Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

New York: An Analysis Of Current Changes In Party Support, Kerianne E. Kane

Senior Honors Projects

This paper is an analysis of the recent changes in party support throughout the state of New York. Based on research by James Gimpel and Jason Schuknecht in their 2004 book “Patchwork Nation,” the focus is on determining which specific factors have been contributing to the shifts in support for the two major parties in key regions of the state. In particular, migration and immigration as well as demographic changes within New York’s electorate are considered. More importantly, economic changes within the state and the effects they have had on party support are examined as well. My research is based …

Not Just Another Tea Party, Nicole Kramer

Senior Honors Projects

Not Just Another Tea Party

Nicole Kramer

Faculty Sponsor: Brian Krueger , Political Science

At times throughout U.S. history, there have been factions within political parties that do not just fade away or blend into the dominant paradigm, but survive and fundamentally alter the party. However, what qualifies a movement as a faction and not just another political idea that has gained some popularity, and what allows a faction to actually make a significant impact?

I began my research when I became curious and started looking at the Tea Party movement. As part of my study I wanted to learn …

The Importance Of Undecideds In The Evolution Vs. Creationism Debate, Seth Steinman

Senior Honors Projects

As a scientific theory, evolution has as much empirical support for its core assertions as the heliocentric universe theory or the belief that the Earth is round. Despite a unanimous consensus in the scientific community about evolution’s validity, the General Social Survey (GSS) consistently reports that 85 percent of Americans are either undecided or do not believe in evolution.

This divide between evolutionists, led by scientists, and creationists, led by religious leaders, has enormous scientific and political implications, which include funding for basic scientific research, acting to stop global warming, and what schools should be teaching our children.

The most …

Democratic Nationalistic Privilege And The Exclusion Of Europe's "Gypsy", Eli E. Roth

Senior Honors Projects

Europe is the world’s best example of a group of countries offering similar levels of political freedom, tolerance, and economic prosperity and security. Following the fall of Communism, Europe began to outpace the rest of the planet on aggregated indicators of development, and, according to Freedomhouse.org, only two of the world’s forty seven “not free” countries, Belarus and Russia, can be found on this continent. The Roma, frequently mislabeled as “Gypsies,” are among the few troubled populations residing in Europe. In the comprehensive 2006 Final Report on the Human Rights Situation of the Roma in Europe, one Romani man describes …

Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

Rising Navies And New World Order, Victoria S. Daigle

Senior Honors Projects

Long-term economic and military trends indicate that a shift in the current world order is imminent between the United States and China. The United States is accustomed to its current position as the leading naval power but this position is increasingly being threatened by emerging Chinese naval power. Despite their best efforts, the United States has not been able to ease the threat of China’s naval development. The public and many U.S. policymakers identify China as a major threat to U.S. hegemony and fear China’s growing power will ultimately make the United States weaker. In this paper, I propose that …

Marcuse On The Two Dimensions Of Advanced Industrial Society And The Significance Of His Thought Today, Michael C. Hartley Mr.

Senior Honors Projects

Herbert Marcuse was a philosopher and social theorist who wrote extensively about the dynamics of social change in the technologically advanced societies of the Western world. Motivated by the desire to see humanity develop societies that would allow for individuals to live a free and happy existence, Marcuse critiqued the existing societies of his time. Although Marcuse’s main work, One-Dimensional Man, is over forty years old, it can continue to offer us new insights today. I believe that Marcuse’s thought offers a powerful framework for analyzing our contemporary society. In this project I distill this framework, what could be …