Political Science Commons^™

The Gatekeepers, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Gatekeepers (2013) directed by Dror Moreh.

Futrell, Roger (Sc 2665), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2665. Bound typescript of a reminiscence of Roger Futrell about his invitation and visit to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy in October, 1961.

Blandford, Donald J., B. 1938 (Sc 877), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 877. Letters written by Donald J. Blandford, Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, to Representative Richard A. Sanders, Jr., Smiths Grove, Kentucky, during the federal investigation (known as Operation Boptrot) of Kentucky House members and staff.

Stone, Amy Michelle (Hodgkins), B. 1972 (Sc 836), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 836. Research paper written by Amy M. Hodgkins Stone entitled “The Assassination of President Kennedy As Witnessed by Dr. Francis Thompson” written for U.S. History class, 27 November 1990.

Gooch, Thomas Claiborne, 1830-1889 (Sc 810), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 810. Letter, 1864, written by Thomas Claiborne Gooch, Louisville, Kentucky, to his brother William, Logan County, Kentucky. Includes comments about the gold standard, Major General Stephen Gano Burbridge, George B. McClellan’s chances of winning the 1864 presidential election, and Robert E. Lee’s international influence.

Mccreery, Thomas Clay, 1816-1890 (Sc 568), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 568. Two 1868 letters from Thomas Clay McCreery, Washington, D.C. to unknwon recipients, which give the addresses of two former U.S. senators from Kentucky. McCreery was serving as U.S. senator from Kentucky at the time.

Sand Hill Democratic Club - Warren County, Kentucky (Sc 809), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 809. Notice of meeting called for 14 September 1888 to organize a Democratic club at Sand Hill, Warren County, Kentucky.

Reeves, A. C. (Sc 772), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 772. Political letter regarding the possibility of A. C. Reeves running against an opponent named Hayley. The writer (signature missing) suggests a meeting with Henry C. Hines to see local supporters in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

An Introduction To The Kpsa Commonwealth Review Of Political Science, Michael Hail

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

It is an honor to serve as the Senior Editor for this inaugural issue of the Commonwealth Review of Political Science. In my capacity as Executive Secretary-Treasurer of KPSA, I was given the responsibility to develop the initial plans for the journal and then to implement its establishment and operations. While this task has been greater than imagined, the support from numerous colleagues has been equally great in bringing the journal to realization. I am writing this article to explain the development and purpose of this journal, but also to acknowledge the many leaders of KPSA that helped to make …

Leading From Behind The Gap: Post-Racial Politics And The Pedagogy Of Black Studies, Seneca Vaught

Faculty Articles

An Associated Press Poll released on the eve of the 2012 presidential election revealed that more Americans are overtly racist today than four years ago.

Bowling Online: The Internet And The New Social Capital, Jason Gainous, Kevin M. Wagner

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

The decline thesis proponents in the social capital literature have largely ignored the fastest growing venue for new social capital formation - the Internet. We argue that the Internet is making a larger impact than the current research acknowledges. Using survey data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project combined with a survey of college students, we confirm a strong positive relationship between online social networking and political participation. Further, we present evidence that, at least in 2008 election, there was a bias toward voting for Democrats among those who utilized online social networking services including Facebook and Twitter. …

Imperium Et Sacerdotium: Universalism, Fragmentation, And New Medievalism, Jeremy Wells

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Contemporary international relations theory suffers from a stubborn reliance on the Westphalian notion of the state system. Theoretically, the sovereign state is the supreme political unit in world politics and is the only political unit with access to international decision-making. However, in the real world, globalization has led to the development of a myriad of transnational associations. Added to the complex of regional, international, and even supranational governing structures, these organizations and associations have created a web of interaction that works above, below, and across states. While skeptics question the political ramifications of globalization, it is without doubt that modern …

W(H)Ither Tocqueville's 'Seed Of Free Institutions'?: The Importance And Decline Of Localism In America, Jonathan W. Pidluzny

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Alexis de Tocqueville argues that local government is the "seed of free institutions." On his account, active participation by citizens at the local level helps guard against the three great dangers to modern democratic regimes: sum of selfish preferences majoritarianism, tyranny of die majority, and mild despotism. This paper traces the decline of localism in the United States--an inevitable consequence of trends Tocqueville himself foresaw--and comments on the consequences, both from the perspective of the political community and from the perspective of individuals pursuing a decent and happy life.

Introduction To The Naked Communist: Cold War Modernism And The Politics Of Popular Culture, Roland K. Végső

Department of English: Faculty Publications

The first half of The Naked Communist is devoted to the theoretical and historical foundations of my reading of anti-Communist fictions. After the theoretical introduction, I examine anti-Communist aesthetic ideology by first analyzing its political and then its aesthetic components.

In the second half, I examine the way the culture of anti-Communism defined the “world” as the ultimate horizon of political imagination. Included is a brief overview of some of the most popular texts of the given genre.

Finally, I conclude these chapters with a reading of particular authors.

Spirits Of The Cold War: Contesting Worldviews In The Classical Age Of American Security Strategy. By Ned O’Gorman, Timothy Barney

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In February 1952, Congressman O. K. Armstrong of Missouri was invited to give a keynote speech at a convention called the Conference on Psychological Strategy in the Cold War, where he declared a maxim that, by that time, likely did not raise many eyebrows: “Our primary weapons will not be guns, but ideas . . . and truth itself.” Rep. Armstrong spoke from experience—a few months before, he had made national headlines at a peace treaty signing in San Francisco by blindsiding Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko with a map locating every secret Gulag prison camp. Calling the Soviet …

Evolution Of Film Trailers, Robert Llewellyn

Whittier Scholars Program

This project is a research paper on the history and evolution of film trailers beginning in the 1910s. The author mentions how trailers are directed towards different demographics. Different movie trailers such as King Kong, The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Psycho, and Easy Rider and many others are used as examples throughout the paper. The era from the 50’s to the 70’s is thoroughly discussed as being a transitional period. Additionally, the paper touches base on the political events that occurred and how they affected films topics. The project includes a journal of the author’s journey through the …

Security, Prestige, And Realpolitik : Sir Eyre Crowe And British Foreign Policy 1907-1925, Patricia Lynn Pillsworth

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Sir Eyre Crowe is known to historians primarily as the author of the 1907 Memorandum on French and German relations in which he concluded that Britain must maintain the Entente with France because Germany's aim was to gain hegemony over Europe. He was also arguably the central figure of the British Foreign Office for the first two-and-a-half decades of the twentieth century, and his career in the Foreign Office spanned forty years.

Hunting For Huntington’S Evidence: An Empirical Reassessment Of The Clash Of Civilizations Theory, John Daniel Shindelar

Political Science Theses and Capstones

I inquire into Samuel P. Huntington’s clash of civilizations theory as outlined in his landmark The Clash of Civilizations. I explore conflicts starting at the end of the Cold War to 2007 in order to examine whether Huntington’s theory has been materializing (there is a marked increase in conflicts between Civilizations, and they have become more intense) or if the face of conflicts has stayed relatively similar to Cold War era clashes. I use International Crisis Behavior data on conflicts since the fall of the U.S.S.R. which Huntington cites as the end of a bipolar world and the beginning of …

Comparing Redistricting Outcomes Across States: A Comparison Of Commission, Court, And Legislative Plans, Jonathan Winburn

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

The question of redistricting reform has become an important topic in many states throughout the country. At the heart of the matter is how to effectively deal with the perceived detrimental effects of allowing legislators control over selecting their own constituencies. The most common prescription is to remove legislative influence by handing over control to nonpolitical or bipartisan commissions. However, little empirical evidence exists comparing the outcomes of commission plans versus legislative plans. In this paper, I address this question by examining the role of commissions throughout the states. I argue an important aspect to limiting the problems of redistricting …

The Electoral College: A Critical Analysis, John Heyrman

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

This paper looks critically at several of the principal arguments employed for and against the continued use of the Electoral College, as opposed to a system of direct popular vote. The Electoral College does not merely diverge from our common American practices of direct popular vote, but it does so in ways that primarily benefit some states at the expense of others. While federalism clearly has desirable features for the United States, and a two­ party system may be desirable, neither is threatened by the removal of the Electoral College. Many of the defenses of the College appear to indicate …

Immigration In The E.U. And The U.K.: A Conflict Of Interests And Policy, Beth Coleman

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Though contemporary society is becoming increasingly globalized, most of the developed world is looking towards immigration policies aimed at keeping other people and cultures out. This unfortunate trend is creating a society of protective multiculturalism-where one culture or state borrows desirable and beneficial characteristics and ideas from another culture, while isolating and at times even condemning that same group. Though the issue of border security remains a hotly debated topic in the United States, Europe is looking towards an era of border-free movement and renewed labor resources. However there are some major European powers, such as the United Kingdom, that …

Complete Issue - Volume 1, Number 1 (2013)

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Complete Issue

Indiana, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of key Civil War developments in Indiana and how this conflict impacted Indiana.

Morton, Oliver Hazard Perry Throck, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Biographical portrait and analysis of Indiana Civil War Governor Oliver Morton.

Reading The Tea Leaves: The Media And Sino-American Rapprochement, 1963-1972, Guolin Yi

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation aims to find out what role(s) the media in the United States and China played in their historic rapprochement from 1963 to 1972. In order to examine how they covered the major events that affected Sino-American relations, I select seven elite U.S. media and two Chinese official newspapers to study. These media include: the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, CBS, ABC, NBC, People's Daily, and Reference News,

The study is based on the assumption that media, instead of reporting the information "objectively," have the ability to affect the content they deliver and set the agenda for …

Slaves To Contradictions: 13 Myths That Sustained Slavery, Wilson Huhn

Akron Law Faculty Publications

People have a fundamental need to think of themselves as “good people.” To achieve this we tell each other stories – we create myths – about ourselves and our society. These myths may be true or they may be false. The more discordant a myth is with reality, the more difficult it is to convince people to embrace it. In such cases to sustain the illusion of truth it may be necessary to develop an entire mythology – an integrated web of mutually supporting stories. This paper explores the system of myths that sustained the institution of slavery in the …

An Interview With Dr. Theda Skocpol, Sarah Russell

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

No abstract provided.

Dual Intransigence: An Assessment Of The Us-Iran Conflict And Prospects For Rapprochement, Chad Lama

Master's Theses

In the months leading up to the 2012 Presidential Election, a number of Republican candidates that were vying for the nomination against the incumbent, Barack Obama, made sensational claims regarding the “Nuclear Iran Question”. This study discusses the issue of a nuclear Iran, what this means for regional stability, and what America’s options are in dealing with the Islamic Republic. Specifically the researcher addresses the consequences of a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, conducting a discourse analysis for the purposes of demonstrating the polarizing affect this issue has had on some of the leading scholars, theorists and practitioners. The central …

Human Rights Policy Paper: Rape As A Tactic Of War, Sarah Fitzgerald

Global Studies Student Scholarship

This paper reports on rape used as a tactic of war, outlining the scope of the problem and introducing policy options to address the issue on a global scale. Policy options targeted at relief services include increasing direct aid through funding fistula surgeries, building rural hospitals, and providing skills training for women awaiting surgery. Additional policy options addressing the problem at its root include legislative changes to stop impunity at the International Criminal Court, revising the Convention on Genocide to include sex and gender, utilization of devices such as the Rape aXe, and changing the culture of misogyny through educational …

Magee, J. Harry (Sc 66), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 66. Letter, 23 December 1868, written by J. Harry Magee, Washington, D.C., to Dr. Albert Covington, Bowling Green, Kentucky, regarding the record of the U. S. Senate impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson.