Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Value Of Your Life By The Numbers Crowdfunded Medical Debt, Grayson Highsmith

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

For centuries, components of culture from Pacific Island States have been commodified in various forms of media within the cultural tourism industry. In recent years, though these media representations have shifted away from encouraging direct colonial exploitation, cultural tourism efforts still pose complicated questions about the amount of agency Polynesian individuals have how they are represented. While tourism is a significant sector of the economy in Pacific Islands Countries (PICs), it’s important to consider whether or not Polynesian people have the economic and social freedoms to influence how they share their culture rather than having it be offered up for …

Tourism And Cultural Commodification In The Polynesian Island-State Economies, Sowmya Kannan

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

For centuries, components of culture from Pacific Island States have been commodified in various forms of media within the cultural tourism industry. In recent years, though these media representations have shifted away from encouraging direct colonial exploitation, cultural tourism efforts still pose complicated questions about the amount of agency Polynesian individuals have how they are represented. While tourism is a significant sector of the economy in Pacific Islands Countries (PICs), it’s important to consider whether or not Polynesian people have the economic and social freedoms to influence how they share their culture rather than having it be offered up for …

Political Bias In Large Language Models, Lucas Gover

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Recent research has found that large language models consistently capture and replicate undesirable societal biases relating to race, religion, and gender. However, political bias is not well explored. This study investigates the political bias present in the state-of-the-art large language model GPT-3. To investigate political bias, I apply Natural Language Processing techniques to develop a political sentiment analysis model. Using this model, I analyze the ideological bias present in political essays written by GPT-3, finding that GPT-3 has a moderate left-leaning bias and tends to replicate the ideological bias of prompt text.

The Panamanian Puzzle Successful Democratization And Foreign-Imposed Regime Change, Paige Saller

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Panama represents one of the only modern success stories of foreign-imposed regime change (FIRC) following Operation Just Cause, a military intervention led by the United States to remove Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Literature on foreign military interventions as a whole traditionally suggests that FIRC is not effective long-term in countries trying to democratize. Panama’s democratization therefore represents a puzzle in why it has succeeded where so many others failed. This puzzle is compounded by the fact that Panama’s transition has not received much attention from political scientists despite Latin America generally being of interest to FIRC scholars. This paper posits …

Balancing Populations Of Electoral Districts, Ethan Stern-Ellis

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

No abstract provided.

The Dehumanizing Gaze: Race In The Context Of Academic Tourism, Leona Derango

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

No abstract provided.

Who Sent The Devil Down To Georgia? An Analysis Of The Causes Of The Russo-Georgian War Of 2008 And Its Effects On Georgian Democracy, Kris Bohnenstiehl

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

No abstract provided.

The Commons: Volume 3, Issue 1, Kris Bohnenstiehl, Leona Derango, Ethan Stern-Ellis

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Table of Contents

• Letter From the Editors
  LILA BERNARDIN AND HANNAH WILLIAMS
• Who Sent the Devil Down to Georgia?
  KRIS BOHNENSTIEHL
• The Dehumanizing Gaze: Race in the Context of Academic Tourism
  LEONA DERANGO
• Balancing Populations of Electoral Districts
  ETHAN STERN-ELLIS

Populists In International Relations, Melanie Siacotos

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Abstract

Electoral System Failure In The 2017 French Elections, Eli Schwanitz

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Abstract

Inception, Legitimization, And Preservation Of Competitive Authoritarian Regimes In Turkey, Zachary Andrews

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Abstract

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal Of Politics, Vol. 1, Issue 2

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

No abstract provided.

Nuclear Deterrence And Low-Yield Nuclear Weapons In Russia And The United States, Anneke R. Taylor

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

This essay examines the impact of new stockpiles of low-yield nuclear weapons in various countries (specifically Russia and the United States) on the current international balance of peace, which is commonly held to be based on mutually assured destruction due to major powers' possession of nuclear weapons.

It is argued that while low-yield weapons might, in certain circumstances, contribute to nuclear deterrence, they introduce far too many destabilizing issues for any additional level of deterrence to be worth the risk. The possibility of miscalculations due to the frequent dual-use of launch systems for both high and low yield weapons and …

Comprehensive Climate Change Policy: Is It Possible In The United States?, Ethan Stern-Ellis

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

The purpose of this paper is to explore what the United States has achieved with regards to climate policy, present the limitations it has encountered that have prevented it from creating comprehensive policy, and to explain why the future of climate change policy is highly uncertain. It is found that while there have been significant gains, four key limitations including a rise in conservative ideology, international noncooperation from the United States, poor use of adversarial legalism, and poor timing, have been sufficient in preventing the United States from creating comprehensive climate change policy. This paper concludes with a look to …

Disengaged And Disempowered: How Depoliticization Prevents Two-Party Competition In Japan, Cooper Price

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan for nearly the entirety of its postwar history. After a short period of opposition control (2009-2012), the LDP has spent the past eight years reestablishing the dominant-party system through which it has monopolized Japanese politics since the 1950s. This article contends that the LDP’s resilience is bolstered by two important aspects of Japanese civil society: the bureaucracy’s insulation from democratic accountability, and a growing public trend of disengagement with the political process. I explain both of these tendencies through the theoretical lens of depoliticization. Flinders and Wood identify “depoliticization” as a shift …

Pop Rocks And Persistence: Finding The Women In U.S. Foreign Policy And National Security, Lily Hoak

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

One hundred years after the ratification of the 19^th amendment, women in the United States continue to face societal and institutionalized biases that can undermine the success of women everywhere. This is especially true when it comes to leadership in the U.S. government. And while the number of women serving in state and federal legislatures has increased, the number of women leaders in the foreign policy and national security establishment continues to be lacking. As I progressed in my International Relations degree, it became apparent that I was most frequently learning about men, from men, and then I asked: …

It’S Not Just About Civility: How Procedural Fairness And Social Capital Can Cure Congressional Gridlock, Jolie Libert

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Undeniably, our country has reached a moment of heightened partisan competition. Political polarization, negative partisanship, the disappearance of institutionalism, and the tribal nature of our two-party system all point to the dysfunction that Congress currently experiences. Some have called for a restoration of civility in both political rhetoric and actions, yet civility might just be the ultimate lost cause in Washington. Congressional gridlock cannot be cured with civility as niceness. Looking at how Jim Wright (D) and Newt Gingrich (R) conducted their political business, each while Speaker of the House, serve as case studies that provide an understanding of how …

Civil-Military Relations In Russia, Jeremy Lennon

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

This policy-oriented work evaluates Russian civil-military relations with a focus on their development under Vladimir Putin. This essay examines how key events and actors have shaped civil-military relations in the context of overarching structural limitations on reform related to economic performance, institutionalized knowledge and geopolitical competition. The disparity between the military’s preferred anti-Western security policy, Russia’s economic state, and the goals of civil politicians led to the dereliction of the Russian military throughout the 1990s and early-2000s. Only with Vladimir Putin’s consolidation of political power, were these three factors slowly brought into greater alignment, thus allowing for meaningful reform of …

Tattoos In East Asia: Conforming To Individualism, Morgan Macfarlane

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Although Japan, South Korea, and China share a similar history of tattoo criminality spanning thousands of years, in modern times they all hold different legal policies concerning the practice of tattooing. South Korea has the strictest laws, requiring a medical doctorate to legally tattoo, while Japan has only recently reaffirmed the legality of the practice outside of health professionals. China, on the other hand, has few restrictions on body art. This paper explores this interesting difference via observational fieldwork in the major cities of Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Beijing as well as interviews with local people within and outside the …

Modern Military Weaponry And (Un)Sustainable Treatment Of The Environment, Melanie Siacotos

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

An often ignored aspect of environmental degradation in the modern age is military pollution. How has the military impacted environmental health over time, from ancient Rome to the Marshall Islands? This paper compares and contrasts types of environmental degradation, like chemical warfare and deforestation, and attempts to lay out the steep increase in their negative impact following industrialization in the west entering into the 20th century. The paper concludes that a different understanding of human relationship with the earth is necessary to combat environmental degradation going forward.

Analyzing Threat: Organized Extremist Groups Vs. Lone Wolf Terrorists In The Context Of Islamist Extremism, Adeline W. Toevs

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

Lone wolf terrorism lends itself to the execution of large numbers of people and the spread of extremist ideology, but they pose less of a threat to Western nations than organized extremist groups. Lone attacks require less strategy and funding, fewer resources, are more difficult to target with state counterterrorism campaigns, and can penetrate ‘high security’ states more effectively than groups, so the attacks are more likely to succeed. Additionally, lone actors are highly susceptible to propaganda and messaging from extremist groups, and they are often radicalized online, making them difficult to track. Conversely, when organized extremist groups do manage …