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Full-Text Articles in Political Science

Like Oil And Water: How Federalism Muddies The Waters Of Interest Group Decision-Making, Melissa Shaffer-O’Connell Jun 2014

Like Oil And Water: How Federalism Muddies The Waters Of Interest Group Decision-Making, Melissa Shaffer-O’Connell

Dissertations

Federalism often creates additional decisions for interest groups in determining how best to advocate for their policy recommendations in the legislative process. Should they focus their advocacy at the local, state, or national level of government? What activities should they use at each level of government? This dissertation examines interest group behaviors in water quality policy in the Great Lakes region from 1940 to 2000, in oil policy in the Beaufort Sea region from 1970 to 2000, and in both policy areas in 2010-2013. I evaluate the reasons for interest group decisions in choice of tactics and targeted level of …

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State-Seeking Nations: Critical Success Factors, Including Moderate Un Security Council Reform, David Jones, David Jones May 2014

State-Seeking Nations: Critical Success Factors, Including Moderate Un Security Council Reform, David Jones, David Jones

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This thesis proposes realistic critical success factors of state-seeking nations (breakaway regions) in gaining full statehood. It also includes ramifications to the state-seeking nations with moderate UNSC (P5) reform. This argument proposes that without these critical successful factors, success for a state-seeking nation gaining full statehood is highly unlikely.

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Aiding And Abetting: The Illegality Of Morocco's Nationalist Expansion Into Western Sahara And Their Support From The United States, Rachid H. Yousfi May 2014

Aiding And Abetting: The Illegality Of Morocco's Nationalist Expansion Into Western Sahara And Their Support From The United States, Rachid H. Yousfi

Master's Theses

This paper will address the illegality of Morocco’s nationalist annexation of Western Sahara and how the United States plays the accommodating role through the selling of arms, economic aid, and diplomatic support. Considered as Africa’s last colony, the Saharawi people have not experienced the basic human right to self-determination and the right for independence. These rights are continued to be withheld for the sake of Moroccan nationalism and their “rightful and ethnic” claims to the territory, disregarding the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s advisory opinion ruling in favor of Saharawi self-determination. It explores the chronology of the Saharawi population from …

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Implicit Prejudice And Its Implications For How Communities Should Respond To Racial Injustices, Harry Kainen May 2014

Implicit Prejudice And Its Implications For How Communities Should Respond To Racial Injustices, Harry Kainen

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

In the spring of 2013, a racially controversial incident occurred on the Washington University Campus. The incident raised questions about the racial tolerance of the university community as well as exactly who should be held responsible for the injustice. Most importantly, the community’s response to the incident exemplified how a community with the potential for substantial collective action can fail to mobilize and improve when they are called upon to do so. This paper examines recent psychological research that studies the existence of subconscious racial prejudices in order to examine its implications in community responses to racial injustices. Results show …

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Cold War, Chilly Memories: The Role Of Political Socialization On International Perceptions, Allison Shea May 2014

Cold War, Chilly Memories: The Role Of Political Socialization On International Perceptions, Allison Shea

Senior Honors Projects

A variety of agents aid in the political socialization process. Political socialization is the inheritance of political attitudes, beliefs, and values that explain one’s interaction with the political world (Riccards, 1973, p. 8). Parents, here meaning the primary caregivers of the child, however, are generally the earliest socializing agents in an individual’s life. The effect of parents on their children’s political views is both pro- found and lasting. Indeed, a child is more likely to “inherit” the party preference of their parents “than they are to inherit any other social predisposition except religion” (Riccards, 1973, p. 40). In the early, …

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"A More Perfect Union" : Exploring The Nature And Terms Of The American Union., Meghan A. Waters May 2014

"A More Perfect Union" : Exploring The Nature And Terms Of The American Union., Meghan A. Waters

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

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Black Radicals And Marxist Internationalism: From The Iwma To The Fourth International, 1864–1948, Charles R. Holm May 2014

Black Radicals And Marxist Internationalism: From The Iwma To The Fourth International, 1864–1948, Charles R. Holm

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This project investigates historical relationships between Black Radicalism and Marxist internationalism from the mid-nineteenth through the first half of the twentieth century. It argues that contrary to scholarly accounts that emphasize Marxist Euro-centrism, or that theorize the incompatibility of “Black” and “Western” radical projects, Black Radicals helped shape and produce Marxist theory and political movements, developing theoretical and organizational innovations that drew on both Black Radical and Marxist traditions of internationalism. These innovations were produced through experiences of struggle within international political movements ranging from the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century to the early Pan-African movements and struggles …

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The Virtues Of Justice, John Thrasher, David Schmidtz Apr 2014

The Virtues Of Justice, John Thrasher, David Schmidtz

Philosophy Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"This essay considers (and endorses) three complementary conceptions of justice as virtue. To the two senses of justice just mentioned-justice as a virtue of the soul and of the polis-we add a third that bridges these two. Virtue can be a kind of outreach rather than a kind of internal harmony, because we are talking about essentially social beings. The harmony that is this virtue's object is harmony with a community. Thus, a person who is just in this sense is disposed to respect (play within the rules of) institutions that command respect by virtue of actually working-that is, actually …

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The Vital Role Of Ideas In Industrial Policy Changes In Ireland During The 1980s, John Hogan, Brendan O'Rourke Apr 2014

The Vital Role Of Ideas In Industrial Policy Changes In Ireland During The 1980s, John Hogan, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

Employing a discursive institutionalist approach in the form of the critical juncture theory (CJT), this paper examines the nature of the changes to Irish industrial policy in the mid 1980s, a time when the country went through one of its worst economic crises. Did these policy changes, ushered in by the Telesis Report of 1982, constitute a transformation in industrial policy, or a continuation of a previously established policy pathway, and if so why? To answer this question the paper explores the roles played by various change agents, and their ideas, in altering the industrial policy that had been established …

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Are There Cracks In The Democratic Peace?, James Farmer Apr 2014

Are There Cracks In The Democratic Peace?, James Farmer

Honors College Theses

The Democratic Peace Principle is both a well-documented and a heavily scrutinized element of International Relations theory. My research aims to further analyze the principle to determine more precise conditions under which conflict can arise between democratic states. More specifically, my research analyzes the amount of conflict between democratic states of differing military and economic capabilities in order to see if such dyads have different dynamics than dyads with comparable military and economic might. If there are differing degrees of the democratic peace based on factors such as military and economic strength, this could indicate where future wars between democratic …

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Economic Voting, Sociotropic Vs. Checkbook: Cases From Greece And Germany, Matthew Coen-Tuff Apr 2014

Economic Voting, Sociotropic Vs. Checkbook: Cases From Greece And Germany, Matthew Coen-Tuff

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Economic voting, the theory that when the economy is good the party in control gains support and when the economy is bad the party in power suffers. This is a simplistic definition and economic voting is so much more. In this paper I seek to prove how economic voting can be broken down into two categories, sociotropic and checkbook. I do this by looking at two countries in very different situation. Greece is a country going through economic turmoil and is constantly changing which party is in control of the government. It has been suffering especially hard from a debt …

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Constituting The Entrepreneurial Poor: Social Capital, Development, And The Contemporary Microfinance Industry, Luke Allen Apr 2014

Constituting The Entrepreneurial Poor: Social Capital, Development, And The Contemporary Microfinance Industry, Luke Allen

Political Science Honors Projects

The contemporary microfinance industry struggles to manage the tensions that arise from its competing roles as a tool in the fight against poverty and as a lucrative financial market. I contend that the microfinance industry manages these tensions through discourses that emphasize the entrepreneurialism of the poor in the Global South. Furthermore, I argue that the industry attempts to constitute the entrepreneurial "microfinance subject" through networks of coalitions, discourses, personnel, and technologies. These networks produce and distribute new forms of risk onto these subjects, necessitating a critical response.

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Exploring Marx And Gnosticism: Is Eric Voegelin's Assertion That Marx Is A Modern-Day Gnostic Justifiable?, Briana D. Perez Apr 2014

Exploring Marx And Gnosticism: Is Eric Voegelin's Assertion That Marx Is A Modern-Day Gnostic Justifiable?, Briana D. Perez

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

In this paper, I will discuss the connection Eric Voegelin, the 20e century political philosopher, made between the philosophy of Karl Marx and Gnosticism. Voegelin asserted that Gnosticism, though usually connected with a medieval Christian heresy, has retained its potency through history and into the modern era. In his attempt to connect the ideas of Gnosticism to the modern world in the form of all encompassing 2Oth century political ideologies, Voegelin criticizes thinkers like Marx for creating "second-realities," or utopian frameworks that are ultimately incompatible with reality. Because of Marx's strong and well-known, rejection of religion, this is by no …

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Strange Bedfellows: How An Anticipatory Countermovement Brought Same-Sex Marriage Into The Public Arena, Michael C. Dorf, Sidney Tarrow Apr 2014

Strange Bedfellows: How An Anticipatory Countermovement Brought Same-Sex Marriage Into The Public Arena, Michael C. Dorf, Sidney Tarrow

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Since the 1980s, social movement scholars have investigated the dynamic of movement/countermovement interaction. Most of these studies posit movements as initiators, with countermovements reacting to their challenges. Yet sometimes a movement supports an agenda in response to a countermovement that engages in what we call “anticipatory countermobilization.” We interviewed ten leading LGBT activists to explore the hypothesis that the LGBT movement was brought to the fight for marriage equality by the anticipatory countermobilization of social conservatives who opposed same-sex marriage before there was a realistic prospect that it would be recognized by the courts or political actors. Our findings reinforce …

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Patterns Of Role Transition: A Taxonomy, A Research Program, And The Three-Body Problem, Paul A. Kowert, Stephen G. Walker Mar 2014

Patterns Of Role Transition: A Taxonomy, A Research Program, And The Three-Body Problem, Paul A. Kowert, Stephen G. Walker

Political Science Faculty Publication Series

In foreign policy, role transition as a process of role change implies at least two roles (a state'ʹs old role and its new role) and a dynamic process of role location in which Ego’s role changes over time. If every role for Ego presumes a counter-role for Alter, a pattern of role transition for Ego implies as well a potential process of role transition for Alter. In order to model the process of role transition, a taxonomy of mutually exclusive and logically exhaustive roles and counter-roles is desirable, in order to identify and specify the possible combinations of old and …

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Explaining Ballot Initiative Contest Outcomes In California, Oregon, And Washington, Hans Daniel Stroo Mar 2014

Explaining Ballot Initiative Contest Outcomes In California, Oregon, And Washington, Hans Daniel Stroo

Dissertations and Theses

What explains the outcomes of ballot initiative contests? What factors determine the passage or rejection of an initiative? This paper describes and evaluates three approaches to explaining ballot initiative contest outcomes. The first approach involves using the expenditures of Yes and No campaigns as the causal factor in explaining why passage or defeat is the respective outcome of a given contest. The second explanatory approach emphasizes the logic of collective action problems. The third approach incorporates the larger constellation of policymaking institutions in which each ballot initiative process exists. Specifically, in what ways is the process shaped by the larger …

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Media Portrayal Of Individuals In The Lower Class And Its Effects On Attributions Of Educational Hardships, Krista A. Burke Mar 2014

Media Portrayal Of Individuals In The Lower Class And Its Effects On Attributions Of Educational Hardships, Krista A. Burke

Communication Studies

This study investigated how media portrayals of individuals in the lower class affect people’s beliefs about educational hardships in lower socioeconomic areas. Specifically, this study looked at the attributions of these hardships to determine if media consumption had an effect on the internality of attributions. It was hypothesized that increased media consumption would be related to an increased tendency toward internal attributions. It was hypothesized that increased media consumption would lead to lower support for policy changes regarding education. A survey was distributed to assess media consumption habits and attitudes toward educational hardships in the lower class. Correlation results yielded …

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"Those Stubborn Principles": From Stoicism To Sociability In Joseph Addison’S Cato, Christine Dunn Henderson, Mark Yellin Mar 2014

"Those Stubborn Principles": From Stoicism To Sociability In Joseph Addison’S Cato, Christine Dunn Henderson, Mark Yellin

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Joseph Addison’s 1713 play, Cato: A Tragedy, dramatizes the final days of Cato the Younger’s resistance to Julius Caesar before his eventual suicide at Utica in 46 BC. Although Addison initially seems to present Cato as a model for emulation, we argue that Addison is ultimately critical of both Cato and the Stoicism he embodies. Via the play’s romantic subplot and via his work as an essayist, Addison offers a revision of the Catonic model, reworking it into a gentler model that elevates qualities such as love, friendship, and sympathy and that is more appropriate to the type of peaceful …

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Responding To The Global Ecological Challenge: The Persuasive Power Of A Local Approach, Iris A. Burniece Feb 2014

Responding To The Global Ecological Challenge: The Persuasive Power Of A Local Approach, Iris A. Burniece

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

Climate change threatens to impact our planet in ways that will have far-reaching effects on both human populations and the ecological foundations humanity depends on for its survival. The urgent task of reforming environmental policy has proven to be rather complex, which is in large part due to the abrasive relationship between the transboundary character of ecological problems and the inherent sovereignty of states. On the international level, the UN strategy has focused on multilateral treaties; although, it has failed to produce any real affect due to institutional weaknesses. States pursuing their own variants of environmental reform have—at least in …

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Sarajevo Heart Of Europe? Global Politics, Symbol(Ism) & Liminality In The Centenary Of Ww1, Joan Davison Jan 2014

Sarajevo Heart Of Europe? Global Politics, Symbol(Ism) & Liminality In The Centenary Of Ww1, Joan Davison

Faculty Publications

The analysis highlights the inter-connection and intra-connection between societal facts (mythology, symbols, and religion), socio-anthropological concepts (imitation, liminality), and psychological factors (human will and “I will”) with global politics. The approach identifies dynamics and “repetitions” which can affect individuals and societies, perpetuate tension and violence, and constrain certain political outcomes. Thus follows the particular shortcoming of International Relations theory as the product of rational choice, which strives to separate the unconscious from the conscious, to understand and remedy certain socio-political conflicts. Conversely, this analysis employs the theory on mimesis, imitation, hence, memory “me willed” (as the distillate of modernity). The …

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Winning Well: Civil Resistance Mechanisms Of Success, Democracy, And Civil Peace, Jonathan C. Pinckney Jan 2014

Winning Well: Civil Resistance Mechanisms Of Success, Democracy, And Civil Peace, Jonathan C. Pinckney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several recent studies indicate that revolutions of non-violent civil resistance lead to more democratic and peaceful political transitions than either violent revolutions or elite-led political transitions. However, this general trend has not been disaggregated to explain the many prominent cases where nonviolent revolutions are followed by authoritarianism or civil war. Understanding these divergent cases is critical, particularly in light of the problematic transitions following the "Arab Spring" revolutions of 2011. In this paper I explain why nonviolent revolutions sometimes lead to these negative outcomes. I show, through quantitative analysis of a dataset of all successful non-violent revolutions from 1900-2006 and …

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The Public Sphere As Site Of Emancipation And Enlightenment: A Discourse Theoretic Critique Of Digital Communication, David Ingram, Asaf Bar-Tura Jan 2014

The Public Sphere As Site Of Emancipation And Enlightenment: A Discourse Theoretic Critique Of Digital Communication, David Ingram, Asaf Bar-Tura

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Habermas claims that an inclusive public sphere is the only deliberative forum for generating public opinion that satisfies the epistemic and normative conditions underlying legitimate decision-making. He adds that digital technologies and other mass media need not undermine – but can extend – rational deliberation when properly instituted. This paper draws from social epistemology and technology studies to demonstrate the epistemic and normative limitations of this extension. We argue that current online communication structures fall short of satisfying the required epistemic and normative conditions. Furthermore, the extent to which Internet-based communications contribute to legitimate democratic opinion and will formation depends …

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Feuds Of A Thousand Years: Explaining Europe Via The World System, Hans Hubbard Jan 2014

Feuds Of A Thousand Years: Explaining Europe Via The World System, Hans Hubbard

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

This paper argues for a more comprehensive study of the European Union that includes consideration, not only of socio-economic and political processes, but also of changing conceptualisations of identity, governance and democratic legitimacy. It argues for a re-examination of traditional narratives that frame the European Union as a response to the cruelties of the Second World War. Several key paradoxes in European history cannot be satisfactorily accounted for through purely intra-European processes: the European idea’s pre-dating the Second World War; the lack of a strong impulse for unified defence; the UK’s late membership and euroscepticism; the desire for a closed-off …

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Three Pluralisms: Theories, Methodologies, And Levels Of Analysis In The Study Of World Politics, Lucas M. Dolan Jan 2014

Three Pluralisms: Theories, Methodologies, And Levels Of Analysis In The Study Of World Politics, Lucas M. Dolan

Departmental Honors Projects

For much of its history, the discourse of International Relations (IR) has been characterized by clashes between paradigms, exclusion of non-positivist research methodologies, and the marginalization of various subfields. Since the fourth debate “pluralism” is rapidly becoming a buzzword within the literature, but without serious conceptual analysis “pluralism” risks becoming another intellectual fad given lip-service but not engaged with in a way that could produce positive change within the discipline. This project examines three varieties of pluralism: theoretical, methodological, and pluralism of level of analysis. A brief intellectual history of pluralism in international relations is outlined, culminating in the works …

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Public Attitudes And Support For The Eu In The Wake Of The Financial Crisis, Jennifer R. Wozniak, Chris Hasselmann Jan 2014

Public Attitudes And Support For The Eu In The Wake Of The Financial Crisis, Jennifer R. Wozniak, Chris Hasselmann

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The economic and financial crisis has dominated the political agenda of both the European Union and its respective governments for the past several years. The economic effects, from rising unemployment to negligible growth rates, have been widely documented and explored. The political consequences likewise have been examined in terms of the impact on various national elections, especially in Greece and most recently in Germany. One area in need of attention, however, is the extent to which existing theories and models of support for integration are able to capture the public's changing perception of the EU. Drawing on a series of …

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A Discernible Impact? The Influence Of Public Opinion On Eu Policymaking During The Sovereign Debt Crisis, Jennifer R. Boyle, Chris Hasselmann Jan 2014

A Discernible Impact? The Influence Of Public Opinion On Eu Policymaking During The Sovereign Debt Crisis, Jennifer R. Boyle, Chris Hasselmann

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The European sovereign debt crisis provides an excellent opportunity for examining the extent to which public preferences constrain member state preferences for EU policy solutions. We examine the influence of public opinion on austerity, spending, and regulation on member state preferences on 4 major EU solutions to the crisis from 20I0-2011: the initial Greek financial rescue, the creation of the European Stability Mechanism, the reform of the Stability and Growth pact, and enhanced EU financial regulation. Our analysis reveals that prior to elections and/or when there is a degree of fragmentation in the governing party or coalition public opinion constrains …

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Sigma: Journal Of Political And International Studies Jan 2014

Sigma: Journal Of Political And International Studies

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

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Structural Limits Of Liberal Neutrality: Understanding Problems For Sustainabiity, Madison R. Williams Jan 2014

Structural Limits Of Liberal Neutrality: Understanding Problems For Sustainabiity, Madison R. Williams

Scripps Senior Theses

Liberalism is a political philosophy that is “committed in the strongest possible way to individual rights, and, almost as a deduction from this, to a rigorously neutral state” (Walzer 99). It takes its “constitutive morality” to be a “theory of equality that requires official neutrality amongst theories of what is valuable in life” (Dworkin 203). For this reason, some theorists say Liberalism and the idea of environmental sustainability are not in conflict with one another. According to Mike Mills, because the commitment to neutrality means there is “no given set of policies associated” with Liberalism, any outcome is plausible (168). …

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From Heresy To Policy: My Prescription For China's Population Policy 25 Years Ago, Shaomin Li Jan 2014

From Heresy To Policy: My Prescription For China's Population Policy 25 Years Ago, Shaomin Li

Management Faculty Publications

Recently scholars have been calling for the loosening up of China's one-child policy, and even the Chinese government has begun to show some willingness to do so. The call is not new. In my doctoral dissertation 25 years ago I first showed that China should allow couples to have two children and could still achieve the same population control goal as the one-child policy. I am glad to see that what I proposed 25 years ago is repeated by many scholars and even acceptable to the Chinese government.

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Goodbye To Europe And Hello To Asia: The New Imperialism Of “Chindia” In Africa, Sybil Gelin (Class Of 2014) Jan 2014

Goodbye To Europe And Hello To Asia: The New Imperialism Of “Chindia” In Africa, Sybil Gelin (Class Of 2014)

Writing Across the Curriculum

In 2006, the Chinese government released its first ever Africa policy paper. In the document, the government of China announced its plans to forge a strong and enduring relationship with Africa on the basis of four ideals: mutual tolerance despite differing ideologies, cooperation in international politics, economic intercourse predicated upon fairness, and observance of Africa’s right to choose its own path to economic development.[1] This document, along with the third Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (or FOCAC) (at which more than forty-five African leaders gathered to discuss the future of China-Africa relations), served as a springboard for future Chinese engagement …

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