called the Independent Electoral Reapportionment Commission (IERC). Its purpose is to prevent self-interested politicians from drawing biased constituency lines. While scholars have researched gerrymandering, few scholars have researched commissions designed to limit such gerrymandering, and no comprehensive work details the global means of accomplishing this goal.

Thus, the purpose of this paper is not to normatively prescribe the best practices for composing and empowering an IERC, but rather to descriptively show how different countries conduct this process. While Part II makes some determinations about which commissions may conceptually …

Resisting Democratic Transition Through Terrorism: A Case Study Of Post Saddam-Hussein Iraq, Kellie Rourke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Democracy building operations in foreign nations in Iraq and Afghanistan have been met with resistance and at great cost in terms of dollars and lives. Reducing these costs requires understanding why individuals choose to resist the transition to democracy, yet current research in the field does not address the issues of a previously nonviolent population turning to terrorism to resist transition to democracy. The purpose of this single case study was to use rational choice theory and Crenshaw's 3 levels of causation to understand what factors influenced members of the Sunni sect to resist democratic transition following the 2003 invasion …

The Subterranean Counterrevolution: The Supreme Court, The Media, And Litigation Retrenchment, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

Sean Farhang

This article is part of a larger project to study the counterrevolution against private enforcement of federal law from an institutional perspective. In a series of articles emerging from the project, we show how the Executive, Congress and the Supreme Court (wielding both judicial power under Article III of the Constitution and delegated legislative power under the Rules Enabling Act) fared in efforts to reverse or dull the effects of statutory and other incentives for private enforcement. An institutional perspective helps to explain the outcome we document: the long-term erosion of the infrastructure of private enforcement as a result of …

Administrative Law: The U.S. And Beyond, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

Administrative law constrains and directs the behavior of officials in the many governmental bodies responsible for implementing legislation and handling governance responsibilities on a daily basis. This field of law consists of procedures for decision making by these administrative bodies, including rules about transparency and public participation. It also encompasses oversight practices provided by legislatures, courts, and elected executives. The way that administrative law affects the behavior of government officials holds important implications for the fulfillment of democratic principles as well as effective governance in society. This paper highlights salient political theory and legal issues fundamental to the U.S. administrative …

The Subterranean Counterrevolution: The Supreme Court, The Media, And Litigation Retrenchment, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

All Faculty Scholarship

This article is part of a larger project to study the counterrevolution against private enforcement of federal law from an institutional perspective. In a series of articles emerging from the project, we show how the Executive, Congress and the Supreme Court (wielding both judicial power under Article III of the Constitution and delegated legislative power under the Rules Enabling Act) fared in efforts to reverse or dull the effects of statutory and other incentives for private enforcement. An institutional perspective helps to explain the outcome we document: the long-term erosion of the infrastructure of private enforcement as a result of …

Consequences Of The Niger Delta Amnesty Program Implementation On Nigeria's Upstream Petroleum Industry, Chisomaga Ihediohanma Ezeocha

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Niger Delta militancy ravaged the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector between 2004-2009, bringing it to a standstill. In response, the Nigerian state adopted an amnesty policy―a globally recognized tool for conflict resolution and peacebuilding―to protect the sector and the economy from collapse. Little is known, however, about the unintended consequences of the amnesty implementation for the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector. Thus, the purpose of this study was to fill this gap in the research literature on the Niger Delta amnesty program. Polarity management was the conceptual framework applied; relative deprivation and polarities of democracy constituted the theoretical foundation for this …

Racism Vs. Social Capital: A Case Study Of Two Majority Black Communities, Bruce W. Strouble

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Several researchers have identified social capital as a means to improve the social sustainability of communities. While there have been many studies investigating the benefits of social capital in homogeneous White communities, few have examined it in Black homogeneous communities. Also, there has been limited research on the influence of racism on social capital in African American communities. In this dissertation a comparative case study was used within a critical race theory framework. The purpose was to explore the role of racial oppression in shaping social capital in majority African American communities. Data were collected from 2 majority Black communities …

Beyond Elections: Ghana's Democracy From The Perspective Of The Citizenry, Ransford Osafo-Danso

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ghana's democracy has been hailed by scholars, practitioners, and the international community in recent years as a shining example in the West African subregion as a result of the country's record of organizing successive elections with minimal or no violence. However, the evaluation of Ghana's democracy has predominantly focused on the elections and disproportionately captures the views of the political elite; conspicuously missing is the perspective of the ordinary Ghanaian. This presents an incomplete picture of Ghana's democracy, given the relevance of citizens' participation in democratic societies. To address this gap in knowledge, this qualitative case study explored the practice …

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …

Leaving A Legacy, Walter Lotze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The ongoing conflict in Somalia, and the complexities that come with finding lasting solutions to a conflict that has raged for decades now, continue to perplex the international community. While a range of previously tried and tested approaches to conflict management are being applied, it is becoming apparent that the international toolkit for responding to conflict situations of such complexity is extremely limited. Indeed, as one international conference after another on Somalia takes place, compacts are signed and funding windows established, old frameworks are abandoned and new ones are forged, and roadmap after roadmap pave the way for further engagement, …

Public-Nonprofit Partnership: Realizing The New Public Service, Jennifer Alexander, Renee Nank

Jennifer K Alexander Dr

No abstract provided.

Generic Wish-Lists For State-Centric Policies, Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Central America depicted in the article under review resembles a region visited by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—colonial Conquest, civil War, Famine and other natural disasters, and poverty, disease and Death. Added to this list of woes are the recent drug-fueled conflict, democratic instability, weak state capacity, and the socio-economic fallout of the economic recession in the United States. While the first half of the article records these problems, the author shifts gears in the second half and provides an array of responses to these challenges, with a forceful recommendation that states in the region focus their efforts …

A Centrist Solution To Central American Violence And Inequality, Devin Joshi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The northern triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) has experienced horrific violence, poverty, and a vicious cycle of human rights violations for decades. Repeated natural disasters and the re-routing of the drug trade through Central America are not helping the situation. On the other hand, nearby Costa Rica has achieved a much higher standard of human rights, public safety, and political stability. Why? Costa Rica has put in place four pillars of development and stability lacking in most other countries in the region: a stronger state, an educated population, inter-racial cooperation, and a more inclusive democracy. For …

Institutional Constraints And Practical Problems In Deliberative And Participatory Policy Making, Robert Hoppe

Robert Hoppe

No abstract provided.

From Undemocratic To Democratic Civil Society: Japan's Volunteer Fire Departments, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

How do undemocratic civic organizations become compatible with democratic civil society? How do local organizations merge older patriarchal, hierarchical values and practices with newer more egalitarian, democratic ones? This article tells the story of how volunteer fire departments have done this in Japan. Their transformation from centralized war instrument of an authoritarian regime to local community safety organization of a full-fledged democracy did not happen overnight. A slow process of demographic and value changes helped the organization adjust to more democratic social values and practices. The way in which this organization made the transition offers important lessons for emerging democracies …

Democracy And Public Administration, Richard C. Box, Gary Marshall

Faculty Books and Monographs

Chapter 4, A Brief Tour of Public Organization Theory in the United States, authored by Gary S. Marshall, UNO faculty member.

The true measure of the successful practice of public service is its ability to remain faithful to the tenets of democratic society. This introductory text links the practice of public administration to the core concepts of American democracy. It covers the nuts and bolts of public administration in the context of delivering democracy in public service--providing what the public really wants as opposed to what self-serving bureaucracies may call for.

Chapters in Democracy and Public Administration discuss the functional …

Telecommunications Divestment: An Erosion Of Democracy In The Caribbean, Patricia K. Mccormick

Communication Faculty Research Publications

This article examines the undemocratic process of telecommunications divestment in Jamaica and Trin- idad and Tobago. The divestment of the telecommunications sector was largely prompted by each state’s inability to service external debt. Despite espousing the importance of public participation in the ownership of state-owned en- terprises being divested, the governments each limited or excluded nationals from ownership of the telephony com- panies. Divestment of the telecommunications sector was principally undertaken through private negotiations with Cable and Wireless which has historically provided service to former British colonies. This continued colonization of the telecommunications sector is at odds with the democratic …

Justice, Citizenship, Social Cohesion And The Commons, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

There is great ferment in political and social theory today due to a number of major changes are taking place in the larger social world and our understandings of it including the crisis of the welfare state; the emergence of more open societies in Russia, Central Europe, Latin America and many of the countries of the Pacific Rim; general movement away from class/stratification and toward group membership as central themes for national politics in many countries; a major crisis of the modernization paradigm; the emergence of a truly-global economy; and the emergence of the internet as a global communications medium. …