Political Science Commons^™

The Political Personality Of U.S. President Barack Obama, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of U.S. president Barack Obama, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Information concerning Obama was collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Obama’s primary personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/confident …

Balancing, Generic Polls And Midterm Congressional Elections, Joseph Bafumi, Robert S. Erikson, Christopher Wlezien

Dartmouth Scholarship

One mystery of U.S. politics is why the president’s party regularly loses congressional seats at midterm. Although presidential coattails and their withdrawal provide a partial explanation, coattails cannot account for the fact that the presidential party typically performs worse than normal at midterm. This paper addresses the midterm vote separate from the presidential year vote, with evidence from generic congressional polls conducted during midterm election years. Polls early in the midterm year project a normal vote result in November. But as the campaign progresses, vote preferences almost always move toward the out party. This shift is not a negative referendum …

Presidential Elections, Southwest Minnesota State University

Elections/Voting

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Southwest Minnesota State University.

"American Dream" Or Global Nightmare?, Melanie E. L. Bush

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

In the United States we are witnessing a period of heightened contestation about the parameters of nationalism, patriotism, and loyalty. The oft-heard phrase "Support the Troops" now signifies the desire both to send more soldiers to war and to bring home those already in combat. This "nation of immigrants" has spawned a new generation of "minute-men" to defend national borders while mainstream discourse touts the benefits of "diversity." Dreams of upward mobility present for some during the mid-20th century seem now hazy at best as the proportional income of those at top grows while the rest of the population increasingly …

Spot Off: The Gao Takes On The Tsa’S Behavior Detection Program, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recently Issued Efforts to Validate TSA’s Passenger Screening Behavior Detection Program Underway, but Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Validation and Address Operational Problems (May 2010, GAO-10-763). This IBPP article will describe and comment on the main GAO findings and additional data on which the findings are based. The article will end with some basic challenges to behavior detection as a useful security measure.

Letter: Edna Saffy; Phyllis B. Andruskiewicz, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Letter from Dr. Saffy regarding the Jacksonville’s Women of Influence” project. Date: May 13, 2010.

Beyond Racial Precedents: Loving V. Virginia As An Appropriate Legal Model And Strategy For Same-Sex Marriage Litigation, Michael J. Csere

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis explores how LGBT marriage activists and lawyers have employed a racial interpretation of due process and equal protection in recent same-sex marriage litigation. Special attention is paid to the Supreme Court's opinion in Loving v. Virginia, the landmark case that declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. By exploring the use of racial precedent in same-sex marriage litigation and its treatment in state court cases, this thesis critiques the racial interpretation of due process and equal protection that became the basis for LGBT marriage briefs and litigation, and attempts to answer the question of whether a racial interpretation of due process …

Executive Power And The People: Does The President Care What You Think?, James Ringold

Honors Scholar Theses

I sought to examine the relationship between public approval of the president and his subsequent behavior. Specifically, I looked at the relationship between public approval and signing statement usage along with their usage following the 2006 outcry against President Bush's use of them.

Interest Groups And The 2008 Elections, Justin Roller

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Think Outside The Cell: Are Binding Detention Standards The Most Effective Strategy To Prevent Abuses Of Detained Illegal Aliens?, Federico D. Burlon

Political Science Honors Projects

In the last twenty years the U.S. government has increasingly utilized detention to control illegal immigration. This practice has become controversial because it has caused numerous in-custody abuses and deaths of immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees and even citizens. Immigrant rights advocates have called for the passage of binding detention standards to prevent in-custody abuses. This thesis’s policy analysis reveals, however, that while they may finesse the practice of immigration detention, such binding standards would be ineffective in protecting immigrants’ rights. Instead this policy analysis calls for and explains the feasibility of discontinuing the practice of mass immigrant detention.

Global Agricultural Price Supports: The Political And Economic Forces That Drive Unsustainable Agricultural Protectionism Policy, John Francis Hays

Dissertations

Agricultural tariffs and price supports are the last bastion of US and European protectionism. While all other areas of commerce have embraced change and welcomed open-market international commerce, agriculture has remained the lone holdout.

The small farmers for whom these support programs were designed no longer exist. Yet governments appropriate billions of dollars annually for the continued support of these outdated programs.

The fact that these governmental agencies resist change, even in an age of economic crises, record national debt, and one of the highest negative trade balances in history, is testimony to American civic indifference.

Public apathy precludes timely …

Human Rights Pragmatism Under Obama, Sonia Cardenas

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Bypassing realists and idealists, President Obama has staked out a boldly pragmatic approach to human rights. Critics depict the policy shift as “the downfall of human rights” and a set of “empty promises.” The problem is not with Obama’s embrace of pragmatism, or his rejection of ideology, to advance human rights. The problem is in the emphasis: human rights pragmatism should not privilege external inducements over vital on-the-ground domestic realities.

The Televised Presidential Debate: Decreasing Effectiveness And The Impact Of The New Media Spin In The Fourth Age, Marcus Stevens

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This Capstone Project focuses on the entire history of televised presidential debates in America. Beginning with the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 and ending with the Obama-McCain debates of 2008, I examine and analyze academic books, articles and data in order to answer several questions: Did the American public continue to tune in to televised debate for information throughout the years? Have the debates lost their ability to maintain interest, change or affect electoral outcomes, or help inform the masses of the actual policies and promises of the candidates? Have the advances in technology and media had any effect on these …

Changing Constituencies And International Trade: The Role Of Organized Labor On The Trade Platform Of The Democratic Party, Chad Ivan Brooker

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract

Problem:

There has been much talk over the past 50 years of the role of American labor in a changing American industrial market. As the world has become increasingly connected, American workers who tout high levels of labor rights, high wages, and safe working conditions have been hard pressed to compete with emerging economies that often share little of these same principles or legal decrees.

The debate over American competitiveness in the world has been fought on the picket lines, on the streets, in back rooms and most importantly in the stolid, white, columned halls of Congress. While liberalized …

Religion And Regionalism: Congregants, Culture And City-County Consolidation In Louisville, Kentucky, Joshua D. Ambrosius

Political Science Faculty Publications

Literature on religious involvement in public affairs typically examines the national scene, particularly public opinion and political behavior in presidential elections. Few scholars examine religious actors in urban politics and policymaking. Those who do study local politics emphasize morality policy and ignore issues of metropolitan governance and institutional design, central concerns of the urban politics field. This dissertation fills that gap by studying Louisville, Kentucky, site of the first large-scale city-county consolidation since 1969. I ask: does religion affect how people vote in a consolidation referendum and shape their opinions about merged government? I employ a survey instrument (N=807), collected …

Partisan Defection And Change In The 2008 Us Presidential Election, Herbert F. Weisberg, Christopher J. Devine

Political Science Faculty Publications

Party identification remained an important determinant of vote choice in the 2008 election. Indeed, the extent to which people voted according to their partisanship remained as exceptionally high as it had been in the 2004 election. The Democrats led in partisanship, with a greater lead than in 2004. The ANES four‐wave panel survey shows that some change occurred in the Democratic direction during 2008. The Democrats gained among most population groups, with the exception of older citizens. Obama's victory margin was due to his carrying pure independents and the growth in strong Democrats as opposed to strong Republicans. Both candidates …

The Supreme Court That Stole…Christmas? Measuring The Fallout From Lynch And Allegheny: A Critique Of The Establishment Clause And Religious Displays, Deidre E. Kalenderian

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Lynch v. Donnelly in 1984 and County of Allegheny v. ACLU in 1989, the only holiday themed religious display cases decided by the Court on the grounds on Establishment Clause violations, demonstrate the inadequacies of the Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence. The precedent set out by the Supreme Court in Lynch v. Donnelly and Allegheny v. ACLU compromise lower courts’ decision making process. Discrepancy in methods, results, and opinions threatens the credibility of the Court. This not only confuses the idea of religious freedom, but it also threatens its very core.

Lynch and Allegheny were intended to clarify Establishment Clause jurisprudence …

An Analysis Of Sources In Journalism On The Supreme Court, Dione Garlick

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The United States Supreme Court bUilding is intimidating, to say the least. The massive structure rises four stories above the ground and the three million dollars worth of white marble shines starkly against the blue sky.l The inscription "EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW" runs horizontally across the top of the impressive structure. This beautiful bUilding is part of the imagery associated with the Supreme Court. Along with black robes and gavels, the Supreme Court has carefully crafted the images that are connected with the justices and the Court.

Unlike the leaders ofthe legislative and executive branches, the justices of the Supreme …

May Roundtable: The Downfall Of Human Rights? Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Downfall of Human Rights” by Joshua Kurlantzick. Newsweek. February 19, 2010.

A Positive View Of The Trajectory Of The Human Rights Movement, David Akerson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 1988, during the waning days of apartheid in South Africa, I was a young American lawyer working for South African Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria. On one occasion, I accompanied some of my African colleagues to a conference, the purpose of which was to begin visualizing post-apartheid South Africa. While the apartheid regime was still in power, it was clearly in hasty retreat, and it was equally clear that its days were numbered. The African majority would soon be taking over the reigns of power, and they were excited to begin visualizing what freedom and human rights might …

Hope, Despair, And Human Rights, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Joshua Kurlantzick's “The Downfall of Human Rights” in Newsweek makes for a sobering read. The major Western states, he argues, are no longer interested in the promotion of human rights, but are instead focused on rebuilding themselves after the global recession. Kurlantzick notes further that the Obama administration avoids strong criticism of China, Russia, and other human rights violators because of its desire to demarcate itself from the previous administration's moralizing democracy promotion. To add to Kurlantzick's case for the West's lack of concern about human rights, one could cite the recent and blatantly human rights-violating anti-terror laws of several …

Premature Judgment, Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Just as Mark Twain said in 1897, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” many commentators have prematurely reported the death of human rights. For example, in 1999, in The Theory and Reality of the Protection of International Human Rights , J. Shand Watson sees human rights as a “mere fiction” in light of a century of state-sponsored killing. One year later, Costas Douzinas, through an appeal to history, philosophy, and psychoanalysis proclaimed the “end of human rights.” It is thus no surprise that the article by Joshua Kurlantzick is yet another attempt to warn us that human rights …

Useful Government Information Resources For Public Librarians, Bert Chapman

Libraries Research Publications

Provides a descriptive overview of selected government information resources and the nationwide Government Information Online digital reference chat service for public librarians.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 85, No. 49, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. Articles:

• Wilson, Laurel. Tuition Hike Limited to 5 Percent
• Wilson, Laurel. Halftime Adjustments: Gary Ransdell Reflects as Administrative Changes Bring Transition
• Harris, Shakia. Regents Approve New Programs – Art History, Asian Religions & Cultures, Organizational Leadership, Water Resource Management
• Duvall, Tessa. Community Colleges Pledge to Improve Graduation Rates – Kentucky Community & Technical College System, KCTCS
• Kasnic, Dave. A Thousand Words – Nell Ferguson, Jamboree Barn, Rosine, Kentucky, Bluegrass
• Duvall, Tessa. Land Sale Approved for Greek Village – Regents, Planning, Design & Construction, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu
• Simpson, …

The Politics Of Immigration: A Representation Of The Unconscious Mind, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the concept of an illegal immigrant from different psychological perspectives.

Cia And The Cold War Era, Mary E. Byers

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency and its role in the Cold War. Great detail highlights the timeliness of the CIA’s creation and dynamic role over the years that followed its founding. For half a century, attempts to understand the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dominated the CIA’s agenda. Thus, careful study of this era is important to understanding the progression of intelligence within the United States. The avenue of research for this thesis was a collaboration of published books, online journals, credible websites, and personal interviews. The development of the …

To Think Nuclear, To Go Nuclear, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The article discusses three of the many psychological problematics about nuclear weapons, weapons employment, and war underlying the language of policies, programs, plans, treaties, and one’s support or rejection of them.

A Solution Looking For A Problem: Testimony Before The 2010 Maryland General Assembly On Senate Bill 570/House Bill 986: Campaign Materials – Stockholder Approval, Larry S. Gibson

Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission declared unconstitutional under the First Amendment right to freedom of speech federal statutory limitations on corporate political expenditures. Before Citizens United, Maryland was already among the 26 states that permitted corporations to make direct political contributions and to make independent political expenditures. Consequently, Citizens United did not change Maryland election law and practice. The Maryland General Assembly has steadfastly resisted efforts to change the Maryland approach. Over the past several years, the General Assembly has repeatedly rejected bills that would have banned political contributions by business entities. Many in …

Presidential Embodiment Of Soft Power: The Missing Element Of The Current Theory Of Soft Power, Ashley Lauer

Theses & Honors Papers

As a sharp contrast to George Bush, Barack Obama, during his campaign and his first months in office, has received international acclaim and acceptance around the world. Even the vast majority of Europeans, who openly opposed and disliked George Bush, have welcomed Obama enthusiastically. He was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2009. Within the first year of his presidential tenure, Barack Obama already appears to have gained back more soft power than George Bush ever had.

The Impact Of Short Term Economic Data On The Perception Of Public Officials: Analysis Of The 2008 Economic Crisis And The American Presidential Election, James A. Foster

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.