Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Blunt Instruments, Glass Slippers, And Unicorns: Ocean Governance In A Climate-Changed Gulf Of Maine, Susan E. Farady

Maine Policy Review

Management and governance systems should ideally match the nature of the natural environment and the range of human uses. Today’s ocean and coastal governance system is made up of singular laws and government agencies, the product of years of evolution. This system was never intended to reflect the complexities of the marine ecosystem and varied human uses of marine resources. The resulting “silo-ed” management system has never worked particularly well, but as we face a rapidly changing Gulf of Maine, and accompanying changes in uses, this system’s limitations are increasingly obvious. An “ideal” ocean governance system would be comprehensive and …

The Social, Cultural, And Political Influences On American Classical Composers Post-9/11: A Comparison To The New Deal And Early Cold War Eras, Christine E. Letcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore how the social, cultural, and political environments of the post-9/11 period influenced the music composition of American classical composers, from the perspective of the composers. These composers are then compared to those of the New Deal and early Cold War eras. During both the New Deal and the subsequent anti-communist movement of the early Cold War era, composers and musicians made aesthetic choices because of the political climate. While much study has been done of the political engagement and activism of contemporary popular musicians, there is a dearth of research regarding classical …

Imperative Protection Or Veiled Persecution? Balancing §230 Immunity And The First Amendment In The Censorship Of Social Media, Emily A. Middleton Valdés

New England Journal of Political Science

In the new age of fast-paced digital news, the primary platform for political discourse has evolved from the static town square to an ever-expanding, broadly accessible, and immediately available forum of global proportions. As traditional publishers scramble to adapt to this shift, social networking platforms like Twitter and Meta (“Facebook”) have become harbors of unverified, even dangerous, information. This position has prompted the creation of “fact-checkers,” which attempt to identify and block information deemed subjectively inappropriate from disseminating into the public. Other industry leaders, like Google, have adopted a similar policy of censoring information and choosing market winners, through the …

Maine, James P. Melcher

New England Journal of Political Science

No abstract provided.

New Hampshire, Christopher J. Galdieri

New England Journal of Political Science

No abstract provided.

Note From The Editor

New England Journal of Political Science

No abstract provided.

Rhode Island, Emily K. Lynch

New England Journal of Political Science

No abstract provided.

R&R: Retirements From And Retentions In The Popularly-Elected Senate, Hanna K. Brant, Theodore J. Masthay, L. Marvin Overby

New England Journal of Political Science

While there has been a good bit of scholarly attention paid to career dynamics in—including retirements from—the U. S. House of Representatives, relatively less attention has been paid to the Senate. The few studies of career decisions in the upper chamber (e.g., Bernstein and Wolak 2002; Masthay and Overby 2017) have focused on the more or less modern Senate. In this study, we extend the time series back to the early 1900s, taking in the entire century of the popularly elected Senate. In doing so, we increase our analytical leverage to explore dynamics in the frequency, ratio (compared to …

Race And Reparations In Providence, Rhode Island: The Role Of Public History In Racial Justice, Patrick Shea

New England Journal of Political Science

Contemporary critiques of race reparations programs in the United States often highlight two primary concerns: the shortcomings of similar policy in the past, and a perception of reparations as a kneejerk response to nationwide protests against police violence. This article presents the city of Providence’s 2020 reparations project as a potential response to these criticisms. By contextualizing the bill within the history of reparations in the United States and decades of historical activism on racial violence in the history of Southern New England, this article establishes Providence’s reparations project not simply as a reaction to recent racial justice activism, but …

Fiscal Crisis As Political Artifact: The Problem Of Misplaced Trust, Marc A. Eisner

New England Journal of Political Science

This article examines how early decisions regarding the financial model supporting Social Security—a dedicated payroll tax and a fully-funded reserve account—shaped the understanding of revenue flows and, ultimately, the debt. Although the original model was discarded, the residual features of the model had unintended consequences. The segregation of payroll taxes from the general fund and the distinction between the debt held by the public and the intragovernmental debt accentuated concerns over an imminent fiscal crisis and created pressure for austerity in discretionary spending. The projections of trust fund insolvency, in turn, framed a larger narrative about the entitlement crisis. To …

Connecticut, Paul Petterson

New England Journal of Political Science

No abstract provided.

Massachusetts, Jerold J. Duquette

New England Journal of Political Science

No abstract provided.

Vermont, Paul Petterson

New England Journal of Political Science

No abstract provided.

All Politics, No Longer Local? A Study Of The New Hampshire House Of Representatives, 2001-2021, Dante J. Scala, J. Mitchell Scacchi

New England Journal of Political Science

New Hampshire’s state legislature is at the heart of its political culture. The Granite State prides itself on the legislature’s intensely local brand of politics, in which representatives remain highly attuned and accountable to their constituents. In this article, we explore whether state representatives still possess strong local ties.

We use biographical data to examine whether legislators build robust local public service experience before joining the legislature. We conclude that the latest generations of New Hampshire state legislators were less likely over the past decade to bring significant local experience with them to the legislature. This decline occurred among both …

Mutual Aid: A Community-Led Solution To Economic Hardships At The University Of Maine, Tamra Benson

Honors College

Economic inequality and hardships are common issues on college campuses, for both students and employees. Mutual aid is the act of giving and receiving aid within a community where those who have extra resources may give to those who lack them, to build community care and resilience in the face of hardships. Many college campuses have established mutual aid funds to provide a safety net for those who are left behind by standard assistance programs. These funds can have several structures, so conducting research is essential before deciding on a model. The goal of this project was to design a …

High Automation, Fascism, And Our Social Revolution, Sean C. Staton

Honors College

The United States in the present day has experienced a rise of both incredibly productive automated technologies, approaching self-perpetuation, and fascism, entering and affecting significant social institutions. This paper aims to explain these phenomenon with the Marxist mechanics of the historical dialectic, conceptions of abstraction and material, and the behavior of capital – among other modes of production – and predict the broader development that is oncoming. It has been found that the rise of advanced and self-perpetuating automating technologies is indicative of an oncoming mode of production, ‘high automation’, and that fascism itself is a character, or subdialectical stage, …

Polarized By Design: Does The Structure Of Congress Eliminate Moderates?, James Hotham

Honors College

Over the last few decades scholars have noted the new structure of Congress has become much more leader centric, with them holding more power than they had in the past. This has helped to foster polarization within Congress as a body, by making bipartisanship a more difficult process and poses the question: why would a moderate member of Congress choose to pursue a career where their goal and insights are largely discounted by the rest of the body they serve in? In order to determine whether these new limitations on moderates impact their presence this thesis will analyze a number …

A Study On The Effect Of The #Metoo Movement On State Level Policy Making, Claire Shaw

Honors College

This thesis analyzes the effects of social movements, specifically the #MeToo Movement, on state legislation. To do so, this thesis examines the timing and processes of two cases of passed legislation in Missouri and Texas. Though the #MeToo Movement was founded in 2006, the height of the movement in 2017 provided an open policy window in which political actors and entrepreneurs were able to pursue their prepared proposals. In Missouri, the rise of #MeToo inspired political ally Senator Holly Rehder to first publish a personal essay detailing her experience with sexual assault before sponsoring and introducing Senate Bill 775. This …

"I Want You The Feel The Fear That I Feel Every Day": An Analysis Of How Climate Change Affects Youth Political Participation, Kristina Norbury

Honors College

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the connection between climate change and youth political participation. Using data from a large, cross-national survey done by the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, this project analyzed young people’s emotional responses to climate change. This project synthesized and brought together two threads of scholarly literature in order to make claims about how emotional responses to climate change may be influencing youth political engagement. The line of scholarship explores how emotions traditionally influence political behavior. This research indicated that emotions such as anxiety can have a debilitating effect on people and …

The Contributions Of The Gulf Of Maine Council To Regional Climate Resilience, Pamela A. Jordan

Maine Policy Review

This article investigates Canada-US collaboration in support of climate resilience efforts in the Gulf of Maine by focusing on the work of the binational Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC). Despite lacking authority over coastal management policymaking, the GOMC made significant progress between 2004 and 2022 towards achieving its climate resilience goals. Most importantly, GOMC actors, including members of the Climate Network, have helped build capacity for more effective measurement, monitoring, and analysis of climate change impacts in the Gulf of Maine. While its participants share common values and support rigorous climate action and marine conservation measures, …

An Analysis Of The Education System In Turkey: Supervision Policies Between The Years 1980 – 2021, Anıl K. Eranıl, Ali Erkan Barış

Journal of Educational Supervision

This article intends to delineate the policy of the supervision system, which is a sub-system of the Turkish education system, for the years 1980-2021, through policy analysis. A systematic literature review (SLR) analyzed the research findings of 44 studies. The findings of the study were categorized according to four main themes that Eranıl (2021) pinpointed as the critical periods in the history of the Turkish education system. Critical periods were classified as a post-coup period: (1980-1997), compulsory eight-year education period: (1997-2005), constructivist period: (2005-2012), 4 + 4 + 4 education system period: (2012 and later). The results of the research …

"This Winter Is Going To Be Awful": Challenges Facing Maine Domestic Violence Resource Centers Amid Covid-19, Catherine Keely Mcconville

Honors College

Few studies have considered the impact of COVID-19 on the domestic violence workforce in the United States, while none have focused on the state of Maine or the challenges experienced by advocates and organizations as the pandemic becomes endemic. To fill these gaps, this study examines the immediate and enduring impacts of COVID-19 on Maine’s domestic violence workforce using semi-structured interviews analyzed thematically using an inductive coding technique. This study reveals (1) the impact of the pandemic on Maine’s the domestic violence workforce, (2) the ways in which adaptations were made in the provision of services, for better and for …

Searching For A Solution To Political Polarization In The U.S. Through A Feminist Ethics Of Care, Marissa Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

American politics have seen growing polarization in the past few years (Serrano-Contreras et al., 2020; Wojcieszak & Warner, 2020). Polarization is generally defined as “the distance between opposing political views” (Serrano-Contreras et al., 2020, p. 65). With focus on college students, this thesis considers ways to bridge the political divide in the United States and to promote generative engagement with differences across the political spectrum. The specific research questions this study explored were: 1) How do Ethics of Care principles and practices appear in and impact conversations on politically-charged topics among college students? and 2) How does participating in a …

What Women Bring To The Fight: An Analysis Of Female Leadership In U.S. National Security, Alison Tobey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women have held some of the highest-ranking national security positions in the United States, though the overall number of women in leadership positions has remained relatively small until recently. The Biden Administration has achieved gender parity in their national security leadership positions, with over fifty percent of these positions being held by women. Since this is the first time in U.S. history that women have such a significant presence in the defense field, it is important to analyze and understand the changes that can come as a result.

The purpose of this research is to broadly understand the impact that …

Cancel Culture Conundrum, Hannah Marsh

Honors College

The term cancel culture describes a phenomenon in which people are effectively shunned from society for their actions or statements due to others’ dislike of those actions or statements. While this term has become widely used in politics in recent years, many of the reasons people are cancelled have no direct link to politics. However, there are several characteristics, some politically-linked, that make people more apt to engage in cancel culture. Statistics show that the two characteristics which mark people as likely to engage in cancel culture are identifying as a Democrat and being part of the millennial or GenZ …

Peace And Reconciliation Studies (University Of Maine) Records, 1987-2013, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University Of Maine

Finding Aids

The University of Maine's Peace and Reconciliation Studies (formerly known as Peace Studies) was established in the 1987/1988 academic year, with an interdisciplinary, global perspective with the goal to infuse concerns for peace into the campus community and beyond. The program is currently a part of the College of Education and Human Development having formerly been in the Division of Lifelong Learning. The program provided training in conflict resolution, campus mediation, maintained a lending library, and organized Peace Week events and special events on campus.

The record series Digital Photographs of Peace Studies Posters contains photograph images of posters promoting …

Voting At Umaine: An Empirical Study Of Student Turnout Trends And Motivations, Abigail Despres

Honors College

Thomas et al. (2016) estimates that around 10 million currently enrolled college students did not vote in the 2016 presidential election. Unfortunately, this statistic is representative of a national downward trend in youth voter turnout rates where those in the youngest (and largest) voter age bracket are turning out at the lowest rate compared to any other bracket. Previous research on this phenomenon has focused on procedural and institutional barriers like registration, residency requirements, and voter ID laws to describe what physically stands between a prospective young voter and the ballot box. This research looks to study that issue from …

The One-Eyed Man And The Wicked Boar, Iaryna Iasenytska

Honors College

This thesis examines territorial authoritarian threats to the Western world through an examination of historical and contemporary case studies. The historical examples used in this thesis are fromEastern Europe, since it had many chances to engage in international law with the authoritarian state, leading its people to understand the nature of one of the oldest authoritarian states: Russia. The four case studies used are: 1) Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918), 2) Soviet Invasion of Poland (1939-1940), 3) Soviet Occupation of Baltic states (1939-1945), and 4) Russian Annexation of Crimea (2014). Meanwhile, the thesis presents a table of predictions to theorize on …

Domestic And Foreign Policy Priorities Of Maine Voters, Caitlyn Rooms

Honors College

Understanding the political priorities of a population is key to unravelling the ways that people engage in local, state, and national politics. National polling organizations do studies in every election cycle on the domestic priorities of national voters, and every few years on the foreign policy priorities of the American public. These polls help academics and policymakers understand the motivations of the American populace and help to guide the public narrative surrounding contentious issues. Polls like this are, however, rare at the state level. This study aims to fill that gap for the state of Maine, providing state-level data on …

Political Polarization And The Dissemination Of Misinformation: The United States Pandemic Response As A Cautionary Tale, Mary Giglio

Honors College

This thesis discusses the failings of theUnited States response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it has been shaped by the nation’s intense political polarization and the widespread dissemination of misinformation. In this thesis, I critically examine the government’s initial response to the pandemic, including its lack of preparedness and the ineffectiveness of its eventual policies. I also attempt to explain the influence of political polarization on the states, resulting in congressional gridlock, as well as wildly varying policies regarding lockdowns and mask mandates. I connect the increasing prevalence of misinformation today to the historically recent rise of postmodernism, a …