Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Prosecutorial Discretion: District Attorneys, Public Opinion,And The Localized Rule Of Law, Yu-Hsien Sung

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses three fundamental questions regarding the politics of prosecutorial behavior. Specifically, it examines how the selectors of prosecutors influence prosecutorial decision-making under different selection methods, including electionbased systems and appointment-based systems. By using a political responsiveness framework and utilizing empirical strategies, including an experiment and the construction of prosecutor policy position data, this study offers novel insights into the subject. First, I find that voters care about prosecutors’ issue positions and rely on various cues to identify candidates whose policy positions align with their preferences, even in low-information elections. Second, elections show promise as a mechanism for holding …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

Poetry And Possibilities In Contemporary Egypt, Reem Badr

Theses and Dissertations

Egyptian colloquial poetry has historically been conceived of, by practitioners and onlookers alike, as a politically committed, subversive, resistant practice. In this thesis I explore how this poetry, with its complex inheritance, inhabits the realities of post-revolutionary Egypt. Throughout the chapters of this work I trace colloquial poetry in its more traditional forms, as well as in its more novel ones like Egyptian rap/trap, as it grapples with the reduced possibilities in the present. As it reflects and spawns a wider disillusionment with and refusal of politics and claims a reinvention of itself as a private practice, the poetry cannot …

The Little Man With The Big Mouth Stands Up For Wisconsin: George Wallace And The Political And Constitutional Struggles Between Federalism And Equal Protection In Wisconsin Elections From 1964 To 1976, Ben Hubing

Theses and Dissertations

Alabama Governor George Wallace ran for the presidency four times between 1964 and 1976, bringing his candidacy north of the Mason-Dixon Line to Wisconsin. Wallace’s campaign in the Badger State fostered a debate among residents regarding constitutional principles and values. Wallace weaponized federalism and states’ rights, arguing that the federal government should stay out of school segregation, promote law and order, restrict forced busing, and reduce burdensome taxation. White working-class Wisconsinites armed themselves with Wallace’s rhetoric, pushing back on social and political changes that threatened the status quo. Civil rights activists and the black community in Wisconsin armed themselves with …

Dance And Know You Are A Part: The Instrumentality Of Performative Politics And Dance In The Configuration Of Local Social Memory And Afro-Brazilian Identity And Agency In Pelotas, Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil, Triston R. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The arts have been a refuge from perpetual repression and omission, and, a platform for social activism for Afro-descendants in the Americas. In Brazil this is very much the case. With performance serving as a social barometer or a looking glass, dance becomes a source of cultural knowledge, acts as preservative, and negotiates individual mobility within a given context. The Afro-Brazilian dance company, Cia de Dança Daniel Amaro in Pelotas, Brazil grants its members a means of activism and agency to challenge entrenched national narratives and reinterpret local social memory.

Most academic writings about dance or performance in Brazil, focus …

Factors That Push Bangladeshi Media To Exercise Self-Censorship, Abu Taib Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Self-censorship is one of the biggest threats to press freedom. Press freedom, as well as freedom of the expression, is an indicator of a society’s freedom and democracy. If the media cannot act freely, it can impact society’s ability to function as a democracy. Journalists often face pressures from various power structures to engage in self-censorship. While journalistic self-censorship has been examined in a number of different countries, no studies of journalistic self-censorship in Bangladesh have been undertaken or no studies have been undertaken to see what factors influence journalists to exercise self-censorship or to figure out reasons that make …

How Self-Sentiments And Personal Networks Impact Political Polarization, Matthew Facciani

Theses and Dissertations

This project investigates how identities, self-sentiments, and personal network composition impact political polarization. I apply the framework of Affect Control Theory to capture how Democrats and Republicans feel about their political ingroup and outgroups (through evaluation, potency and activity ratings) and evaluate the likelihood of events involving these groups. In my first experiment, I study if self-uncertainty and self-affirmation primes impact political bias. I also apply Affect Control Theory-Self to measure self-sentiment change (self-evaluation, self-potency, and self-activity) from these primes as well. I predict that priming self-uncertainty should increase political bias (due to inflated self-sentiments) and that priming self-affirmation should …

Dynamic Environments And Judicial Power, Monica Lineberger

Theses and Dissertations

The study of judicial independence in comparative environments is an increasingly important endeavor for scholars and policy-makers. Scholars seek to understand how an institution without any degree of enforceable power can leverage its position into an influential member of country politics. Policy-makers assume that a high degree of judicial independence correlates with the rule of law, and consequently, a respect for the outcomes from judicial processes. While in recent history the United States Supreme Court has enjoyed a relatively stable degree of judicial autonomy, courts in other countries are plagued by institutional weakness, attacks from other institutions, or corruption from …

The Prevalence Of Hate Crimes Motivated By Sexual Orientation In Florida After The U.S. Supreme Court Legalization Of Same-Sex Marriages, Shawntozi Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

Research on the dynamics of violence has revealed that crimes involving a prejudicial motive often occur in close temporal proximity to a galvanizing event such as elections, terrorist attacks, or unprecedented Supreme Court decisions. Given the particularly contested nature of marriage policy, it is not inconceivable that same-sex marriage recognition might incite retaliatory violence. Same-sex couples were granted the right to marry by the United States Supreme Court in June of 2015. By June 2016, Orlando, Florida experienced the “deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ people in U.S. history,” after a mass shooting at Pulse nightclub resulted in the death …

Gender-Exclusive Language: Women’S Perception Of Linguistic Ostracism, Voice, And Power In Politics, Michelle Roxanne Grzybowski

Theses and Dissertations

Gender-exclusive language is a type of subtly sexist language that makes reference to a single gender group thereby excluding other gender groups (Stout & Dasgupta, 2011). Two studies examined how the use of gender-exclusive language impacts the experiences of women who were elected members of county boards. Specifically, the studies surveyed county board members in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin to determine whether the naturally occurring variation between the use of gender-exclusive language (e.g., using chairman to indicate both men and women) or gender-neutral language (e.g., chair or chairperson) was related to perceptions of ostracism and a sense of …

Ground Truthing: The Politics And Culture Of Soil And Water Conservation In Iowa Agriculture, Brianna Farber

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the complex relationships between people, technologies, and ecologies involved in natural resource conservation and industrial agriculture in Iowa. Specifically I focus on the various efforts to address water pollution affected primarily by agriculture in the state. Using a theoretical framework informed by political ecology, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and posthumanist theory, I draw on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork to discuss what makes conservation culturally salient and practically difficult to achieve. This difficulty around conservation arises in part from the tensions between what I describe as the corn assemblage and the prairie assemblage. I identify these …

Rules Of The House: Strategy, Tactic, And Violence In One World By Night, World Of Darkness, Live-Action Role-Play Games, Laya Liebeseller

Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis focuses on governance of institutionalized play in three World of Darkness live-action role-play (larp) games (ethnographic field work conducted between May and August of 2016), whose players have willingly allowed the international organization of One World by Night – an organization made up of their peers – to unify them in such a way as to create connection, community, and shared story across the world. I analyze four locii within these games (the book, the organization, the storyteller, and the player) using Michel de Certeau’s, The Practice of Everyday Life, translated by Steven Rendall, specifically focusing on …

Long-Term Effects Of Gender Representation Quotas On Political Interest Within Latin America, Lismer E. Ovalle

Theses and Dissertations

This work measures the long-term effects of gender representation quotas within Latin American countries on various measures of political interest. Measuring effects on 18 countries provides a quasi-panel study with control using non-quota countries. Quotas have positive effects on confidence in government but negative effects on political interest.

The Intersection Of Politics And Sports, Alexander Lawrence Curry

Theses and Dissertations

Candidates for public office expend a tremendous amount of time, energy, and financial resources in the hopes of connecting with voters. And because voters differ in their levels of political involvement, candidates need to utilize various avenues to make these connections with the electorate. One way that candidates convey their personal values and characteristics is by showcasing themselves as being involved in and knowledgeable about sports. This thesis utilized an experimental design to analyze whether a candidate's involvement in sports actually has an impact on how voters evaluate the candidate's image. Results indicated that voters' gender, as well as their …

Opportunities And Challenges Of Citywide Main Street Programs: Examining The Urban Environment, Coordinating Structures And Political Realities In The Application Of The Four Point Approach, Ryan Rinn

Theses and Dissertations

The Main Street Four Point Approach to commercial revitalization has been applied successfully in thousands of communities across the U.S. Starting in 1995, citywide coordinated programs began applying the balanced points of organization, design, economic restructuring and promotion to urban environments. This thesis focuses on the opportunities and challenges present in five citywide Main Street programs in Boston, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Orlando and Portland through quantitative inquiry and interviews with program administrators. This thesis discusses density, capacity, volunteerism, vernacular culture, and politics as emergent themes of the urban application of the Main Street Approach and recommends expanding the breadth of …

When The Publisher Is A Politician; A Case Study Of The Idaho Falls Post Register's Coverage Of The 2002 Idaho Gubernatorial Campaign, Kristoffer D. Boyle

Theses and Dissertations

In March 2002, Idaho Falls Post Register owner/publisher Jerry Brady announced his intent to run as the Democratic challenger in the Idaho gubernatorial race. His decision left the newspaper and its editorial staff scrambling for an appropriate way to objectively cover the state's most prominent race involving the man who signed the checks. In an effort to meet this expectation, the newspaper established a detailed plan, which included Brady moving away from the newspaper's operations, both physically and editorially. Additionally, the Post Register brought in an outside media professional to monitor its coverage of the race and hosted several meetings …

"Woman Arise!": Political Work In The Writings Of Lu Dalton, Sheree Maxwell Bench

Theses and Dissertations

In 1872, Mormon plural wife, educator, and suffragist Lucinda Lee Dalton began writing fiery political essays and insightful poetry for the Woman's Exponent from her small community in southern Utah. Through her writings Dalton endeavors to shape the opinions of Exponent readers by working within public discourse toward the goal of equality for women. At times both optimistic and troubled, she uses the rhetorical strategies of humor, irony, reason, identification, and persuasion to educate men and women on disparities and to encourage women to participate actively in their own emancipation. She often engages in a dialogical process with other writers …

The Mormon Influence On The Political Geography Of The West, Michael Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

The vast colonization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, in the nineteenth century had a profund impact on the populating, culture, economy, and environment of much of the American West. This thesis examines the political geographic influence of the Mormons in the West and, more specifically, in the lands ceded by Mexico to the United States in 1848. This land comprises all or portions of the following states: California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The original organization of the Mexican Cession at the hands of Congress in 1850 was drastically influenced by …

Tacit Cooperation Between Enemies: Two Case Studies, Kristina Handy

Theses and Dissertations

This research details a point of reference to understand two case studies of cooperation that developed among lower-level, or non policy-making bureaucrats during times of conflict or war. Using components of game theory, I propose that when an international conflictual relationship occurs that resembles an iterated Prisoners' Dilemma, and that meets certain conditions, tacit cooperation can emerge. Tacit cooperation consists of illicit or implied cooperation that is not sanctioned at the national policy level.

In this research I develop a framework of tacit cooperation, relying heavily upon Robert Axelrod's theory of evolutionary cooperation. With the framework in place, I then …

Precinct Government In Salt Lake County, Utah 1852-1904, Steven K. Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis traces the origin, development, and decline, from 1852 to 1904, of Salt Lake County's judicial precincts. A precinct functioned as the basic subdivision of county government. Its boundaries were generally coterminous with those of local communities. It was established to allow for a degree of local control by the people.
Chapter two reveals that precinct justices experienced over time a marked decline in socio-political prominence. This is largely due to legislative statutes that decreased their jurisdictional powers. Chapter three examines the evolution of precinct boundaries. It is demonstrated that geographic distribution of individuals played a major role in …

Radicals And Immigrants: Senator William H. King's Response To Nativism, 1917-1924, Craig D. Galli

Theses and Dissertations

When Senator William Henry King took office in 1917, Utah and the nation were apprehensive about the presence of large numbers of foreign born aliens and citizens. Utah's King joined the wartime hysteria and promoted many nativistic policies directed against the foreign born population. During the post-war Red Scare he continued his crusade, concentrating on the suppression of Bolsheviks and the Industrial Workers of the World.

But when Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924--a nativistic law designed to curtail the immigration of southern and eastern Europeans--King was the bill's only opponent from the West or South. Since anti-radicalism and …

Storm Over The Summit: A Political History Of Summit County To 1882, Rodney L. Peck

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain a more complete understanding of Mormon politics in territorial Utah by studying the growth and development of the political process in Summit County to 1882.

The study suggests that the county was governed by a relatively small but growing group of politically minded men, many of whom also ecclesiastical trust or who were among the pioneers of the area. The study also suggests that the Mormon teaching of unity in all things and fair representation among county offices from the county's major population centers were the governing principles of Mormon political action …

Sex, Sickness And Statehood: The Influence Of Victorian Medical Opinion On Self-Government In Utah, E. Victoria Grover-Swank

Theses and Dissertations

In the struggle for self-government which occupied the Mormon population of Utah between their entry into the Great Basin in 1847 and statehood in 1896, the issue of polygamy dominated public discussion. The non-Mormon population of the United States generally objected to the practice of polygamy, in large part because of Victorian attitudes towards sexual activity and the presumed physical and mental results of violating Victorian sexual norms. It was assumed by most Americans that polygamy, by violating those norms, caused real physical damage to the Latter-day Saints in Utah; damage that disqualified them from holding full and equal political …

Mccarthyism In Utah, Richard Swanson

Theses and Dissertations

The exaggerated anti-Communist crusade of Senator Joseph McCarthy allegedly gained the support of a majority of Americans during the early 1950's. It is historically important and interesting to question that supposition by considering the character of McCarthy's following in each state. This study shows that in Utah sympathy for the second Red Scare abounded and evidences of McCarthyism were readily apparent.

Three indicators illustrate Utah's support for the Wisconsin senator. The defeat of Elbert Thomas in 1950 dramatically epitomizes the successful use of incriminating allegations effectively employed by McCarthy. The election, or re-election, of McCarthy supporters and the defeat of …

The Development Of Municipal Government In The Territory Of Utah, Alvin Charles Koritz

Theses and Dissertations

In 1846 the Mormons were expelled westward from Nauvoo, Illinois. Beyond the borders of the United States, the Mormon Church absorbed the civil functions of municipal government, a pattern which continued in the Great Basin and received the sanction of state authority in 1849 under Deseret.

As the political arm of the "Kingdom of God," the Council of Fifty influenced local political development as its members simultaneously occupied elective offices in both the territorial legislature and municipal government.

During the first decade as a territory, Utah's city charters generally followed the pattern established by Nauvoo in 1840. However, in the …

A Political Biography Of George Henry Dern, Robert W. Wells Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will review the political life of George H. Dern emphasizing the utah period. The last chapter will briefly describe Dern's activities after the completion of his second term as governor of Utah in 1932.

The School Of The Prophets: Its Development And Influence In Utah Territory, John R. Patrick

Theses and Dissertations

Four separate and distinct Schools of the Prophets were organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith Jr. organized the first school in the spring of 1833, and it functioned periodically until 1837. Brigham Young organized the second school in December 1867, as a part of the University of the State of Deseret. It functioned until August of 1872 when Brigham Young disbanded it because members failed to adhere to its rules. Three months later he reorganized on a limited basis a third school in Salt Lake City. This school existed until the summer of 1874 …

The Elections Of 1900 In Utah, R. Gary Penrod

Theses and Dissertations

The 1900 elections have been little touched in historical studies of Utah. However 1900 was a year of special interest and deserves an examination. In that year a Special Election was held, all state offices were up for renewal and a Presidential Election took place.

The special election was necessary because B. H. Roberts had been denied his seat in the United States Congress. Roberts was excluded because he was a polygamist. The Roberts case threatened to revive gentile versus Mormon antipathies in Utah. However, the most puzzling aspect of the 1900 elections is connected with the presidential vote. In …

George Romney And The Michigan Gubernatorial Compaign - 1962, Richard C. Fuller

Theses and Dissertations

Politics in Michigan had been on a low plane for a number of years. The troubles were many and their roots could be found deep in the structure of the state's government.

In April of 1959, the sagging governmental structure gave way to the extent that the state was unable to meet its payroll. The result was the much publicized "Payless Pay Day" which attracted national and international interest.

Seeing that their elected officials were seemingly powerless to correct even the basic flaws in Michigan's government, many of the state's leading business and industrial leaders decided to apply their considerable …

The 1912 Presidential Election In Utah, C. Austin Wahlquist

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine why, in the light of local conditions and problems, Utah chose to support President Taft. Why Did Utah prefer the conservative policies of this nationally unpopular figure, while the rest of the nation favored the progressivism of Wilson or the progressivism of Roosevelt? What were the national issues which affected Utah? Who exercised political control in the state? What was the party alignment? How important was newspaper opinion? To what extent was personal friendship for Taft, on the part of local Republican leaders, a factor? Did a recent outbreak of Mormon-non-Mormon friction …